SEPT. 3/4 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Unidentified men launched a series of attacks on government buildings in Dushanbe, killing at least nine policemen, media reported. Media said the men were linked to Islamic extremism, although this has not been confirmed.
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(News report from Issue No. 246, published on Sept. 4 2015)
AUG. 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Aktobe, west Kazakhstan, jailed eight men for 3-6 years for spreading Islamic extremist propaganda, media reported. Kazakhstan is becoming increasingly sensitive to the spread of Islamic propaganda. It worries that the radical IS group in Syria and Iraq is actively recruiting from Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 242, published on Aug. 7 2015)
JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz National Security Committee said it had prevented two attacks planned by the extremist group IS. Kyrgyz special forces said it killed six men during two gunfights in Bishkek. Allegedly, their targets were a square in Bishkek and the nearby Kant airbase, leased to Russia’s military.
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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)
JULY 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Khatlon province, south Tajikistan, sentenced Khusein Odinamakhmadov, 30, to 35 years in prison for recruiting Tajik men in Moscow to travel to Syria to join the extremist IS group, media reported. Tajikistan is worried about IS recruitment.
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(News report from Issue No. 239, published on July 9 2015)
JULY 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan convicted 9 men of fighting for the extremist group IS in Syria and sent them to prison for up to 15 years, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
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.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbek defence ministry has ordered four C295W military transport planes manufactured by Airbus at its plant in Seville, Spain, Tashkent-based news agency uzdaily.com reported.
There has been no official confirmation from the Uzbek government but for
Uzbek media to report on a deal like this is a nod to its veracity. Plane spotters in Seville have also posted photographs online of a C295W plane carrying an Uzbek flag on its wing tail.
Airbus, which is headquar- tered in Paris and is part owned by Germany, France and Spain, has also dodged commenting on the deal although one of its representatives was quoted by Uzbek media in June at an airshow in France.
“For Airbus is a great honour to participate in the modernisation of Uzbekistan Airways,” the director for Airbus sales in Central Asia and eastern Europe, Stefan Konkoly, told the website jahonnews.uz.
Mr Konkoly, apparently, didn’t mention a deal with the Uzbek military.
Europe has only recently patched up its relationship with Uzbekistan. A few years ago, it considered Uzbekistan a pariah state. Human rights groups had accused the Uzbek government of shooting dead hundreds of protesters in 2005 in the town of Andijan in the east of the country.
More recently, though, Europe and NATO needed Uzbek support to pull its military out of Afghanistan.
Part of the deal was to sell or leave behind so-called non-lethal military equipment to fight Islamic extremism and drug trafficking.
Each Airbus C295W military transport plane can carry 70 soldiers and 10 tonnes of kit.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 14 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Taliban released four Tajik soldiers it had captured in December in a deal brokered by Qatar.
Tajikistan’s National Security Committee confirmed the release of the soldiers but neither it nor the Qatari mediation team gave any details on what sort of deal had been struck.
According to Taliban sources, quoted by various media, the release of the border guards was achieved because of “good neighbour relations”.
The Taliban, however, remain a chief national security problem for Tajikistan. General Rajabali Rakhmonali told a press briefing that 1,500 Islamic militants were massing near the border of Afghanistan. Tajikistan has warned previously of a Taliban attack.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
YEREVAN/ARMENIA, JUNE 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Liana Pakhdigian, 32, was pregnant when she arrived with her husband in Yerevan from Aleppo, Syria, with just one piece of luggage three years ago.
They intended to stay for a fortnight but it has, instead, become their new home.
“War was worsening in Aleppo, forcing us to settle in Yerevan. We didn’t have enough money, shelter or even clothing. So we hired an apartment and intensively searched for a job,” she said.
They left behind their home in Aleppo as well as a furniture manufacturing business.
“We lost everything we had earned in our lives. But what is important is that we’re alive, healthy and looking forward,” the again pregnant Liana said.
She smiled but the tears welling in her eyes betrayed her sadness.
As the war in Syria has worsened, so the number of ethnic Armenians fleeing has increased. Armenians have, generally, been accepting. Armenia’s Ministry of Diaspora now estimates that
it has taken in 12,000 Armenians from Syria since the start of the conflict, most from Aleppo, which was home to more than 80% of Syria’s 100,000 Armenians.
Despite some grumbling, the refugees have generally integrated well. They speak the same language, are the same Orthodox religion and have many of the same customs.
And they are happy to be out of Syria. Gevorg Yepremian, 41, moved to Armenia from Syria 2-1/2 years ago with his wife and two children.
“My salary here is very low and life conditions are far from those in Syria where I have my own home,” he said. “But my children feel good here and they play with many toys. Also, there is no shooting in the streets.”
Then, rather wistfully, more in hope than expectation, he said: “If things improve in Syria I think we’ll go back.”
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 16 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia detained four people on suspicion of working for the radical group IS and trying to recruit people to head out to Syria, media reported. The Georgian government has said it is worried about people living in its Pankisi Gorge, which has a reputation for lawlessness, heading out to join IS.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
