MARCH 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A little known investigative reporting unit based in Bosnia released a report which said Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov, may have earned as much as $1b from telecoms companies wanting to enter Uzbekistan. Ms Karimova is currently under house arrest in Tashkent.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 18 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A planned visit by Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili to Kiev has been delayed without explanation, Georgian media reported. Georgia has been a vocal supporter of the Kiev government in its conflict with Russia-back rebels but it was irritated by Ukraine’s promotion of former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili as an adviser.
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(News report from Issue No. 224, published on March 25 2015)
MARCH 12 2015 (The Bulletin) – Starting on June 1, Turkmen citizens, organisations, and parties will be allowed to organise public demonstrations, a law signed by president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov stated.
This unexpected relaxation of oppressive laws governing demonstrations, took observers by surprise. It may be linked to worsening economic conditions across the country. It may be a ruse to appear more relaxed while changing very little.Turkmenistan is, after all, interested in pulling in the EU as a client for its gas.
Demonstrations in Turkmenistan are extremely rare with only a couple of small protests linked to housing in the past few years.
And the law has caveats. Any party or organisation which has been banned by the government will not be allowed to set up public action. The law also appears to be subjective stating that “individuals declared incompetent or of limited competence by a court or those who are facing legal charges” are not eligible to organise others.
All public rallies must take place at a distance from government buildings and should be aimed at the “peaceful gathering” of Turkmen citizens.
Importantly, demonstrations funded by foreign subjects will not be allowed. This echoes the country’s attitude towards NGO activities, which are strictly regulated to contain international influence.
The new demonstrations will likely be organised by pro-presidential organisations to burnish Mr Berdymukhamedov’s image at home and abroad.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon appointed his 27-year-old son Rustam to head up the Agency for State Financial Control, a government entity in charge of fighting corruption.
This is not the first public post Mr Rakhmon’s eldest son has held. Aside from local administration and nation-wide assignments he heads the country’s Football Federation and for a year was chairman of the Customs Service, a powerful government agency.
Mr Rakhmon is all-powerful having won a parliamentary election earlier this month which eliminated any pretence of a functioning opposition in the country.
Opposition groups have accused him of corruption and blatant nepotism. Other high-ranking officials have been accused of smuggling and drug running.
International observers have become increasingly exasperated with Tajikistan and Mr Rakhmon’s style of rule.
Mr Rakhmon barely acknowledges these accusations but promoting his son to head a senior government agency will hardly improve Tajikistan’s standing in the eyes of foreign investors and governments.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 14 2015 (The Bulletin) – Former Georgian PM Bidzina Ivanishvili said that he will launch a TV show, media reported. Although he will not host the show, he will be a semi-regular guest on it. His opponents have said that Mr Ivanishvili is trying to influence people through his TV appearances.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 17 2015 (The Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced opposition activist Siraj Kerimli to 6 years in prison for drug trafficking. Kerimli’s supporters say the charges have been fabricated as part of a government crackdown on dissidents. The EU and the US have both criticised Azerbaijan for its free speech and human rights’ records.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 18 2015 (The Bulletin) – The Georgian government sold the 35-storey Batumi Tower for $25.4m to a development company, generating much needed cash and ridding itself of one of former President Mikheil Saakashvili’s pet projects.
The blue and white tower with a golden ferris wheel set halfway up one of its sides has always generated wonder and ridicule.
Mr Saaskhvili, who was Georgian president from 2003 until 2013, had wanted the tower to serve as a Georgian-American technical university. His detractors said that it was a wasteful white elephant.
It has been unoccupied since it was finished in 2012.
Lika Glonti, an educational expert based in Tbilisi said: “I do think that this kind of building was not optimal for a university, but this is rather an issue of a taste. Selling Batumi Tower is a consequence of cancelling the idea of Batumi Technological University.”
The building was auctioned a day before the finance and economy ministries announced their plans to tackle the economic crisis. The local currency, the Lari, has fallen sharply against the dollar in the past few months and economists have revised down their economic growth predictions for this year.
A global collapse in oil prices and economic turmoil in Russia have impacted the wider former Soviet region.
On March 12, the economy ministry announced the privatisation of more assets, part of a larger three year plan to see it through the financial crisis that has swamped the region over the past few months.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 16 2015 (The Bulletin) – Several people were injured during a fight between activists of the ruling Georgian Dream coalition and activists of the opposition United National Movement party in the city of Zugdidi, media reported. The fight highlights worsening political climate in Georgia. A large opposition march is planned for Tbilisi on March 21.
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(News report from Issue No. 223, published on March 18 2015)
MARCH 5 2015 (The Bulletin) – Gagik Tsarukian, head of the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party, resigned after a month-long row with Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan. Mr Sargsyan had denounced Mr Tsarukian as evil. The row had threatened to bring Armenian politics into disrepute.
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)
MARCH 11 2015 (The Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev declared he would run in a presidential election set for April 25.
His announcement ended speculation generated last week when he appeared to suggest this it was time for change.
Instead, live at a conference held by his Nur Otan party, Mr Nazarbayev declared that he would look to extend his 26-year-long reign over Kazakhstan.
“There is no bigger reward or happiness than to have the trust of my nation,” he said. “This inspires and invigorates me, and this is why I look youngish.”
Mr Nazarbayev is 74-years-old and has run Kazakhstan since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
He called an early presidential election this month after his supporters asked him to underline his authority during an increasingly turbulent economic time.
But succession issues are still at the forefront of Kazakhstan-watchers agenda because only last week Mr Nazarbayev appeared to suggest that he may call it a day.
“I have run Kazakhstan for many years already, I stood at the cradle of its independence, so maybe it was time to ‘change stage’, as they say in a theatre,” he said in televised remarks on March 8.
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(News report from Issue No. 222, published on March 11 2015)
