23 july to 30 July 2010

Azerbaijan


Political Front

• Socialist International to observe upcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan

The Socialist International will participate as an observer in the upcoming parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan, Luis Ayala, Secretary General of the Socialist International said today.

Geo Strategic Front

• Pakistan supporting Azerbaijan on return of Azeri territories illegally occupied by Armenia"

On Firday, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan is keen to further strengthen its close brotherly relations with Azerbaijan, based on historical, cultural and religious common realities.

• U.S. - Azerbaijan relations at risk of failing?

Though sometimes overlooked, Azerbaijan’s geopolitical status far outweighs its size. Located just north of Iran and just south of the volatile Caucuses, it sits on the Caspian Sea, astride major oil and gas transshipment routes that avoid Russia. While not a perfect democracy, Azerbaijan clearly presents an alternative to the theocracy advocated by Iran and militant Islamists, as well as to the Central Asian alternative of increasingly brutal authoritarianism. Azerbaijan is therefore important geopolitically, in terms of energy access, and as an acceptable if not perfect model of governance.

• Turkish President Gul to visit Azerbaijan

Turkish President Abdullah Gul will pay an official visit to Azerbaijan soon, Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan said today. Turkish minister and a large delegation of businessmen arrived in Baku July 28 to hold various meetings and negotiations.

• Azerbaijan Confirms New Karabakh Peace Plan Presented

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (right) greets the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Serzh Sarkisian (left) and Ilham Aliyev, in St. Petersburg on June 17.

YEREVAN -- Azerbaijan has confirmed Armenian claims that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev presented his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts with a new plan to end their conflict over the breakaway Azerbaijani region of Nagorno-Karabakh in St. Petersburg last month, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

• Turkish and Azerbaijani governments intend to establish high-level strategic council

Turkey and Azerbaijan reached agreements to extend relations and to increase trade turnover, said Turkish minister for foreign trade Zafer Caglayan at a press conference on Thursday.

• Karabakh Armenians Buoyed By Kosovo 'Precedent'

STEPANAKERT, Nagorno-Karabakh -- Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leadership has welcomed a United Nations court ruling upholding the legitimacy of Kosovo's secession from Serbia and affirmed its applicability to the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reports.

Economic /Energy Front



Social Front

• Azerbaijani Journalists 'Assaulted' In Baku

An opposition journalist in Azerbaijan says he and another reporter were assaulted on the outskirts of Baku, RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports.

• Azerbaijani President Takes Up Twitter

Another world leader is utilizing the power of social networking. First it was Medvedev, now it's Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Kazakastan

Political Front



Geo Strategic Front

• Kazakhstan And The OSCE Can Take The Lead In Kyrgyzstan

This summer's Kyrgyz-Uzbek clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan presented the gravest threat to Central Asian security since the Tajik civil war of the 1990s. Reportedly, about 3,000 people died and more than 300,000 were displaced in the violence.

• US President won’t attend OSCE summit in Astana - source

. Interfax- Kazakhstan – The President of the United State Barack Obama will not take part in the OSCE heads of state summit in Astana, a source close to the Kazakh diplomatic circles told Interfax-Kazakhstan.

Economic /Energy Front

• Kazakhstan’s economy grows 8 percent in fist half of 2010

(SRI) - Kazakhstan’s economy grew at an annual rate of 8.0 percent in the first half of 2010, driven by higher oil prices and a recovery in domestic spending, Economic Development and Trade Minister Zhanar Aitzhanova said on Tuesday at a government meeting in Astana.

• Nazarbaev Circulates His Currency Vision

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev appears keen to introduce a common global currency. One way or another.

"I continue to insist that the new global economy requires a new global currency," Nararbaev said during a recent economic forum in the Kazakh capital, Astana. He also "continued to insist" on the topic during an informal meeting of the OSCE Foreign Ministers in Almaty earlier this month.

