SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government denied media reports that it had offered to host a training camp for Syrian rebels fighting both Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the extremist group Islamic State. Georgia has been keen to prove its credentials as an ally of the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 200 Tajiks are fighting in Syria and Iraq for the extremist group Islamic State, President Emomali Rakhmon said according to media. Mr Rakhmon has long said he is facing pressure from Islamic extremist recruits who are attracting disaffected young Tajiks.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan said they have arrested 26 people who had been fighting for the extremist Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. Azerbaijan has also said that over 100 of its nationals have been killed fighting for IS.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen forces have crossed into Afghanistan and built up defensive positions to stop Taliban forces raiding across its border, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and other media have reported.
Taliban forces have attacked several Turkmen military outposts this year, killing soldiers. Turkmenistan’s defence minister has flown to Kabul for talks with his Afghan opposite number on the situation but the attacks have continued. Any troop movement over the border is likely to be a response to these attacks.
“The Turkmenistanis came here, dug trenches, set up wire fences,” one resident told RFE/RL according to the Eurasianet website.
“No one asked them what they were doing here. The trenches they dug are 4m wide and 5m deep. Besides that, in the same place they are paving a road.”
Importantly, eyewitnesses didn’t distinguish whether the apparent Turkmen forces which have crossed the border are official military or one of the numerous militia forces that populate the border zones.
The troop movement hasn’t been confirmed by either Turkmenistan or Afghanistan.
Central Asian countries have said that they are increasingly worried about the march northward of the Taliban after the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT.13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Other than providing a forum for bilateral get-togethers and photoshoots it is difficult to see what makes the Shanghai Cooperation multilateral.
To much fanfare, the six members plus observers of the organisation met in Dushanbe, releasing what can only be described as a nondescript Dushanbe Declaration at the closing of the summit.
Containing both Russia and China, the SCO remains the most notable intergovernmental organisation in the region but places no binds on members, several of whom have significant bilateral tensions with one another.
Outcomes of the 13th summit are open to interpretation. The Dushanbe declaration’s blanket statement supporting “continued negotiations” to achieve peace in Ukraine was presented by Russian media as support for Moscow’s controversial policies in the civil war, despite the organisation’s general opposition to separatism.
Neither Pakistan, who Beijing favours as a member, or India, who Russia favours, were admitted to the club, although this may happen in the SCO’s 14th summit held in Ufa, Russia, next year. Islamabad and New Delhi’s rivalry may add further complication within the organisation’s disunited membership.
One big disappointment was that bilateral meetings in the summit’s backdrop failed to resolve Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s border conflict, or the long-standing tensions between Dushanbe and Tashkent.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon visited Baku for a two day trip aimed at bolster military ties and trade.
This was the first trip by an Israeli defence minister to Azerbaijan for 22 years, media reported.
“I’m happy to be hosted here in the first historic visit by an Israeli defense minister to Azerbaijan,” Mr Ya’alon said.
“We have bilateral strategic relations and cooperation in different areas.”
Azerbaijan has become an unlikely ally for Israel over the past few years. For Azerbaijan the attraction is two-fold. It wants to buy military equipment that Israel produces to bolster its own military and it wants Israel as an energy client.
For Israel, the attraction is mainly military. A couple of years ago it emerged that Israel had drawn up contingency plans to set up a forward airbase in Azerbaijan if war ever broke out with Iran. Israel and Iran are sworn enemies. Azerbaijan lies next to Iran.
Last month Iranian media said that Iran had shot down an Israeli drone that had taken off from an airbase in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan’s situation has grown slightly more complicated over the past year as ties with Iran have improved. Its links with Israel, though, appear solid.
SEPT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan started a week-long military exercise with its closest ally Turkey. The military exercise acted as a major show of force by Azerbaijan which is still officially at war with neighbouring Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s deputy General- Prosecutor Andrei Kravchenko has said he wants CCTV installed more widely in public areas, media reported. Kazakhstan is increasingly worried about home- grown Islamic extremists and may be looking for ways to monitor them.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Ashgabat, the Turkmen and Iranian defence ministers, declared that they would boost cooperation between the two countries. Perhaps most important when considering Turkmenistan-Iran military cooperation is the issue of the Caspian Sea which they border.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.16 2014)
SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – South African parliamentarians have questioned why its government sold 50 sniper rifles to Turkmenistan earlier this year, media reported. Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier reportedly quoted from a Human Rights Watch report calling Turkmenistan one of the most repressive countries in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 199, published on Sept. 10 2014)