Tag Archives: security

Kyrgyz plan to arm border area

SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan lawmakers want to arm villagers living in disputed areas along its borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

A majority of Parliamentarians debating the plan say they want to help people defend themselves but the military has said the strategy will only worsen already tense cross- border relations.

The initiator of the legislation, Bakyt Torobayev of the Progress parliamentary splinter faction claims the initiative will save budget money. Paying a civilian that already lives on the border will cost less than housing, feeding and paying a soldier, he has argued.

Kyrgyzstan’s Defence Council issued a statement as parliament discussed the legislation. “(Arming) ordinary citizens without higher or military education and preparation for border service, can have consequences, including their potential participation in illegal migration, narcotics trafficking and contraband,” it said.

Medet Tiulegenov, a political science professor at the American University of Central Asia was also against the plan.

“This issue has been raised in the context of insufficient formal security on the border,” Mr Tiulegenov told The Conway Bulletin. He also said that security issues are beyond the parliament’s formal mandate.

“But when government itself lacks a clear vision on border issues and security in the country, MPs exploit that lack of clarity and try to make a name for themselves,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Turkmenistan underlines neutrality

SEPT. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – n a speech to the UN, Turkmen foreign minister Rashid Meredov underlined Turkmenistan’s neutrality. This is important in regards to Afghanistan where reports have surfaced saying that Turkmen forces have crossed over the border to build defence positions against Taliban incursions.

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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Georgian rebel region votes in new president

SEPT. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia swore in Raul Khajimba as its new president after he won an election in August. Georgia has described the election as illegal. Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia after a Georgia-Russia war in 2008. It is considered a Russian vassal state.

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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)

Georgia denies anti-IS camp planned

SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s government denied media reports that it had offered to host a training camp for Syrian rebels fighting both Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad and the extremist group Islamic State. Georgia has been keen to prove its credentials as an ally of the United States in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Tajiks fighting for IS

SEPT. 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 200 Tajiks are fighting in Syria and Iraq for the extremist group Islamic State, President Emomali Rakhmon said according to media. Mr Rakhmon has long said he is facing pressure from Islamic extremist recruits who are attracting disaffected young Tajiks.

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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Azerbaijan arrested 26 fighting for IS

SEPT. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Azerbaijan said they have arrested 26 people who had been fighting for the extremist Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq. Azerbaijan has also said that over 100 of its nationals have been killed fighting for IS.

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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

Turkmen forces take up positions in Afghanistan

SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen forces have crossed into Afghanistan and built up defensive positions to stop Taliban forces raiding across its border, the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and other media have reported.

Taliban forces have attacked several Turkmen military outposts this year, killing soldiers. Turkmenistan’s defence minister has flown to Kabul for talks with his Afghan opposite number on the situation but the attacks have continued. Any troop movement over the border is likely to be a response to these attacks.

“The Turkmenistanis came here, dug trenches, set up wire fences,” one resident told RFE/RL according to the Eurasianet website.

“No one asked them what they were doing here. The trenches they dug are 4m wide and 5m deep. Besides that, in the same place they are paving a road.”

Importantly, eyewitnesses didn’t distinguish whether the apparent Turkmen forces which have crossed the border are official military or one of the numerous militia forces that populate the border zones.

The troop movement hasn’t been confirmed by either Turkmenistan or Afghanistan.

Central Asian countries have said that they are increasingly worried about the march northward of the Taliban after the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan this year.

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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)

SCO meeting in Tajikistan disappoints observers

SEPT.13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Other than providing a forum for bilateral get-togethers and photoshoots it is difficult to see what makes the Shanghai Cooperation multilateral.

To much fanfare, the six members plus observers of the organisation met in Dushanbe, releasing what can only be described as a nondescript Dushanbe Declaration at the closing of the summit.

Containing both Russia and China, the SCO remains the most notable intergovernmental organisation in the region but places no binds on members, several of whom have significant bilateral tensions with one another.

Outcomes of the 13th summit are open to interpretation. The Dushanbe declaration’s blanket statement supporting “continued negotiations” to achieve peace in Ukraine was presented by Russian media as support for Moscow’s controversial policies in the civil war, despite the organisation’s general opposition to separatism.

Neither Pakistan, who Beijing favours as a member, or India, who Russia favours, were admitted to the club, although this may happen in the SCO’s 14th summit held in Ufa, Russia, next year. Islamabad and New Delhi’s rivalry may add further complication within the organisation’s disunited membership.

One big disappointment was that bilateral meetings in the summit’s backdrop failed to resolve Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s border conflict, or the long-standing tensions between Dushanbe and Tashkent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)

Israeli defence minister visits Azerbaijan

SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon visited Baku for a two day trip aimed at bolster military ties and trade.

This was the first trip by an Israeli defence minister to Azerbaijan for 22 years, media reported.

“I’m happy to be hosted here in the first historic visit by an Israeli defense minister to Azerbaijan,” Mr Ya’alon said.

“We have bilateral strategic relations and cooperation in different areas.”

Azerbaijan has become an unlikely ally for Israel over the past few years. For Azerbaijan the attraction is two-fold. It wants to buy military equipment that Israel produces to bolster its own military and it wants Israel as an energy client.

For Israel, the attraction is mainly military. A couple of years ago it emerged that Israel had drawn up contingency plans to set up a forward airbase in Azerbaijan if war ever broke out with Iran. Israel and Iran are sworn enemies. Azerbaijan lies next to Iran.

Last month Iranian media said that Iran had shot down an Israeli drone that had taken off from an airbase in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s situation has grown slightly more complicated over the past year as ties with Iran have improved. Its links with Israel, though, appear solid.

Azerbaijan and Turkey started military exercise

SEPT. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan started a week-long military exercise with its closest ally Turkey. The military exercise acted as a major show of force by Azerbaijan which is still officially at war with neighbouring Armenia over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)