Social Front

• Inmate Who Filmed 'Kazakh Prison Video' Found Hanged In Jail

QARAGHANDY, Kazakhstan -- The inmate in Kazakhstan's notorious Dolinka prison who shot a video showing another inmate being beaten by a jail guard in May was found hanged in the penitentiary last month, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

• Turkey Extradites Kazakhstan's Former Antidrug Czar

ASTANA -- Turkey has extradited Kazakhstan's former antidrug czar who has been charged with abuse of power, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Asqar Isagaliev, who headed Kazakhstan's Committee for the Fight Against Illegal Drugs in 2008-09, was detained in Antalya on January 9. Bilateral talks about his extradition had continued until he was extradited on July 20.

• Jailed Kazakh Journalist Appeals To UN

Jailed Kazakh journalist Ramazan Esergepov has written an appeal to the United Nations' Committee for Human Rights about his case, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports.

Kyrgyzstan

Political Front

• Ahead Of Kyrgyz President's Visit, Osh Mayor Claims People's Support

Melis Myrzakmatov, the mayor of Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city, Osh, has made his position clear ahead of a visit by the country's president that could result in his firing.

• Anti-OSCE Police Protests Held In Kyrgyz Cities

BISHKEK -- Demonstrations against the deployment of an international police force to Kyrgyzstan's southern regions have been held in several Kyrgyz cities, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

• Otunbaeva Visits Osh Amid Protests Against OSCE Police Deployment

Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva is in the southern city of Osh, where she met with the city mayor as well as local residents. Otunbaeva's meeting took place in the offices of the mayor, Melis Myrzakmatov, whom Otunbaeva has criticized for his handling of last month's ethnic violence in the city.

• Tensions Continue To Rise In Southern Kyrgyzstan

OSH -- Traffic jams are returning to the streets of Osh, restaurants are reopening, and, in some areas, people are rebuilding houses burned down just a few weeks ago. But in other neighborhoods, you can still smell smoke, water gushes from broken pipes, and many people live in tents, often in the courtyards of their former homes.

Geo Strategic Front

• Clash between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Moscow

MOSCOW -- Violent clashes between Uzbek and Kyrgyz migrant workers in Moscow have left one person severely wounded, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Dozens of ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz clashed near the Profsoyuznaya subway station on the night of July 26. One of the participants in the clashes was hospitalized with knife wounds.

• Tajikistan Confirms Extradition Of Terror Suspects To Kyrgyzstan

DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan has confirmed that two men who were detained earlier this month in northern Tajikistan have been handed over to Kyrgyz authorities at Bishkek's request, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

• Top U.S. Official Warns Of Islamic Extremist Threat To Southern Kyrgyzstan

WASHINGTON -- Robert Blake, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, says Kyrgyzstan must be wary of attempts by Afghan Islamic militants to try to enter the fragile southern part of the country through its border with Tajikistan.

Economic /Energy Front

• International Donors Pledge Over $1 Billion Aid To Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK -- At a donors conference in Bishkek, representatives of 14 countries and 15 international organizations have pledged $1.1 billion in response to appeals from Kyrgyz interim government leaders.

Social Front

• Children From Southern Kyrgyzstan Vacation In Kazakhstan

OSH, Kyrgyzstan -- Fifty children between 10 and 15 years of age have left southern Kyrgyzstan for vacation and medical treatment in Kazakhstan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports

Tajikistan

Political Front

• Tajik Prosecutor Targets Forerunner's Son

The son of former Tajik Prosecutor-General Bobojon Bobokhonov has been arrested on corruption charges, the latest in a string of moves initiated against current or former judicial officials by Bobokhonov's successor.

Geo Strategic Front

• Tajikistan Confirms Extradition Of Terror Suspects To Kyrgyzstan

DUSHANBE -- Tajikistan has confirmed that two men who were detained earlier this month in northern Tajikistan have been handed over to Kyrgyz authorities at Bishkek's request, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

Economic /Energy Front

• Tajikistan to participate in ADB-supported regional business development forum

DUSHANBE, July 23, 2010, Asia-Plus -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB), in cooperation with China, is organizing a Central Asian Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Business Development Forum in Urumqi on July 29-30, 2010, according to ADB’s Tajikistan resident Mission (TJRM).

• China’s CNMIM expected to explore and develop gold deposit in Tajikistan

DUSHANBE, July 30, 2010, Asia-Plus -- China Nonferrous Metals Int’l Mining Co. Ltd (CNMIM) is expected to explore gold deposit in Tajikistan.

