Category Archives: Central Asia & South Caucasus News

Comment: Nazarbayev tightens the screws in Kazakhstan, writes Kilner

JAN. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — There is a sense of deja vu hanging over Kazakhstan.

In the west of the country, hundreds of oil workers are on a hunger strike over the closure of the country’s trade union umbrella body. In Astana the hollowing out of the media continues with the trial of Bigeldy Gabdullin, editor of the Central Asia Monitor newspaper, while police arrest government officials for corruption and for leaking state secrets.

All these events are the result of deliberate government policies.

Let’s take the oil workers’ strike first. Reports from Zhanaozen say that an estimated 400 workers are now on hunger strike. They worry that while the government says that it wants to improve their rights and working conditions, they are actually being undermined. The government is determined to exact revenge on the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Kazakhstan for what it sees as its role in organising and politicising oil workers in 2011. Strikes, then, ended with a riot in Zhanaozen and the shooting dead of at least 16 oil workers by police.

The Kazakh authorities see the unions as a threat to central government and a court in Shymkent earlier this year ordered the closure of the Confederation

for allegedly not being registered properly several years ago. Suspecting a government stitch up, the workers have chosen to strike.

As for Gabdullin, he has apparently already admitted extortion of government officials. The charges may be true or they may be fabricated, it’s difficult to say in Kazakhstan where fact and fiction melt into one. Either way, the 61- year-old Gabdullin appears to have decided that it would be best to admit wrong doing and hope for clemency rather than try to defend himself against the state.

The Kazakh government has worked tirelessly to undermine journalists over the past few years, locking up high profile free-thinkers or forcing them into exile. The case against Gabdullin is a continuation of this policy.

And finally, the rounding up of various government officials for corruption.

This may be, as presented, a case of clearing out corrupt officials but it may also be the case, as some analysts are saying, that Nazarbayev is using the cover of an anti-government purge to wipe away potential troublemakers before he reveals his succession plan.

In all three arenas — workers’ rights, the media, central government — the Kazakh government is extending and deepening its authority.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Tajikistan to resume Air-links talks with Russia

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Talks between Russia and Tajikistan over restarting air-links, vital for Tajikistan’s remittance-dependent economy, will resume on Jan. 26, media reported. Both countries cut air-links in December after a row. Without the vital air-link to Moscow and other major Russian cities, young Tajik men will not be able to travel to Russia, the source of most of the remittance cash.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakh cement maker reports soft market

JAN. 13 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Steppe Cement, the London-listed Kazakhstan-based cement producer, posted full year results which showed a 4% drop in production and a 4% fall in prices because of a fall in demand. Steppe Cement’s main market is Kazakhstan which has been struggling to maintain economic output because of a drop in oil and gas prices, a recession in Russia and fall in the value of the tenge. Steppe Cement said it was going to focus on maintaining prices over market share in 2017.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakh-Chinese dating agency receives threats

ALMATY, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A Kazakh dating agency which finds Kazakh wives for wealthy Chinese men said that it had received threats after a series of protests against it.

The row highlights growing nationalism in Kazakhstan as well as concerns over land rights and the rising influence of China. In 2016, protests over land rights spread across the country, worrying president Nazarbayev. Anti-Chinese sentiment has generally increased over the past few years as the politics of national identity have been played with increasing vigour.

And earlier in January it emerged that protesters have targeted the Gimeney marriage agency.

Carrying banners, protesters gathered outside the agency’s office in Astana and called on women who married foreigners to be stripped of their Kazakh citizenship and for the government to protect land from being stolen by Chinese.

Aidyn Egeubayev, one of the protest leaders, said that Chinese men only wanted to marry Kazakh women so that they could later claim land through their children.

“The law says that if a child has at least one parent who is a Kazakh, then they automatically become a citizen,” she said in media interviews.

“We believe that this provision should be removed because Chinese only want our land.”

Now, the Gimeney agency has said that they have received direct threats against it.

A representative of the business, though, defended its business model. “I hope you understand that this is all absurd, we live in 21st century. It is a real problem that there are eight women for one men, it is no joke,” she said, preferring to remain anonymous.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Georgia president criticises new gas deal

TBILISI, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili criticised a high-profile gas deal struck with Russia by energy minister Kakha Kaladze as a threat to national security, exposing a deep fissure in Georgia’s politics.

Commenting on a new agreement that will see Russia pay to transport gas across Georgia to Armenia, instead of giving Georgia 10% of the volume on a barter arrangement, Mr Margvelashvili’s official spokesperson, Eka Mishveladze, said Mr Kaladze was playing a high-risk game.

“The issue of Gazprom is more than just a business agreement, this is security, foreign policy and geopolitics first and energy and economy after that,” she said.

