Tag Archives: society

Kazakh charity sector adapts to downturn

ASTANA, JUNE 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Like other charities in Kazakhstan, the Astana-based Aspan Arystany, which translates as Celestial Lion, has had to adapt to survive a sharp economic downturn that has both reduced donations and increased demand for its services.

Importantly, this is a side of the economic downturn that the Kazakh government doesn’t particularly want you to see. Where the state is failing to provide a safety net for people during the economic downturn, the private sector has stepped in.

As a response to the economic downturn, Zhaniya Shaukenova, Aspan Arystany’s director, told the Conway Bulletin in an interview how they had developed a scheme for women to earn money through sewing.

“Our fund was hit hard by the crisis because donations, membership fees decreased and were not constant. Everybody had difficulties with finances. And then, we had an idea,” Ms Shaukenova said.

As the economy slowed down unemployment rates rose and many women, mostly mothers from socially vulnerable groups, found it difficult to financially support themselves.

And so they turned to charities like Aspan Arystany.

In January, the charity set up a new scheme called Aspan Home.

The main idea of this social entrepreneurship project is to help single mothers to earn money by sewing clothes and selling them through different fairs or local fashion shows.

Ms Shaukenova said they started slowly, initial capital was just 100, 000 tenge ($302) which grew after women proved that they could cover their costs and turn a profit. Some of the mothers were disabled, or had disabled children, so most of them work from home.

Currently, there are four mothers working in Aspan Home and they are already making money to support their families.

Roza Karayeva, a mother of four children and one of the women working in the project, said that it had helped her recover after losing her job as a Kazakh teacher.

“I was sitting home without job for one year,” she said. “I like this job, I sew many dresses and earn money.”

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

First Tajik president dies

JUNE 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Khakhar Makhkamov, who served as the first president of Tajikistan just prior to its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, died in Dushanbe aged 84. Mikhail Gorbachev, the then leader of the Soviet Union, created the post of Tajik president in 1990 and appointed Makhkamov to the role. He was ousted in August 1991 for supporting the coup by Boris Yeltsin that precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Kyrgyz court opens lawsuit against Atambayev

JUNE 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kyrgyz court opened a lawsuit against President Almazbek Atambayev, lodged by human rights activists Tolekan Ismailova and Aziza Abdyrasulova, whom Mr Atambayev had called “saboteurs” in May. Ms Ismailova and Ms Abdyrasulova want Mr Atambayev to publicly apologise and pay 2m soms ($29,300) in damages.

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(News report from Issue No. 284, published on June 10 2016)

Azerbaijani international footballer jailed over killing of journalist

MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Javid Huseynov, an international Azerbaijani football player, was sentenced to four years in jail for links to the killing of a journalist who had criticised him on social media.

The 28-year old former captain of the Gabala football team and a regular player in Azerbaijan’s national team, was found guilty of failing to inform the authorities about the planned attack on sports journalist Rasim Aliyev. The men who attacked and beat Aliyev on a street in Baku last year have already been imprisoned for his killing.

But supporters of Aliyev, who was also known for his human rights activities, said that the four year sentence for Huseynov was too light.

Arzu Geybullayeva, an Istanbul- based Azerbaijani journalist and political analyst, said the verdict was disrespectful to the family of the victim.

“Innocent people in Azerbaijan get sentenced to six, seven or eight years for nothing without any evidence and yet somehow he gets away with just four years for a crime where there is plenty of evidence,” Ms Geybullayeva told the Conway Bulletin. “I think this simply indicates how crooked and unjust our court system is and how it is also disproportionate.”

This is an issue that has been raised time and again.

Rights activists have said that the court system in Azerbaijan is geared towards helping the powerful and crushing dissenters. Europe and the United States have both criticised the authorities in Azerbaijan for previ- ously using the courts to push their agendas.

Journalists and colleagues of Aliyev also said they thought that Huseynov, who has played 42 times for Azerbaijan, scoring two goals, and is revered by many ordinary Azerbaijanis, will be released soon under one of Azerbaijan’s semi-regular amnesties.

Aliyev died of multiple injuries in hospital in August 2015, the day after he had been beaten in retaliation for a critical Facebook note he posted after Huseynov had waved a Turkish flag to incite opposition fans during a match against Apollon, a team from Cyprus which is an enemy of Turkey. Before he died, Aliyev said that he had been lured to the Baku street by Huseynov.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Editorial: Armenian genocide

JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A vote by the German parliament to recognise the killings of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide has reverberated around Europe.

Turkey, predictably, was outraged and recalled its ambassador from Berlin. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor who has come under much pressure to reduce the flow of migrants from Syria and beyond to Europe, appealed for calm. She has a vested interest, of course, as she is relying on Turkey to stem much of the migrant flow.

