Tag Archives: society

Editorial: Gay rights in Armenia and Azerbaijan

MAY 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A report by the lobby group IGLA-Europe makes for discouraging reading. Propping up the league table on gay, lesbian and transgender rights in 49 countries across Europe and its near abroad are Azerbaijan and Armenia, split by Russia.

They scored 5% and 7%. Above them, halfway up the table, was Georgia with 30%. The fine-print said that the report was primarily concerned with the legal framework established in each country to allow gays, lesbians and transgender people the same rights and protections as everybody else.

The IGLA’s assessment, in Armenia and Azerbaijan at least, was that this appears to be near zero.

And this is reflected in news reports of attacks on homosexuals and other minorities in Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Importantly, though, it is not just people with different sexual orienta- tions who are potential targets in these countries. The same group-think extends towards opposition activists, overly pious Muslims and journalists. They are all marginalised. This whole mentality needs changing.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Kazakh PM approves land reform commission

MAY 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh PM Karim Massimov approved the members of a newly- established commission that will discuss reform of the land code. Bakhtyzhan Sagintayev, vice PM will head the commission which includes politicians, businessmen and members of civil society. The proposed amendments to the land code triggered weeks of protests throughout Kazakhstan and forced Pres. Nursultan Nazarbayev to delay introducing them.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Kazakhstan announces plans on green energy

MAY 10 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a statement to the UN, Kazakhstan announced plans to generate 50% of its electricity from alternative energy sources by 2050. This is an ambitious target. In 2014, renewable sources accounted for just 0.5% of production. The Kazakh government often lays out grandiose plans for its economic development. Green energy is the dominant theme of EXPO 2017, a major exhibition scheduled for next year in Astana.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 280, published on May 13 2016)

Editorial: Uzbek state salaries

MAY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Paying salaries on time to its armies of state employees is one of the Uzbek government’s central tasks. If it doesn’t, it means there are some serious cracks in the system.

According to news reports, arrears for salaries in Uzbekistan now extend to a couple of months for teachers in schools and colleges.

There is a heavy economic crisis blowing through Central Asia and the South Caucasus, but where is the government’s money in Uzbekistan?

Some sources say it is being funnelled into short-term construction and renovation projects ahead of the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation coming up in June.

Last year, a leaked letter sent from the Central Bank said that the budget was short of around $620m.

Reports from Turkmenistan, another reclusive country, said that the government had been paying salaries in kind or with vouchers to some of its employees for months.

These are tough times for many Central Asians.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Editorial: Nazarbayev and protests

MAY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a choreographed government meeting, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev blamed everyone but himself for the turmoil that proposed amendments to the land code have brought to the country.

The presidential press service posted parts of the government meeting on Facebook showing an angry Mr Nazarbayev.

He dressed down the ministers of economy and agriculture for having failed to explain the land reform to the population. With a patronising tone, Mr Nazarbayev said the population had been unable to understand the reform and needed to be spoon-fed details.

Once more, Mr Nazarbayev wanted to portray himself as the strong leader, the one who understands the people.

Nobody should be fooled. These were, and still are, Mr Nazarbayev’s reforms.

Everyone in Kazakhstan knows that for a bill to pass, especially an important one such as the land code, Mr Nazarbayev’s input is crucial.

He misjudged the appetite of the people to accept the land reforms.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Armenia to debate status of Nagorno-Karabakh

May 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government sent a bill proposing the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country to parliament, teeing up another flashpoint with Azerbaijan over the disputed region.

This is the first time that the parliament will formally debate the status of Nagorno-Karabakh even though it has been run by Armenia- backed forces since a UN-brokered ceasefire was imposed in 1994.

Last month the worst fighting in two decades broke out around Nagorno-Karabakh, killing several dozen people and alarming the international community.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Workers complain in Kazakhstan

MAY 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A union of metal workers at the ArcelorMittal Temirtau factory in central Kazakhstan said it would appeal to the Prosecutor General against the company’s plans to cut benefits and, ultimately, lay off workers. According to Zhaktau, the union, several workers have had their full-time contract changed into freelance project work. The union also said the company plans to sack 700 workers by the end of the year. ArcelorMittal Temirtau did not comment.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Georgia criticises UEFA

MAY 3 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s football association said it was disappointed that UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, voted to allow Kosovo, a Balkan country that broke away from Serbia in 2008, to become its 55th member. For Georgia, the issue of breakaway states being given any recognition is a sensitive one. It has two breakaway states — South Ossetia and Abkhazia — which are supported by Russia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Kazakh President scraps land reforms after protests spread

MAY 5 2016, ALMATY (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev bowed to public pressure and agreed to scrap unpopular land reforms which had sparked protests across the country.

Four days earlier, in a speech broadcast on national television, Mr Nazarbayev appeared determined to see off protests which had spread from Atyrau in west Kazakhstan, to Semey in the east and Kyzylorda in the south. He described the protesters as saboteurs who risked wrecking the country.

But with more protests planned, a clearly shaken Mr Nazarbayev told his government on Thursday that the plans would be delayed from their initial introduction on July 1 until the start of next year and, even then, only if the public agreed with the plans.

“The mechanisms and rules of the adopted law were not widely discussed with the public. The anxiety and concerns of the people are justified in many ways,” he said, according to a video posted on Facebook by his press office.

Analysts will either interpret this climb down as a humiliation for the 75-year-old leader who some say is increasingly out of touch with ordinary Kazakhs as they grapple with the frustrations of an economic downturn, or they will describe it as a masterstroke by an experienced leader able to paint himself as The- Father-of-the-People.

Certainly, Mr Nazarbayev was quick to blame others for the debacle.

He specifically said that economy minister Yerbolat Dossayev and agriculture minister Asylzhan Mamytbekov had failed to fulfil their brief.

“It should have been explained to the population that didn’t understand that there was no talk of any sale of our agricultural lands,” he said. “This means we failed to explain this point and to target those parts of the population which were concerned.”

Mr Dossayev resigned immediately and Mr Mamytbekov, the following day.

On the streets of Almaty it was easy to find people who were against the prospect of land reforms. “Renting land is wrong. Just wrong. It is the blood and sweat of our ancestors,” said Daniyar, a student.

By contrast, it wasn’t possible to find anybody who supported the proposed land reforms.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Turkmenistan’s economy needs reforming, says IMF

MAY 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan must push through more structural reforms of Soviet era policies and characteristics still embedded in its economy if it is to navigate its way through an economic storm that has hit the region, the IMF said after a mission to Ashgabat.

Turkmenistan’s economy grew 6.5% last year, the IMF said, but there is likely to be a slowdown in 2016 because its economy it too tightly linked to gas.

“2016 could see another slight slowdown in growth on the back of a broadly stagnant hydrocarbon economy and slowing (albeit still massive) investment,” the IMF said in a statement.

In its assessment, the IMF praised austerity measures taken by the government over the past 18 months to counter the impact of the economic downturn. In particular, it praised the devaluation of the manat currency and the decision to phase out subsidies to the population.

“A fundamental re-orientation of the economy through a further acceleration of wide-ranging structural reforms, including in the areas of business climate and governance, as well as market-driven diversification, offers the best way to boost future growth rates,” the IMF said.

Turkmenistan devalued its manat currency by 19% on New Year’s Day 2015, its first currency devaluation for seven years and this year it said that it would scrap much cherished state subsidies of utilities.

Both policy moves were designed to bolster Turkmenistan’s listing economy.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)