Tag Archives: Kyrgyzstan

Witness recants statement in Kyrgyz court

NOV. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — One of the key witnesses in the trial against Kyrgyz human rights activist Azimzhan Askarov recanted her testimony against her former colleague saying that she had been threatened by the police. Under pressure from the UN and the US, in July Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court ordered a re-trial of Askarov’s case. He was given a life sentence in September 2010 after being accused of inciting ethnic hatred in a revolution that toppled former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev earlier that year. Human rights lobby groups say the accusation were fabricated.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

Kyrgyzstan’s government coalition collapses

BISHKEK, OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan’s four-party coalition government collapsed after the Social Democrats withdrew their support for it, citing irreconcilable differences with their partners.

The break-up of the coalition ended Sooronbay Jeenbekov’s six month term as PM and forces parliament to try to patch together a third government in 2016. It also comes at a sensitive time for Kyrgyzstan’s young parliamentary democracy with only six weeks to go before a bitter and divisive referendum set for Dec. 11 on whether to boost the powers of the PM.

“We tried to keep the coalition, but the recent actions of certain individuals, now our former partners, exposed the problems,” a statement from the Social Democrats said. “We cannot be in coalition with those who are associated with the common interests of Akayev and Bakiyev and those who go against the national interests over constitutional reforms.”

References to Askar Akayev and Kurmanbek Bakiyev were to Kyrgyzstan’s two former presidents who were overthrown during revolutions in 2005 and 2010.

The Social Democrats are the party of President Almazbek Atambayev and he immediately charged them with forming a new government.

This will be difficult. The Social Democrats hold 38 of the 120-seat legislature and will have to make deals with some of the five other parties to patch together a government. If it fails, Mr Atambyaev will have to turn to another party to form a government or be forced to call a parliamentary election.

The collapse of the government underlines just how fragile Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary system is. Mr Jeenbekov was Kyrgyzstan’s sixth PM since constitutional changes in 2010 shifted power from the presidency to the PM.

Emil Joroev, a professor of Political Studies at the American University of Central Asia, said that the weak and short-lived governments were making Kyrgyzstan increasingly unstable.

“The collapse of the ruling coali- tion, and the corresponding fall of the government underscores the fragility of inter-party agreements the tendency of divisive single issues to trump over larger, encompassing development agendas, and the ease with which partners in a ruling coalition have been able to break it with no real accountability,” he said.

People in Bishkek had differing views on the collapse of the latest government. Some were frustrated but others just shrugged.

“We are not tired of changes, we are now used to seeing it this,” said Samat Joldoshbekov, 23.

The December referendum on extending the powers of the PM is controversial because opposition groups have accused Mr Atambayev of trying to take power by stealth.

The current constitution bars Mr Atambayev, 60, from standing in a presidential election next year but does not stop him from becoming PM later, a move that his opponents say he is planning.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Kyrgyz governments sponsor films to promote themselves

OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Governments of the South Caucasus and Central Asia are sponsoring films to promote their various causes.

This season’s new releases includes a big screen version of Nino and Ali, the classic story of a romance between a Muslim Azerbaijani man and a Christian Georgian woman, which premiered in Baku this month.

It was sponsored by the state linked Heydar Aliyev centre. Leyla Aliyeva, daughter of president Ilham Aliyev, is listed in the credits as an executive producer.

The killings of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in eastern Turkey during the end of the Ottoman Empire, described as a genocide by

Armenia but denied by Turkey, has also been turned into a Hollywood film starring Christian Bale called The Promise. The reviews, so far, have been mixed.

In previous years Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Georgia have all directly or indirectly sponsored films to promote their causes too.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Kyrgyzstan increases film control

OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kyrgyz government has increased its ability to ban films considered pornographic or too violent, media reported. Human rights group have said they are worried that the new laws could be used for political reasons but family groups have welcomed the tighter control that the state will have over film releases in cinemas and on television.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Improving Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations

OCT. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — >> I hear that the Uzbek government sent high-level delegation to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan. Why is this news? Surely this is standard practise?

>> It’s certainly not standard practice for Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Their bilateral relations have been worse than poor over the past few years. This has been most obvious along their shared borders where soldiers and villagers from each side have squared up. At times it has threatened to develop into conflict, a conflict that the rest of the region has always worried would drag in neighbours. Part of the problem was that Uzbekistan blamed Kyrgyzstan for building a network of hydro projects across its rivers, depriving it of the water that it needs to irrigate its important cotton fields. There are also a series of rows over sovereignty around parts of their shared border in and around the Ferghana Valley. Osh, for example, is in Kyrgyzstan but is home to thousands of Uzbeks.

>> That does sound serious. How was this conflict avoided?

>> Essentially it appears that the death in September of Uzbek president Islam Karimov has been the key to improving bilateral Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations. He had a reputation for being a cantankerous, intransigent man who preferred to keep relations with his neighbours cool. Karimov had been in power since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and Uzbekistan’s interna- tional relations have been notably cool during this period. The new guy, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, appears to be taking a different tack. Since he was installed as acting president, relations with Kyrgyzstan have improved markedly.

>> So, what specifically has improved?

