Tag Archives: politics

Comment: Fate of IRPT in Tajikistan

OCT. 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – So the fate of the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) appears to have been sealed by the country’s highest court. It is, apparently, a terrorist organisation that helped plan a couple of attacks last month on police checkpoints which killed two dozen people.

A former deputy defence minister has been named as the mastermind of the attacks but the IRPT also played an important role, the court said.

This is the culmination of a ramping up of pressure on the IRPT this year. Its leaders have been forced out of the country, some of its top Dushanbe-based officials have been attacked in the street and various courts have banned it for, firstly not being big enough and secondly for its involvement in the September attacks.

To really prove its case, the Tajik judiciary needs to release more concrete evidence to the international community of the IRPT’s apparent involvement in the attacks. At the moment it just doesn’t stack up.

Instead, as an analyst told the Bulletin’s correspondent in Dushanbe, it feels like a blatant attack on political opponents.

This is dangerous for Tajikistan. What Tajikistan needs is a moderate opposition group that is going to challenge the authorities and President Emomali Rakhmon through the normal channels. What it’ll get instead, with the crushing of opposition groups, is a vacuum that radical Islamists can exploit.

Tajikistan stands at a cross- roads. By banning the IRPT, the authorities are disenfranchising part of its population and taking another step along the wrong path.

By James Kilner, Editor, The Conway Bulletin

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Frustrations build ahead of Kyrgyzstan’s election

OCT. 2 2015, BISHKEK (The Conway Bulletin) — By the standards of Kyrgyzstan’s febrile politics, the build up to its Oct. 4 parliamentary election has been calm but an often disinterested public and frustration over biometric data requirements have tarnished the vote.

Five years ago, in the aftermath of a revolution that ousted the unpopular Kurmanbek Bakiyev and the switch to a parliamentary democracy, it was a very different story. The mood was positive.

Now, ordinary Kyrgyz say that the political elite have gripped the political process making it less transparent and more self-serving.

“I am disappointed in representativeness of political parties, there are no parties for which I can vote,” said 23-year old Atabek, a student.

His friend, Temirlan, agreed.

“I wont go as there is no party in which I could be confident,” he said. As well as the usual complaints over the quality of the candidates, controversy has focused on requirements set out by the Kyrgyz Central Election Committee which insisted that people had to submit various personal data to the authorities before they could vote. Roughly a third of the population failed to register for the vote.

Still, some voters are upbeat.

Jenish, a 45-year-old taxi driver waiting for clients in a main Bishkek street said: “I will go to elections to fulfil my civic duty.”

Another Bishkek resident, 32-year old Mira, was excited about voting.

“I will vote for a party where a leader is a young and successful businessman,” she said.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Turkmen President writes new book on plants

SEPT. 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen president Kuyrbanguly Berdymukhamedov is a man of many achievements. Not only is he a self- styled father figure for the Turkmen people but he is also a champion jockey and a leading intellectual.

Now, is appears, that he can add to this list the status of feted international botanist.

Official Turkmen media reported that at a book fair in Ashgabat, South Korean diplomats praised Mr Berdymukhamedov, a dentist by training, for producing a third volume of his book ‘Medical plants of Turkmenistan’.

Like the first two volumes of ‘Medical plants of Turkmenistan’ this book has already been translated into Korean and distributed to libraries around the country, South Korean diplomats were quoted as saying.

And the Turkmen media had more.

“Speakers at the presentation emphasised the importance of research work by the head of the Turkmen State into healing properties of plants,” it reported, adding that Mr Berdymukhamedov’s research had been translated dozens of times.

As well as the research, there may, of course be another reason for the South Korean interest in Mr Berdymukhamedov’s books. South Korean is an important investor in Turkmenistan’s economy.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Georgian opposition TV channel nears closure

OCT. 2 2015, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s main opposition TV channel Rustavi2 said it will have to stop broadcasting within days unless it finds more cash quickly after a court seized a controlling stake in the company.

The court blocked the sale of the 51% stake to a relative of a former defence minister, a sale that had been considered vital to keep Rustavi2 afloat after an earlier decision linked to a row with a former shareholder handed control of the TV channel’s assets to the authorities.

