Tag Archives: society

Kazakhstan sets up prison units to tackle extremism

JUNE 13 2017 (The Bulletin) — Appearing to acknowledge that prisons had become a breeding ground for radical Islam, Kazakh officials said that they were going to set up a unit that would specifically look to counter the radicalisation of inmates. Commentators have previously criticised the Kazakh prison service for the poor conditions of its facilities and the ease that radical Islamic recruiters are able to turn previously moderate Muslims into extremists.

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(News report from Issue No. 333, published on June 19 2017)

Turkmen Pres. Berdymukhamedov cuts subsidies to save money

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JUNE 6 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered his government to scrap all subsidies on household utilities, immediately drawing accusations that he was losing control of the economy.

In a surprise statement, the presidential press service said that Mr Berdymukhamedov had ordered parliament to cut the Soviet-era subsidies because they were “ineffective”.

Quoting official news sources, news agencies said that Mr Berdymukhamedov had ordered his government to cancel all subsidies except “for the most needy”.

Turkmenistan’s economy has been strained for the past three years, ever since energy prices started to collapse, and commentators said that a lack of funds and not any root and branch change of economic strategy was behind the move.

Turkmenistan holds the world’s fourth largest gas reserves. The vast majority of its foreign earnings come from selling this gas, mainly to China. The drop in gas prices has hit this income stream hard and although Mr Berdymukhamedov has never admitted as such, it has dented the economy. In 2015, the Turkmen currency was devalued by a third.

At the start of this year, Turkmenistan accused Iran of not settling a debt that it said it was still and in the last few months Mr Berdymukhamedov has embarked on a series cabinet reshuffles and sackings that analysts said hinted at panic and frustration over the economic turmoil.

Under Mr Berdymukhamedov, state subsidies in Turkmenistan have gradually been eroded. The subsidies have their roots in the Soviet Union which made a point of giving electricity, heating and water virtually away for free.

Turkmenistan is trying to extend its energy customer base to India and Pakistan via the so-called TAPI pipeline, and also to negotiate a way to sell gas to Europe via the South Caucasus energy corridor.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

400 people protest in Uzbekistan’s largest demonstration for 12 years

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TASHKENT, JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — An estimated 400 people protested in Tashkent against police inaction over the murder of a 17-year-old student, the largest demonstration in Uzbekistan against the authorities for 12 years.

Under former leader Islam Karimov the authorities in Uzbekistan cracked down hard on public gatherings, essentially banning them. A Bulletin correspondent in Tashkent said this was the largest demonstration in Uzbekistan since the army shot dead several hundred people in the town of Andijan in 2005.

Activists said that the protest in Dostyk Square had been planned after 19,000 people signed an online petition calling on the authorities to investigate the death of Jasurbek Ibraghimov. He was beaten at his university in Tashkent at the start of May and died in hospital on June 1. The police had declined to investigate but after the public outcry changed their mind.

“We came to the park at 10am (0400GMT). There were 15 to 20 of us. The police tried to disperse us but after more and more people started coming they stopped interrupting the protest,” one activist said.

Another explained that the protest represented not just the need to investigate the death of Ibraghimov properly but also the pent up frustration felt by young Uzbeks. Many of the protesters were young, in their 20s, and savvy users of Facebook and other forms of social media.

“The protest was not spontaneous, it had deep roots. The unrest against corruption and injustice had been roaring like an enraged lion in people’s hearts until Jasur’s death,” said Anvar, a civil activist who agreed to be named. “The death of Jasur broke the silence. People took the park both to mourn the teen’s death and to say enough to social injustice and corrupt systems.”

Since taking over as leader in September 2017, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has talked of opening the country to investors and generating more personal freedoms, but commentators were taken by surprise by the spontaneous demonstration and the authorities’, relatively, relaxed attitude towards it. The protest also highlights just how powerful social media is becoming. The security forces monitor the internet but the sheer number of apps and internet variants and their increased user numbers makes it difficult to cover.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Turkmenistan has imprisoned Gulenists, says HRW

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JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — The New York-based Human Rights Watch accused the Turkmen government of illegally detaining and imprisoning 18 men allegedly linked to the Gulen network that Turkish President Recep Erdogan accuses of plotting a coup.

In its report, Human Rights Watch said that the men were part of a group of 100 men arrested in September and October last year after a request from Turkey.

