JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon signed a decree forcing all internet traffic into Tajikistan to pass through a single entry point controlled by state-run Tajiktelecom, media reported. The authorities in Tajikistan regularly turn off access to social media websites which they say are being used by Islamic radicals to infiltrate Tajik society.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In 2015, officials in Tajikistan shaved off beards on nearly 13,000 men, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported quoting a police press conference. The police described the purge as a war against excessive Islamic influences in the country. Tajikistan has said constantly over the past few years that Islamic radicals pose a real threat to its security. Rights activists have said this is simply another way of imposing control.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Two Georgian nationals from the Pankisi Gorge in the north of the country have died in Syria fighting for the Islamic radical group IS, media reported quoting intelligence services. The Pankisi Gorge is a predominantly Muslim enclave. Georgia’s security forces have said that at least 50 men from the Pankisi Gorge have joined IS in Syria.
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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)
JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan detained at least 50 people during a police operation in the district of Nardaran, 30km outside Baku, a follow-up to police raids on so-called Islamic terrorists last year that killed at least eight people. Nardaran is considered one of the most religiously conservative areas of Azerbaijan with many people living there looking to Iran for support and guidance. Azerbaijan is, officially, a secular country.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian security forces arrested three men for stealing Cesium-137, media reported, a highly radioactive substance that can be used to create a so-called dirty bomb. Reports gave little information on the arrests other than appearing to confirm that all three men were Georgian nationals. Security forces have previously arrested people in Tbilisi for stealing and trying to sell Cesium-137.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz soldiers accused Uzbekistan of shelling their positions around the border in the south of the country, media reported. Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan often trade barbed comments and accuse each other of infringing one another’s territory around their shared border areas. Analysts have said these disputes could destabilise the region.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 11 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-terrorist operations by Pakistan’s military along its border with Afghanistan have pushed Islamist fighters north, increasing the threat posed by the Taliban to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said.
The ICG said these battle-hardened radicals had played a key role in briefly capturing Kunduz, on the border with Tajikistan, last year.
“Insecurity in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, including Taliban control of districts across from Tajikistan, has increased pressure, with risk that battle-experienced Islamic militants could link up with even small numbers of potential allies inside the country,” ICG wrote.
The ICG is an influential voice. Its report sides with Russia’s analysis that stability along Central Asia’s southern border has worsened.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia held a military exercise in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia involving 2,000 soldiers and artillery, a show of force designed to remind Georgia just how heavily armed the rebel region is. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over South Ossetia in 2008. Russia and a handful of its allies have since recognised its independence but the international community still considers South Ossetia as part of Georgia.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Iran’s parliament ratified a security deal with Tajikistan despite a row over an invitation to a Tajik opposition leader to visit Tehran that dented relations between the two countries earlier this month. Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani had agreed the security deal in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)
DEC. 29 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin)– Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Muhiddin Kabiri, the exiled head of Tajikistan’s now-banned main opposition party, in Tehran, immediately drawing threats from Tajik officials that the meeting would damage bilateral relations.
The major show of support from Iran for Mr Kabiri, who is wanted by police in Tajikistan to face various terrorism charges, and his Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) is a poke in the eye for Dushanbe, officially a secular country.
Tajikistan and Iran have traditionally close relations, sharing many similar cultural, religious and ethnic identifiers. Iran has also been a major sponsor of essential hydropower infrastructure in Tajikistan.
The Tajik foreign ministry sent a note to the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe which said: “Such an attitude to the enemies of the state and the people of Tajikistan can have a negative impact on the friendly relations between Tajikistan and Iran.”
In September, Tajikistan banned the IRPT, once Tajikistan’s main opposition party, and accused its members of supporting radical Islam and terrorism.
Mr Kabiri, who fled into exile, and his supporters have accused the Tajik government of crushing dissent.
In Dushanbe, an analyst who preferred to remain anonymous told The Conway Bulletin that Mr Kabiri was taking a gamble by appearing in Tehran.
“For Kabiri and the IRPT, after having no support at all from the West, Iran was the last chance to stay in the political arena,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)