Tag Archives: Turkmenistan

Iran drops tax on foodstuffs to Central Asia

SEPT. 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Iran has lifted an export tax on foodstuffs being sent to Central Asia and the South Caucasus, media quoted Abdollah Mohajer, the head of Mazandaran Province Chamber of Commerce, as saying. The export tax had covered a range of products including pistachio nuts, cabbages, dates and raisins. Ditching the export tax is likely to drop the price of sending foodstuffs to Central Asia by up to 20%. Iran is increasingly trying to tap into Central Asia and the South Caucasus as natural export markets for is various products.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Georgian PM flies to Ashgabat for talks

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AUG. 30 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili flew to Ashgabat for talks with Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov that focused on transit cooperation and various energy projects. Turkmenistan has become increasingly vocal about using the Caspian Sea transit route to export gas. Georgia is key stage-post on this route as it hosts pipelines running from Baku and the Black Sea port of Batumi is a major entrance into, and exit from, the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Thousands of Turkmen lose homes before Games

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SEPT. 4 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Human Rights Watch accused the Turkmen authorities of forcibly evicting people from their homes and for failing to give them adequate compensation. The allegations were made on the eve of the opening of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. Turkmenistan’s president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has set much store by the Games. News reports have been leaking out of the country over the past year of mass evictions to make way for Games’ infrastructure. The Turkmen government has not responded.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)

Starbuks opening in Ashgabat is fake news

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AUG. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of people were taken in by images that appeared to show that Starbucks, the US coffee shop chain, had opened up its first store in Turkmenistan (Aug. 25).
Various pictures showed young Turkmen drinking coffee at what looked like a Starbucks coffee shop in Ashgabat.
The fake news appears to have been spread initially by a little-known website called http://www.atavatan-turkmenistan.com.
The original post said that Starbucks had opened in a shopping mall ahead of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games which opens later this month.
Starbucks has only just opened its first stores in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s economic powerhouse, and has not announced any plans to open in Turkmenistan or anywhere else across the region.
Neither the Turkmen government nor Starbucks have commented on the fake news.

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(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017

Turkmenistan opens its first dog shelter

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AUG. 20 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Officials in Turkmenistan opened the first cat and dog shelter in the country, government news agencies reported. The shelter, called the “Island of Hope” was opened less than a month before the start of the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. The government’s critics said that it has previously treated stray dogs and cats poorly and that the opening of the shelter is an attempt to generate positive headlines.

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(News report from Issue No. 341, published on Aug. 27 2017)

Former Turkmen spy dies in jail

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AUG. 18 2017 (The Bulletin) — Akmurat Rejepov, former Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov’s spy chief, has died in prison 10 years after he was arrested for corruption and tax evasion, human rights groups said. Rejepov had been Niyazov’s security chief and had supposedly been influential in promoting Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov as his replacement when he died in 2006. He was arrested and imprisoned in May 2007.

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(News report from Issue No. 340, published on Aug. 20 2017)

Berdy visits Azerbaijan

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AUG. 9 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov flew to Baku for talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that focused on efforts to feed Turkmen gas into the South Caucasus Energy Corridor that will pump supplies to Europe from the Caspian Sea. Turkmenistan is looking for more export routes for its gas. Officially the two leaders signed a document promising to further their strategic partnership.

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(News report from Issue No. 339, published on Aug. 13 2017)

Berdy postures as Turkmen special forces assassin

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AUG. 2 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has been mocked for starring in a video in which he postures, firing a rifle and throwing daggers at targets, to adoring, gawping Turkmen commandos.

Keen to burnish his public image, Mr Berdymukhamedov is fond of releasing videos which show off his apparently unlimited skills.

A few days earlier a video showed him, wearing a white tracksuit and baseball cap, singing and playing the keyboard. At the start of the year, a video showed him leading government officials in a gym workout.

The common thread in each video is that Mr Berdymukhamedov, who is micromanaging his way through an economic downturn, plays the role of the kindly father- figure passing on his skills and knowledge to less able subjects.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on Aug. 5 2017)

Turkmenistan to start Galkynysh 3rd phase

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JULY 21 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan is due to begin work on a third phase development of its Galkynysh gas field next year, a source at the project told the Trend news agency. Galkynysh, in the east of the country, is one of the biggest gas fields in the world and is central to Turkmenistan’s wealth. It pumps almost all of its gas to China, currently. The extension to Galkynysh is timed for the start of the so-called TAPI gas pipeline, scheduled for 2019, which will send gas across Afghanistan to energy- hungry consumers in Pakistan and India.

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(News report from Issue No. 337, published on July 27 2017)

Council of elders in Turkmenistan set for October

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JULY 11 2017 (The Bulletin) — Turkmen media said that President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov had called for a Council of Elders to convene on Oct. 9. The Council of Elders consists of 600 men over the age of 70 from across Turkmenistan’s five regions. It is officially an advisory body for the President but in effect is used to rubberstamp his decisions, often major government matters. The President decides on when to call a Council of Elders, although it usually takes place every year.

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(News report from Issue No. 336, published on July 16 2017)