JUNE 1 2017 (The Bulletin) — Two unnamed Kazakh citizens were injured in a bomb in central Kabul that killed more than 90 people, media reported. Their injuries are not thought to be life- threatening. The bomb ripped through Kabul’s diplomatic quarter damaging several embassies.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
JUNE 5 2017 (The Bulletin) — The authorities in Bishkek started chopping down several dozen trees in the city centre to ease congestion, despite complaints from local residents. Several residents tried to stop workmen from cutting down the trees by standing in front of them or lying in the road. Police intervened, detaining protesters. The row encapsulates the tension across the region between residents who want to protect trees and parks, and developers and the authorities who often want to demolish green spaces for building projects that they say are necessary.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 30 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan plans to start producing fibre optic cables, mainly for domestic use, media reported. Telecompaper.com said that production was planned at 50,000km of cables every year and that Uzbekistan would lay 277,000km of cables by 2021, part of a scheme to expand its the Uzbek broadband network. Pres. Shavkat Mirziyoyev has said he wants to create jobs through infrastructure schemes.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
TBILISI, MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Tough new smoking laws will bring Georgian legislation in line with guidelines included in a trade and association agreement that Georgia signed with the EU this year, said Georgia’s public ombudsman.
The bill, approved by parliament on May 17, will impose tighter rules on cigarette packaging and advertising, as well as a blanket ban on smoking inside public buildings.
Georgia has been slower than its neighbours in following a global trend to clampdown on smoking, partially because restrictions are so unpopular among Georgia’s heavy- smoking population. The World Health Organisation said more than half of all Georgian men smoke and between 9,000 to 11,000 die from smoking-related diseases each year.
Georgia’s ombudsman praised the new regulations as a step towards improving public health and said it “ brought the applicable tobacco legislation in line with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the recommendations and the directives of the Georgia-EU Association Agreement”.
Smoking in Georgia is currently banned only in medical facilities, educational institutions and public transport. Most bars, pubs, cafes and restaurants allow smoking.
Dato Zaaliasvhili, the manager of Cafe Kala, a modern cafe, said that his business will not suffer.
“We have implemented a non-smoking policy in our cafe already and clients’ reaction have not been bad. Our businesses will not be negatively affected by the new legislation”, he said.
But Nato, the manager of the more traditional Old Keria, disagreed.
“The vast majority of our customers smoke,” she said. “This will badly affect my business.”
The new packaging regulations will be imposed from January 2018 and the ban on smoking in public buildings a few months later.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 29 2017 (The Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan is planning to raise the cost of electricity by 10% between 2018 and 2020, Duyshenbek Zilaliyev, chairman of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for Industry, Energy, and Mining, said. Electricity tariffs are a sensitive topic in Central Asia and the South Caucasus. When governments have tried to increase them from their heavily subsidised Soviet levels they have stirred anger. In Armenia in 2015, protesters clashed with police after an electricity price rise was recommended.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan plans to start building a metropolitan rail system around Tashkent, media reported. Reports said that the cost of the $320m project would be split between the government ($185m), the Fund for Reconstruction and Development of Uzbekistan ($20m) and China’s Exim Bank ($115m). Since becoming president in Sept. last year, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has placed major emphasis on infrastructure development.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan will increase gas sales to China, its main client, by nearly 10% this year, the CEO of Turkmengas, Myrat Archayev, was quoted by media as saying. Turkmenistan currently pumps 35b cubic metres of gas to China. This will rise to 38b cubic metres. Mr Archayev said gas supplies to Iran would remain at 7b cubic metres despite a row over unpaid bills.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
TBILISI, MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — NGOs and dissident Azerbaijani journalists accused the Georgian government of helping to kidnap an opposition journalist and handing him over to the authorities in Azerbaijan.
Allegations that Georgia had allowed masked men to bundle investigative journalist Afgan Mukhtarli into a car and drive him to the border with Azerbaijan shocked Azerbaijani dissidents living in Tbilisi. Many have sought refuge in Georgia over the past five or so years as the Azerbaijani government clamped down on journalists it considered troublesome and opposition activists.
Georgian officials denied the allegations and ordered an investigation, but that has not lifted suspicions that its security services were complicit in the kidnapping.
Tural Gurbanli, an Azerbaijani journalist who fled from Baku to Tbilisi said dissidents were worried.
“I chose to take refuge in Georgia,” he told the Bulletin. “Georgia is now cooperating with Azerbaijan to pressurise Azerbaijani journalists and activists living here.”
On Friday, roughly 60 protesters gathered outside the Georgian parliament, criticising the government.
In response, the Georgian government released a terse statement. “The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia launched an investigation under the Article 143 of the Criminal Code of Georgia regarding the case of Azerbaijan journalist Afgan Mukhtarli, which pertains to illegal deprivation of liberty,” it said.
The office of Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor confirmed that Mr Mukhtarli was in its custody. It said that he had been charged with crossing the border illegally.
Last week, a few days after a visit by Turkish PM Binali Yildirim, police detained Emre Cabuk, a manager at a school in Tbilisi linked to the Gulen network, and started procedures to extradite him to Turkey. Turkey is pursuing Gulen networks across the world. It accuses them of links to terrorism and plotting a coup.
Over the last few months, Georgia has boosted its military, diplomatic and trade relations with Azerbaijan and Turkey and commentators suggested this alliance may be influencing its stance on human rights.
Ani Wandaryan, a commentator on the South Caucasus, said in a tweet: “In one week, Georgia has allowed both Azerbaijan and Turkey to take dissidents. A big civil rights surrender for an EU-hopeful country.”
Georgia wants to join both the EU and NATO, which both place an emphasis on improving human rights and free speech.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
JUNE 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — GM Uzbekistan, a joint-venture between the US’ GM and state- owned Uzavtosanoat, started selling its cars in Uzbek soum for the first time, Reuters reported, rolling back a Karimov-era policy that insisted that the cars were sold in US dollars. Karimov was Uzbek president from 1991 until his death in September 2016. His successor, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has promised to liberalise Uzbekistan’s economy. Karimov had wanted cars sold in soum in order to bring more foreign currency into the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
MAY 31 2017 (The Bulletin) — BP expects to sign an extension to its production sharing agreement for the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli oil fields (ACG) in the Azerbaijani section of the Caspian Sea by the end of June, its regional head, Gary Jones, told media. ACG is Azerbaijan’s biggest oil field system. The current contract expires in 2024 and a new contract is expected to cover until 2050. The contract extension has been expected.
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Copyright ©Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 331, published on June 5 2017)
