MAY 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Rashid Meredov, Turkmenistan’s foreign minister, travelled to Kabul to meet with Afghan officials and discuss the second deadly attack on a Turkmen border post from Afghanistan this year. Mr Meredov’s visit was triggered by an attack that killed three Turkmen soldiers in May.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
JUNE 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Amnesty International said the Turkmen authorities should free human rights activist Mansur Mingelov who has been on a hunger strike since May 19. Mingelov was protesting against his 22-year conviction for possessing drugs and child pornography. Turkmenistan has one of the worst human rights records in the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Bangladeshi officials travelled to Ashgabat to lobby their of the proposed Turkmen counterparts to accept them as part TAPI gas pipeline, media reported.
Their mission to Ashgabat underlines just how important Turkmenistan has become for the region’s energy supply chain.
TAPI is an ambitious project that could transform the energy balance in south Asia. The plan is simple and audacious. Pakistan and India both need more energy. Turkmenistan can supply it and TAPI will connect it to the market.
The difficulty is building a safe and reliable pipeline across Afghanistan.
Even though the plan is still only a potential, Bangladesh has said it also wants to sign up for it.
“We have conveyed our interest to join with TAPI as we are struggling to meet mounting natural gas demands with local production,” Petrobangla, Bangladesh’s state-owned energy company, chairman Hussain Monsur was quoted by Platts as saying.
Adding Bangladesh to the list of countries participating TAPI will add more weight and validity to it.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 30 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) -Japan and South Korea have agreed to lend Turkmenistan $2.5b to build a gas processing plant, media reported. Earlier in May it was announced that companies from Japan and South Korea had won a tender to build the plant. Over the past few years Turkmenistan has become a gas superpower.
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(News report from Issue No. 187, published on JUNE 4 2014)
MAY 26 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Underlining Turkmenistan’s growing status, Turkmen foreign minister Rashid Meredov met with his Azerbaijani and Turkish counterparts for what was dubbed as the first of regular tri-lateral talks. Energy featured on the agenda. Over the past 5 years Turkmenistan has become a regional energy super-power.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A senior Turkmen official accused Afghan insurgents of killing three border guards, the second alleged shootings this year.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) quoted Asal Khan, the acting governor of Ghormach district in northern Afghanistan, as saying that insurgents attacked a Turkmen border post on May 24.
Turkmen officials haven’t confirmed the attack, RFE/RL said.
If the attack is confirmed it will be important to ascertain quickly who the apparent insurgents are. Are they smugglers — Turkmenistan is, afterall, on the heroin route from Afghanistan to Europe — or are they Taliban?
If the answer is Taliban, then Central Asian governments will fret. They have said that they are worried about the spread north of the Taliban after the withdrawal of most NATO forces from Afghanistan by the end of this year.
In March, three Turkmen border guards also died after an apparent attack by insurgents. Is this the beginning of a more worrying development along Central Asia’s borders?
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan expects direct foreign investment of $3b this year from energy companies looking to develop its Caspian Sea oil reserves, Reuters quoted Yagshigeldy Kakayev, head of the Turkmen state agency on the use of hydrocarbon resources, as saying. In 2013, the figure was $2.5b.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
MAY 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Looking to boost production in the long run, Turkmenistan’s government said it would set up a state commission to improve the growing and transportation of cereal crops, media reported. Turkmenistan has grown increasingly rich from its gas exports. Cereal crop production has also grown.
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(News report from Issue No. 186, published on May 28 2014)
May 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan plans to produce 75b cubic metres of gas this year, up from 70bcm last year, a senior official told Reuters on the sidelines of the annual gas conference in the Caspian Sea resort of Avaza. Turkmenistan has been boosting its output to hit increased demand.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)
May 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chronicles of Turkmenistan, a human rights website edited from Europe, reported on the plight of 370 families living in temporary accommodation outside Ashgabat.
According to the website, the authorities moved these families into the accommodation because they wanted to knock down the apartment blocks they lived in and replace them with modern buildings, part of an Olympic Village.
Ashgabat is hosting the Asian indoor and Martial Arts Games in 2017 and has aspirations, however deluded, to hold the Summer Olympic Games.
But, the website said, despite assurances from the authorities that new housing would be built quickly, many families have lived in temporary accommodation for years.
This is not the first time a website has reported on the issue of Ashgabat residents being displaced for centrally planned building projects. In 2011, the eurasianet.org website, reported that 50 residents had protested about the demolition of their houses.
Turkmenistan has grown rich over the past five years through the export of gas to clients such as China. The Guinness Book of Records has conferred the dubious honour on Ashgabat as having the highest density of white-marbled buildings.
The Turkmen officials have to ensure they are spending their energy-generated wealth wisely.
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(News report from Issue No. 185, published on May 21 2014)