Tag Archives: Uzbekistan

Diplomatic spat brews over rail link between Tajikistan and Turkmenistan

JAN. 25 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan’s foreign minister issued a statement complaining about a press release by Tajikistan which said that it wanted to build a railway link to Russia that bypassed Turkmenistan and instead traversed Uzbekistan. The Turkmen statement said that Tajikistan’s press release had been unethical. Uzbek-Tajik relations have improved markedly since the death in September of former Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov. The Turkmen diplomatic note is a reminder the ties between Central Asian countries are often strained and fractured.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Uzbekistan releases 40,000 prisoners

JAN. 24 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — In possibly the biggest mass amnesty by a former Soviet state, Uzbekistan pardoned 40,000 prisoners. The amnesty focused on inmates imprisoned for minor crimes, foreigners, women, young offenders and people over the age of 60. Human rights groups accuse Uzbekistan of locking up political prisoners. No notable political prisoners were released. Central Asian countries use amnesties to mark anniversaries and to release pressure on their prison populations.

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(News report from Issue No. 314, published on Jan. 27 2017)

Eriell buys Uzbek subsidiary

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Eriell GmbH, an Austria-registered company whose biggest shareholder is Gazprombank, has bought a 51% stake in Sarbon-Neftegaz from the state-owned Uzbekenergo, the Tashkent stock exchange reported. The Italian-language agcnews.eu website said that Eriell had paid $3.94m for the stake. Sarbon-Neftegaz provides transport services to oil and gas companies in Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Uzbek investigators interview Gulnara Karimova

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek prosecutors interviewed Gulnara Karimova at her home in Tashkent, where she is under house arrest, about money laundering, media in Switzerland reported by quoting her lawyer.

This is the first news of Ms Karimova since her father, former Uzbek president Islam Karimov, died in September. In November a report surfaced on opposition news website that she had been poisoned.

The German-language business newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung published an interview with Ms Karimova’s lawyer, Gregoire Mangeat, who said that he had flown to Tashkent for the interviews held on Dec. 9/10.

He said that she was in good health but had been under pressure from the two state prosecutors to admit to various crimes.

“She was very combative and showed an amazing resistance to the arbitrary situation,” he said. “She bravely endured the confrontation with the three Uzbek prosecutors in military uniform. Twice, however, she burst into tears.”

Mr Mangeat also said that Ms Karimova’s living conditions were inhumane and designed to make her crack.

“My client is held in a small annex of her former house in the centre of Tashkent. The rest of the house has decayed,” her said. “Gulnara Karimova is completely isolated.”

Ms Karimova had been viewed as a potential successor to her father but in February 2014, as prosecutors from Europe and the United States started investigating telecoms companies who had paid her bribes worth hundreds of millions of dollars for access to the Uzbek market, she was placed under house arrest. Since then, very little has been heard of the once self-style fashion diva, pop star, roaming ambassador and business leader.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Uzbekistan’s Denis beats Novak

JAN. 19 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin pulled off one of the biggest upsets in international tennis when he beat world no. 2 Novak Djokovic 3-2 in the second round of the Australian Open. Istomin is ranked at 117 in the world.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

China to build solar plant in Uzbekistan

JAN. 14 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Zhuhai Singyes Green Building Technology, a Chinese company, won a tender at the end of 2016 to build a solar panel field in southern Uzbekistan, state-run Uzbekenergo told the Trend news agency. Uzbekistan has been looking to boost its renewable energy capacity and has been increasingly turning to solar power.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Turkish police arrests Uzbek gunmen

JAN. 17 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkish police captured the main suspect, an Uzbek national called Abdulkadir Masharipov, behind a New Year’s eve attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed 39 people. Masharipov has, reportedly, already confessed to the killings. The Turkish authorities said that he had received training from the IS radical militant group.

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(News report from Issue No. 313, published on Jan. 20 2017)

Uzbekistan cancels move to scrap visas

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan cancelled plans to drop visa requirements for tourists only a few weeks after President Shavkat Mirziyoyev surprised people by promising to open up the notoriously hard-to-enter country.

The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website reported that Uzbekistan’s official legislation website had published a document delaying by four years the introduction of the visa-free regime for tourists. The document had been signed Mr Mirziyoyev.

In December he had said that tourists from Western countries would be allowed to enter the country for up to 30 days without a visa.

Kate Mallinson, a London-based Central Asia analyst, said that the change of plan on the tourists’ visa- free regime hinted at a power struggle within the Uzbek system.

“The Uzbek government’s volte face on allowing visa free entry highlights the continuing leverage of the hidden state and all-powerful security services, the SNB,” she said.

“The SNB fiercely scrutinises entry of foreigners into the country and will have challenged this move which would have significantly undermined its control.”

Uzbekistan has one of the most tightly controlled visa regimes in the world.

Mr Mirziyoyev’s move to relax it appeared linked to the increased openness after the death in September of Pres. Islam Karimov. Karimov had ruled since the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union and was regarded by many as a harsh autocrat.

Since taking over as president, Mr Mirziyoyev has improved ties with Uzbekistan’s neighbours and promised to improve the country’s business environment.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Turkish police name Uzbek as nightclub attacker

JAN. 9 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — The authorities in Turkey named the suspected gunman who killed 39 people at a nightclub in Istanbul on New Years Eve as Abdulkadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national. They said that he had links with IS in Iraq and Syria and that he has been living in Turkey since 2011. The accusation once again pulls Central Asia into the spotlight over IS recruitment in the region.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)

Uzbekistan buys Dreamliners

JAN. 10 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan Airways has bought four more Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner aircrafts for an undisclosed amount to be delivered in 2019 and 2020, media reported. The Dreamliner is a long-haul aircraft that came into production 10 years ago. Uzbekistan has been trying to boost its airline and market itself as a stopover between the West and East Asia.

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(News report from Issue No. 312, published on Jan. 13 2017)