DEC. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov replaced his long-serving interior minister Bakhodyr Matlyubov. Analysts said the new interior minister General-Major Adkham Akhmedbayev, was a member of the so-called Tashkent clan and that his promotion gave the security services extended reach.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov sacked interior minister Bakhodyr Matlyubov, 62, and replaced him with his deputy, General-Major Adkham Akhmedbayev.
Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev becomes only the third interior minister in Uzbekistan’s 22 year history as an independent country.
His promotion, though, is more interesting than merely as an historical statistic.
In Uzbekistan, the interior minister is an important position, and Mr Karimov’s decision to promote Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev has an intriguing sub-plot. Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev is a member of the so-called Tashkent Clan which is competing for influence with the Samarkand Clan.
The most powerful member of the Tashkent Clan is Rustam Inoyatov, head of the Uzbek security service.
After Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev’s promotion, commentators and analysts immediately said that they detected the hand of the increasingly powerful Mr Inoyatov behind the scenes. Gen-Maj Akhmedbayev is a former member of the Uzbek security services. His control of the interior ministry now extends the power and influence of the Uzbek security services.
It’s also important for the apparent power struggle unfolding in the background. Mr Inoyatov is considered the main protagonist of the fall from grace of Gulnara Karimova, Mr Karimov’s eldest daughter and a potential successor.
Various scenarios could continue to play out in Uzbekistan ahead of a presidential election in 2015. All, though, it seems include a stronger Tashkent clan influence over the country and a weaker president.
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(News report from Issue No. 165, published on Dec. 18 2013)
DEC. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In an interview with Bloomberg News in London, Kazakhstan’s Central Bank chief Kairat Kelimbetov said one of his main objectives was to cut the proportion of nonperforming loans in Kazakh banks to 10% by January 2016. Non-performing loans currently make up about 30% of its banks’ portfolio.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz authorities sacked the powerful mayor of Osh, Melis Myrzakmatov, a few days after he attended a major anti-government rally.
It’s a bold, but also risky, move by the government.
The 44-year-old Mr Myrzakmatov is a firebrand nationalist, known for ignoring the central government in Bishkek. He’d held power in Osh since January 2009 and has been a headache for the national government ever since the ouster of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in 2010.
Since then the southern power groups have jostled for influence with their northern adversaries. In June 2010 this came to a head with inter-ethnic fighting between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Some analysts blamed local regional chiefs, including Mr Myrzakmatov, for stirring the trouble.
On Dec. 3, a few days after clashes with police, a reported 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Osh to call for the release of popular southern politician, Akhmatbek Keldibekov. Police had arrested Mr Keldibekov, a former Speaker of the parliament, in November on corruption charges.
By deposing Mr Myrzakmatov, who attended the rally, the government probably hopes to cut a major agitator out of the equation and take the momentum out of the protests. Mr Myrzakmatov, though, is a wily opponent and has already said that he will return to front-line politics.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
DEC. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a ceremony to mark the 21st anniversary of Uzbekistan’s Constitution, President Islam Karimov played the role of the democrat.
He said he wanted Parliament to be stronger and to play a more defined role in public life. What he wanted to see, he said, was parliament monitoring both ministers and the decision-making process. To extend the Uzbek parliament’s reach and power, Mr Karimov said he would have to alter with the country’s already much tinkered with constitution.
Mr Karimov, though, is not known as a democrat and he was paying only lip-service to the idea of a powerful parliament. In reality it rubber stamps his decisions.
For foreign businesses and analysts, the underlying message of Mr Karimov’s latest pronouncement is that he is happy to alter Uzbekistan’s constitution to give more window dressing to the idea that parliamentary democracy exists in Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 164, published on Dec. 11 2013)
NOV. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon continued his cabinet re-shuffle after winning an election last month by replacing the foreign minister, finance minister and transport minister. Media also reported that Mr Rakhmon had promoted his son to head the Customs Committee, a lucrative post in corruption-rife Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 163, published on Dec. 4 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan will re-commission its 10 Su-24 bombers, withdrawn from service in 2008, media reported quoting unnamed military sources. The news is more evidence that Azerbaijan is spending heavily on its armed forces. It is still officially at war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 20 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon replaced his long-serving defence minister Sherali Khairulloyev less than a year before NATO withdraws from neighbouring Afghanistan.
The West and Russia are relying on Tajikistan to buffer the spread north of the Taliban after US-led forces leave Afghanistan and the dismissal of Mr Khairulloyev may concern them.
Russia is particularly worried about Taliban encroachment into Central Asia and has boosted its military contingent in Tajikistan. The 65-year-old Mr Khairulloyev had been defence minister in Tajikistan since 1995. Sherali Mirzo, head of Tajikistan’s Border Guards Service and 20 years his junior, will replace him. No reason was given for the change.
Mr Khairulloyev’s notoriety is not limited to being Tajikistan’s defence minister. He shot to fame in 2010 as the star of one of the more entertaining US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. A 2006 memo written by the then US ambassador to Dushanbe described a drinking session with Mr Khairulloyev.
“By the end of the alcohol-sodden lunch, the minister (Mr Khairulloyev) was slurring and unsteady on his feet,” the memo read. The memo importantly recorded that even in 2006 Mr Khairulloyev said he expected to be fired by Mr Rakhmon at any moment.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 21 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Kyrgyzstan arrested Akmatbek Keldibekov, an opposition leader, for alleged abuse of office and corruption. The arrest of Mr Keldibekov triggered demonstrations calling for his release. Kyrgyzstan is polarised between the pro-government north and the opposition stronghold in the south.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
NOV. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Nurlan Kussainov, the CEO of the state-owned Kazakhstan Development Bank, resigned, local media reported. Media reports didn’t specify why Mr Kussainov quit the post he had held since April 2011. Kazakhstan’s sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna controls the Kazakhstan Development Bank.
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(News report from Issue No. 162, published on Nov. 27 2013)
