MAY 27 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a move aimed at appeasing anti-government protests, Armenian authorities released journalist Nikol Pahinian and parliamentarian Sasun Mikaelyan from jail. Mr Pahinian and Mr Mikaelian were prominent opposition figures jailed for allegedly provoking clashes after elections in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 42, published on May 30 2011)
MAY 22 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Security forces fired rubber bullets to disperse anti-government demonstrators in central Tbilisi, some of whom had attacked plain-clothed police with sticks during the worst street violence in Georgia since a state of emergency in 2007. The day before, about 6,000 protesters had called for President Mikheil Saakashvili to resign.
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(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 21 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – For years Europe has coveted Azerbaijan’s gas but until May 14 Azerbaijani pop music had been far less appreciated. Overnight that changed.
In Dusseldorf, Germany, in front of a TV audience estimated at 100m, pop duo Ell and Nikki won the Eurovision Song Contest for Azerbaijan and threw a glaring spotlight over the country.
Thousands poured out onto the streets of Baku to celebrate the unexpected win and President Ilham Aliyev was quick to praise the victory.
But winning was the easy bit. Now Azerbaijan has to put on a show worthy of the famously kitsch and super-glitzy competition which started in 1956 and has become one of the world’s most successful television franchises. Azerbaijan is the fourth former Soviet state and the second predominantly Muslim country, after Turkey in 2003, to win the contest.
Hosting the contest allows the venue city to bask in the limelight and showcase its attractions but it also lets others peer in. When Moscow hosted the contest in 2009, the gay rights lobby grabbed its moment and dominated the headlines.
This year anti-government demonstrations have already put Azerbaijan’s leadership under increasing pressure. It has contained the anti-government movement by arresting potential leaders, raiding opposition headquarters and banning demonstrations.
Now, with human rights groups already questioning their commitment to freedom of speech, Azerbaijan’s leaders will face a year of scrutiny until the Eurovision Song Contest next May.
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(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – An explosion in a car near a security forces’ office in Astana killed two men, local media reported. The blast came a week after a suicide bomb attack in Aktobe, northwest Kazakhstan, and worried people about a campaign by militant Islamists. The authorities though said this second blast was an accident.
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(News report from Issue No. 41, published on May 24 2011)
MAY 14 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – In front of a TV audience estimated at 100m, Azerbaijan won the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest. Azerbaijan will now host Eurovision, famed for its kitsch and glitz, in 2012. The host nation usually uses the contest to showcase itself to the world.
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(News report from Issue No. 40, published on May 17 2011)
MAY 15 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Food prices in Tajikistan have risen by about 30% in the last month, RFE/RL reported. Worried about social unrest, US-funded RFE/RL said that the authorities have spent millions stocking up on food and fuel and imposed price caps on meat.
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(News report from Issue No. 40, published on May 17 2011)
MAY 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Azerbaijan sentenced 20-year-old opposition activist Jabbar Savalan to 2-1/2 years in prison for drugs possession. Police arrested Savalan for carrying opium in February immediately after he had called for a “Day of Rage” on Facebook, a networking website. Amnesty International said the charges were politically motivated.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
MAY 3 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – An independent report headed by an ex-Finnish parliamentarian said Kyrgyz security forces attacked Uzbeks during ethnic violence in the south of the country last June and committed “crimes against humanity”. The Kyrgyz government rejected the report.
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(News report from Issue No. 39, published on May 9 2011)
APRIL 22 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajikistan’s second city, started to pull down Central Asia’s tallest statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, AP reported. Lenin statues were ubiquitous during the Soviet Union but have disappeared since its collapse in 1991. Khujand used to be called Leninabad and its Lenin statue was the height of a six-storey building.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
APRIL 24 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov judged a horse beauty contest, part of a campaign to promote Turkmenistan after years of isolation. Horses and horsemanship are revered in Turkmenistan. The owner of the winning horse won a Toyota Land Cruiser, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 37, published on April 25 2011)