At a press conference at the TV channel’s HQ in Tbilisi, Rustavi2 director Nika Gvaramia said that its closure was imminent.

“The current government, lead by Ivanishvili promises democracy, but they have finally done what they have wanted to do for the past four years — shut Rustavi2 down,” he said.

Bidzina Ivanishvili is Georgia’s richest man and architect of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.

Since winning a parliamentary election in 2012 and a presidential election a year later, Mr Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream have been trying to purge Georgia of remnants of former president Mikheil Saakashvili and his allies.

And analysts said that Rustavi2, one of only three main TV channels, has long been in his sights.

Maia Mikashavidze, a Tbilisi-based professor of mass communication, said Rustavi2 is considered one of the few voices critical of the current government and that the decision by the court to block the sale of the stake did carry a political undertone.

“Rustavi2’s operations are seriously threatened and may stall any time because the station is short of cash because of insufficient ad sales,” Ms Mikashavidze said.

“This limits access to alternative views and facts for a huge numbers of viewers who rely on Rustavi2 for that service.”

In Kutaisi, hundreds of people rallied in front of parliament to demand that the government take action to protect Rustavi2.

The US government, which has previously criticised Mr Ivanishvili and his supporters for their excessive zeal in prosecuting people and companies linked to Mr Saakashvili, said that it was concerned about the case.

“We do not like to see any kind of limitation on this pluralistic media environment.” US Ambassador Ian Kelley said in a statement.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

IRPT are terrorists says Tajik court

SEPT. 29 2015, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Tajikistan’s High Court decreed the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) a terrorist organisation and banned it, wiping the only real opposition party from the country.

The high court statement published by the Khovar state news agency accused the IRPT of committing crimes of terrorist acts and spreading provocative materials.

Pressure on the IRPT has been building.

The General Prosecutor’s Office earlier accused the IRPT leadership of involvement in double attacks on police checkpoints last month that killed two dozen people. It said the mastermind of the attacks had been deputy defence minister Abduhalim Nazarzoda.

Police also detained Buzurgmehr Yorov, an IRPT lawyer, after he started defending 13 top party members arrested for the attacks. Mr Yorov has reportedly been charged with fraud and corruption crimes.

Earlier this year, the Tajik authorities also prosecuted Group 24, another political party that it deemed to be plotting against it.

An analyst who declined to be named said: “It is the sign of zero tolerance of any kind of political opposition, no matter whether they are religious or secular. Tajikistan has now become a one-party state.”

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Blair to visit Georgia

SEPT. 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili met with former British PM Tony Blair during his trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, media reported. Mr Blair apparently accepted an invitation from Mr Garibashvili to visit Georgia.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Kazakh President’s son-in-law takes Olympic role

SEPT. 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan’s Olympic Committee reportedly appointed Timur Kulibayev, son-in-law of President Nursultan Nazarbayev and a potential successor, as its head. Earlier this year Almaty lost to Beijing in its bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics. The bid boosted both the profile of Kazakhstan and also of its Olympic Committee.

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(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

Georgia picks banking board

SEPT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The members of Georgia’s new Banking Supervisory Board are all close allies of former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, drawing immediate allegations of cronyism. The Banking Supervisory Board replaces the Central Bank as the authority over commercial banks. The head of the board is Konstantine Sulamanidze, former CEO of Progress Bank in which Mr Ivanishvili owns a stake.

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(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

Seagal flies into Azerbaijan to give President Aliyev a pep talk

SEPT. 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Steven Seagal, the Hollywood actor best known for his 1980s and 1990s martial arts movies, pitched up in Azerbaijan to meet President Ilham Aliyev for a chat and photo op.

His acting commitments have waned but the 63-year-old appears to have created a decent business giving pep talks to leaders of ex-Soviet states. His clients include President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

Now Mr Aliyev’ clearly felt he needed Mr Seagal’s help. Relations with Europe and the US have worsened over human rights and vote monitoring.

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(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)

OSCE/ODHIR pressures Azerbaijan

SEPT. 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan has come under increased international pressure to allow more monitors from the OSCE’s ODHIR into the country to monitor a parliamentary election in November. The OSCE cancelled its monitoring mission because it said the authorities in Azerbaijan had permitted only half the requested monitors.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 249, published on Sept. 25 2015)