Category Archives: Uncategorised

Tajik official’s son crashes in a car

SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Faromuz Saidov, the 23-year-old son of Tajik deputy PM Davlati Saidov, crashed his car into a council cleaning truck killing two people in Dushanbe. One of the victims was travelling in Mr Saidov’s car, the other was a city worker. Mr Saidov was hospitalised and the interior ministry opened an investigation. Family members of public officials in Tajikistan, however, seldom receive punishment for road accidents.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Azerbaijan promotes its image in Paris

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Mehriban Aliyeva, the wife of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, opened the so-called Azerbaijani Village in central Paris. Ms Aliyeva, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, cut the ribbon of the temporary exhibit, which will showcase Azerbaijani culture, history and cuisine at Place Joffre, a stone’s throw away from the Eiffel Tower. Azerbaijan has invested millions of dollars upgrading its image abroad.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz security forces foil bomb attacks

SEPT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s National Security Service said it had defused two bombs in a shop in central Bishkek, preventing a terror attack. It didn’t say which group was allegedly behind the bombs. Kyrgyzstan is on high alert after a car bomb was driven through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Bishkek last month in a suicide attack later blamed on militant Uyghurs. The extremist group IS has also publicly stepped up its recruitment drive in Kyrgyzstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakhs say Massimov was sacked as PM for failures

ASTANA, SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — While Western analysts were studying the latest reshuffle of senior Kazakh officials by President Nursultan Nazarbayev to try to decipher what it all means for the succession issue, ordinary Kazakhs were instead saluting the changes as a result of the country’s poor economic health.

A Conway Bulletin correspondent took to the streets in Astana to gauge how the reshuffle was received.

“Changing the PM was a necessary step after failure with land reforms, as the old government was under pressure from people and activists,” said Nurlyayim, a 24-year-old Astana resident.

Earlier this year, thousands of people across Kazakhstan had protested against changes to the land code. Karim Massimov was moved by Mr Nazarbayev from the PM’s position to head of the security services. Most analysts had said that this was an important sign of Mr Nazarbayev’s trust in Mr Massimov. Locals, clearly, saw it differently.

Lyazzat, 29, also said that Mr Massimov had effectively been sacked.

“In my opinion, the president made a major reshuffle because the government led by Mr Massimov failed to elaborate an anti-crisis strategy,” she said.

Rustem, 35, an Astana resident highlighted the move of Imangali Tasmaganbetov from the minister of defence to deputy PM.

“I know Tasmaganbetov as a good politician, who is capable of bringing some positive changes,” he said.

Again this is different from the analysts’ line of thinking who said Mr Tamagambetov had been demoted. Importantly, locals didn’t highlight Dariga Nazarbayeva’s move from deputy PM into the senate as important. Mr Nazarbayev’s eldest daughter is seen as a potential successor.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Armenia’s ruling party sags in local elections

SEPT. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s ruling Republican Party lost a series of local elections, a reflection, observers said, of the drop in popularity for President Serzh Sargsyan and his government.

The elections focused on voting in civil leaders in small towns and villages across Armenia.

The Central Election Commission said that 350,000 people had voted in the election, a turnout of around 50%, giving it credibility as an opinion poll on the president.

Media reports said that of the 317 local governing bodies where voting took place, the Republican Party won 161. Importantly, though, it lost control of 30 towns and villages that it had previously held.

Analysts said that this was a reflection of the lack of trust in the Republican Party which has dominated Armenian politics since 2003. The economy is stagnant and a group of gunmen captured a police triggering a two week stand-off with police.

Earlier this month Hovik Abrahamyan resigned as Armenia’s PM. He had been in the job for two years but said that a new government was needed to restore confidence in the government.

President Sargsyan quickly appointed Karen Karapetyan as the new PM. He is a former mayor of Yerevan.

Hovannes Sahakian, a Reublican Party MP, said the worse-than-expected results were attributable to some poor local politics.

“There are many problems in those three dozen communities,” he told the RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “We need to revise things, change the strategy and tactics. What happened is not a tragedy.”

President Sargsyan has not commented on the results of the elections.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kazakh President wants to build new town on China border

ALMATY, SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakhstan wants to build a new town on its border with China by 2020 to boost the number of people living on its remote fringe, the Presidential Administration said after President Nursultan Nazarbayev toured the chosen site and studied plans.

If it goes to plan, the new city, which will be called Nurkent (Bright Village), and be home to 100,000 people. As well as populating its borders, Nurkent will also sit nicely with Mr Nazarbayev’s plan to build new homes.

It will be situated next to the Khorgos special economic zone and should boost Kazakh involvement in the region which has so far been dominated by China.

Rasul Zhumaly, a well-regarded political observer, told The Conway Bulletin that the government had to build a new town on the border with China.

“Chinese regions bordering us are developing fast which means that Kazakhstan has to match to these tendencies. It is a necessary and important project,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Kyrgyz miner names new non-executive chairman

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Martin Andersson, Chaarat Gold’s largest shareholder, became non-executive chairman of the British Virgin Island-registered mining company developing gold projects in Kyrgyzstan. Mr Andersson is the owner of Labro Investments, which holds a 25.2% stake in Chaarat.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Suicide stops campaign in Armenia

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Arshak Grigoryan, son of an opposition mayoral candidate in Gyumri, Armenia’s second-largest city, was found dead, having apparently shot himself, at his family home. Vartevan Grigoryan, Arshak’s father, is a top opposition candidate for the mayoral elections of Oct. 2. All parties have suspended campaigning.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

 

Border tension eases between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Border tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have eased since the beginning of the month when the Uzbek army seized a telecoms and radio tower in a disputed area, media reported. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan argue over ownership of the Kasan-Sai reservoir and the Ungar-Too mountain.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Georgia condemns Russia on polling stations

SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Georgian government condemned Russia’s use of polling stations in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia for its parliamentary election on Sept. 18. Georgia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the issuing of Russian passports to people in South Ossetia and Abkhazia breached Georgia’s sovereignty and was illegal.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)