Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

ADB approves loan to Kazakhstan

SEPT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) approved a $240m loan to help Kazakhstan improve a 185-km highway around its northern Caspian Sea shore to Russia. The road is important to link Kazakhstan to Russia and the South Caucasus via land, giving it further access to European markets. The ADB said the road improvements will open up new trade and investment opportunities.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

US on hunt for ex-Tajik police boss

AUG. 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US State Department placed a reward of up to $3m for information on the location of Gulmurod Khalimov, the former head of Tajikistan’s special police force and a US-trained sniper defected to the IS extremist group last year. Shortly after arriving in Syria, Mr Khalimov was injured in an airstrike but has seemingly recovered and been promoted within IS to a senior command position.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

Georgian PM visits Azerbaijan

SEPT. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili paid an official visit to Azerbaijan to discuss partnership in joint infrastructure projects with President Ilham Aliyev. Mr Kvirikashvili was accompanied by energy minister Kakha Kaladze and deputy foreign minister Gigi Gigiadze. The parties discussed the latest developments in the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the Southern Gas Corridor pipeline network.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

Beeline and Kcell join forces in Kazakhstan

AUG. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kcell and Beeline, two of the largest mobile operators in Kazakhstan, signed a network sharing agreement that will allow their users to access 4G/LTE services across the country. Kazakhstan liberalised access to the 4G network earlier this year. Swedish Telia Company controls Kcell, while Russia’s VimpelCom owns Beeline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 294, published on Sept. 2 2016)

Turkmen president to fly to Berlin

AUG. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was due to visit German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, a rare European trip for Turkmenistan’s leader. The visit is likely to focus on potential gas supplies to Europe from Turkmenistan but human rights groups have been piling pressure on Ms Merkel to bring up their various human rights grievances with Mr Berdymukhamedov.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank sees profits rise

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Halyk Bank, Kazakhstan’s second largest lender, posted a year-on-year net profit increase of over 20% at the end of Q2 because it had been able to charge higher interest fees on loans. Importantly, too, Halyk Bank also said that non-performing loans had dropped to 12% of their portfolio from 12.9% at the end of March.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Azerbaijan starts Gulenist purge

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has started prosecuting people working in public offices allegedly linked to the exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen who Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused of orchestrating a coup attempt against him in July, media reported. Azerbaijan is Turkey’s strongest ally in the region.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakh archaeologists find ancient pyramid

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Archaeologists from the University of Karaganda, central Kazakhstan, said that they had discovered the remains of a pyramid used as a mausoleum for an ancient king or clan leader which may be 3,000 years old, media reported. If confirmed, the pyramid would be older than some Egyptian pyramids.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Athletes from C.Asia and S.Caucasus win medals at Rio Olympics

AUG. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — At the Olympics in Rio, Uzbekistan won four gold medals, including three in boxing. Kazakhstan once again pulled in a decent haul, winning three golds, including a first ever swimming win, five silvers and nine bronzes. Tajikistan also won its first gold medal since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Dilshod Nazarov won gold in the hammer, becoming an instant national hero in Tajikistan. In the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan won a gold medal in taekwondo, Georgia won golds in wrestling and weightlifting and Armenia won a wrestling gold, its first for 20 years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)

Kazakhstan frees opposition activist

AUG. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan released on parole one of its most prominent opposition politicians from prison after almost four years, drawing praise but also demands to release more dissidents.

Vladimir Kozlov, head of the Alga! party, walked out of prison after Kazakhstan’s highest court decreed that he should be freed early. He had been the most high profile activist arrested after an oil workers’ strike in the western city of Zhanaozen turned into a riot with police which killed at least 15 people in December 2011 after a strike lasting several months.

He was sent to prison for 7-1/2 years for inciting social discord, although his supporters have said that he was only trying to help the oil workers promote their cause.

Speaking at a press conference after his release, Mr Kozlov said that pressure from the European Union and other human rights groups had led to his release.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty quoted Mr Kozlov as saying that the EU had helped him “remain a human being” while in prison,

And the EU put out a brief statement too.

“The release on parole of the prominent Kazakh activist Vladimir Kozlov, who was imprisoned following the Zhanaozen events of 2011, is positive news,” it said.

“Further steps should now follow, leading to the full rehabilitation and release of all those civil society activists currently detained or under restriction of movement in Kazakhstan, in line with the country’s international commitments.”

Human rights groups have criticised Kazakhstan for cracking down on media and opposition groups heavily over the past few years. The Kazakh government has accused Mr Kozlov and others of being linked to coup plots.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 293, published on Aug. 29 2016)