18 April 2007 News Digest

Tajikistan works to repatriate cultural valuables from Britain
6 April
Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov has called for studying the chances of repatriating the Oxus treasure, also known as the Amu-Darya treasure, his press secretary Abdufattokh
Sharipov told Interfax on Friday. "During his visit to the site of the ancient town of Takhti-Sangin in Khatlon region President Emomali Rahmon called for taking measures to organize an exhibition of findings of the Amu-Darya treasure and their subsequent repatriation," Sharipov said using the non-Slavic version of the president's name, in line with a recent presidential decree. "Meanwhile the Academy of Sciences and museums of Tajikistan have been invited to make their relevant proposals," he said. He found it difficult to say whether Tajikistan will insist on the free return of the exhibits from the British Museum or if it plans to buy them back. The Amu-Darya treasure discovered in 1877 comprises over 1,300 coins and pieces of jewelry dating back to the IV-II centuries B.C. when the ancient state of Bactriana existed in the territory of modern Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Iran. British representatives in India bought the treasure by installments from several merchants. "The question of repatriation is always complex and delicate. It is extremely difficult to prove that the artifacts had been smuggled from Tajikistan after so many years but we will study all the documents related to the Amu-Darya treasure," Rahim Masov, director of the Museum of Antiquities of Tajikistan told Interfax. (Interfax)

Russian Duma ratifies protocols on Kazakh test sites
6 April
The lower house of parliament Friday ratified protocols on changes to agreements between Russia and Kazakhstan on the lease of four military test sites in the Central Asian state. Russia and Kazakhstan signed additional protocols to 1996 bilateral treaties on the lease of the 4th and 929th testing ranges of the Russian Defense Ministry, and testing ranges at Sary-Shagan and Emba on November 25, 2005. "The ratification of the protocols meets the national interests of the Russian Federation and will promote the maintenance and further development of Russia's facilities aimed at testing new weaponry and military equipment, including missile defense systems, which will ensure the strengthening of the country's defense potential," the State Duma said in a statement. According to the protocols, Russia is required to pay an annual sum of about $24.8 million for the lease of four testing grounds and related research facilities totaling 10 million hectares on the territory of the former Soviet republic as of January 1, 2005. Twenty-three percent of Russia's 4th state firing range at Kapustin Yar is located in Kazakhstan. In recent years, Kapustin Yar has been the site of the official trials of the Iskander-M missile system, as well as tests of the S-400 (SA-20 Triumf) surface-to-air missile system. The 929th State Test Flight Center, also known as Taysoygan or Vladimirovka, is comprised of three sections in Atyrau, Mangystau, and Western Kazakhstan regions. The territory is used to test combat aircraft and various types of weapons for all branches of the military. The Sary-Shagan test site was established in 1956 as the 10th State Scientific Research Testing Range of the former Soviet Union where anti-ballistic missile defense systems, air defenses, and laser weapons were tested. It was the only Soviet ABM test site permitted under the 1972 ABM Treaty. The Emba testing grounds, subordinated to Kapustin Yar in 1998, is where the F300, Buk, Tor and Tunguzka air defense systems have been tested. (RIA Novosti)

Released Iranian diplomat accuses CIA of torture - news agency
7 April
An Iranian diplomat abducted in Baghdad in early February and released earlier this week claims he has been interrogated and tortured by the CIA agents, an Iran's news agency reported Saturday. Jalal Sharafi, the second secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, was released and repatriated on Tuesday following what he claims an abduction by Iraqi special services working under U.S. control. In an interview with the Fars news agency, the diplomat said he was brought to a military base near the Baghdad airport and interrogated in Arabic and English languages. "The CIA agents asked me questions about Iran's presence and influence in Iraq, and Tehran's assistance to the Iraqi government, the Shiite, Sunnite and Kurd factions," Sharafi said. He also claimed the interrogators tortured him after they had become dissatisfied with his answers. He showed the signs of torture on his body to journalists, the news agency said. "They used different torture techniques during the interrogation, day and night for a long time," the diplomat, who is currently under medical examination, told the reporters. Tehran has already called the abduction an act of aggression, and blamed U.S. intelligence agents in Baghdad. (RIA Novosti)