Although elected on a Georgian Dream ticket, Mr Margvelashvili has increasingly distanced himself from his former colleagues, preferring to present himself as an independent voice. Georgia is set for a presidential election in 2018.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Armenian oligarch Tsarukyan plots political comeback for parliamentary election

YEREVAN, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Three months before a parliamentary election in Armenia, Gagik Tsarukyan, a millionaire arm-wrestler, said he was going to return to politics and head the country’s second largest political party — the Prosperous Armenia party.

Mr Tsarukyan’s political come- back is important because changes to the constitution, due to come into force in 2018 when President Serzh Sargsyan steps down, mean power is shifting from the presidential office to the parliament. Parliament, and its composition, after April’s election will govern the country.

In a broadcast on his Kentron TV channel, Mr Tsarukyan, 60, said he was returning to Prosperous Armenia, the party he set up, because of the poor state of the economy.

“Since my decision to leave the political arena, there has been no political figure that has been able to fill my role,” he said. “I would have refrained from returning to politics if I were certain that our country was headed in the right direction.”

In a parliamentary election in 2012, the Republican party won 69 of the 131 seats and Prosperous Armenia won 37. The rest were split between four other parties.

Two years ago Mr Tsarukyan, who owns businesses spanning alcohol production to diamond cutting and dealing, quit politics after arguing with Mr Sargsyan over the constitutional changes.

But analysts now say his return may be designed to bolster the ruling party’s power in parliament rather than to present any real opposition.

Richard Giragosian, director at the Regional Studies Center in Yerevan, said politics in Armenia is personality driven and that Mr Tsarukyan was able to appeal to a constituent that would not vote for the Republicans.

“Tsarukyan’s role in the coming elections will be very much to capture votes from people who would ordinarily vote for the opposition,” he said.

Styopa Safaryan, head of the Armenian Institute of the International and Security Affairs, agreed.

“Tsarukyan’s return is more a challenge for Armenia’s opposition party’s rather than current leadership and the Republican party,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Kazakh capital hosts Syrian talks

JAN. 16 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Some Syrian rebel groups have agreed to attend so-called peace talks backed by Russia and Turkey set for Astana on Jan. 23, giving the them a vital boost. It’s considered vital for rebel groups to attend the talks if issues of any great matter can be decided. Syrian peace talks were also held in Kazakhstan in 2015 but without any government representatives.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Armenia creates economic zone with Iran

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia has created a so-called special economic zone on the border with Iran to try and boost trade with its neighbour. Announcing the deal, deputy economy minister Hovhannes Azizyan said that it was important to keep on building ties with Iran and that he hoped the SEZ would become a regional hub. Armenia and Iran have built up close trade links over the past few years.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Rolls-Royce admits bribing Azeri and Kazakh officials

ALMATY, JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — British engineering company Rolls-Royce, famed for its powerful industrial engines, admitted to prosecutors in the US, Britain and Brazil that it had bribed officials for years to win contracts, including in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

The revelations that one of Britain’s most famous companies bribed their way into contracts will not only damage British industry’s reputation but will also reinforce the reputations of both Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan as countries where corruption is rife.

The focus of the corrupt payments was a firm called Unaoil which acted as an intermediary for Rolls-Royce, and other companies, for winning contracts. The prosecution said Rolls-Royce knew that some of the fees they paid to Unaoil and other advisers would be used to bribe officials.

Last year, as reported by The Conway Bulletin, the Monaco-based Unaoil was exposed as acting as an intermediary for a number of Western companies.

In a video statement, Rolls-Royce CEO Warren East said corruption at the company was linked to a handful of rogue employees.

“It is apparent that the standards of our business conduct have not lived up to the high standards of our engineering,” he said.

Rolls-Royce has agreed to pay an $800m fine for a so-called Deferred Prosecution Agreement which means that, in return for paying the fine and admitting guilt, criminal proceedings are dropped.

In Kazakhstan the prosecution said Roll-Royce paid out $5.4m to advisers between 2009-12, knowing that some of these fees would be converted into bribes for officials handing out contracts for elements of a gas pipeline between Kazakhstan and China. Rolls-Royce also hired a local distributor in 2012 who they knew was linked to a government official able to influence tenders.

In Azerbaijan Rolls-Royce paid intermediaries who bribed officials on their behalf between 2000-9.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Tajikistan cancels electricity rationing

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan cancelled electricity rationing because a new thermal power station has come online and the water levels in its reservoirs, vital for turning the hydropower stations, are high. This is important because power rationing had become a staple of Tajik life every winter. Tajikistan wants to turn itself into something of a regional electricity hub.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)