“The men’s families found out about the arrests in Turkmenistan only through unofficial contacts. They were allowed no contact with their loved ones until after the trial, which was closed and held at the pretrial detention centre. Four state- appointed lawyers served as the men’s defence counsel,” HRW said in its press release.

In Turkey, the security forces have rounded up thousands of supporters of the exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen. In Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Turkey has asked the authorities to detain and deport people linked to Gulen, mainly in the education sector.

Gulenists travelled to these newly independent former Soviet republics in the 1990s and set up what are now some of the region’s best-regarded universities and schools.

Human Rights Watch said it had seen a summary of the verdict handed out to the men which said that the court had found them guilty of offences linked to the incitement of social, ethnic and religious hatred and also involvement in criminal organisations.

Turkmenistan has one of the worst records for human rights and free speech and is considered a secretive, closed-off country. It has not commented on the Human Rights Watch allegations.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Georgians march for rapper arrested with drugs

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JUNE 11 2017 (The Bulletin) — Hundreds of people in Batumi and Tbilisi protested against the detention of 21-year-old rapper Giorgi Keburia, also known by his stage name as Kay-G, for carrying ecstasy tablets. His supporters said that the drugs had been planted on the rapper in retaliation for mocking police in a recent music video. The demonstrations highlight the increasingly vocal drug legalisation lobby in Georgia.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Georgia to ban foreign farm ownership

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JUNE 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Georgia prepared to ban foreigners from owning agricultural land, another marker in a long-running debate over just how much of Georgia’s farmland to allow foreigners to buy. Former President Mikheil Saakashvili had promoted Georgia as a place for foreigners to set up farms, encouraging both South Africans and Indians to move to Georgia until a popular backlash forced him to abandon the policy. Now, media reports that the ruling Georgian Dream coalition government is preparing to tweak the constitution to limit foreign ownership.

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(News report from Issue No. 332, published on June 12 2017)

Mkhitaryan receives award from Armenia

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MAY 28 2017 (The Bulletin) — Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the Manchester United footballer, received Armenia’s highest order for “Services to Motherland” at a ceremony presided over by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Mr Mkhitaryan who has played for Manchester United for one season is arguably the world’s best-known Armenian. He is certainly the best footballer Armenia has produced and is the first Armenian to play in the English Premier League.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Kyrgyz police detain protesters

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JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Bishkek started chopping down several dozen trees in the city centre to ease congestion, despite complaints from local residents. Several residents tried to stop workmen from cutting down the trees by standing in front of them or lying in the road. Police intervened, detaining protesters. The row encapsulates the tension across the region between residents who want to protect trees and parks, and developers and the authorities who often want to demolish green spaces for building projects that they say are necessary.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Georgia to ban smoking, tighten cigarette packaging from 2018

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TBILISI, MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tough new smoking laws will bring Georgian legislation in line with guidelines included in a trade and association agreement that Georgia signed with the EU this year, said Georgia’s public ombudsman.

The bill, approved by parliament on May 17, will impose tighter rules on cigarette packaging and advertising, as well as a blanket ban on smoking inside public buildings.

Georgia has been slower than its neighbours in following a global trend to clampdown on smoking, partially because restrictions are so unpopular among Georgia’s heavy- smoking population. The World Health Organisation said more than half of all Georgian men smoke and between 9,000 to 11,000 die from smoking-related diseases each year.

Georgia’s ombudsman praised the new regulations as a step towards improving public health and said it “ brought the applicable tobacco legislation in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the recommendations and the directives of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement”.

Smoking in Georgia is currently banned only in medical facilities, educational institutions and public transport. Most bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants allow smoking.

Dato Zaaliasvhili, the manager of Cafe Kala, a modern cafe, said that his business will not suffer.

“We have implemented a non-smoking policy in our cafe already and clients’ reaction have not been bad. Our businesses will not be negatively affected by the new legislation”, he said.

But Nato, the manager of the more traditional Old Keria, disagreed.

“The vast majority of our customers smoke,” she said. “This will badly affect my business.”

The new packaging regulations will be imposed from January 2018 and the ban on smoking in public buildings a few months later.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)

Uzbekistan prepares metro rail plan

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MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan plans to start building a metropolitan rail system around Tashkent, media reported. Reports said that the cost of the $320m project would be split between the government ($185m), the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan ($20m) and China’s Exim Bank ($115m). Since becoming president in Sept. last year, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has placed major emphasis on infrastructure development.

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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)