DEC. 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree to create two new security agencies, the State Security Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service, and disband the National Security Ministry. Earlier this year, Mr Aliyev sacked Eldar Mahmudov as national security minister. The next day police arrested several ministry officials.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Defence ministers from Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia met up in Istanbul for their regular twice yearly meeting. Although no policy statements were made the meeting is significant for its timing. Turkey is looking for allies to bolster it in its row with Russia, triggered when one of its warplanes shot down a Russian fighter-jet over Syria last month.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The German military closed its base at Termez, Uzbekistan, near the border with Afghanistan. Rent costs for the base had increased to €16m ($17.3m) per year, up from €2.9m ($3.15m) per year in 2002. Germany had used the base as part of a logistics route into Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met in Bern to discuss peace plans for the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, their first meeting since 2014. There was no sign of any tangible progress from the Bern talks.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police have detained the family of Muhiddin Kabiri, the fugitive leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), media reported. The IRPT had been Tajikistan’s main opposition group until it was outlawed. Most of its leaders have been arrested. Mr Kabiri, though, is on the run.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kazakh ambassador to Singapore, Yerlan Baudarbek-Kozhatayev, put out a statement denying reports in Malaysia’s media that the Islamic extremist group IS had established a training map for children in Kazakhstan. Malaysian media had been quoting Malaysia’s counter- terrorism chief.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) cut funding for a railway project that would have linked Tajikistan and Turkmenistan via Afghanistan because of a deterio- ration in security.
The decision will be a blow to various infrastructure projects in Central Asia that involve Afghanistan, including the high profile TAPI gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to India and the CASA-1000 power transmission route running from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan.
“Although Turkmenistan has completed construction of its section of the railway, we would not like to construct a railway where security is not guaranteed. It’s very risky,” ADB’s country director C.C.Yu told media.
This year, the Taliban has increased its attacks in northern Afghanistan, at one point capturing the town of Kunduz near Tajikistan. Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have all warned that security is worsening although, previously, infrastructure projects have not been postponed or delayed.
The railway route in question was supposed to run over 440km and bypass Uzbekistan, often considered a troublesome neighbour by Tajikistan in particular and Turkmenistan to a lesser extent.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s navy has test fired for the first time an anti-aircraft missile from one of its warships in the Caspian Sea, eurasianet.org reported. Caspian Sea littoral states have been increasing their naval presence and armaments in the Caspian Sea over the past few years.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in south-west Tajikistan has sentenced seven people, including three under the age of 18, to jail for raising a flag in support of the radical IS group, RFE/RL reported. Tajikistan is concerned about IS recruitment. The seven people received jail sentences of 7 to 27 years.
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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s ministry of defence complained to Russia that one of its helicopters had flown into its air- space without permission. The complaint heightens tension between Russia and Georgia. Relations have improved between the two neighbours since a war in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)