Tag Archives: security

Turkmenistan calls up reservists

>>Website says officers have been sent to training camps>>

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Increasingly worried by the threat from the Taliban over the border in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan is calling up more and more of its young men for military training.

The chrono-tm.org website reported that officers who form part of the reverse army have been sent on three month long training camps.

This is important because it is more incremental evidence from Turkmenistan, notoriously closed to outsiders, that it is worried about the Taliban. Last year Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his army to build defence positions inside Afghanistan after a series of attacks on Turkmenistan’s border posts killed several soldiers.

Since then, he has also tried to coordinate a joint strategy to defend Central Asia’s border with Uzbek president Islam Karimov. This sort of bilateral military alliance is virtually unheard of in Central Asia’s fractious neighbourhood.

“These actions on the urgent increase in size and readiness of the Turkmen army demonstrate serious concern the authorities hold on the potential threat from neighbouring Afghanistan and the tension on the Turkmen-Afghan border,” the website reported.

The problem for Central Asian governments is that NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan has created a security void. They have said that they worry the Taliban will look to expand into Central Asia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Azerbaijan imprisons two for spying

FEB. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan jailed two men for spying for Iran, media reported, potentially ramping up tension with its neighbour. Investigators said the two men worked with Iranian intelligence offices in 2013. Relations between the two countries had been dire but have improved over the past year.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Three die around Nagorno-Karabakh

FEB. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Three more people — an Armenian civilian, an Armenian solider and an Azerbaijani soldier — have died in sporadic fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, media reported quoting the Armenian defence ministry. Observers have urged calm but tension has increased.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kazakh villagers attack Tajiks

>>Clashes breakout after Tajik is accused of murder>>

FEB. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — A group of Kazakhs attacked Tajik homes in a village near Kazakhstan’s border with Uzbekistan.

The police had earlier accused Navmidin Narmetov, a Tajik, of killing Bakytzhan Artykov, a Kazakh in the village of Bostandyk, 150km south of the regional capital, Shymkent.

Friends and family members of the victim converged on the Tajiks’ homes, burning cars, attacking the Tajik-language school and shouting: “Go home!”.

A state of emergency was briefly proclaimed by the ministry of interior. In the southern region, internet connections and cell phone reception were frozen for days after the attacks. Online news reports, both in Russian and in English were censored across the country.

The alleged murderer was caught in Uzbekistan.

Inter-ethnic harmony is a particularly sensitive issue in Kazakhstan. President Nursultan Nazarbayev has often spoken on the topic and in 2011, rioting oil workers in west Kazakhstan clashed with police. Several people died triggering the most serious crisis of Mr Nazarbayev’s presidency.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kazakh orders new fighter planes

FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan will buy several Russian-made Sukhoi SU-30SM fighter jets to rebuild its Soviet-era air force, media reported quoting the commander of the Kazakh Air Force Major General Nurlan Ormanbetov. The order highlights Kazakhstan close links with Russia and also its determination to re-build its military.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kazakh military exercises with the US

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Despite an antagonistic stand-off between Washington and the Kremlin over the civil war in Ukraine, media reported that Kazakhstan has organised a military exercise with the US. The US has held military exercises with Kazakhstan for several years. Kazakhstan is also a close ally of Russia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kyrgyz police arrest extremists

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Kyrgyzstan said they had arrested several members of the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir in a number of coordinated raids across the country, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Kyrgyzstan is increasingly worried about Islamic extremists’ recruitment drive in the country.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Tajik doctor released in Yemen

FEB. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tribesmen in Yemen have released a Tajik doctor they kidnapped in October, media reported. Gulrukhsor Rofieyva, 36, was working for a Russian company when she was kidnapped. It’s unclear why her captors released her but they had demanded the release of tribesmen held by the government.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Putin ratifies alliance with Abkhazia

FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russian president Vladimir Putin ratified Russia’s alliance with Abkhazia, a Georgian rebel region. The strategic alliance, which has been criticised by Georgia, means Russia will likely send more military kit to Abkhazia.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)

Kyrgyzstan detains Uzbeks on border

FEB. 4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan detained four Uzbek nationals on their shared border, media reported. Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have been strained over the last few years by rows over border rights and hydro-electric dams. The rows have the potential to destabilise the region.
ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 218, published on Feb. 11 2015)