Tag Archives: society

Kazakh President appoints EXPO chief

AUG. 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev appointed Akhmetzhan Yessimov, formerly the mayor of Almaty, to head his set piece EXPO-2017 in Astana. Mr Yessimov is a trusted ally of Mr Nazarbayev and is tasked with bringing EXPO-2017 back on track after a major corruption scandal. Baurzhan Baibek, an official at Mr Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan, will be the new Almaty mayor.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Turkmen officials block horse breeder

AUG. 13 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Turkmenistan have stopped a prominent horse breeder who has fallen out of favour with senior officials from leaving the country, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said. HRW said that Geldy Kyarizov and his family were barred from boarding a flight to Moscow where he was hoping to receive medical treatment.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Barcelona wins Super Cup in Georgian capital

AUG. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Barcelona beat fellow Spanish side Sevilla 5-4 in the final of the UEFA Super Cup in Tbilisi, arguably the most high profile game of football played in post-Soviet Georgia. Former president Mikheil Saakashvili had organised for the match to be played in Tbilisi, part of his drive to promote the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Tajikistan needs more clean water

AUG. 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A senior UN official said that Tajikistan needed to prioritise bringing clean drinking water to more people. Leo Heller, Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, made the statement after a mission to the country.

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(News report from Issue No. 243, published on Aug. 14 2015)

Kazakh city loses Olympics

JULY 31 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Beijing beat Almaty in the race to host the 2022 Winter Olympics at a vote at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Kuala Lumpur. Almaty had been looking to become the only city in the former Soviet Union outside Russia to host an Olympic Games. President Nursultan Nazarbayev wants to burnish his image as the father-of-the-nation by hosting a major sporting event.

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(News report from Issue No. 242, published on Aug. 7 2015)

Homophobia spreads in Kazakhstan

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a report entitled “‘That’s When I Realized I Was Nobody’: A Climate of Fear for LGBT People in Kazakhstan”, Human Rights Watch said that homophobia in Kazakhstan was rife. Almaty is bidding to host the Winter Olympics in 2022. The HRW report was released on the eve of the IOC decision on who to award the Games to.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Armenian activists want more rallies

JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A core group of activists opposed to electricity price rises have called for a series of rallies in Yerevan between July 27 -31 ahead of the Aug. 1 start date of the increases. Momentum behind the rallies protesting against the price rises has fizzled out.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

McDonald’s chooses Kazakh capital

JULY 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – US fast food giant McDonalds will open its first store in Kazakhstan this year in Astana, media reported quoting city officials. Last year McDonalds said it had agreed a franchise deal with businessman Kairat Bornabayev.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Youth Olympics begin in Georgia

JULY 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia began gearing up to host the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi between July 26 and Aug. 1, one of the biggest sporting events it has hosted. Around 3,500 young athletes will compete for medals in a number of sports.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)

Georgian electricity price rises approved

TBILISI, JULY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian state regulators approved a price increase for electricity, a rise that will irritate consumers and also the power companies who said the rise was not enough to cover the cost of production.

Electricity prices have become a major political issue across Central Asia and the South Caucasus because falling local currencies have forced up the cost of imports needed to fuel power stations.

In Armenia, thousands of people have protested for weeks about a sharp increase in electricity prices.

Perhaps mindful of the political fallout, Georgia’s regulators tried to limit price increases. The price rises appear to vary enormously between 2% and 30% depending on consumers’ overall annual use.

Zurab Gelenidze, CFO of Georgian Industrial Group, said the price rises were not enough. “The sustainability of the entire system will become questionable,” he told media.

Also reacting to the price rises, PM Irakli Garibashvili said the government would give out subsidies to some lower income families.

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(News report from Issue No. 241, published on July 23 2015)