SEPT. 25 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Most of the 1,520 refugees seeking asylum in Azerbaijan are from Afghanistan, Elsever Agayev, an Azerbaijani official at the UN, said. Mr Agayev’s comments were a rare insight into refugees in Azerbaijan. After Afghans, the biggest number of asylum seekers are from Chechnya, which is part of Russia, and Iran.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Atyrau, near Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea coast, began the trial of nine people for allegedly plotting attacks and being members of a banned Islamic extremist organisation, media reported. Kazakhstan has been combating a rise in attacks linked to militant Islamic groups since 2010.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russia-led military group, will arm Tajik forces along its border with Afghanistan, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after a meeting in Sochi, south Russia. The CSTO is worried about the spread of the Taliban from Afghanistan after NATO leaves in 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hassan Rouhani’s presidency in Iran is still in its infancy but there are signs that relations with Azerbaijan are improving.
This is important because over the past couple of years ties between the two neighbours have worsened dramatically and have, at times, threatened to destabilise the region.
Azerbaijan has moved increasingly close to Israel, Iran’s sworn enemy, supplying it with oil and buying military kit. Last year Azerbaijan-Iran relations hit a nadir when a leaked report suggested that Israel had negotiated a deal to use Azerbaijan as a base for its warplanes if a war with Iran broke out.
Azerbaijan’s government denied the report but the diplomatic damage had already been done. A series of spy scandals on either side of the border also added to the increasingly toxic relations.
This appears to have changed with Mr Rouhani’s election victory on June 15 and inauguration as president on Aug. 3.
Reports said the number of people using a major border crossing between Iran and Azerbaijan has increased this year. Official visits between the two sides have also accelerated. On Sept. 18, the head of Iran’s border police was in Baku. There he said that Iran supported Azerbaijan’s position on Nagorno-Karabakh, the region of the South Caucasus it disputes ownership of with Armenia.
2013 is an election year for both Azerbaijan and Iran and improved cross-border relations appears to be in the interests of both governments.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The leaders of Russia, China and the Central Asian states except Turkmenistan met in Bishkek for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. The SCO, described by some as a counterbalance to NATO, agreed to support Russia on blocking a US attack on Syria after a suspected chemical weapons attack.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in Osh, south Kyrgyzstan, arrested three Islamic militants — two Kyrgyz and one Kazakh — who had returned from fighting in Syria and were planning a series of attacks, the Kyrgyz National Security Committee said. Reports from Syria say that men from Central Asia were fighting for radical Islamist groups.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Gunmen shot dead a Russian diplomat in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Criminal deals have been touted as a possible motive for the murder of Dmitry Vishernev, First Secretary at the Russian consul, although his death could unsettle Georgia-Russia relations. Russia recognises Abkhazia’s independence.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a thinly veiled reference to Azerbaijan’s weapons purchases from Israel, Iranian navy commander Habibollah Sayari told local media that some Caspian Sea countries wanted to disrupt peace in the region. Azerbaijan has been spending billions of dollars in recent years bolstering its military.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
AUG. 31 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of youths in Almaty smashed cars and hurled bottles at police after a pop concert at a shopping mall was abruptly cancelled. Media reported that security forces called in specially armed riot police to control the crowds. Over 165 arrests were made and about a dozen people were injured.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
AUG. 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A conscript in Azerbaijan’s army hanged himself at a military base, media reported. Human rights groups have previously criticised conditions for conscripts in Azerbaijan’s army which has seen a number of suicides in the past few years. They have said bullying is a common feature of life in Azerbaijan’s armed forces.
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(News report from Issue No. 150, published on Sept. 2 2013)
