Tag Archives: security

Uyghurs in Kyrgyzstan worry about terrorist

BISHKEK, SEPT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The sizable Uyghur community in Kyrgyzstan’s capital is increasingly worried by being labelled as terrorists after a suicide bomb against the Chinese Embassy this month.

Local state authorities described a suicide bomber as a member of the so-called Islamic Movement of Eastern Turkestan which wants independence for China’s eastern province of Xinjiang. Now local Uyghurs have said that they are worried about the impact the suicide bomb will have on relations with ordinary Kyrgyz.

“Honestly, I did not understand what the reason for this terror act was,” Malika, 23, a Uyghur working in a Bishkek market, told The Bulletin. “It’s bad that people think of Uyghurs as terrorists.”

There are more than 60,000 ethnic Uyghurs living in Kyrgyzstan, most working in trade and business. They are generally well regarded with a reputation for staying out of politics and producing good food. Many Uyghurs work in local bazaars where they sell fabrics from China.

There are also significant Uyghur communities in Kyrgyzstan’s east which borders China and in Kazakhstan.

The Chinese have blamed Uyghurs for a series of attacks in Xinjiang province over the past few years but this is the first attack against a Chinese target in Central Asia.

There have not previously been indicators that the Uyghur community in Central Asia was particularly militant and the suicide attacks appeared to have shocked and surprised them as much as they did the Kyrgyz authorities.

“Why? What is the reason for this attack? All my relatives are talking about it right now,” said Ikhtiyar, 22, with a note of exasperation.

“I do not think that attitudes to Uyghurs will be changed now. Right- minded people understand that terrorism does not have nationality.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Court charges with espionage former Kyrgyz PM’s son

SEPT. 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Bishkek sentenced Altynbek Muraliyev, son of former Kyrgyz PM Amangeldi Muraliyev, to 22 years in prison for treason and espionage, toughening its previous sentence of 12 years in prison. Muraliyev was arrested in November 2014, while attempting to flee Kyrgyzstan. The National Security Service said he had given classified information to foreign governments.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Pakistani police arrests Kazakhs

SEPT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pakistan’s police arrested two Kazakhs for violating their visa conditions, as they had overstayed their permits after joining an Islamic school linked to Tablighi Jamaat. Tablighi Jamaat is banned in Kazakhstan and considered an extremist organisation. Tablighi Jamaat schools span India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Kyrgyz court jails IS recruitors

SEPT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Kyrgyz court sentenced two women to six and seven years in prison after they tried to recruit another woman to join the IS extremist group in Syria. The prosecutor also said that the brother of one of the women was currently fighting in Syria. Kyrgyzstan and other countries in Central Asia are increasingly worried about a rise in IS recruitment in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)

Armenia’s PM resigns

SEPT. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hovik Abrahamyan resigned from his post as Armenian PM, saying that new leadership was needed to restore confidence in the government.

Local media outlets in Armenia have touted Karen Karapetyan, former mayor of Yerevan and Gazprom Armenia executive, as the potential new PM.

During his resignation speech, Mr Abrahamyan, PM since April 2014, said that Armenia needed new leadership to restore confidence.

“In order to improve the current economic and social situation, both the government and the people need to make joint efforts, and this requires new approaches and new principles,” he said.

Mr Abrahamyan may have been trying to deflect criticism from Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan. President since 2008, Mr Sargsyan’s popularity has fallen recently.

In July a group of gunmen calling for a new government captured a police station, triggering a two week standoff with security forces. Three policemen died during the capture of the police station and the subsequent standoff. Hundreds of protesters, supporting the gunmen clashed with police, during the standoff, highlighting the frustration with the government.

Armenia’s economy has flatlined and promised improvements in relations with neighbours have not materialised. In the summer of 2015, protesters clashed with police when the government tried to increase prices for electricity. In April, too, fighting broke out between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

IS promotes ex-Tajik police chief

SEPT. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gulmurod Khalimov, the former head of Tajikistan’s special police force and a US-trained sniper, was named top commander in Iraq by the extremist IS group. Khalimov defected to the IS last year. In August, the US State Department placed a reward of up to $3m for information on the location of Khalimov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Kyrgyzstan blames Uyghurs for Chinese embassy attack

BISHKEK, SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — – Kyrgyzstan’s Security Service accused Uyghur militants of organising an attack on the Chinese embassy in Bishkek in last month.

Specifically the Security Service said the Uyghur group that financed the attack was based out of Syria, suggesting a potential link with the extremist IS group.

The attacker, the only casualty of the attack, was identified as an Uyghur with a Tajik passport who was linked to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) separatist group.

Chinese officials said they were satisfied with Kyrgyzstan’s findings and that they consider militant Uyghurs, an ethnic group based mainly in China’s western region of Xinjiang province, to be a terrorist organisation.

“I want to stress that East Turkestan terrorist forces representing ETIM have planned and carried out many terrorist incidents targeting China inside and outside the country and committed bloody crimes,” Reuters reported Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying as saying.

Uyghur groups have said that they are now worried that China will use the attack in Bishkek to crackdown on Uyghurs. They say that the Chinese repress them and their culture.

There are significant Uyghur groups living in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A Canadian diplomatic report in 2012 said that 50,000 lived in Kyrgyzstan.

Last week, a suicide bomber drove a car through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek, the first direct attack against China’s diplomatic missions in Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

The Security Service said that the support network for the attacker was local, as the car belonged to an ethnic Uzbek with a Tajik passport living in Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Azerbaijani court jails two for links to IS

SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Azerbaijani sentence two men to 13 and 14-1/2 years in prison for fighting for the extremist IS group in Syria. Governments in the S.Caucasus have been clamping down on IS recruitment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

NATO conducts military exercise in Georgia

SEPT. 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A NATO-sponsored military exercise took place in Georgia, the second in four months, potentially aggravating Georgia-Russia relations. Six countries participated in the military exercises. Georgia wants to join NATO and contributed to NATO operations in Afghanistan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)

Tajik opposition leader placed on Interpol’s wanted list

SEPT. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Mukhiddin Kabiri, leader-in-exile of the banned Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), was placed on the Interpol wanted list. The Tajik government accuses Mr Kabiri of terrorism and fraud. Over the past year, it has accused the IRPT of an attempted coup previously and arrested its leaders.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 295, published on Sept. 9 2016)