The decision by the German parliament to recognise the genocide, which has always been framed by Turkey as a consequence of the chaos of World War I, actually changes very little, other than affirming a major plank of Armenian foreign policy. It doesn’t change German policy towards Turkey, although it may impact the Turkish view of Germany.

What it definitely does do, though, is remind the world of the dreadful killings over 100 years ago of around 1.5m Armenians – whether you agree that this technically constitutes a genocide or not. And this is important.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Land commission dampens protests in Kazakhstan

ALMATY, JUNE 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Activists in Kazakhstan said President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s move to defer changes to the land code until next year and set up a commission to improve dialogue with ordinary people was a positive step, although frustrations over the economy still lingered.

Proposed changes to the land code, that would have given foreigners more rights to own and lease land, sparked a protest in Atyrau in April. Those protests then spread across Kazakhstan, taking on a more general anti-government flavour although the land reform issue was still a key concern.

In Kazakhstan, analysts have said, it is difficult for ordinary people to protest directly against the government. Police detained hundreds of protesters on May 21 ahead of planned anti-government demonstrations.

Instead it is easier to protest against a single issue, such as land reforms, and use this to channel grievances over a stalling economy, job losses and a currency devaluation.

At press conference in Almaty, Mukhtar Taizhan, a high profile opposition activist who has been appointed to the land reform commission, said that Kazakhstan’s society was still riven through with tension over the economy.

“The work of commission does not eliminate increasing tensions in our economy,” he said. “If we want stability, we need to change our economic politics urgently.”

Other activists interviewed by the Conway Bulletin’s Kazakhstan correspondent agreed. Saken, an activist said: “There will be no mass protests in the near future because the land commission has softened the current situation.”

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Prices to do the Hajj from Tajikistan soar

DUSHANBE, JUNE 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pious Tajiks complain that doing the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, has become prohibitively difficult because of a sharp rise in inflation, a reduction in the amount of remittances flowing into the country from Russia and an increase in surveillance by the security forces.

A Bulletin correspondent spoke to several people in Tajikistan who have cancelled plans to make the pilgrimage.

Abbos, a taxi driver, sucked in a deep breath. He squinted and exhaled with a sigh. In his late 40s, Abbos has been planning to do the Hajj this year but has had to cancel his plans.

“It is my dream to do the Hajj, but I do not have enough money this year,” he said as he left a central Dushanbe mosque. “The Hajj price tag has gone up while I have been earning less this year.”

According to Tajikistan’s Committee on Religious Affairs, the price of going to Mecca — including flights, accommodation and living expenses — is now around 28,649 somoni (roughly $3,500). This is nearly 20% more expensive than last year.

Like the rest of the region, Tajikistan has been dealing with an economic fallout linked to a recession in Russia. All important remittance flows have dropped by around 45% while the value of the somoni currency has fallen and inflation has risen. And there is also the surveillance. The Tajik government has grown increasingly wary of pious Tajiks. Last year it banned the opposition Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan, imposed various restrictions on people who frequent mosques and set a minimum age requirement of 40 for men who want to go on the Hajj.

So, for some, the route to Mecca lies elsewhere. Isroil, a 35-year-old man has a game plan. “I want to go from Russia as it is cheaper and has no age limits,” he said. “I’m not able to wait five more years because it is becoming more expensive in Tajikistan.”

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Pro-government protesters target US consulate in Kazakh city

ALMATY, MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Roughly two dozen people protested in front of the US consulate in Almaty against what they said was the influence of foreign governments in demonstrations across Kazakhstan since April.

Most of the people at the protest were the same protagonists who had staged demonstrations against banks earlier in the year. The impression was that a group with close links to the authorities had organised the protest to show support for the government. And in contrast to anti- government protests on May 21, police didn’t intervene.

Zhanna Sadykova, a leader of the so-called Give People Housing movement, said one of the demonstrators’ targets were protests against the Kazakh government in the US last week.

“Those who protested in US cities are not citizens of our country and therefore have no right to interfere with our internal policies,” she said.

The protests that have swept Kazakhstan since April have been unprecedented. What started as an isolated protest against land reforms has morphed into a general gripe against the government and the country’s stagnating economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Uzbek officials remove satellite dishes

MAY 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek authorities have removed dozens of satellite dishes from homes on Prospekt Kosmonavtov, a main road in Tashkent which runs down to the official residence of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. The website El Tuz, based outside Uzbekistan, said the action was connected to a face-lift for the capital city ahead of the upcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

A group attacks vegan restaurant in Georgia

MAY 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A group of unidentified people threw pork sausages at customers dining at Kiwi, a vegan cafe in Tbilisi, an attack that the owners of the Georgian restaurant attributed to a neo-Nazi group. Police arrived to the scene after the brawl had ended and no arrests were made. Conservative Georgians are opposed to alternative lifestyles and progressive causes espoused by shops like Kiwi.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)