Nazarbayev: Reforms in Ukraine resulted in instability, the same scenario in Kyrgyzstan
10 April
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev expressed his opinion on the events in Ukraine, speaking with leading analysts of four Kazakh TV-channels that was broadcasted yesterday. As a REGNUM correspondent informs, speaking about democratic reforms in the republic, Nazarbayev said: “What is going on in Ukraine now? Current Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko spoke about big constitutional reforms two years ago in the Maidan (Independence Square in Kiev), he said that the whole power would be given to the parliament that would be given to the government and so on. Now, when all that has been fulfilled, when the parliament started using its powers, the president started having representative capacity only like the Queen in the UK.”According to the Kazakh leader, reforms resulted in instability, and the generally elected president, as Nazarbayev said, cannot become guarantor of stability of the government and now “he started claiming for his powers back.” An analogous scenario is being repeated in Kyrgyzstan. “Do we need it? As General De Gaulle used to say, rule of political parties resulted in France’s collapse. During the world war, France that had the most effective army in Europe surrendered to Germany because members of the parliament could not come to a compromise a whole month long. There was nobody to take the responsibility.” (regnum.ru)

Iran's Bushehr NPP to go online before Mar. 2008 – official
10 April
Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant will be commissioned before March 2008, an Iranian official said Tuesday. The $1 billion project being built under a 1995 contract was in jeopardy after Russia's Atomstroyexport, the general contractor, said that Tehran had not made any payments for the NPP's construction since mid-January, and that by the fourth quarter of 2006 the project had only received 60% of the required funding. The company warned that the launch of the NPP and nuclear fuel deliveries could be delayed as a result. On March 26, Atomstroyexport announced that Tehran had resumed financing of the Bushehr nuclear power plant and that it had received the first payment from Iran, but reiterated that Russia expected future payments on time to avoid further construction delays. "Even if we take into account the delays in plant construction, Iran will this year [the Iranian year ends March 20, 2008] undoubtedly become one of the states that have nuclear power plants," said Mohammad Saidi, a deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. According to the Iranian official, only 8% of the work remains to be carried out on building the Bushehr NPP and "this year its construction will be completed." Saidi said the construction of nuclear power plants by Iran is a priority in its nuclear program. "In the not so distant future, Iran will be able to build small capacity NPPs with the help of national specialists," Saidi said. The Bushehr project implemented under the supervision of the UN nuclear watchdog was originally scheduled for commissioning at the end of 2006, but the date has been postponed five times. The project was originally started by Germany's Siemens in 1975, but work stopped following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. (RIA Novosti)

Ali Insanov: “Ilham Aliyev abducted power”
10 April
Trial of the former healthcare minister of Azerbaijan, Ali Insanov, and ten other suspects continues in Baku. Speaking at the trial today with his final plea, Ali Insanov said that President Ilham Alieyv abducted power, and founded his opinion this way: “Heydar Aliyev (Azerbaijan’s ex-president, father of Ilham Aliyev -- REGNUM), while being in coma, could not appoint him as prime minister.”As Azadlyg Radio reports, Insanov said in his final plea that at the presidential elections 2003, in order to gain control of election commissions, a lot of money was taken from ministers and ministries. Insanov said that allegations brought against him should be actually brought against the president. “Famous Russian pop-singer Alla Pugachyova said they are neighbors with Ilham Aliyev in Miami, they have a villa there. How could he have such realty for his presidential salary? Ilham Aliyev has a lot of property not only in Miami, but in many other countries.” The ex-minister completed his speech saying he was not expecting fair trial. The verdict is to be pronounced on April 20. It is worth mentioning, Ali Insanov was arrested in October 2005, on the eve of parliamentary elections in Azerbaijan. In 1993-2005, he was Azerbaijan’s healthcare minister. (regnum.ru)

Kyrgyz opposition speaks against increasing presidential powers
11 April
The draft constitution prepared by Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev will only increase presidential powers, MP Kabay Karabekov announced today speaking to opposition supporters at a rally in Ala Too Square in Bishkek, a REGNUM correspondent informs. “Not only that the draft constitution was prepared on the basis of the December constitution, which was illegitimate, as it was passed by 49 votes instead of 50 needed, moreover, presidential authorities are increased in it. This is apparently a reform Bakiyev-style,” the MP said. He was supported by one of the Democratic Forces Union leaders, MP Kubatbek Baybolov. “There are no reforms in the project at all! Bakiyev has been deceiving us for two years. He must resign!” the MP said. Besides, people appeared in the square carrying banners with the $ sign saying “No to BaKS” (sounds like “bucks”, the abbreviation is formed from Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev initials). (regnum.ru)