>> There have been platitudes and visits from either side, handshakes and warm words. This may not sound like a great deal but it is. Impression is every- thing in this instance. The image of Kyrgyz and Uzbek government officials shaking hands and standing together for photo-ops in the Ferghana valley is invaluable for maintaining the peace and reducing tension. The deals and finer details will come later. It’s also important that these get-togethers have been happening around Osh and other towns and cities in the Ferghana Valley. This is the most tense and most ethnically diverse part of Central Asia. Using the Ferghana Valley as the backdrop adds extra weight to these gestures of friendship.

>> Got it. So this is the beginning of something good. What happens next?

>> It’s likely that Mirziyoyev will be confirmed as Uzbekistan’s permanent president at an election in December. If he is committed to improving relations with Kyrgyzstan, this will be a good thing for stability. Central Asia needs Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan to be on good terms. We’re also due a meeting between Mirziy- oyev and Almazbek Atambayev, the Kyrgyz president. When this does happen, and it’ll probably be next year as both hold votes in December – Uzbekistan a presi- dential election and Kyrgyzstan a referendum on changing the constitution – we’ll get a better idea of just how far Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations have come.

>> And what is motivating this thaw in relations?

>> It’s not 100% clear. Mirziyoyev may have decided, along with the other Uzbek power brokers, that post- Karimov Uzbekistan needs to set out on a different foreign policy course and that making allies with neighbours and opening up to investors is the right tactics. Of course, the charm offensive may also just be a short-term gimmick ahead of the December election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Uzbek government sends delegation to Osh

BISHKEK, OCT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A high-ranking Uzbek government delegation visited Osh in Kyrgyzstan for a groundbreaking meeting which highlighted both improving relations between the two neighbours and the charm offensive that Uzbekistan’s president-in-waiting, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has laid on since Islam Karimov died in September.

Uzbek delegations have also travelled to Tajikistan and China since Mr Mirziyoyev was appointed acting president. His press office has also said that he has spent time talking to Turkmen president Kurbangly Berdymukhamedov.

This friendly foreign policy approach is in marked contrast to the stance that Karimov took when he was president. He preferred to keep a distance from his neighbours, often souring relations.

The most remarkable change has been towards Kyrgyzstan where border rows had threatened to tip into war.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Kyrgyzstan-based Centerra completes deal

OCT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan-focused miner Centerra Gold said it completed the acquisition of Thompson Creek, a Canadian miner, in exchange for 8% of its shares. Centerra said that the deal is consistent with its diversification efforts. Under the Centerra brand, Thompson Creek will continue its operations in British Columbia. The Kyrgyz government owns a minority stake in Centerra and had opposed the transaction because it said it would have diluted its shareholding in Centerra.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

EBRD to funnel Kyrgyzstan MicroCredit Company

OCT. 24 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed a deal with Kyrgyzstan’s First MicroCredit Company to funnel $1m to households in the south of the country for projects to improve their energy and water efficiency. Projects that will qualify for EBRD funding include installing energy efficient windows, doors and water pumps.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 302, published on Oct. 28 2016)

Comment: Russia eyes entry into the West’s CASA-1000, says Kilner

OCT. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — It appears as if Pakistan is losing confidence in the West’s headline power transmission project in Central Asia — CASA-1000. It’s been talking to Russia and Turkmenistan about covering an anticipated shortfall in electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, undermining a core pillar of the project.

CASA-1000 is the World Bank funded project that will, when it is built in 2018, send electricity generated by hydropower stations in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to consumers in Pakistan via Afghanistan.

The $1.2b project was supposed to spearhead what Hillary Clinton, when she was US Secretary of State, had described as a new north-south Silk Road. The West has disengaged from Central Asia to a large extent since the drawdown of it militaries from Afghanistan in 2013 and 2014, making new projects like CASA-1000 so important. The aim was to empower Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, tie both Pakistan and Afghanistan into a wider Central Asian economic sphere and restore confidence in the West’s commitment to the region.

But it may not be going to plan.

Leaders from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan gathered earlier this year to mark the start of CASA-1000’s construction. They shook hands and smiled. Now it seems that Russian and Turkmen leaders should also have been there.

Pakistan has, openly, been courting both Russia and Turkmenistan as back up energy suppliers. Its leaders appear to doubt the ability of both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to produce enough power during the freezing winters when their domestic demand spikes and water levels in their reservoirs, which feed the hydropower plants, fall.

There are also question marks over whether the Soviet-era infrastructure that both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are relying upon can cope with the demands of CASA-1000. The World Bank has promised funds to both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to boost power production but it may not be enough and it may come too late, in any case.

Russia has already told Pakistan that it will happily feed its power into CASA-1000 to make up the shortfall but, and this is the point, this would undermine the ethos of the project.

With Russia riding to the rescue, CASA-1000 risks making the West’s strategy in Central Asia look muddled.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)

Kyrgyz MPs push back referendum

OCT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — MPs in Kyrgyzstan voted to push back a referendum on changing the country’s constitution to Dec. 11 from an earlier date of Dec. 4. One of the reasons give for pushing back the referendum was to find the original document. This was supposed to have been kept in the President’s office but could not be found. The referendum focuses on strengthening the power of the PM.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 301, published on Oct. 21 2016)