SEPT. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — On the eve of the opening of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Ashgabat, Human Rights Watch criticised the various Asian Olympic committees for ignoring abuses in Turkmenistan. Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is intent on using the Games as a propaganda tool but rights activists say Turkmenistan has one of the world’s worst human rights records.
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— This story was first published in issue 343 of The Conway Bulletin on Sept. 15 2017
SEPT. 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran has lifted an export tax on foodstuffs being sent to Central Asia and the South Caucasus, media quoted Abdollah Mohajer, the head of Mazandaran Province Chamber of Commerce, as saying. The export tax had covered a range of products including pistachio nuts, cabbages, dates and raisins. Ditching the export tax is likely to drop the price of sending foodstuffs to Central Asia by up to 20%. Iran is increasingly trying to tap into Central Asia and the South Caucasus as natural export markets for is various products.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)
AUG. 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili flew to Ashgabat for talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that focused on transit cooperation and various energy projects. Turkmenistan has become increasingly vocal about using the Caspian Sea transit route to export gas. Georgia is key stage-post on this route as it hosts pipelines running from Baku and the Black Sea port of Batumi is a major entrance into, and exit from, the region.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)
SEPT. 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch accused the Turkmen authorities of forcibly evicting people from their homes and for failing to give them adequate compensation. The allegations were made on the eve of the opening of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Turkmenistan’s president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has set much store by the Games. News reports have been leaking out of the country over the past year of mass evictions to make way for Games’ infrastructure. The Turkmen government has not responded.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)
AUG. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of people were taken in by images that appeared to show that Starbucks, the US coffee shop chain, had opened up its first store in Turkmenistan (Aug. 25).
Various pictures showed young Turkmen drinking coffee at what looked like a Starbucks coffee shop in Ashgabat.
The fake news appears to have been spread initially by a little-known website called http://www.atavatan-turkmenistan.com.
The original post said that Starbucks had opened in a shopping mall ahead of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which opens later this month.
Starbucks has only just opened its first stores in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s economic powerhouse, and has not announced any plans to open in Turkmenistan or anywhere else across the region.
Neither the Turkmen government nor Starbucks have commented on the fake news.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017
AUG. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Officials in Turkmenistan opened the first cat and dog shelter in the country, government news agencies reported. The shelter, called the “Island of Hope” was opened less than a month before the start of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. The government’s critics said that it has previously treated stray dogs and cats poorly and that the opening of the shelter is an attempt to generate positive headlines.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)
AUG. 18 2017 (The Bulletin) — Akmurat Rejepov, former Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov’s spy chief, has died in prison 10 years after he was arrested for corruption and tax evasion, human rights groups said. Rejepov had been Niyazov’s security chief and had supposedly been influential in promoting Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as his replacement when he died in 2006. He was arrested and imprisoned in May 2007.
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Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 340, published on Aug. 20 2017)
AUG. 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Baku for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that focused on efforts to feed Turkmen gas into the South Caucasus Energy Corridor that will pump supplies to Europe from the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan is looking for more export routes for its gas. Officially the two leaders signed a document promising to further their strategic partnership.
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Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)
AUG. 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been mocked for starring in a video in which he postures, firing a rifle and throwing daggers at targets, to adoring, gawping Turkmen commandos.
Keen to burnish his public image, Mr Berdymukhamedov is fond of releasing videos which show off his apparently unlimited skills.
A few days earlier a video showed him, wearing a white tracksuit and baseball cap, singing and playing the keyboard. At the start of the year, a video showed him leading government officials in a gym workout.
The common thread in each video is that Mr Berdymukhamedov, who is micromanaging his way through an economic downturn, plays the role of the kindly father- figure passing on his skills and knowledge to less able subjects.
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Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)
JULY 21 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan is due to begin work on a third phase development of its Galkynysh gas field next year, a source at the project told the Trend news agency. Galkynysh, in the east of the country, is one of the biggest gas fields in the world and is central to Turkmenistan’s wealth. It pumps almost all of its gas to China, currently. The extension to Galkynysh is timed for the start of the so-called TAPI gas pipeline, scheduled for 2019, which will send gas across Afghanistan to energy- hungry consumers in Pakistan and India.
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Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)