FEB. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A new law means that all unregistered mobile phones in Kazakhstan will be blocked from July 1 2017. The authorities say that the new law has been brought in to help fight potential terrorists but its detractors have said that it has been imposed to help the authorities monitor people who oppose the government more closely.
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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili amnestied seven former defence ministry employees who had been imprisoned for seven years in 2014/15 for embezzlement. The case was high profile and lead to the resignation of Irakli Alasania as minister of defence. Mr Alasania had once been considered a high flyer member of the Georgian Dream party.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
FEB. 3 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> How significant is Imangali Tasmagambetov’s shift from central government to Moscow as ambassador?
>> Very. He was considered one of just a handful of people who could take over from Nursultan Nazarbayev as president. This is a major demotion and has come as a surprise. Like a chess player, Nazarbayev is clearly manoeuvring his pieces so that he can execute a well-managed and orderly transfer of power. Last month he said that he wanted to give parliament more power. It was dressed up as a move to increase democracy, although most analysts think that this is a red herring and that the real motivator is transition.
>> So who will really benefit from Tasmagambetov’s move to Moscow?
>> That’s not exactly clear, although Nazarbayev’s daughter, Dariga, is being teed up nicely for a major role in government. She has taken on a bigger public role and since September 2016 has been a Senator and the chair of the Senate’s Affairs, Defence, and Security Committee. It’s our view that this is a way to prepare and groom Dariga for the top job. Essentially, by packing Tasmagambetov off to Moscow, Nazarbayev has dispatched one of her rivals.
>> I see. But are you sure that being the Kazakh ambassador in Moscow is a major demotion?
>> Yes. All the major policy-making goes on in Astana. Tasmagambetov is now marooned in Moscow away from the centre of power in Kazakhstan. Nazarbayev also has form for sending high-ranking men, who have their own powerbase that may threaten his plans, into exile. In 2014, he sent Aslan Musin to Zagreb to be the Kazakh ambassador there. Musin had previously been head of the Presidential Administration between 2008 and 2012 and had a strong powerbase in the west of the country, where he was from.
>> Got it. Why would Tasmagambetov appear to have threatened Nazarbayev?
>> We don’t know the specifics but Tasmagambetov is popular with ordinary people. He is seen as being more “Kazakh” than many of the other elite insiders. He also has a high profile. This is partly because he was a popular mayor of Almaty and Astana. His son-in-law is Kenes Rakishev who has been used heavily by the Kazakh elite as the frontman for buying up various companies. His latest acquisition was a majority stake in Kazakhstan’s biggest bank, Kazkommertsbank.
>> But now he is going to disappear from public view. Is that right?
>> Pretty much. People just wont see or hear of him in his new job. He’ll also be away from the political action in Astana which is important.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In its annual report mapping out the status of just how free people are to express themselves, the US-based NGO Freedom House said that in 2016 the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus cracked down on civil liberties.
Freedom House rates Georgia as the best place for civil liberties in the region, with a “Partly Free” status. It also gave this ranking to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The others were ranked “Not Free” with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan listed as two of the most repressive regimes in the world.
“Apparently unnerved by the repercussions of a lengthy slump in oil prices, the rulers of Azerbaijan and the Central Asian states used tightly controlled constitutional referendums to extend their rule into the future,” Freedom House wrote.
The Freedom House assessment of civil rights broadly mirrors the assessment of human rights groups who have been warning of worsening conditions in the region.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
FEB. 2 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan is producing only 20m bottles of wine per year, roughly a fifth of its capacity, media quoted President Ilham Aliyev as saying.
Mr Aliyev wants Azerbaijan to diversify away from oil and gas, which dominates the economy. The economy has taken a hit with the collapse in oil prices. He has previously highlighted the potential for growth in the hazelnut sector and now appears to have earmarked the wine-making industry for growth.
“Most of these plants were built in recent years. Major funds have been invested in them and modern equipment installed. How can it be possible for plants with a production capacity of 100m bottles to produce only 20m bottles of wine?” media quoted him as saying.
Georgia, which has a far more developed wine production and sales system, exports 50m bottles of wine every year. Most of the growth has come in China and other parts of the Far East.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian defence minister Vigen Sargsyan travelled to Tehran for a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehqan in which both sides pledged to improve their military ties. Neighbours, Armenia and Iran have become increasingly close over the past couple of years, boosting military, economic and trade relations.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 27 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Afghanistan have arrested a Kazakh national on suspicion of having links to terrorism, media reported quoting the Afghan foreign ministry. Media reports said that the man was from Atyrau and that he had been arrested in the northern part of Afghanistan. Kazakhstan has been trying to dampen an increase in recruitment by the radical IS group but it is rare for Kazakhs to be arrested in Afghanistan for links to Islamic extremists.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 28 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), majority owned by the Azerbaijani government, has dropped sponsorship of a Baku football team as part of a cost-cutting drive.
Dropping sponsorship of Inter Baku, a top tier team, is another sign that the tough economic conditions have hit IBA hard. A few years ago such a move would have been unimaginable.
“In accordance with new strategic goals limitation of the IBA’s sports support will help the bank optimise its expenses and direct resources to the sphere of finance and banking, which are priority,” IBA chairman Khalid Ahadov said in a statement released by the bank.
“That will increase the efficiency of the recovery processes, conducted with government’s support.”
At the end of January, the Azerbaijani government increased its stake in IBA to 77% from 56% in order to ensure the stability of the bank, Azerbaijan’s biggest. Analysts have been warning for the past 12 months that an economic downturn was pressuring the banking sector in Azerbaijan. The Central Bank has also withdrawn trading licences from some of the smaller banks.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
JAN. 31 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Exports from Armenia grew by 20% to $1.8b in 2016, the state statistics service reported. Russia remains the biggest trade partner with total bilateral trade of nearly $1.4b, compared to China which has bilateral trade with Armenia of $454m. Bilateral trade with Russia was up by 15%, indicating a general pick up in the economy.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
TBILISI, JAN. 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Since December, Georgia’s defence ministry has laid off several hundred civil servants and soldiers, a round of redundancies aimed at modernising the army and reducing costs.
The lay-offs have triggered protests including one on Jan. 30 when a few hundred people marched in Tbilisi.
Protesters said 1,750 civil servants and 340 soldiers have lost their jobs without any compensation. Another 209 officers quit their jobs voluntarily.
Elguja Urushadze, a former Lieutenant Colonel who used to teach at the military academy, told the Bulletin that he was fired without any notice.
“I served in the Georgian National Army since the very first days of its existence,” he said. “I have been teaching protection from weapons of mass destruction since 1991. I was on a work trip on the 12th of January when they called me and told me I was removed from office. On the papers, my last working day was the 11th of January.”
Georgia wants to join NATO and has supported its mission in Afghanistan. It also has a detachment of soldiers supporting an EU mission in the Central African Republic.
It said that as well as cutting costs, the so-called “Optimisation” process was needed to bring the Georgian army into line with its NATO allies.
“In 2016, 67% of the 670m lari ($250m) budget funds were calculated for salaries and social expenses and only 33% was spent on the military technique, ammunition and on other needs,” the defence ministry said. “NATO standards say that payroll and administrative expenses should make up 50-53% of budget funds.”
It also said that the reforms will save 32m lari, 5% of the total budget.
The protesters, though, said they will continue until they are properly compensated for their job losses.
David Nemsadze, a retired army officer and now a human rights worker specialising in military affairs said: “During the layoffs process, the working code was violated. The selection process was not transparent at all.”
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
