Category Archives: Uncategorised

Anti-government protests gather pace in Armenian capital

JUNE 21-25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — In an often tense standoff with police, thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan this week against electricity price rises.

A Bulletin correspondent estimated that the protest had swelled to around 8,000 people by Thursday evening, the biggest anti-government demonstration in Armenia for a generation and one that could pose a serious threat to the authorities.

On Tuesday, the second day of the protest, police fired water cannons and detained more than 200 people as they tried to clear Freedom Square in the centre of the city. The assault, though, just appeared to strengthen protesters’ resolve.

“Our demand remains the same and we will not leave Baghramyan Avenue until the illegal decision on electricity price hike will not be annulled,” said Aram Manukyan, an activist.

Hundreds of protesters have camped out overnight since and called for the 17% electricity price rise to be repealed.

This is the third price rise in two years. RAO UES, the Russian company that owns Armenia’s electricity network, said it needed to increase prices because of the fall in the value of the Armenian dram which makes imports expensive.

The price raises are particularly painful because Armenia, like other countries in the region, is having to deal with a drop in its economic prospects.

Protesters had started to gather in central Yerevan on Monday, June 22, in anticipation of parliament approving the electricity price rise two days later.

The next day, police turned their water cannons against the demonstrators and waded into the crowd, detaining people trying to stage a sit-in.

Since then, the crowds of protesters have swelled but been peaceful.

PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that the protests were misguided.

“Blocking one of the major prospects in the city will not lead to any success. I call on the activists to get back to constructive dialogue,” he said.

In 2008, eight people died in Yerevan when soldiers fired on anti-government demonstrators.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Uzbekistan and China sign deal

JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek officials signed a protocol with their Chinese counterparts to extend their economic cooperation, media reported. The deal was signed by Chinese and Uzbek government officials in the Chinese city of Rizhao where the two governments had been holding a third intergovernmental meeting.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Gazprom hints at Kyrgyz gas price rise

JUNE 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom wants to raise the price that consumers in Kyrgyzstan pay for their gas, local media reported quoting the director-general of its Kyrgyz subsidiary, Bakyt Abildayev.

This is a particularly sensitive topic because of tense street protests in Yerevan, triggered by the Russian-owned Armenian electricity distributor which wants to raise prices.

“We cannot endlessly subsidize gas industry. I propose to develop a new pricing policy for [the next] three to five years,” Mr Abildayev said.

When Gazprom bought the Kyrgyz gas distribution network in 2013 it was bankrupt and badly needed investment. Gazprom paid a token $1 for the network and promised much needed investment and also to keep prices low. This pleased ordinary Kyrgyz and also the government. It was interpreted as a sweetener as the Kremlin extended its influence over Central Asia and brought Kyrgyzstan into its Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)

Now, though, the situation has changed. Kyrgyzstan has signed up to the EEU and cash is tighter in Russia. The collapse in energy prices has hit Russia hard.

Perhaps this is why, with their allegiance guaranteed, Russia is now looking to increase the price it charges consumers for electricity and gas in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz politics often plays out on the street. If Mr Abildayev is serious about increasing gas prices in Kyrgyzstan, he should probably expect a reaction.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Yazidis open temple in Georgia

JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – People of the Yazidi faith opened a new temple in Tbilisi, media reported. The Muslim extremist group IS has been persecuting the Yazidi in Iraq. Media said the Yazidi population in Georgia has fallen to around 6,000 people from 30,000 a few years ago.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

China invests in Kyrgyz North-South road

JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – China has agreed to give Kyrgyzstan a loan of nearly $300m to complete a new road linking Bishkek with the south of the country, media reported. The road, which crosses inhospitable mountain ranges, is important to the Kyrgyz government to increase its control over the south.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Another EXPO-2017 arrest in Kazakhstan

JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Kazakhstan arrested Sulambek Barkinkhoyev, the managing-director of President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s flagship EXPO-2017 event, on suspicion of corruption. The arrest came a few days after police also arrested Mr Barkinkhoyev’s boss on corruption allegations.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Russia rankles Georgia

JUNE 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s parliament ratified a security deal with the Georgian rebel region of South Ossetia which will see Russian soldiers stationed permanently in the region. Although the deal is symbolic, as Russian soldiers have been posted in S.Ossetia since the end of a 2008 war, it still rankled Georgia.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Car imports to Azerbaijan slump in 2015

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of cars imported into Azerbaijan dropped by around 50% in the first five months of the year, media reported quoting official statistics.

Between January and May, 13,912 passenger cars were imported into the country, down from 27,444 during the same period last year.

The slump in car imports into Azerbaijan is probably a result of a number of factors.

These include a general economic downturn in the region, linked to a recession in Russia and a drop in oil and gas prices. Russia’s economy drives the former Soviet region and oil and gas is the mainstay of Azerbaijan’s economy.

Also, earlier this year Azerbaijan devalued its manat currency by a third, making imports more expensive.

And in 2014, the Azerbaijani government passed a law which banned car imports not using the higher grade Euro-4 fuel type.

This meant that many older cars from Europe could no longer be imported into Azerbaijan.

The knock on effect of this slump in demand is hitting car prices in Azerbaijan too, economist Vugar Bayramov told the azernews.az website.

He said that as inflation has picked up in Azerbaijan, it has pushed up the price of a new cars but the value for older cars has fallen. “Our monitoring shows that the prices of old cars decreased by 7%,” he said.

Mr Bayramov also said that banks in Azerbaijan had also tightened their finance requirements for cars, requiring a downpayment for financing of 50%, up from 20% earlier.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Worker migration from Tajikistan to Russia falls

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The number of migrant workers travelling from Tajikistan to Russia fell by 15% during the first half of the year, according to data from the ministry of labour.

The statistics, which run from January to mid-June 2015, showed that about 315,000 workers travelled from Tajikistan to Russia to find work, 52,000 less than in 2014.

Most have been put off by the drop in Russian economic output, which has knocked job opportunities.

Tajik labour migration to Kazakhstan, though, has increased by 33%, although the absolute numbers are small in comparison with Russia. The data showed that 4,800 workers from Tajikistan had travelled to Kazakhstan to find work, up from 1,200 in 2014.

Remittances from migrant workers are key to Tajikistan’s economy. A World Bank report forecast a 40% drop in remittances to Tajikistan this year because of the poor state of the Russian economy and the collapse of the Tajik somoni.

The new ministry of labour data adds credence to this worsening economic picture.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)

Azerbaijan ‘fake’ tourist

JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – An interview with an alleged British tourist in Azerbaijan has triggered allegations of forgery. The interview, broadcast on domestic Azerbaijani TV, showed a man who introduced himself as James Bonar speaking broken English. “It is fantasy,” he said when asked of Azerbaijan.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)