OCT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s parliament voted to pass a law that bans so-called gay propaganda, seemingly playing to Russia which has passed a similar law already and against the United States which called the new legislation an attack on democracy. Kyrgyzstan is increasingly leaning towards Russia in world affairs.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A series of murders of women by their husbands or ex-husbands in Georgia has triggered the government into action, the civil.ge website reported. The website said 20 women have been murdered this year. The government has pledged tough action on domestic violence although it is still unclear what this pledge means.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
ALMATY/Kazakhstan, OCT. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The uniformed women with bright orange hair posted at the entrance of the Soviet-era exhibition hall in Almaty, the Palace of the Republic, were stern and explicit. Nobody was allowed in.
Behind them it was clear why.
Waves of women in turquoise suits were exiting the building, some in pairs and some in small groups.
And at the side of the Palace of the Republic, a fleet of new, shiny cars were parked, all painted an almost metallic pale pink.
The suits. The impeccably made up women wearing them. The cars. Could it be? Yes, it could. A Mary Kay convention is in town.
Mary Kay, the American cosmetics company founded by US businesswoman Mary Kay Ash back in 1963, has aggressively expanded in a range of new markets. By the looks of it this includes Kazakhstan.
The uniform tailored suits are a hallmark of Mary Kay saleswomen, and the cars are a reference to the founder’s pink Cadillac, which has become a trademark for top salespeople.
Convention participants, mainly middle-aged, filtered out of the Palace of the Republic. Some posed in front of the brutalist Hotel Kazakhstan just adjacent to the Palace; others made their way via the subway under Dostyk Avenue to Kimep Grill, a canteen in the basement of the Kazakhstan Institute of Management, Economics, & Strategic Research. Here the food is cheap and decent and the queues are long.
The mostly ethnic Kazakh students seemed wildly amused at the uniformed women in their midst. One laughed and then turned to her friend: “They’re all dressed the same.”
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Almaty is talking up its chances of hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 2022. A spokesman for the country’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk- Kazyna, which is promoting the bid, said it was almost certain to win the Games after Oslo dropped out. Beijing is the other candidate city.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An estimated 10,000 people rallied against Armenia’s government in central Yerevan, media reported, the biggest protest since a presidential election last year.
Opposition rallies, calling for the government to resign, are relatively commonplace in Yerevan. The issue is whether they turn violent or grow so large that the government has to react to them.
In 2008, eight people died in clashes between the security forces and demonstrators after elections.
The protest in Yerevan was the culmination of severally carefully choreographed anti-government demonstrations around the country.
And the protagonists were the same. Former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, a canny opponent for current president Serzh Sargsyan, addressed the crowd. He is credited with whipping up the anger that led to the clashes in 2008.
The protesters actual demand are hard to decipher. They, broadly, want their lives improved and the economy strengthen. No easy task for the government which is having to navigate the country through a tricky economic environment.
What is different now is the opposition’s cry that moving into Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union and away from the European Union is partly to blame for the general malaise. If the opposition can harness this, they may make more headway.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A planned opposition demonstration in central Dushanbe failed to materialise after the authorities blocked websites and social media outlets and used a riot exercise as a show of force.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
Exiled opposition figures have called for a change of government.
OCT. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia will erect a statue of the Russian designer of the Kalashnikov rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, in the northern town of Gyuimri, the eurasianet.org website reported. Gyuimri is the site of the Russian military base. Kalashnikov died in 2013. Russians consider his rifle to be one of their greatest inventions.
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(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)
BAKU/Azerbaijan, DEC. 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Global oil prices have collapsed since the summer, hitting governments, currencies and ordinary people. Baku, the Azerbaijani capital, was built on oil and this slide has, perhaps, been keenest felt here.
Matanat Guliyeva’s husband works for a private oil company. She said: “Salaries have been late for the last two or three months. We have to reduce our budget, as we are uncertain whether my husband’s wage will arrive next week or not.”
Funds directly from oil sales or from taxes generated by oil sales, power Azerbaijan’s state budget. Earlier this month the government passed a budget that increased spending next year but some people in Azerbaijan are now worried about possible economic turmoil triggered by the falling oil prices.
Aytekin Gasimova 18, said she follows news about oil prices closely because an oil price means that her father, who works in local market in Moscow, will also earn less.
“I’m mostly concerned about my tuition fee,” she said. “It seems my family may have difficulties in paying for my education.”
Nijat Qafurov, 43, a bank worker is more optimistic. He said that people’s income will not decrease due to oil prices drop. Instead, he said, if prices keep falling, the government will cut infrastructure projects, not salaries.
And this sense of being able to ride out economic uncertainty rebounded around Baku.
Azer Mammadov, 28, a construction worker, said that the Azerbaijani government has enough money to save the economy.
“I am sure, they have kept some money for such days, and will not let people starve,” he said. “The government will manage it somehow.”
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(News report from Issue No. 212, published on Dec. 10 2014)
OCT. 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s inaugural Formula 1 race in 2016 will take place through the streets of Baku, Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said.The race is controversial because of Azerbaijan’s crackdown on human rights. For Azerbaijan, though, it represents a great PR coup.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)
OCT. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik security forces donned full riot gear for a training exercise in central Dushanbe aimed at dealing with large anti-government crowds.The exercise was designed as a show of force against any anti-government movement that may be planning protests ahead of a parliamentary election in February.
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(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)