JAN. 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili has started searching for a successor to Giorgi Kadagidze who will complete his 7-year term as head of the Central Bank in February. Mr Margvelashvili’s nominee will have to be voted in by the Parliament before he or she can assume office.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ally Nurtai Abykayev retired as chairman of the National Security Committee, one of the most influential posts in the country. Mr Abykayev, 68, had been chairman of the National Security Committee since 2010, the second time he had held the position. Vladimir Zhumakhanov, previously his deputy, takes over as head.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 22 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly quit as Georgia’s PM, a move that effectively signalled the first shot in what is likely to be a protracted and bitter campaign ahead of parliamentary elections in October.
Known for his combative nature, Mr Garibashvili said he had decided to quit after two years in office because he had achieved his aims.
“We have returned freedom and dignity to our citizens,” he said. “Official posts are temporary, God and homeland are eternal. Therefore today I took a decision to leave the post of Prime Minister.”
Analysts said Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgia’s richest man and the power behind the ruling Georgian Dream coalition, had decided to sacrifice his protege because of a slump in the polls.
“It was not a statement of a person who wanted to leave,” said Kornely Kakachia, director of the Tbilisi based think tank Georgian Institute of Politics, of Mr Garibashvili’s resignation speech.
“He probably didn’t even know that he was going to be replaced until the day he resigned.”
A recession in Russia and currencies depreciation across the region have impacted Georgia’s economy, hitting the popularity of the Georgian Dream which defeated the party of former president Mikheil Saakashvili, the United National Movement party (UNM), in elections four years ago.
The Georgian Dream coalition and the UNM are bitter rivals and the parliamentary election is likely to be particularly hard fought and vitriolic.
Giorgi Kvirikashvili, a former economy and foreign minister, was appointed PM. He too is close to Mr Ivanishvili , having previously worked at his bank, Cartu Bank.
Mr Kvirikashvili, 48, said his priority was to boost the economy, a message that appears to have gone down well on the streets of Tbilisi.
Georgian Dream supporter Giorgi Abaladze said the appointment of Mr Kvirikashvili was positive.
“Personally I really like Kvirikashvili. The previous PM was a little bit harsh in his position, he seemed more radical,” he said. “And Kvirikashvili is an economist, and that is what we need in these harsh economic times.”
DEC. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kairat Satybaldy, the 45-year-old nephew of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, quit as secretary of the Nur Otan party, one of the most high profile and influential political jobs in the country. Nur Otan is Mr Nazarbayev’s political party. Mr Satybaldy had been secretary of Nur Otan for six years. Some analysts have said he is a potential successor to Mr Nazarbayev.
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(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 29 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin)– Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Muhiddin Kabiri, the exiled head of Tajikistan’s now-banned main opposition party, in Tehran, immediately drawing threats from Tajik officials that the meeting would damage bilateral relations.
The major show of support from Iran for Mr Kabiri, who is wanted by police in Tajikistan to face various terrorism charges, and his Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) is a poke in the eye for Dushanbe, officially a secular country.
Tajikistan and Iran have traditionally close relations, sharing many similar cultural, religious and ethnic identifiers. Iran has also been a major sponsor of essential hydropower infrastructure in Tajikistan.
The Tajik foreign ministry sent a note to the Iranian Embassy in Dushanbe which said: “Such an attitude to the enemies of the state and the people of Tajikistan can have a negative impact on the friendly relations between Tajikistan and Iran.”
In September, Tajikistan banned the IRPT, once Tajikistan’s main opposition party, and accused its members of supporting radical Islam and terrorism.
Mr Kabiri, who fled into exile, and his supporters have accused the Tajik government of crushing dissent.
In Dushanbe, an analyst who preferred to remain anonymous told The Conway Bulletin that Mr Kabiri was taking a gamble by appearing in Tehran.
“For Kabiri and the IRPT, after having no support at all from the West, Iran was the last chance to stay in the political arena,” he said.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 262, published on Jan. 8 2016)
DEC. 11 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Karaganda sentenced former Kazakh PM Serik Akhmetov to 10 years in prison on corruption charges, completing the downfall of a former high-flying member of Kaza- khstan’s inner clique of elite.
