MAY 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Police in the US arrested an Uzbek man on suspicion of links to Islamic extremists, barely a month after two ethnic Chechen brothers, who were brought up in Kyrgyzstan, allegedly bombed the Boston marathon. The new arrest appears unrelated to the Boston bombs but will again draw Central Asia into the spotlight.
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(News report from Issue No. 135, published on May 20 2013)
APRIL 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Uzbekistan released five political prisoners last year, the US reported. Human rights groups often criticise Uzbekistan, much to the embarrassment of the US and other Western countries which have made deals with the Uzbek government in return for help shifting military equipment out of Afghanistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 134, published on May 6 2013)
APRIL 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Uzbek authorities unexpectedly released opposition activist Mamadali Makhmudov from prison ahead of a visit by a senior US official, media reported. Mr Makhmudov, 72, was imprisoned in August 1999 for attempting to overthrow the government. Uzbekistan has one of the world’s worst human rights records.
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(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)
APRIL 26 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkey signed up to become a so-called dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group led by China and Russia that includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Belarus and Sri Lanka already hold the same status with the SCO but Turkey is a NATO member and that makes its partnership more important. Analysts have often described the SCO as a potential Chinese and Russian-led military rival to NATO.
This analysis of the SCO, though, is too simplistic. The SCO is more than just a security group. It is also a financing organisation and a forum for inter-governmental conversation and debate.
Turkey, too, has deep economic, historical, cultural and linguistic ties with Central Asia, the focus of the SCO’s activities. Turkish senior governments ministers often visit the Central Asia capitals and it is only natural that Turkey should look to become a member in the region’s main security grouping.
Turkey’s interest in the SCO and its promotion as a dialogue partner should be welcomed by all, including NATO.
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(News report from Issue No. 133, published on April 29 2013)
APRIL 19 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Carlsberg’s Uzbek subsidiary in Tashkent, UzCarlsberg, re-started beer production after a year’s break, local media reported. The Uzbek authorities had accused the UzCarlsberg of dodging taxes of nearly $5m. Foreign investors in Uzbekistan have previously accused the authorities of harassment.
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(News report from Issue No. 132, published on April 22 2013)
APRIL 15 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Scotching concerns over his health, Uzbek President Islam Karimov flew to Moscow for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Officially, the two leaders discussed NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. Rumours of Mr Karimov’s declining health circulated last month after he disappeared from public view for a few days.
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(News report from Issue No. 132, published on April 22 2013)
APRIL 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Citing the Uzbek authorities’ refusal to allow private access to inmates, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) cancelled all future prison visits in Uzbekistan.
The ICRC released a terse, unequivocal statement from its Geneva headquarters.
“The decision to terminate visits to places of detention is a rare occurrence and is never taken lightly,” it said.
The ICRC, which had suspended trips since October 2012, said prison visits are pointless unless inmates feel they can talk freely and the Uzbeks simply weren’t willing to allow this.
The cramped, Soviet-built prisons in Uzbekistan are considered some of the worst in the world. Allegations of torture and mistreatment litter activists’ accounts of prison life.
ICRC’s decision will embarrass Uzbekistan’s Western military partners.
Rowing back on years of criticism of alleged human rights abuses by the authorities, NATO governments led by the US have been eager to make deals with Uzbekistan to help withdraw their military forces from neighbouring Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Uzbekistan has a useful railway network and is considered more stable than Pakistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 131, published on April 12 2013)
MARCH 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — In comments made on a trip to Dushanbe, Kazakh foreign minister Yerlan Idrissov appeared to signal Kazakhstan’s intent to mediate in a long-running dispute between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan over water rights, media reported. With Iran’s help, Tajikistan is building a dam that will effect water flow to Uzbekistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 130, published on April 5 2013)
MARCH 29 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – It doesn’t take long these days, for rumours and speculation to start flying around on the health of a Central Asian leader if they disappear from the public’s gaze for a few days.
Earlier this month Kazakh president Nurtulan Nazarbayev popped up in Israel on a surprise trip. He was photographed with Israeli president Shimon Peres but that didn’t quell speculation that the real reason he was in Israel was to make use of the country’s hospitals.
Now 75-year-old Uzbek president Islam Karimov is at the centre of speculation over his health. Unsubstantiated rumours have lingered for years that Mr Karimov is unwell but when he, unusually, disappeared from sight for a few days in mid-March the intensity of the leadership gossip increased. Opposition sources said that Mr Karimov had suffered a heart-attack shortly after being filmed dancing at a Norouz celebration on March 19.
On March 27, the presidential website did publish a video of Mr Karimov meeting with Kazakh foreign minister Yerlan Idrissov. His apparent good health was confirmed by Kazakh officials later who said they witnessed the meeting.
But, crucially, Mr Karimov hasn’t actually appeared in public. Until he does, the speculation will continue.
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(News report from Issue No. 129, published on March 29 2013)
MARCH 28 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Swedish investigators said they may consider fining or confiscating assets from the part state-owned telecoms operator Teliasonera if criminal charges stick over an investigation into whether the company illegally paid bribes to a Gibraltar-registered firm in 2007/8 for 3G licences in Uzbekistan, media reported.
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(News report from Issue No. 129, published on March 29 2013)
