Tag Archives: politics

Kyrgyz PMs

APRIL 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Sooronbai Jeenbekov became Kyrgyzstan’s sixth PM since constitutional changes in 2010 handed more power to parliament. This is a record that denotes both instability and strength. Instability because of the sheer number of men to hold the post and strength because the system has survived throughout this turbulence.

Last year, when Djoomart Otorbayev resigned, after a heated row over the Kumtor gold mine, analysts thought that Temir Sariyev may become the first Kyrgyz PM to last the five year lifespan of a parliament.

But Mr Sariyev proved them wrong thanks to a classic case of Central Asia corruption and elite spat.

Now it’s Mr Jeenbekov’s turn. He is a loyalist to President Almazbek Atambayev and an influential figure in Osh, the southern powerhouse of the country.

Together with his brother Asylbek, formerly the speaker of the Parliament, Mr Jeenbekov could garner enough power to establish a strong vertical in Kyrgyzstan’s power structure.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

Editorial: Georgia’s government

APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the past few months, impatience has been the most common sentiment in Georgia’s political circles.

There was a change of PM at the end of last year, then the Republican Party announced it would run separately at the next election and now the once-loyal National Forum party withdrew from the government coalition.

But the most impatient move appears to have been played by President Giorgi Margvelashvili and PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili who announced the date for the autumn parliamentary elections for Oct. 8.

By convention, elections in Georgia are held in October, the government needs to give just two months of notice. Setting it up six months in advance was unnecessary. Unless, that is, the aim was to kick off electioneering early.

Voters and fellow coalition members are losing confidence in Georgian Dream. By setting the election date now, it might fancy it has more of a chance of persuading a sceptical public that it needs second term in power. It certainly has the deep pockets of Georgian billionaire, former PM and Georgian Dream financier to lean upon.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Kyrgyzstan introduces revolutionary holiday

APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz lawmakers approved a bill to introduce a new holiday on April 7, the anniversary of the 2010 revolution that toppled the regime of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The 2010 revolution holds a highly symbolic meaning for Kyrgyz people and is the main source of legitimacy for the current leadership. The 2010 revolution was Kyrgyzstan’s second revolution in five years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Georgia sets election date

APRIL 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili set the date for the upcoming parliamentary elections for Oct. 8. Mr Margvelashvili said he had consulted with PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili, a member of the Georgian Dream government coalition, who signed the decree the following day.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Business comment: Panama’s Pandora’s Box

APRIL 8 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The leaking of millions of documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossak Fonesca, dubbed the Panama Papers, hit the headlines this week both for the number of secret documents it disclosed and for the profiles of those involved in hiding money in offshore accounts.

For the Central Asia/South Caucasus region, one important story is the large-scale involvement of the Azerbaijani Presidential family in the country’s gold business.

Investigations on the awarding of the Chovdar project contract to a consortium of offshore companies had already unveiled that Ilham Aliyev’s family was behind Globex International, which owned 11% of the venture.

The latest leaks, though, showed that Mr Aliyev’s daughters, Leyla and Arzu, in fact, also owned Panama-registered Londex Resources, which owned another 45% of the project.

This makes the presidential family the majority owner, with a combined stake of 56%, of a project that holds gold reserves previously valued by the government at around $2.5b.

Other important figures from the South Caucasus and Central Asia, such as Georgian billionaire and former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili and Nurali Aliyev, grandson of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, were also revealed to have hidden money in offshore accounts.

But this, although morally questionable, is not an illegal practice.

What is suspicious, and unfair, is when the Azerbaijani government awards the Presidential family’s unknown offshore companies a very favourable gold contract.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Tajik MPs wish to celebrate President’s day

APRIL 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) -A group of Tajik MPs proposed a bill to establish a holiday to celebrate President Emomali Rakhmon. The new holiday, which could be called either President’s Day or the Day of the Leader of the Nation, would further entrench Mr Rakhmon’s presence in Tajikistan’s public life. Last December, the Parliament passed a law to give Mr Rakhmon the title of Leader of the Nation.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Georgian Dream’s partner quits government coalition

APRIL 4 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — The National Forum, previously seen as one of the government’s most loyal junior partners, quit the Georgian Dream-led governing coalition, dealing a major blow to the coalition’s hopes of retaining a majority at a parliamentary election later this year.

The Georgian Dream coalition now has a thin majority in parliament, holding 82 seats out of a total of 150. The National Forum has six MPs. Its decision to quit government came only a few days after the Republican party, also part of the coalition government, said that it would campaign on a separate slate at the parliamentary election.

Korneli Kakachia, director of the local non-partisan think tank the Georgian Institute of Politics, said that recent government policies by the Georgian Dream party had irritated its junior partners.

“This is pretty damaging to the Georgian Dream, as the National Forum were very loyal partners. Their announcement will raise questions with the voters,” he said. “The other parties are still in the coalition, but their support for new laws is not assured. Especially not the recently proposed bill by Georgian Dream to allow the PM to stay in office and run for MP at the same time.”

Under the current legislation, the PM can’t run for election as an MP. The Georgian Dream, though, want to change this as they want current PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili to head their party list.

But splits in the coalition has impacted its popularity with voters. Luka, 32, leaned against his BMW taxi. “If they can’t even keep their coalition together, how can they rule a country?” he said.

Standing next to him, 58-year-old Giorgi nodded his head in agreement. “I voted for them in the last election, but I’m not sure I’ll give them my vote in October,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Kyrgyzstan expropriates resorts

APRIL 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz government signed a decree to retake possession of four Uzbek-owned resorts near Lake Issyk-Kul. Buston, Rokhat, Dilorom, and Golden Sands are all owned by Uzbek entities, both public and private. These are Soviet- era vacation resorts that had been built in the 1960s. Tensions have been running high between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan since ethnic fighting in Osh in 2010.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 275, published on April 8 2016)

Ex-Georgian PM buys a giant tree and sails if down the Black Sea coast

MARCH 24 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Bidzina Ivanishvili is known in Georgia through his many different guises. He is a former PM and the de facto leader of the Georgian Dream ruling coalition. He is a billionaire and the country’s richest man. He collects fine art, such as Picasso’s, and keeps a personal zoo of exotic animals, such as penguins, zebras and sharks.

Now, courting more headlines and controversy, can be added the title of tree lover, or tree thief, depending on your point of view.

Pictures from Georgia showed workmen digging up and then moving by barge a 135-year-old tulip tree, the height of a 12-storey build- ing, 30km along the Black Sea coast to Mr Ivanishvili’s garden at one of his homes.

This prompted a barrage of outrage on social media across Georgia as well as from tree experts who questioned whether the tree would survive.

German forestry expert Walter Benneckendorf said the tree would die. “Theoretically it is possible to replant even older trees, but only if it would have been replanted every five years, so the roots are used to it,” he told the Conway Bulletin. “Replanting a 135-year-old tree without the previous measure will result without a question in the tree’s death.”

Activists also said there were only a few dozen tulip trees left in Georgia.

Still in televised remarks, Mr Ivanishvili said that he paid for the tree legally.

“Giant trees are my hobby. I am developing a park where I think it is appropriate,” he said without a trace of irony.

Either way, people on the Black Sea coast were, for a day, treated to the sight of an upright tree apparently sailing serenely along Georgia’s shoreline.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

Georgian election splits coalition

MARCH 30 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Republican Party, which is part of the government coalition with the ruling Georgian Dream party, said it will run independently at parliamentary elections scheduled for October. PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili said this does not mean that Republican Party deputies will now have to withdraw support for the coalition or that its ministers will have to leave the government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)