APRIL 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — With Russia’s annexation of Crimea firmly in mind, Kazakhstan’s parliament is likely to pass laws that will criminalise separatist action, media reported. Kazakhstan’s north is home to a large Russian minority which it worries will follow the example of Crimea and try to join Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
APRIL 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the Philippines detained Daniele Bosio, the Italian ambassador to Turkmenistan, for suspected child abuse, media reported. Mr Bosio was at a water slide park with three boys when he was detained. The Italian foreign ministry confirmed Mr Bosio’s detention and said he had been on a personal holiday in the Philippines.
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
APRIL 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — International sanctions imposed on Russia because of its de facto annexation of Crimea will adversely affect Kazakh exports, Kazakhstan’s energy minister Uzakbai Karabalin told parliament. Mr Karabalin said that Kazakhstan may look to increase oil exports via Azerbaijan, China and Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
APRIL 2 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Less than a week after US President Barack Obama said NATO would not invite Georgia to join, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen described Georgia as a “special partner”. Georgia is desperate to join NATO and Mr Rasmussen’s comments will have given its leaders hope that one day it will be a NATO member.
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
APRIL 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Edward Nalbandian and Elmar Mammadyarov, met in Moscow under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group to discuss setting up talks between their presidents on the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. All incremental moves towards high-level talks over Nagorno-Karabakh are important.
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(News report from Issue No. 179, published on April 9 2014)
MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Checkpoints along the disputed Kyrgyz-Tajik border have re-opened for the first time since a shootout between border-guards in January, media reported. The border is disputed between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, one of a number or territorial flashpoints across Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It may not sound like much but it is, in fact, important. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan met on the sidelines of a summit on nuclear security in the Hague between March 24/25, media reported quoting the OSCE. Azerbaijan and Armenia are still officially at war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev will visit Tehran on April 9 on a trip that marks just how far Azerbaijani- Iranian relations have improved.
Iranian state media announced the news by quoting Iran’s ambassador in Baku, Mohsen Pakayeen.
Although relations between the neighbours are still strained, they have improved immeasurably since Hassan Rouhani took over as Iran’s president last summer. He is credited with bringing a far friendlier, more collegiate attitude to foreign relations compared with his more awkward predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Previously, Azerbaijan and Iran had traded accusations of spying and had accused each other of breaking various border protocols.
In March 2013, the Azerbaijani authorities arrested 22 Iranian citizens for allegedly planning to attack Israeli and American targets in Baku.
Now the talk is of cultural exchanges and bilateral business deals.
In January the two leaders met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, a meeting that reportedly helped set events in motion for Mr Aliyev’s trip to Tehran later this month.
For Mr Aliyev, improving relations with Iran comes with some pitfalls. Over the past few years his government has striven hard to boost relations with Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy.
Iran imports energy from Azerbaijan; Azerbaijan imports arms from Israel. Mr Aliyev will have to tread carefully on his trip to Baku to both continue to mend relations with Iran while also remembering his alliance with Israel.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Two sets of demonstrators, one supporting Russia and one against Russia, clashed briefly in central Tbilisi. Feelings are running high in Tbilisi which has firmly backed Ukraine’s revolution and US calls for Russia to quit Crimea.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — After a meeting of the Chinese and Tajik defence ministers in Dushanbe, China pledged to help boost Tajikistan’s military, media reported. China has ramped up its support to Tajikistan over the past couple of years. It has built roads, dug mines and helped upgrade the Tajik military.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