Akhmetov was sentenced alongside other 20 senior officials, among them the former governor of the Karaganda region, Baurzhan Abishev, and former mayor of the
city, Meiram Smagulov.
They were all charged with abuse of office and embezzlement.
The trial effectively disbands the former group of Karaganda elite and acts as a warning for other local elites in Kazakhstan.
Akhmetov, 57, had served as PM from September 2012 to April 2014, when he was removed and replaced by his predecessor Karim Massimov.
He was then appointed defence minister, but was sacked in October 2014, just one month before prosecutors filed corruption charges against him.
Now, in his latest ignominy, he will going to jail for taking a $2.4m bribe.
Days before his sentence, Akhmetov publicly admitted his errors and asked President Nursultan
Nazarbayev for forgiveness.
“I sincerely apologise to Nursultan Abishevich for not repaying his trust and causing him distress,” said Akhmetov. The court displayed little clemency towards Akhmetov, instead pre- ferring to hand him a heavy sentence and use him as an example to others.
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(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police have detained the family of Muhiddin Kabiri, the fugitive leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), media reported. The IRPT had been Tajikistan’s main opposition group until it was outlawed. Most of its leaders have been arrested. Mr Kabiri, though, is on the run.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 261, published on Dec. 20 2015)
DEC. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) -Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov reprimanded the head of the Central Bank and the head of the Commodity Exchange Agency at a government meeting, the Trend news agency reported.
Although details of the dressing- down were thin, as expected from Turkmenistan, it does indicate that, perhaps, Mr Berdymukhamedov is feeling the economic strain.
There have been a number of reports coming out of Turkmenistan over the year that show the country’s economy is under pressure from a drop in energy prices, a recession in Russia and a fall in value of currencies across Emerging Markets. At the start of the year the Central Bank devalued the manat currency by 19%. Last month, dissident websites reported that currency controls had been imposed.
And now this.
Trend reported that Mr Berdymukhamedov had told Central Bank chief Merdan Annadurdiyev and the head of the commodities exchange, Amandurdi Ishanov, that their work had been substandard. The report didn’t give any specific examples.
Mr Berdymukhamedov is keen on giving ministers a public dressing down. These reprimands generally betray some of his thinking on the country’s development. By focusing on the Central Bank and the commodities exchange, Mr Berdymukhamedov is showing his frustration with the economy.
With the distinct lack of accurate economic data flowing out of Turkmenistan, this is important.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 5 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – State workers in Turkmenistan have been told they are not allowed to buy foreign currencies, the dissident website chrono-tm.org reported. The website, which is based in Europe but has good sources in Turkmenistan, said that the country is running out of US dollars. Its reports have been proved accurate previously although this report could not be independently verified.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
DEC. 6 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenians voted overwhelmingly in a constitutional referendum to shift power from the president to the prime minister, a move supporters of the change said was a natural modernising step but its critics decried as a thinly veiled power-grab by President Serzh Sargsyan.
The Central Election Commission said 63% of people had voted in favour of the referendum, a far bigger margin of victory than polls had predicted in the run up to the vote.
But Armenia’s opposition said that the vote had been rigged and urged an investigation, a move supported by the US embassy.
Hundreds of people gathered in Yerevan’s central square after the referendum to protest again the result.
Turnout at the vote, though, was reportedly low, despite the high-profile nature of the reforms. Some analysts said the low turnout betrayed people’s belief that the changes had been brought in to improve the position of the ruling elite rather than update the political system.
Lilit Gevorgyan, an analyst at IHS, said that shifting to a parliamentary system was dressed up as a progressive move but was in fact a way for the political and economic elite to shore up their positions.
“It’s an innovative way of solving the succession issue,” she said.
The new rules are set to be introduced at a parliamentary election in March 2017. Mr Sargsyan is set to leave the presidency in 2018.
As well as handing a slimmed down parliament of 101 members elected via proportional representation more power, the new constitution builds in a run-off system which will ensure a majority for a single party.
This last issue was also contentious.
The reformists argued that this system avoided weak minority governments. Its opponents said it bordered on a form of totalitarian rule.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 260, published on Dec. 11 2015)
