NOV. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Officials from NATO, the US-led Western military alliance, will open a training centre in Baku when they visit the Azerbaijani capital on Nov. 18, media reported. Azerbaijan has deployed a small detachment of soldiers to support NATO’s campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Moving closer to NATO is a snub to Russia.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
OCT. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek President Islam Karimov met with Meng Jiangzhu, a member of China’s ruling politburo and cochair of the Uzbekistan-China inter-governmental committee, in Tashkent. China has become increasingly friendly with Uzbekistan over the past year.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
NOV. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — If proof was needed that a cease-fire between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh was increasingly fragile, Russia may have given it.
Colonel Andrei Ruzinsky, commander of the Russian forces based in Armenia, said that Russia’s military would back Armenia if Azerbaijan ever tried to take back control of the province.
His intervention was interesting and, perhaps, well timed. Over the past few weeks there have been a number of small fire-fights between the two sides, more, it appears, than normal.
A shaky 1994 cease-fire keeps Armenia and Azerbaijan apart around Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is controlled by Armenian-backed rebels but Azerbaijan has said it wants to reclaim the region.
And it has built up the military firepower to do this.
Armenia’s military is far smaller than Azerbaijan’s but it has the backing of Russia.
While Azerbaijan has steered towards Europe and the West, Armenia has looked to Russia for support. It is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and pledged to enter the Customs Union. Russia is the main driver and backer of both groups.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
NOV. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — At a meeting in Ashgabat, Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko and his Turkmen counterpart Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov agreed to build a factory to produce unmanned aerial drones. Media reports said Turkmenistan wants the drones to patrol its borders.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
NOV. 5 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has threaten to withdraw its delegation to Euronest, part of the European parliament designed to foster closer relations with the EU’s neighbours, over a row on election monitors, media reported. Election monitors from Europe said a presidential election in October was not free and fair.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 159, published on Nov. 6 2013)
OCT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s representative in EuroNest, a European Parliament group set up to promote integration between the EU and some neighbours, accused European vote monitoring bodies of trying to whip up dissent. European vote monitors gave a less-than flattering assessment of Azerbaijan’s presidential election on Oct. 9.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s government has approved a deal to merge its air defence systems with Kazakhstan, media reported. A deal to merge air defence capabilities was originally signed in January. Combining air defence systems will edge Kazakhstan further towards Russia.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia will double the number of warplanes at its base at Kant outside Bishkek, media quoted Viktor Sevastyanov, a senior Russian air force commander, as saying. Earlier this month the US started withdrawing its forces from its own base in Kyrgyzstan. It will end operations at the Manas air base by mid-2014.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran have worsened over the past couple of years. The two neighbours have rowed over alleged spy rings, ties with Israel, assassination attempts and cross border shootouts.
Over the last couple of months, with the arrival of new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, there has been something of a thaw. He’s been more open to improving strained international relations than his predecessor.
Now, though, a fresh and bitter row has opened up on an unlikely front. Polo, a sport played by kings and the super-rich on horseback, has generated a fierce argument between Iran and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan has applied to Unesco to have polo listed as an indigenous sport. They have said that polo derived in the country. Iran disagrees.
“We will tell Unesco that the traditional game is a common element that should not be registered exclusively in the name of a single country,” official Iranian media quoted the deputy head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation, Mehdi Hojjat, as saying.
Art dating back 500 years from ancient Persia shows men clearly enjoying a game of polo. They ride horses and hit balls with long sticks.
For Azerbaijan to claim it as theirs is a remarkable power play.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has asked UNESCO to list polo as its indigenous sport, triggering a row with Iran, media reported. Relations between the two neighbours have worsened over the past couple of years although there had recently been an improvement under new Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
