APRIL 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s prosecutor-general Rashid Qodirov has resigned unexpectedly, media reported. Mr Qodirov was made famous for ordering the arrest last year of Gulnara Krimova, eldest daughter of president Islam Karimov, for various economic crimes.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 27 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan has made plans to deal with a sustained slump in demand from Russia for its cars, media reported quoting an Uzbek government source.
It said that sales would remain relatively low for its cars until 2019.
This is important because demand from Russia is the main driver of Uzbek car production. This is centred on the GM Uzbekistan plant in Andijan, east Uzbekistan.
GM Uzbekistan, which is 25% owned by US carmaker GM and 75% owned by the Uzbek government, recorded a 38% slump in car sales to Russia in 2014. It also recorded a slump of around 60% in the first quarter of the year, according to reports.
News agencies said sales to Russia between January and March were 5,411 cars from GM Uzbekistan compared to 12,858 in 2014.
Like other countries in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, Uzbekistan is strug- gling to cope with the severe economic collapse over the past few months, triggered by a collapse in oil prices and sanctions on Russia. The Russian economy is a vital engine for the wider regional economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 229, published on April 29 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – On a visit to Seoul, Uzbekistan’s military signed deals with its South Korean counterparts aimed at deepening cooperation. South Korea’s influence in Central Asia, where it has large diasporas, is an important issue to monitor.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The New York-based Human Rights Watch said Uzbekistan may be lining up an extension to the prison sentence handed out to Uzbek activist Azam Farmonov. It said Farmonov had been due for release in a few days, after nearly a decade in jail on extortion charges, but that he has instead been moved to a punishment cell.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has built a 22,000km barb wire fence along its borders with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, media reported, highlighting the often strained border issues in Central Asia.
AKIpress, a Bishkek-based news agency, said that most of the barb was erected along the border with Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have a long-standing quarrel over borders and over the last few years there has been an increase in the number of incidents between the two neighbours along their shared border. These could be locals wandering into no-go areas, or a stand-off between soldiers. The tensest area is around the city of Osh in south Kyrgyzstan, which is part of the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan.
The borders of Central Asia are complex. Historians have said that Soviet officials deliberately drew the borders to divide people.
Analysts have also said that tension over borders is one of Central Asia’s most serious flashpoints.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan followed Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and banned the new Hollywood movie Child 44 because of the apparent negative way that it portrays the Soviet Union.
Child 44 was based on a book about the hunt for a serial killer in 1950s Soviet Union. It was produced by Ridley Scott, famed for several blockbuster films including Aliens, Blade Runner and Gladiator.
Last week, the Russian culture ministry said: “The distortion of historical facts and original interpretations of events before, during and after the Great Patriotic War is why we decided to ban this movie on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the Victory.”
Victory refers to the annual May 9 celebrations of the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945.
In the past few years, Central Asian countries have been at the centre of controversies around celebrations for the end of World War II.
Preferring to favour their own national building efforts above Soviet symbolism, Central Asian leaders have striven to tear down Soviet symbols, statues of the founder of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin being a particularly favoured target.
The movie Child 44, though, appears to have had the opposite impact and former Soviet states have been quick to spring to the defence of the USSR.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have reportedly broken ranks with other former Soviet states and declined to sign a memo calling for sanctions on Russia to be dropped.
At a meeting of foreign ministers in Bishkek most members of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) agreed to back the petition which was to be sent to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (April 3).
But Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan — along with Ukraine and Moldova — declined to sign the document, the local language service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
All three of the Central Asian and South Caucasus countries have form.
Azerbaijan’s cause is probably a sovereignty issue. It doesn’t want to set a precedent that would allow the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh to drift further from its control.
Uzbekistan’s reasons are more deep-rooted and linked to its traditional unilateral stance on issues concerning Russia.
And Turkmenistan could be just aiming to irritate Russia.
It appears that Ashgabat is locked in a worsening row with Russia over gas supplies and the devaluation of the rouble. Earlier this year, Turkmen president Kurbanguly Berdymkuhamedov blamed Russia for Central Asia’s economic troubles.
Regardless, the failure to secure the full backing of CSTO members in Bishkek is a — largely overlooked — diplomatic miss for Russia.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 3 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Uzbek sum dropped by 17% on the black market immediately after incumbent president Islam Karimov won a presidential election at the end of last month, data showed.
In Uzbekistan, the black market is vital to monitor as it most accurately tracks the value of the sum against the US dollar. Bank rates are fixed.
Uzmetronom, an independent news source, said the sum is trading at 4,200-4,500 sums per $1 on the black market, double the official rate. The website didn’t give any reasons why the sum had fallen so sharply after the election. Generally, though, the drop in remittance from Russia, the fall in energy prices and a fall in the value of the rouble have pressured the sum’s value.
Prices for basic goods are also rising, which is putting pressure on minimum wage workers.
Elections in both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan this spring were supposed to bring about stability and reinforce trust. Instead, though, they may be bringing more instability.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Uzbekistan sent 12 men to prison for belonging to a jihadist group, Russian news agencies reported. Prosecutors said the men were distributing pamphlets and videos promoting extremism. Central Asian governments are worried about the lure of the IS extremist group.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
APRIL 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan’s government passed a law that will pave the way for a joint venture between Uzavtomprom and Germany’s MAN Group to build truck cabins. The factory should be operational by 2016. Uzbekistan has developed a substantial auto industry although a region-wide economic decline has hit demand.
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(News report from Issue No. 226, published on April 8 2015)
