Tag Archives: society

Kazakh President declines to rename Astana

NOV. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a carefully orchestrated show of modesty, Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev declined to rename Astana, the capital city he built on Kazakhstan’s windswept steppe, after himself. He made the announcement during an interview with Russia-24. Parliament had made the suggestion earlier in November. Mr Nazarbayev critics accuse him of building a personality cult. Mr Nazarbayev has appeared more interested in burnishing his image and legacy over the past few years, allowing statues of himself to be built and appearing on a new bank note. Analysts had said he may fancy renaming Astana after himself.

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(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Landmark rape case in Kazakhstan challenges stigmas

ALMATY, NOV. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A court in Almaty jailed four men for between eight and 10 years for the rape of woman in a case that was only investigated after the mother of the victim posted a teary, anguished video on the internet asking for help.

Few rape cases are prosecuted in Kazakhstan because the victims are afraid to speak out against their attackers and are also worried about the stigma of being raped.

In this case, the victim was attacked and raped near a police station in the town of Yesik, which has a population of about 40,000 people and is roughly 40km east of Almaty. She said that initially the police were not interested in her complaint, possibly because one of the attackers was the son of a local politician, and allowed the attackers to walk away free. It was only when her mother broadcast her video, touching a nerve with the public, that the authorities showed any interest.

After the verdict a lawyer for the rape victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, said that the conviction of the four men for rape was an important milestone for Kazakhstan.

“The verdict is of course fair. It means a lot because all women of Kazakhstan were waiting for this verdict, all those who kept silent their whole life about rapes. For ages, centuries, this problem was concealed and finally there is a woman who has openly spoken about it,” lawyer Aiman Umarova told The Conway Bulletin.

“For the country it means a new milestone when the government paid attention to women’s rights, to this social problem, and towards abuse against women.”

While some were celebrating the case as a step towards equality there has been a backlash. The rape victim and her family have had to ask for police protection as they have been receiving death threats from friends and family of the attackers.

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(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)

Azerbaijan renames Grand Prix

DEC. 1 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — In a PR coup for Azerbaijan, the European Grand Prix which it staged last year will be renamed the Azerbaijani Grand Prix. The Azerbaijani authorities see sport and especially high profile events such as the Grand Prix as a way to promote the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 307, published on Dec. 2 2016)f

Kazakh state cuts petrol controls

NOV. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Kazakh government said that it would ditch price controls of AI-80 grade petrol from 2017. The move is inline with a policy developed last year. It ditched price controls of AI-92 and AI-94 in September 2015 shortly after a sharp devaluation in the Kazakh tenge. The tenge had taken a nosedive after a peg to the US dollar was scrapped, putting the government’s price controls under major pressure.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

BGEO results on Georgia increase

NOV. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — London-listed investment holding BGEO posted a 24% growth in revenues in Q3, compared to the same period last year. BGEO’s main assets are Bank of Georgia and Georgia Healthcare Group (GHG). GHG accounted for the group’s largest growth rate. In the first nine months of the year, GHG posted revenues for 290.4m lari ($116.6), up 64.8% from 2015.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Kazakhs cut out imported luxury goods to beat tough economic times

ALMATY/TARAZ, Kazakhstan, NOV. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — A stubborn, painful economic downturn has wiped 4% off the average Kazakhs’ purchasing power, the ranking.kz website reported, forcing people to cut out luxury items — especially those imported from abroad.

Aiganym Dosmail, who works in an advertising agency in Almaty, said that she had cut out on buying luxury items that had been imported and ballooned in price since the devaluation of the tenge last year.

“I optimise my spending. Previously, I bought a lot of unnecessary stuff and now I buy only those goods that last long and are good quality. It is of course sad that previously marsh- mallows cost 300 tenge and now they cost 800 tenge,” she told the Bulletin.

The tenge lost half its value last year after the government reluctantly cut its peg to the US dollar. Low oil prices and a recession in Russia had pressured the Kazakh economy, and others across the region, into currency devaluations and budget cuts.

