Tag Archives: security

Kazakhstan jails Syria fighters

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Kazakhstan started the trial of four Kazakh men who travelled to Syria to fight alongside Islamic extremists, media reported. Media reports said the men were captured in Syria and sent back to Kazakhstan. Regional leaders worry that young men will head to Syria and return with increasingly extremist views and hardened with battle experience.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Russia sends air defence missiles to Kazakhstan

JAN. 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Russia is sending several batteries of their S-300 air defence missiles to Kazakhstan, Russian media quoted Russian defence minister Anatoly Antonov as saying. Russia is trying to increase its control over its neighbours through economic and defence deals. Kazakhstan has signed a defence deal with Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Tajik senior officials fall from grace

FEB. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — It’s been a bad week for senior officials in Tajikistan. Media reported that a court in Dushanbe had sent the daughter-in-law of a senior Tajik diplomat to prison for 12-1/2 years for drug smuggling and that President Emomali Rakhmon had sacked the head of the Tajik railway company after his son was involved in a deadly crash.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan discuss border issues

JAN. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Delegations from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan continued their discussions on how best to delineate their troublesome border. This was the second Uzbek-Kyrgyz border meeting in January. Last year tension flared between the two sides around a disputed border area.

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(News report from Issue No. 170, published on Feb. 5 2014)

Azerbaijan’s politicians debate Islamic extremism

JAN. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — So-called religious warriors who travel to Syria from Azerbaijan to fight alongside other radical Islamists are driven by cash and not beliefs, MP Govhar Bakhshaliyeva in an online debate.

The authorities in Azerbaijan have become increasingly worried by the number of radical Islamists who have made the relatively short journey to Syria to fight in the civil war.

They fear that many will return both with extremist views and battle hardened.

Ms Bakhshaliyeva, though, said the salary and not the religious cause was the main motivator for many of the men.

“In Syria, as in any other country where there is war and bloodshed, a lot of the fighting is conducted by mercenaries,” an Azerbaijani-language website quoted her as saying.

“As far as I know, the mercenaries in Syria, and these are also European and not just Muslims, are paid about $5,000 every month. People can solve financial problems, and I think this a major attraction for our people to go to Syria.”

Ms Bakhshaliyeva’s views hold more weight than others. She is also the respected head of the Baku Institute of Oriental Studies.

Estimates on the number of Azerbaijan’s who are fighting in Syria vary, but it is roughly around 200.

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(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)

Uzbekistan bans private police

JAN. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s government has banned private security firms from guarding businesses, media reported. From Feb. 1, companies wanting to employ security will have to hire guards from the interior ministry. The new law will hamper the independence of international companies working in Uzbekistan.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)

EU representative visits Uzbekistan

JAN. 23 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The EU Special Representative for Central Asia Patricia Flor travelled to Uzbekistan for the fourth time in 18 months.

Ms Flor met ministers and civil society leaders but not President Islam Karimov. The importance of another mission to Tashkent by Ms Flor is precisely that. It underlines Uzbekistan’s re-emergence in the international arena.

And this is most obviously down to Uzbekistan becoming the fulcrum for NATO’s co-called Northern Distribution Network to move its military kit out of neighbouring Afghanistan and back to Europe.

There has not been a discernible shift in Uzbekistan’s human rights record since government forces allegedly killed hundreds of people at a demonstration in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan in 2005.

Instead realpolitik has elevated Uzbekistan. Last year, Mr Karimov visited Latvia when it held the rotating EU presidency and next month he travels to Prague. These are important successes for Mr Karimov.

While she was in Tashkent, Mr Flor underlined the EU’s belief in human rights and the rule of law. These are busy times in Uzbekistan for the EU and NATO.

(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)

Kyrgyz police kill 11 in border shootout

JAN. 27 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyz security forces killed 11 armed men who crossed its north-eastern border with China, media reported. Bandits and smugglers are relatively common along this border. The Kyrgyz authorities initially said the group was made up of ethnic Uyghurs who were looking to smuggle arms back into China.

(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)

Azerbaijan and Armenia meet in Paris

JAN. 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia met in Paris to continue their glacier-slow peace talks over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the region, though, reports said that there had been an increase in the number of shootouts between the two sides. Both sides reported casualties.

(News report from Issue No. 169, published on Jan. 29 2014)

Kazakhstan signs security deal with Israel

JAN. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kazakh defence minister Adilbek Dzhaksybekov flew to Tel Aviv to sign a military deal with his Israeli counterpart Moshe Ya’alon. Media reported the two states would hold joint military exercises and that Kazakhstan would buy various Israeli-made weapons. Kazakhstan has said it wants to modernise its military.

(News report from Issue No. 168, published on Jan. 22 2014)