• Tajik Hydropower Station To Displace Thousands

DUSHANBE -- Tajik Labor Minister Makhmadamin Makhmadaminov says that thousands of people are being relocated in order to complete construction of the Roghun hydropower plant, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

• Tajik National Bank Head: Counterfeit Money Printed In Afghanistan

DUSHANBE -- The head of the Tajik National Bank has warned people that forged Tajik somonis are circulating in Tajikistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

Social Front

• Tajikistan Raises Legal Age For Women To Marry

DUSHANBE -- Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has signed a law amending the country's Family Code to raise the legal age for women to marry from 17 to 18 years, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

• Tajikistan Sees Decline In Afghan Drug Volumes



Tajikistan is expecting a decline in the volume of drugs trafficked from Afghanistan this year due to better policing and a fungus that has attacked the opium poppy crop, according to Khalimdjon Makhmudov, who heads the operations and search department at Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency.

Turkmenistan

Political Front



Geo Strategic Front

• Direct inter-regional ties account for 70 percent of Turkmen-Russian trade turnover

Turkmenistan's direct contacts with individual regions of the Russian Federation play an important role in the Turkmen-Russian co-operation (about 70 per cent of trade turnover). According to the press service of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, this data was cited by the deputy chairman of the Council of Federation, Svetlana Orlova at a meeting with the delegation of the Committee on International and Inter-parliamentary Relations of the Mejlis of Turkmenistan, who arrived in Moscow on a visit.

Economic /Energy Front

• Turkmenistan increases production of liquefied gas

The improvement of technological processes and use of advanced methods of modern production have led to a record production of liquefied gas at the Nayyp gas-processing plant under the state concern Turkmengaz.

• MTS launches project on use of alternative sources of energy in Turkmenistan

Specialists "MTS Turkmenistan" company have launched the first platform using a set of alternative sources of power (ASP) to provide remote settlements in eastern Turkmenistan with mobile communication. The set is located in Koytendag district of Lebap province, near the villages of Koiten and Gurshunmagdan in the territory of National Park "Koytendag".

• Exports of Turkmen gas to China to increase by December 2012

The State Concern "Turkmengaz" will finance the construction of a gas compressor station with the capacity of 30 bcm a year at the gas field "Malay" in Lebap province. This was announced by the Director of the State Agency for the Management and Use of Hydrocarbon Resources Yagshigeldy Kakayev at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Turkmenistan.

Social Front

• President of Turkmenistan sends condolences to President and people of Pakistan

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has sent condolences to President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in connection with the airliner's crash near the city of Islamabad, which resulted in numerous human casualties and injuries.

Uzbekistan

Political Front

• Reconstruction Plan To "Ethnically Cleanse" Osh, Uzbeks Fear

Osh will be rebuilt into a “modern metropolis,” moving families whose houses were damaged during last month's violence onto plots outside of town. Many Uzbeks oppose the scheme. They suspect some officials helped organized the June violence, which gutted Uzbek neighborhoods in central Osh, to make way for extravagant modern government buildings and housing projects.

Geo Strategic Front

• Uzbeks, Kyrgyz Clash In Moscow

MOSCOW -- Violent clashes between Uzbek and Kyrgyz migrant workers in Moscow have left one person severely wounded, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

Dozens of ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz clashed near the Profsoyuznaya subway station on the night of July 26. One of the participants in the clashes was hospitalized with knife wounds.

Economic /Energy Front

• Uzbekistan: The Central Bank forces the credit unions to decrease the interest rates on loans and deposits

Ferghana.Ru learned from private sources that the Central Bank in Uzbekistan puts pressure on the credit unions. The Central Bank sent the message to all credit unions in the republic with FOU (For Office Use) in the subject, dated July 19, 2010, according to which since July 20, 2010 all credit unions must set the interest rates for deposits at 14-16 percent and for loans at 18-20 percent.

Social Front

• The European human rights court prohibited Ukraine to return refugees to Uzbekistan

On July 26, 2010 the European Court for human rights (the Strasburg court) applied rule 39 and prohibited Ukraine to return 4 arrested Uzbek refugees to Uzbekistan, the Without Borders project informed Ferghana.Ru on July 30.