Worst hit are importers of luxury goods. Most Kazakhs now can’t afford to buy the foreign goods that they could afford even a year earlier.

Unlike Ms Dosmail, Aigerim Zhanuzak’s hairdressing salon in Taraz in the south of the country has been far less affected. She said that most of her clients are self-styled middle class Kazakhs and that she hasn’t had to put up her costs because she doesn’t have may import costs.

“My salon is targeting middle income and higher class people which means the crisis doesn’t impact people when it comes to personal comfort. People always want to eat and lto ook good,” she said. “If we talk about the financial crisis in our town then it has hit the lower-income population. Goods have become more expensive, public transport as well, but salaries have not increased, unfortunately.”

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Georgian Patriarch Ilia II: The tireless go-between

NOV. 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Patriarch Ilia II, head of Georgia’s Orthodox Church, has been in Moscow all week, officially to celebrate the 70th birthday of his Russian counterpart, Kirill.

This will, no doubt, form part of his trip, as will various lengthy, ornate and beautiful cathedral and church services. But another, important, side of the trip will be the semi-official diplomacy that he pursues.

This has been a vital channel for conversations between Russia and Georgia since strained relations broke down altogether in August 2008 and triggered a war that lasted for five days. It was on a trip to Moscow four months later that Patriarch Ilia started the ball rolling for the lengthy rapprochement that is continuing today.

And Patriarch Ilia’s natural ease with Russia and his Russophile outlook go back to his upbringing. He was born Irakli Ghudushauri-Shiolashvili to Georgian parents in the Russian town of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia. He completed his theologian studies in Moscow before returning to Georgia and making his way up the ranks of the Georgian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Ilia was promoted to Patriarch in 1977, reportedly against the wishes of the Communist party who suspected that he had nationalist tendencies, after the death of David V. It was during these last 12 years of Soviet rule that Patriarch Ilia really established himself in the eyes of his countryman as a true patriot. He built up the prestige and influence of the Georgian Orthodox Church and also, towards the end of the Soviet rule, supported independence marches.

Now aged 83, Patriarch Ilia is able to play the elder statesman of Georgian politics and society. Georgia’s politics is a fractious, personal affair but most Georgians regard Patriarch Ilia to stand head and shoulders above the rest. He has been dubbed the most trusted man in Georgia.

And he still weighs into conflicts, soothing rows and acting as a negotiator. During the final antagonistic days of Mikheil Saakshviliv’s presidency, Patriarch Ilia was called on more than one occasion to negotiate between the government and protesters.

A deeply conservative man, his anti-abortion, anti- gay rights views hold enormous sway over public opinion in Georgia. The new government has
already started to change the constitution to enshrine marriage as an act only between a man and a woman.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan warn about cold weather

NOV. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Extreme cold weather forced schools to close and roads to be blocked off in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The unseasonably cold weather recorded a temperature of minus 40 Celsius in Ust Kamenogorsk in eastern Kazakhstan. In Astana, regarded as the second coldest capital in the world after Ulaan Bator, temperatures of minus 35 Celsius were 30 degrees lower than the seasonal average.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Karimov Foundation opens in Uzbekistan

NOV. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The youngest daughter of former Uzbek leader Lola Karimova- Tillyaeva and her widowed mother, Tatyana, said that they had founded the Islam Karimov Foundation to promote his legacy. The Foundation, likely to be based on a museum and library, will be as controversial as Karimov was. He was reviled by human rights groups for being a dictator who crushed all dissent.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)

Kazakh athlete loses medals

NOV. 23 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Ilya Ilyn, the pin-up of Kazakhstan’s Olympic team and the only Kazakh athlete to have won two gold medals, was stripped of his weightlifting victories in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and the London 2012 Olympics because his blood samples failed a drugs retest. Mr Ilyn is a major celebrity in Kazakhstan. Several other Kazakh weightlifters are also accused of doping.

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(News report from Issue No. 306, published on Nov. 25 2016)