Author Archives: admin

Pope pays visit to Armenia

JUNE 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a three day trip to Armenia, Pope Francis called for closer links between the Vatican and the Armenian Orthodox Church and also described the killings of over 1m Armenians at the end of the First World War by Ottoman Turks as a genocide. The Pope has been one of the most outspoken proponents of Armenia’s insistence that the killings 100 years ago constitute a genocide. Turkey furiously denies the allegations and has said that the deaths were part of the chaos of WWl.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Russia released Georgian spy

JUNE 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In another sign of improving relations between Russia and Georgia, Russia released Zurab Abashidze, a Georgian national who had been imprisoned for spying. Russia said that it had now released seven people it imprisoned for spying between 2008 and 2011. Relations between Georgia and Russia improved when the Georgian Dream coalition took power from Mikheil Saakashvili’s National United Movement party in 2012.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Georgia scraps army conscription

TBILISI, JUNE 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia will scrap conscription into its army in 2017, the first country in the South Caucasus and Central Asia to ditch this Soviet military legacy.

Ditching conscription is considered a major step by Georgia towards becoming a modern army fit to join NATO, one of its key policy objectives. In reality, its 37,000-person army had already been remade in the image of a professional Western army, carrying US-made weapons, wearing US-style uniforms and fighting alongside NATO forces in Afghanistan and the US in Iraq.

Only 10% of this standing army was made up of conscripts and they filled non-combat roles. It was also relatively easy to opt out of conscription. This contrasts with the rest of the region’s militaries which are still heavily reliant on conscription and are rife with allegations of bullying.

Defence minister Tina Khidasheli said she had ditched conscription, first discussed in 2013, because it was simply no longer needed.

“The Georgian Armed Forces do not need a service member brought in on a compulsory basis,” media quoted her as saying.

The ditching of conscription will only apply to the army and not to other security services run by the interior ministry or the prison service which are still reliant on conscripts.

And the decision to scrap conscription received a mixed response in Georgia. Some remembered the role that conscription had played in bolstering Georgia’s large reserve army, mobilised in its 2008 war with Russia.

“This decision, like others taken in this period, has been made only because of the election campaign,” a 26-year old man told The Conway Bulletin’s correspondent in Tbilisi.

Georgia holds a parliamentary election in October.

Others said scrapping conscription showed Georgia was progressing. “It sounds good that in our country military service is not mandatory and we are not getting ready for a war,” said another 31-year-old man.

“This somehow emphasises that Georgia is a peaceful country.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Oilmen strike in western Kazakhstan

JULY 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 700 oil workers staged a two-hour strike, protesting against alleged pay cuts and job losses at the Burgylau oil service company in Zhanaozen, western Kazakhstan, the US-funded RFE/RL reported. Burgylau is linked to businessman Yakov Tskhai, who owns a majority stake in its parent company KazPet- roDrilling. In 2011, around 15 people died in Zhanaozen during clashes between striking oilmen and police.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 291, published on Aug. 1 2016)

Ukraine security forces arrest two Tajik men

JUNE 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces in Ukraine arrested two Tajik men at Kharkiv airport for allegedly being members of the radical IS group, media reported. According to reports, the men were returning to Tajikistan from Syria via Turkey and Ukraine. They planned to target various sites with bombs. Governments in Central Asia are concerned about growing IS influence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

MTS wants to sell Uzbek stakes

JUNE 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian telecoms operator MTS wants to sell its Uzbek assets, two anonymous sources from the company and the ministry of information told Interfax. The move follows other competitors, like Telia Company and VimpelCom, who are looking to divest from the country, after a corruption scandal hit the telecoms sector. MTS owns 50.01% of UMS, the Uzbek government owns the rest.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

China agrees to loan Uzbekistan

JUNE 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China has agreed to loan Uzbekistan $2.6b to implement various joint projects, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said. The deal highlights Chinese strategy in Central Asia where it is prepared to hand out cheap loans in exchange for infrastructure projects developed by Chinese companies. The loans also give it political influence.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Pakistan and India signed pledges to join SCO in Uzbekistan

JUNE 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Pakistan and India signed pledges to join the Russia and China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in 2017 at the group’s annual summit meeting, held this year in Tashkent. This would be the first time since its inception in 15 years ago that the SCO has expanded beyond its core focusof Central Asia. China, in particular, has used the SCO to expand its influence across Central Asia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Editorial: The UN Security Council

JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government scored a major diplomatic victory when it was elected to a non-permanent seat of the UN Security Council for 2017-18.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev said it was a “historic achievement”, one that will promote Kazakhstan as the face of Central Asia in the international arena.

It’s also a major achievement for the Kazakh diplomatic corps who have lobbied hard for a seat at the UN Security Council ever since Mr Nazarbayev made it a priority a couple of years ago.

Kazakhstan beat Thailand conclusively in the final vote and will now be the first country from Central Asia to hold a seat at the UN Security Council on behalf of the Arab-Asia bloc.

Importantly for Mr Nazarbayev, the position fits nicely with the narrative he has tried to build of Kazakhstan as a global power. In 2010, Kazakhstan hosted a summit of the OSCE, Europe’s democracy and security watchdog, and next year it hosts EXPO-2017.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)

Kazakhstan imposes export ban

JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s government imposed an export ban on ferrous and non- ferrous metals until the end of the year, to avoid shortages of scrap metal in the country. PM Karim Massimov said the shortage could prevent Kazakhstan from reaching its industrial goals. Kazakhstan plans to increase production of metals by 10% this year. Last year, production fell by 2.5%.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 287, published on July 1 2016)