MARCH 15 2015 (The Bulletin) – Hundreds of people demonstrated in Baku against the devaluation by 33% of the manat currency last month. The size of the march was contested with its organisers saying 10,000 people attended and police saying there were a few hundred.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – Starting on June 1, Turkmen citizens, organisations, and parties will be allowed to organise public demonstrations, a law signed by president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov stated.
This unexpected relaxation of oppressive laws governing demonstrations, took observers by surprise. It may be linked to worsening economic conditions across the country. It may be a ruse to appear more relaxed while changing very little.Turkmenistan is, after all, interested in pulling in the EU as a client for its gas.
Demonstrations in Turkmenistan are extremely rare with only a couple of small protests linked to housing in the past few years.
And the law has caveats. Any party or organisation which has been banned by the government will not be allowed to set up public action. The law also appears to be subjective stating that “individuals declared incompetent or of limited competence by a court or those who are facing legal charges” are not eligible to organise others.
All public rallies must take place at a distance from government buildings and should be aimed at the “peaceful gathering” of Turkmen citizens.
Importantly, demonstrations funded by foreign subjects will not be allowed. This echoes the country’s attitude towards NGO activities, which are strictly regulated to contain international influence.
The new demonstrations will likely be organised by pro-presidential organisations to burnish Mr Berdymukhamedov’s image at home and abroad.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Several people were injured during a fight between activists of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and activists of the opposition United National Movement party in the city of Zugdidi, media reported. The fight highlights worsening political climate in Georgia. A large opposition march is planned for Tbilisi on March 21.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
FEB. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The opposition United National Movement (UNM) called for a rally in Tbilisi against the government on March 21. The UNM has said Georgia’s economy is on the verge of collapse and blames the government. The demonstration may attract large numbers and is a potential flashpoint.
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(News report from Issue No. 221, published on March 4 2015)
FEB. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Bank slashed the value of its manat currency by a third overnight, a sudden move that took businesses and ordinary Azerbaijanis by surprise.
Previously Azerbaijani officials had said that they would release the manat from its dollar peg, suggesting only a gradual devaluation to adjust to a sharp decline in the Russian rouble.
They have now justified the sudden devaluation by saying that they had little choice but to act in the face of a collapse in oil prices and economic turbulence in Russia.
“This decision was made in order to support diversification of Azerbaijan’s economy, strengthen its international compatibility and export potential as well as to provide balance of payments sustainability,” the Central Bank said in a statement.
On the streets of Azerbaijan’s towns, though, the devaluation was less generously viewed.
Veli, 29, a small business owner in Guba, a northern city, told a Bulletin correspondent that he was in shock.
“I believed the government. I kept my savings in the manat,” he said. “I lost third of my savings. It’s painful. It’s theft by the government.”
He said that he had no choice but to increase the price of the electronic goods he was selling in his shop — fuelling rising inflation.
Sahiba, a mother of two young children living in the city of Gazakh on the western border with Georgia echoed these sentiments. Her husband is a government official but has had his pay cut already this year.
“We’ve got a mortgage,” she said. “I don’t know what we’ll do.”
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(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)
FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Despite protests, Armenia’s parliament passed a law that will reduce tax imposed on small businesses to 1% of sales from 3.5%. The proposed law has angered businesses because it will mean that they have to provide more paperwork. Armenian PM Armen Rustamyan said the law would be introduced in July, a delay of six months.
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(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)
FEB. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A handful of residents in Almaty staged another protest against the falling value of the Kazakh tenge. According to a Radio Free Europe report the protesters said they had taken out mortgages when $1 equalled 107 tenge. Now $1 equalled 186 tenge. Protests are rare in Kazakhstan but pressure on the tenge has angered people.
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(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)
JAN. 28. 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Wrapping up a mission to Kazakhstan, the UN’s special rapporteur Maina Kiai said he was disturbed to hear from Kazakh officials that they had decided to clamp down on protests because they worried about a Ukraine style rebellion.
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(News report from Issue No. 217, published on Feb. 4 2015
JAN. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police detained several journalists as they left their homes to travel to an unauthorised protest against the closure of the Adam Bol news magazine, media reported quoting associates of the journalists. The UN also said that the freedom to protest in Kazakhstan has worsened recently.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)
>>New tax code is an effort to stop tax evasion>>
JAN. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new tax code in Armenia is upsetting the very people it is supposed to be helping.
The government has decided to reduce the tax for small business, those earning less than $122,000, to 1% of their sales from 3.5%. The downside of the new law is that the traders and shopkeepers have to document more closely their sales.
Media reported that hundreds of traders demonstrated in front of the parliament building against the new tax laws. Their problem is the introduction of the extra paperwork.
The bottom line is that the government wants to increase tax receipts. To do this it has decided to crackdown on tax evasion and the fiddling of receipts. And this is where the problem lies. The Armenian traders’ will have to fill in more paperwork and, they say, will actually earn less under the new tax code because they will have to declare more of their sales.
The small traders have also complained that they are being used as guinea pigs before the new tax code is rolled out to bigger businesses.
With the Armenian economy reeling from the turmoil in Russia, the government is desperate to highlight good news. It has already had to postpone the introduction of the new tax code from November until Feb. 1. The issue is becoming increasingly contentious.
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(News report from Issue No. 216, published on Jan. 28 2015)