Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

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.

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(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%.

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

Turkmen President continues his firing spree

JUNE 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a trip to to the northern Turkmen province of Dashoguz this month, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov continued his firing spree by sacking seven officials and reprimanding nine others, the local language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Mr Berymukhamedov has sacked dozens of government officials over the past couple of years as he looks to shift blame over an economy that continues to falter.

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

Kyrgyzstan focused Manas moves into Africa

JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Manas Resources said it bought a gold project in Tanzania, in an effort to diversify its operational portfolio. Thedeal, struck with an Italian private group, will cost Manas $2m cash and $2m in shares. Last week, Manas halted trading at the Australian Stock Exchange, ahead of its announcement of the deal. After the deal was announced, Manas’ share price doubled to 0.4 Australian cents.

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

Azerbaijani and Uzbek weightlifters face ban

JUNE 27 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Azerbaijani and Uzbek weightlifting teams are both facing a ban from competing in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro this summer after their athletes failed a series of drugs test, media reported. Weightlifters from Russia and Kazakhstan have already received a ban.

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

Two Kyrgyzstani die in Istanbul attack

JUNE 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two of the 44 people who died in an attack on Istanbul airport by three suspected Islamic extremists were from Kyrgyzstan, media reported. Passengers for a flight to Bishkek were checking in when the three attackers opened fire on a terminal building and then detonated suicide bombs.

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

Editorial: The SCO

JULY 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will expand next year to include Pakistan and India. Since its inception in Shanghai in 2001, the SCO has been led by China and Russia. It was formed to extend their influence over their shared near-abroad — Central Asia. SCO members include all the Central Asian states other than Turkmenistan.

Western analysts have previously referred to it as Russia and China’s version of NATO, mainly because of the very visible war games that it stages each year. But this is only one component of the SCO. More important, but less visible are the various social and economic projects conducted through the SCO apparatus. These have mainly involved China. Indeed it has given China a major footprint in the region and helped to extend its influence.

By opening up the SCO to Pakistan and India, the SCO is potentially changing its remit from a regional, Central Asia focused group to a far wider organisation that takes in the two most populous countries in the world. It may become less useful as an organisation to develop Central Asia and more useful as group for larger countries to discuss their problems.

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

Azerbaijani woman has wrong leg amputated

JUNE 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Azerbaijani woman who went into hospital to have a gangrenous leg amputated woke up after the operation to find that the surgeon had cut off the wrong one.

Tarlan Aliyeva, 82, discovered that instead of the inflamed left leg, the right one had been cut off. The surgeon who performed the operation couldn’t be found. He had fled the hospital.

“The doctors did this to me,” a tearful Ms Aliyeva, now a double amputee, was shown on a Youtube video as saying.

“The doctors did that to me because of money. See, they cut it from the root. They are not doctors. If they were, I wouldn’t be in this situation now.”

The case has gripped Azerbaijan with many people reacting with anger at the incompetence of, and corruption in the Azerbaijani medical profession.

“By law, most medical services are free of charge but in reality, you can never get a proper service without bribing,” Ilkin, a 38-year old IT specialist from Baku, told the Conway Bulletin

Reacting to the news, the health ministry has established a special commission to investigate the case jointly with law enforcement authorities.

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

Kyrgyz Parliament approves BTA stake sale

JUNE 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz Parliament approved the sale of a 15.4% stake in BTA Bank Kyrgyzstan to Kazakh investors. The stake previously belonged to Daniyar Usenov, former Kyrgyz PM, who fled the country after a revolution in 2010 toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The new Kyrgyz government took possession of his stake in BTA and sentenced him to 15 years in prison for abuse of power in 2013.

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