Category Archives: Uncategorised

First Armenian leader gets ill

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first leader of post-Soviet Armenia, has been flown to the United States for emergency treatment on what local media have described as a cancer. Mr Ter-Petrosyan, 71, was president of Armenia between 1991 and 1998. He has since become a vocal opponent of the government and was blamed for whipping up street protests in 2008 that culminated in police shooting dead at least 10 people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Gazprom Kyrgyzstan pays debt

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom Kyrgyzstan, a fully-owned subsidiary of Russia’s Gazprom, paid off a $41.6m debt that the Kyrgyz company has owed to its Kazakh counterparts since 2004. Gazprom bought Kyrgyzgas for $1 in 2014, promising to pay off its debts. This deal appears to underline Gazprom’s drive to make good on this promise.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Kazakh leader calls for early election

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev called a parliamentary election for March 20, more than a year ahead of schedule. Officially MPs asked him to bring the election forward from 2017 because they said that they had fulfilled their mandate. Unofficially, the Kazakh political elite appear to be increasingly worried about civil disobedience linked to worsening economic conditions.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Tajik police shaves 13000 beards

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In 2015, officials in Tajikistan shaved off beards on nearly 13,000 men, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported quoting a police press conference. The police described the purge as a war against excessive Islamic influences in the country. Tajikistan has said constantly over the past few years that Islamic radicals pose a real threat to its security. Rights activists have said this is simply another way of imposing control.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Irritation rises at new bus ticketing system in Kazakh city

JAN. 22 2016, ALMATY/Kazakhstan (The Conway Bulletin) — Bus drivers in Kazakhstan’s financial capital have been striking because of the introduction of an electronic ticketing system which they say makes their job harder, one side of a row that highlights the problems introducing modern ticketing systems into Soviet-era systems brings.

Under the new system, passengers buy a day pass for the bus system for 400 tenge and tap in and out on a monitor in the body of the bus. Under the old system, passengers bought separate tickets for each journey.

From Oct. 1, Almaty was the first city in Kazakhstan to operate an electronic ticket system. Until Jan. 11 it ran alongside the previous token system. Since then, though, it has become the only way for passengers to pay their travel fares. And many don’t like it.

Kuralai Abenova, a frequent user of public transport said: “I like this cashless system but I am afraid I’d forget this card at home. If I ride without this card, I will be fined.”

According to the head of Almaty’s public transport network, Dauren Alimbekov, the new ticketing system cost $12m to introduce.

His staff also said that the bus drivers who went on strike and were deemed to be in breach of their contract would be sacked.

As for the bus drivers they have said that up to 40% of the passengers now ride the bus for free.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Fitch downgrades Kazakh kommertsbank

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ratings agency Fitch downgraded Kazkommertsbank’s long-term credit to CCC from B- because of a fall in the value of the tenge. Fitch said: “The downgrade reflects a significant increase in the volume of problem (mostly foreign currency-denominated) exposures, primarily as a result of the tenge’s devaluation.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Azerbaijani organisers deny F1 race

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The organisers of Azerbaijan’s first Formula 1 race, scheduled for June, denied that the current economic downturn has hit their plans to stage the event. They were responding to media reports that they were going to have to downgrade their plans after a 50% fall in the value of their manat currency over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

2nd Mortgage protest takes place in Kazakhstan

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 100 women covered in grey sheets marched in protest to Kazkommertsbank and Bank Center Credit to complain about how they treat mortgage holders, their second protest this month. The protesters said that they have struggled to pay their debts since the the tenge lost 50% of its value during a devaluation in August. The authorities in Kazakhstan fear economic problems will trigger social discontent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Low oil prices hurt Georgia

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Although not an energy producing country, Georgia is also suffering heavily from the continued low oil prices, PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said during a speech at the Davos Economic Forum. He said that as an oil trading nation, investment linked to energy has dried up over the past year. Mr Kvirikashvili again said that the government was looking into a 0% tax scheme on reinvested profits.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Azerbaijani lawyer to defend journalist

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Khadija Ismayilova, a high-profile imprisoned Azerbaijani journalist, said that she had appointed Amal Clooney, the wife of Hollywood star George Clooney, as her lawyer ahead of a hearing in the European Court of Human Rights linked to her conviction this year on economic-related charges. Ismayilova is looking to challenge her conviction through the European Court. Europe and the West have accused Azerbaijan of cracking down on free speech.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)