Category Archives: Uncategorised

Tajik MPs consider constitutional changes

JAN. 13 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s parliament is considering changes to the constitution that will, effectively, cement control of the country under President Emomali Rakhmon and his family.

Local media reported that MPs were looking into scrapping term limits for the president and also lowering the minimum age of presidential candidates to 30 from 35.

This second potential amendment would mean that Rakhmon’s son, Rustam, would be eligible to take over as president in 2020 when the next presidential election is due. He will be 33 in 2020.

A Dushanbe-based analyst who asked to remain anonymous said: “Both Rakhmon and his son will be eligible for presidency in 2020. I think, they want to keep both doors open and the decision will be taken only in 2020 according to situation and condition, as well as on how the incumbent president feels.”

Human rights and democracy group have accused Mr Rakhmon, who has been president since the 1990s, of acting as an autocrat,

imprisoning opposition leaders and cracking down on dissent. But governments, both from the West and also Russia and China, have seemingly preferred to see a strong Mr Rakhmon remain in power and act as a bulwark against any northern momentum from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

And most people in Tajikistan appear to support the status quo. “We need stability in the country,” said a man in his 50s walking in Dushanbe. “I don’t care who is the President, I just don’t want any war.”

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Editorial: Kazakhstan’s parliament

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – It doesn’t happen often that a parliament asks the president to order its dissolution and call for elections. But in Kazakhstan, MPs feel they have fulfilled their obligations and, with one voice apparently, asked for an early vote.

The economic downturn could potentially lead to the formation of organised opposition in Kazakhstan and the calling of snap presidential elections last year and, in a similar fashion, this year would prevent dissent.

Although it was the MPs calling for it, the decision to call for early elections came from the top. The elite wants to consolidate its power within the various political institutions in light of a prospective transition.

President Nurtsultan Nazarbayev has indicated that he is likely to hand over to a successor at the end of his current term as president in 2020. If the transition goes as planned, the successor will be chosen from the political elite that is currently in charge of the major institutional positions.

The name of the new speaker of the Majilis and the percentage of seats that go to the ruling Nur Otan party are the two main things to monitor.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Remittances drop to Armenia

JAN. 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Remittances to Armenia fell by 22% in November 2015 compared to November 2014, media reported quoting the Central Bank. The majority of the remittances came from Russia which is labouring under a recession triggered by the fall in oil and Western sanctions.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Azerbaijan’s President puts on a brave face

JAN. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Apparently putting a brave face on an increasingly poor economic outlook, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev said at a government meeting that the country’s GDP had actually grown last year by one percentage point. He also said that Azerbaijan needed to reduce its dependency on oil, something that most analysts have been urging for some time.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Armenia arrests assassination plotters

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces in Armenia arrested two more people, including Garnik Markarian, leader of a small, obscure opposition party, for allegedly being part of a group plotting a series of assassinations. In November, security forces in Armenia raided a house in Yerevan and arrested 10 people for allegedly being linked to the assassination plot. In the following weeks, at least 12 more people were arrested.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

ICG warns Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan on Taliban threat

JAN. 11 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Anti-terrorist operations by Pakistan’s military along its border with Afghanistan have pushed Islamist fighters north, increasing the threat posed by the Taliban to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said.

The ICG said these battle-hardened radicals had played a key role in briefly capturing Kunduz, on the border with Tajikistan, last year.

“Insecurity in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, including Taliban control of districts across from Tajikistan, has increased pressure, with risk that battle-experienced Islamic militants could link up with even small numbers of potential allies inside the country,” ICG wrote.

The ICG is an influential voice. Its report sides with Russia’s analysis that stability along Central Asia’s southern border has worsened.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Russia hold military exercise in Georgian rebel region

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia held a military exercise in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia involving 2,000 soldiers and artillery, a show of force designed to remind Georgia just how heavily armed the rebel region is. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over South Ossetia in 2008. Russia and a handful of its allies have since recognised its independence but the international community still considers South Ossetia as part of Georgia.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Turkmenistan acknowledges economic slowdown

JAN. 9 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) -Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov officially recognised the economic slowdown hitting the region when he said that Turkmenistan’s GDP growth in 2015 had been 6.7% compared to 10.4% in 2014. Turkmenistan’s economy has been booming thanks mainly to gas sales to China.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Turkmenistan starts to ban cigarettes

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen officials have started pulling cigarettes off shops’ shelves in what appears to be a draconian attempt to effectively ban smoking altogether.

In Ashgabat, an AFP correspondent interviewed a shopkeeper who said that officials had recently ordered him to stop selling cigarette or face a heavy fine.

“(They) came to our shop recently and forced us to remove cigarettes from the shelves, threatening us with huge fines,” 34-year-old Bairam Saryev said.

Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is known for his eccentricity. He is a former dentist and hates smoking. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised his efforts to discourage smokers by banning smoking in all public buildings, parks and offices as well as cigarette advertising.

Last year WHO said only 8% of Turkmenistan’s population smoked, the lowest of any country.

The Turkmen government has not published any official announcement on whether it will ban smoking altogether.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Editorial: Turkmenistan’s final puff

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – By all accounts, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the president of Turkmenistan, is a very particular man.

He likes to be a winner, making sure that he wins horse races held in Turkmenistan each year. He likes, and appreciates, statues of himself which have started appearing in Ashgabat. He likes, far more than his predecessor, foreign travel.

He doesn’t like poor performing officials and he especially doesn’t like smoking. At least that’s the impression he has given.

Mr Berdymukhamedov has taken it upon himself to eradicate smoking, it appears. According to news reports he has banned smoking in almost all public places and has stopped shops from selling cigarettes.

This is, surely, a shame as lighting up a ciggie at the end of a day is a simple pleasure that had been available in Turkmenistan, a country not known for its personal freedoms.

Still, there may be one upside for smokers in Turkmenistan. The illegal cigarette behind the bike shed may come come back in vogue.

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(Editorial from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)