NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Residents of Marchak, a village on the Turkmen-Afghan border,told the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that fighting in the border areas was becoming more serious. The Turkmen government has said it was concerned about a move north by the Taliban but has denied that there is currently a problem. The RFE/RL report suggests otherwise.
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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
NOV. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia has bought a number of Iskander-M missiles from Russia, Armenia president Serzh Sargsyan told Russian media. The Iskander-M missile is one of Russia’s most advanced missile systems. Mr Sargsyan said that Armenia had been obligated to by the missile system to balance against the threat posed by Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan are still officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)f
NOV. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev approved an agreement to develop military technology ties between Russia and Uzbekistan, an early indication that ties between the two countries are already improving less than two months after the death of former president Islam Karimov. Acting president Shavkat Mirziyoyev has made improving Uzbekistan’s international relations a priority. Russian president Vladimir Putin was one of the first foreign leaders to visit Uzbekistan after the death of Karimov in September.
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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Astana sentenced a man to six years in jail for promoting literature supporting IS in Syria. The unnamed man reportedly encouraged his followers on social media sites to join him in Syria to fight for IS.
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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish security services arrested three dozen men from Central Asia and the South Caucasus who, they said, were working for the extremist IS group and had been planning a series of suicide attacks in Turkey’s biggest city. They said that the ringleaders were an Uzbek man and a Tajik man. Governments from Central Asia and the South Caucasus are increasingly concerned about their citizens heading to Syria to fight for IS.
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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)
NOV. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s defence minister Colonel-General Berdiyev Yaylym Yagmyrovich flew to Rawalpindi in Pakistan to meet with the head of the Pakistani army General Raheel Sharif, media reported. According to the reports the main focus of the trip was regional security and the growth of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The meeting is important because it is more evidence that Turkmenistan, normally reclusive and proudly neutral, is increasingly concerned about regional stability.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan intends to build a database holding fingerprints for all its citizens by 2021, media reported quoting the interior ministry. Deputy interior minister Rashid Zhakupov said that the project will cost 36.8b tenge ($107 million) and is designed to speed up border controls. The initiative should also tighten security across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Russian government sent an official protest note to Georgia over Georgian-NATO military exercises which it described as a serious threat to peace and stability in the region. NATO keeps a permanent training base in Georgia. Both NATO and Georgia shrugged off the Russian complaint and said they were not aimed at Russia. Georgia wants to join NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 17 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan’s parliament has approved a new law that will pay out cash rewards to people who give information to the security services which prevents attacks by Islamic extremists, media reported. Kazakhstan has been increasingly worried about the rise in attacks that it attributes to Islamic extremists.
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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)
NOV. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Baku jailed seven men for fighting for the radical IS group in Syria. Countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been fighting to contain a recruitment drive by IS in the region. The men were jailed for between 2-1/2 and 14 years. They had been arrested once they returned home from fighting with IS.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)