Tag Archives: society

Georgian PM gives $185,000 to Church

JAN. 16 2016, TBILISI (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili gave $185,000 to the Georgian Orthodox Church the day after taking office at the end of last year, local media reported by quoting official documents, attracting derision from opponents.

The donation was taken from the President’s Reserve Fund, a cash stockpile used for natural disasters and other emergencies such as the Tbilisi flood in 2015.

The President’s Reserve Fund totals $2m, meaning that the amount donated to the Church measured nearly 10% of its total value.

“The money-flow from the state to the Church is unstructured and we need to support the Church’s educational infrastructure,” the PM’s office said in a statement.

His opponents, though, have accused him of using funds ear- marked to save lives and rebuild homes and businesses after emergencies for his own political needs.

Eka Chitanava, Director of the Tolerance and Diversity Institute, an NGO working on religious freedom in Georgia, said: “The latest $185,000 donated by the PM is significant. The money was taken from the natural disaster budget, a fund they are not supposed to use for this.”

The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the most powerful institutions in Georgia and its support would be useful to Mr Kvirikashvili and his Georgian Dream coalition in helping to win a parliamentary election scheduled for October.

It holds great sway over Georgia’s traditionally conservative society.

There was also frustration among ordinary Georgians over Mr Kvirikashvili’s donation.

“I understand the church is important,” Khatuna Gvelesiani, 30, said. “But to take it from a fund which should cover natural disaster, like the flood we had in June, can’t be justified. I am outraged.”

The Georgian Dream was the first political party ever to be endorsed by the Church in 2012 although this support has waned. It faces a tough battle to win the October election.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Protesters and police clash again in regional Azerbaijanji town

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police and protesters angry about worsening economic conditions in Azerbaijan clashed briefly in the town of Quba, north of Baku, three days after demonstrations sprung up in several regional towns.

Media reports from Quba said that police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to control the demonstration. Protesters are angry at a sharp rise in prices after a devaluation of the manat at the end of last month.

Similarly to the earlier protests, police moved in after the end of the stand-off and detained dozens of demonstrators.

There have been no other demonstrations since.

These were the most serious civil disturbances this year in Central Asia and the South Caucasus linked to the economic slowdown and have worried the Azerbaijani government.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

First Armenian leader gets ill

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Levon Ter-Petrosyan, the first leader of post-Soviet Armenia, has been flown to the United States for emergency treatment on what local media have described as a cancer. Mr Ter-Petrosyan, 71, was president of Armenia between 1991 and 1998. He has since become a vocal opponent of the government and was blamed for whipping up street protests in 2008 that culminated in police shooting dead at least 10 people.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Irritation rises at new bus ticketing system in Kazakh city

JAN. 22 2016, ALMATY/Kazakhstan (The Conway Bulletin) — Bus drivers in Kazakhstan’s financial capital have been striking because of the introduction of an electronic ticketing system which they say makes their job harder, one side of a row that highlights the problems introducing modern ticketing systems into Soviet-era systems brings.

Under the new system, passengers buy a day pass for the bus system for 400 tenge and tap in and out on a monitor in the body of the bus. Under the old system, passengers bought separate tickets for each journey.

From Oct. 1, Almaty was the first city in Kazakhstan to operate an electronic ticket system. Until Jan. 11 it ran alongside the previous token system. Since then, though, it has become the only way for passengers to pay their travel fares. And many don’t like it.

Kuralai Abenova, a frequent user of public transport said: “I like this cashless system but I am afraid I’d forget this card at home. If I ride without this card, I will be fined.”

According to the head of Almaty’s public transport network, Dauren Alimbekov, the new ticketing system cost $12m to introduce.

His staff also said that the bus drivers who went on strike and were deemed to be in breach of their contract would be sacked.

As for the bus drivers they have said that up to 40% of the passengers now ride the bus for free.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Azerbaijani organisers deny F1 race

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The organisers of Azerbaijan’s first Formula 1 race, scheduled for June, denied that the current economic downturn has hit their plans to stage the event. They were responding to media reports that they were going to have to downgrade their plans after a 50% fall in the value of their manat currency over the past year.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

2nd Mortgage protest takes place in Kazakhstan

JAN. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Around 100 women covered in grey sheets marched in protest to Kazkommertsbank and Bank Center Credit to complain about how they treat mortgage holders, their second protest this month. The protesters said that they have struggled to pay their debts since the the tenge lost 50% of its value during a devaluation in August. The authorities in Kazakhstan fear economic problems will trigger social discontent.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Turkmen officials burn cigarettes

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmen officials burnt piles of cigarettes in another indication that the reclusive state is on the brink of an outright ban on smoking, the AP news agency reported. Earlier this month, AFP reported that officials had told storekeepers to remove cigarettes from their shelves. President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is known to hate smoking.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Two Georgians die fighting IS

JAN. 18 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Two Georgian nationals from the Pankisi Gorge in the north of the country have died in Syria fighting for the Islamic radical group IS, media reported quoting intelligence services. The Pankisi Gorge is a predominantly Muslim enclave. Georgia’s security forces have said that at least 50 men from the Pankisi Gorge have joined IS in Syria.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Editorial: Protests grow in Azerbaijan

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Protests in Azerbaijan’s peripheral regions could be soothed only with a resolute measure, the government thinks. President Ilham Aliyev decided to strike out VAT from flour and wheat products, one of the chief demands of the dozens of protesters that took the streets on Jan. 12-13 in several towns around the country.

The question, however, remains — will this one-off measure placate emotions?

Azerbaijan always had a fiery population, ready to manifest their discontent. The recent crackdown on freedom of expression and the virtual – and factual – suppression of any opposition led many to think that Azerbaijan would not allow the public to have a voice any longer.

Azerbaijanis have instead showed their, very real, anger. Video footage from opposition sources shows protesters and police clashing.

The economic downturn is threatening stability across the South Caucasus and Central Asia and poses a challenge to the authorities. How they, and how the protesters respond, is critical.

ENDS

(Editorial from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Kazakhstan organises online football manager poll

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An online poll by Kazakhstan’s football federation asking fans if they wanted a foreign or Kazakh manager for their national team flopped after it fell far short of the 50,000 votes it needed for the result to be acted upon. By midnight on Jan. 14, the poll had attracted just over 2,500 votes, 5% of total needed.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)