APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s deputy PM, Abdyrakhman Mamataliev, said there were now 330 Kyrgyz nationals fighting for the radical IS group in Syria. It’s not possible to confirm this number, but if it is accurate this would be a major worry for Kyrgyzstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has built a 22,000km barb wire fence along its borders with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, media reported, highlighting the often strained border issues in Central Asia.
AKIpress, a Bishkek-based news agency, said that most of the barb was erected along the border with Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have a long-standing quarrel over borders and over the last few years there has been an increase in the number of incidents between the two neighbours along their shared border. These could be locals wandering into no-go areas, or a stand-off between soldiers. The tensest area is around the city of Osh in south Kyrgyzstan, which is part of the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan.
The borders of Central Asia are complex. Historians have said that Soviet officials deliberately drew the borders to divide people.
Analysts have also said that tension over borders is one of Central Asia’s most serious flashpoints.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Special forces from Kyrgyzstan, China, Russia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan — all members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) — began exercises in Kyrgyzstan, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Analysts say the SCO is a military alliance.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan plans to tackle a lack of electricity by building small hydropower plants in different parts of the country over the next few years, media quoted industry minister Batyrkul Baetov as saying. One of Kyrgyzstan’s few natural resources is water.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Already two years in the works, the law on “foreign agents” might be ready for approval by the Kyrgyz parliament within the next couple of months, according to the latest public statements.
If approved by parliament, the bill would label as “foreign agents” all non-governmental organisations that receive foreign capital for their activities.
The law is similar to one brought in by Russia’s parliament a few years ago and has triggered an outcry from NGOs in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan is also particularly dependent on NGOs.
In March, a parliamentary committee approved the draft law and sent it to parliament. The main proponent, Nurkamil Madaliyev, of the conservative Ar-Namys party justified his position stating that “many local non-profits are interfering in the political life of the country” and foreign funding is crucial to their activities.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The media lobby group the Committee to Protect Journalists accused Kyrgyzstan of having no regard for independent journalism after it deported US journalist Umar Farooq. Mr Farooq had been in Osh investigating ethnic clashes in 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev has rounded off an 8-day tour of European capitals, on which he signed various economic deals and tried to drum up support for action against Islam extremism.
Mr Atambayev pitched the tour as his attempt to promote his country and attract investors despite economic conditions in Central Asia deteriorating further.
In Austria, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany he met with the heads of government and royals.
“I am sure that there will be a whole new stage of relations between Kyrgyzstan and the European Union,” he said in Brussels (March 30).
Europe, generally, views Kyrgyzstan as a relative beacon of parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, a region more closely associated with autocratic leaders.
Over the past few years, though, Kyrgyzstan has moved steadily towards Russia. It plans to join the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union later this year.
Importantly, Mr Atambayev also received various promises for financial support. Switzerland agreed to allocate 74m francs ($77m) to develop the health sector and support small and medium enterprises.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
MARCH 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s Central Bank bought $11.4m worth of som to slow its devaluation, media reported, its third intervention in March. Kyrgyzstan, like other countries in the region, has been trying to manage a fall in the value of its currency.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
APRIL 1 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia used its control of gas supplies to Armenia to pressure the government into joining its Eurasian Economic Union, a parliamentary inquiry has said.
The inquiry said Russia increased gas prices to Armenia until it agreed to join the Eurasian Economic Union in 2013.
The findings are strong evidence that Russia uses its economic leverage over Central Asia and the South Caucasus for political gain.
Also in the past week, Russia approved a $1 billion development fund for Kyrgyzstan. This, again, appears linked to Kyrgyzstan’s entry to the Eurasian Economic Union later this year.
The West has long said the Kremlin’s aim in the region is to coerce governments into doing its bidding.
In Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, it has found vulnerable partners. Both are relatively poor with few natural resources. They both host Russian military bases and are reliant on Russian business and remittances from workers living in Russia for growth.
Importantly too, Gazprom owns the gas pipeline network in both Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. This has often been the choke point. Controlling a country’s gas supply gives Russia huge power.
There is one other major similarity between Armenia and Kyrgyzstan regarding membership of the Eurasian Economic Union. Bulletin correspondents in both countries report that most ordinary people, and also many of the politicians, don’t really want to join the group. Instead, they feel compelled to.
Belarus and Kazakhstan, both far larger economies, are also members of the EEU.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
MARCH 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has approved a law that will create a Russia-Kyrgyzstan development fund worth $1b, media reported. Kyrgyzstan has agreed to join the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union later this year and it is likely that the fund’s creation was linked to Kyrgyz membership of the group.
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(News report from Issue No. 225, published on April 12015)
