Tag Archives: security

South Ossetia’s demographic decline

ZGUBIR/Georgia, FEB. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) —- Vera, a 70-year old widow, lives with her jobless, unmarried son in the small mountain hamlet of Zgubir, ten miles north of Tskhinvali, the capital of the Georgian rebel region of South Ossetia.

In 2008 South Ossetia was the poster-boy of rebel regions of the former Soviet Union. With the help of Russian forces it had just defeated Georgia in a war and declared independence.

The future for South Ossetia was, back then, bright. Now, though, nearly seven years later and with the world’s gaze fixed on separatist fighting in eastern Ukraine it looks different.

“Nationalism brought us only war and destruction and this hard-won independence condemned this land to isolation,” Vera said.

South Ossetia may have won its independence but it has lost its people. According to Russian data, 52,000 people live in South Ossetia, compared to 100,000 in Soviet times and 70,000 in 2007.

Most of the people living in Tshkinvali have fled to Russia to escape the war and search for a new life. Those who stayed were unable to emigrate. Apart from bored Russian soldiers, local militiamen and a few government officials, most inhabitants appeared to be lonely elders and alcoholic single men.

Vera is one among those who stayed.

“I grew up all my life in a country where it didn’t matter whether you were Ossetian, Georgian, Russian, or Jewish. We were all Soviets and we knew only one flag, only one army,” she said.

The unemployment rate, the demographic outflow and the almost complete lack of public investments are bleak for South Ossetia, leaving Vera and others with ever more romanticised, glorious memories of the Soviet era.
By Gianluca Pardelli

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Nov. 22 2010)

Russia to strengthen Kyrgyz military base

FEB. 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s military will equip its Kant airbase in Kyrgyzstan with up-to-date fighter-jets, media quoted Colonel Jaroslav Roschupkin, a Russian army spokesman, as saying. Russia has, generally, been looking to beef up its military deployments in Central Asia, especially at the Kant airbase.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Two men jailed in Kazakhstan for IS link

FEB. 20 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in the central Kazakh town of Temirtau sentenced two men to eight and 11 years in prison for links to radical Islam and plotting a series of attacks. One of the men, prosecutors said, tried to recruit people to head out to join the extremist IS group in Syria.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 220, published on Feb. 25 2015)

Turkmenistan offers to host Afghan peace talks

MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – Turkmenistan has offered to host talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government, Pakistan’s Express Tribune newspaper reported. Sapar Berdiniyazov, a senior Turkmen diplomat, said: “If the Afghan parties ask us, Turkmenistan is available as a venue for the talks.” If Ashagbat did ever host peace talks it would significantly raise its international profile.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)

Kyrgyzstan stops more IS recruitment

FEB. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s security services have uncovered 30 more attempts by the radical group IS to recruit young disaffected Kyrgyz men for their army in Syria, the US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported quoting the government. The authorities also said an imam at a large mosque had been arrested for supporting IS.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

US mission to the S.Caucasus

FEB. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is due to travel to Yerevan and Baku over the next few days to discuss their relations with Washington and how to reduce rising tension along the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Ms Nuland’s trip is part of a wider South Caucasus mission.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Tajikistan imprisons extremist recruiters

FEB. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Tajikistan has sentenced 13 members of a group linked to the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) to jail for 9-12 years for trying to recruit young men to travel to Syria to fight for the extremist organisation IS, media reported.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Armenia drops Turkey deal

>>Peace accords had been in front of parliament>>

FEB. 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan withdrew a series of peace accords relating to the country’s long-running dispute with Turkey.

The move is a major setback for the region as the Armenia-Turkey spat is a hindrance to improved ties and trade with Europe. The two countries’ argue about the alleged mass killings by Turkish Ottoman soldiers of Armenians who were fleeing their land around Lake Van in the east of Turkey.

Mr Sargsyan blamed Turkey for the cancellation.

“We were ready for a fully-fledged settlement in our relations with Turkey by ratifying these protocols, but we were also ready for failure,” media quoted him as saying.

The two countries signed declarations in 2009 to establish diplomatic relations and open a land border.

The problem is that neither the Turkish nor the Armenian parliaments have approved the deals. Nationalists on both sides have instead slowed progress and frustrated efforts.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Turkmenistan releases Iranian prisoners

FEB. 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has pardoned 10 Iranian prisoners, Iran’s media reported. This is significant as the state-controlled Tehran Times described the release as part of a move by Turkmenistan to improve ties.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)

Tbilisi official arrested

FEB. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Georgian interior ministry said it arrested Jokia Bodokia, a senior official in the Tbilisi city government, for taking a bribe. PM Irakli Garibashvili has said that he wants to make wiping out corruption a priority. Opposition said he is using the purge to attack his enemies.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 219, published on Feb. 18 2015)