MARCH 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan wants to impose harsher penalties on people who break its anti-terrorism laws, media quoted the head of the Azerbaijani parliament’s security committee, Ziyafat Asgarov, as saying. Azerbaijani officials have said they are worried about radicalised Islamists returning to Azerbaijan from Syria’s civil war.
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(News report from Issue No. 175, published on March 12 2014)
MARCH4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have agreed to reopen border crossings closed since mid-January after a shootout between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards, media reported. The re-opening of the border marks an important drop in tension between the two countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Turkmenistan accused Taliban fighters of killing three border guards on the Turkmen-Afghan border, media reported. The Taliban later denied the accusation. Central Asian states are concerned about the spread north of the Taliban once NATO forces leave Afghanistan in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia’s parliament has pass a bill to tighten military ties with Armenia, local media reported. The bill is likely to mean an increase of military kit for Armenia from Russia. It is important for Armenia as it underlines Russia as one of its main backers.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
MARCH 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — For visitors to Kyrgyzstan’s main civilian airport, Manas, catching sight of US warplanes taking off in the distance used to be part of arriving in Bishkek. Not anymore.
As the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan continues these glimpses of the US military have become increasingly rare. It is quitting its airbase next to Manas civilian airport from where it has flown missions to Afghanistan since 2001.
Given Russian opposition to the facility, Kyrgyzstan’s leaders had few choices but to call time on the co-called Transit Center.
And this seems to suit locals.
“I have no problem with America but I don’t think we needed this base,” said Askar Bolotbayev, a Bishkek resident.
“It doesn’t provide us with electricity, it isn’t something we can export. We somehow survived before it and we will survive after it, too.”
Yet, with the centre worth roughly $200m to the anaemic Kyrgyz economy, Kyrgyzstan is keen to fill a hole by turning their main airport into something bigger and better.
Dair Tokobayev, an official at Manas airport, told local press that the government wanted to transform Manas into a regional transit hub.
But not without Russian backing, of course. Russian energy company Rosneft is reportedly considering buying a 51% stake in the airport.
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(News report from Issue No. 174, published on March 5 2014)
FEB. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s parliament approved sending roughly 100 Georgian soldiers to the Central African Republic on an international peacekeeping mission due to start next month. Georgia has been eager to curry international favour by sending soldiers on NATO and EU peacekeeping missions.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 25 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The final US aerial re-fuelling tanker supporting military missions in Afghanistan took off from the Manas airbase outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the US military said. According to US data, re-fuelling tankers have flown 33,000 missions from Manas. The US military is quitting Manas this year.
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(News report from Issue No. 173, published on Feb. 26 2014)
FEB. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The governments of Central Asia and the South Caucasus have been warning for months that their own security is being compromised by the civil war in Syria.
Local Islamic radicals travel to Syria for training and combat experience, they have said, and then return home eager to attack and bomb government targets.
Now Kyrgyzstan, which has been fighting an increase in attacks by the Taliban-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) over the past few years, has said it captured six radicals who had recently returned from Syria.
The Kyrgyz National Security Council said that the six men were arrested in Osh in the south of the country and had been planning a series of attacks.
Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have also recently raised serious concerns about the flow of extremists into and out of Syria, and Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have said they are concerned about radicals linked to Afghanistan.
A few days earlier, the Kyrgyz national security council said five Kyrgyz men had been killed in Syria and that 50 or so were based in Syria full time. The inference from the Kyrgyz Security Council is that they may be dealing with this problem for some time to come.
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(News report from Issue No. 172, published on Feb. 19 2014)
FEB. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US has extended military aid to Uzbekistan despite human rights concerns, eurasianet.org reported. Over the last couple of years, Uzbekistan has become a key NATO ally helping it to extract kit out of neighbouring Afghanistan. The US Congress has to agree on military support for Uzbekistan every six months.
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(News report from Issue No. 171, published on Feb. 12 2014)
FEB. 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Reports from the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh said shootouts between Azerbaijani and Armenia soldiers have intensified over the past few weeks. Information from Nagorno-Karabakh is generally patchy and difficult to verify. The dispute, though, is considered a dangerous flashpoint for regional stability.
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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)