CHECHEN REPUBLIC HEAD NAMES COUSIN AS PRIME MINISTER

11 April

As widely anticipated, Ramzan Kadyrov named his cousin, Odes Baysultanov, as prime minister on April 10, and the Chechen parliament voted unanimously the same day to approve that appointment. Baysultanov, 42, graduated in 1994 from the Mathematics and Physics faculty of Grozny State University, and began working in the pro-Moscow Chechen government in September 2003, just weeks before the election of his uncle, Ramzan's father Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, as republic head. In June 2004 (shortly after the assassination of Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov) he was appointed charge d'affaires for the government and presidential apparatus, and in March 2006 first deputy prime minister. Baysultanov is a member of the Chinkhoi teyp (clan), whose members have a reputation for theft and dishonesty, according to RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service. Baysultanov told journalists on April 10 that he does not plan any major government reshuffle. He singled out as his priorities creating new jobs to reduce unemployment (which is currently officially estimated at around 50 percent of the able-bodied population), housing construction, and expediting the payment of compensation owed to those whose homes were destroyed during fighting over the past 12 years. Also on April 10, Kadyrov abolished the position of deputy prime minister responsible for law enforcement and security and stripped the finance, agriculture, and energy and industry ministers, together with the official Chechen representative in Moscow, of the rank of deputy prime minister. (RFE/RL)

AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PARTIES CALL FOR PROBE INTO EX-MINISTER'S ALLEGATIONS

12 April

Isa Qamber and Ali Kerimli, who are chairmen respectively of the Musavat party and the progressive wing of the divided Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, called on April 10 and 11 respectively for the Prosecutor-General's Office to launch an investigation into the April 10 allegation by former Health Minister Ali Insanov that President Ilham Aliyev usurped power in the summer of 2003 during the final illness of his father and predecessor, Heydar Aliyev, and then falsified the outcome of the November 2003 presidential election. National Unity Movement head Lale Sovket-Haciyeva for her part argued that in light of Insanov's allegations, the West should reconsider its support for the present Azerbaijani leadership. Also on April 11, presidential administration department head Ali Hasanov questioned why Insanov did not go public with his allegations at the time of Ilham Aliyev's appointment as prime minister in 2003. Hasanov claimed that Insanov greeted that appointment "more enthusiastically than anyone else." (RFE/RL)

THOUSANDS CALL ON KYRGYZ PRESIDENT TO RESIGN

12 April

More than 10,000 opposition demonstrators in Bishkek called on April 11 for the resignation of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Recently appointed Prime Minister

Almaz Atambaev was unable to finish an address to the crowd and hurriedly left the rally after demonstrators shouted him down. The protests, which began on April 9, are organized by the opposition

United Front For A Worthy Future for Kyrgyzstan and the For Reforms movement. Those two movements are demanding Bakiev's resignation and the formation of a coalition government that would rule until new presidential and parliamentary elections are held. Although the rally was closely monitored by a nearby force of over 4,000 police and security personnel, Bakiev ordered them to deploy without arms, hoping to avert any direct confrontation. Prime Minister Feliks Kulov, the head of the opposition United Front, said another demonstration was scheduled for April 12, according to AKIpress. (RFE/RL)

GEORGIA'S ARMENIAN MINORITY PROTESTS PERCEIVED DISCRIMINATION

13 April

Some 3,000 Armenians congregated on April 13 in Akhalkalaki to protest what they consider discrimination by the central Georgian government over the past three years against the overwhelmingly Armenian population of the southern region of Samtskhe-Djavakheti. Participants in the protest adopted a resolution that included the following demands: an end to pressure on democratically elected local officials; designating Armenian a state language in the region together with Georgian; hiring local workers to participate in construction projects funded by the U.S. Millennium Challenge program; and Georgia's withdrawal from the planned Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway project, which protest participants termed "anti-Armenian and anti-Georgian, and designed to further only pan-Turkish interests." At the same time, the protest participants called on their co-ethnics in Georgia to demonstrate solidarity and restraint and not to fall for unspecified anticipated "provocations." (Caucasus Press)

OPPOSITION DEMONSTRATIONS IN KYRGYZSTAN CONTINUE

16 April

Several thousand demonstrators rallied for a fifth day in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, on April 15 to demand an early presidential election and constitutional reforms, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Speaking at the rally, former prime minister and leader of the opposition United Front for a Worthy Future, Feliks Kulov, blamed the Kyrgyz authorities for violence that erupted during the previous day's demonstration. Responding to that violence, which involved a clash between demonstrators and unknown assailants, Kyrgyz Interior Minister Bolotbek Nogoibaev warned the crowd that those responsible for provoking the violence will "face justice." The violence erupted after a group of between 20 and 30 men approached the demonstrators and began throwing bottles and stones, slightly injuring several protestors. The demonstration follows similar rallies in Bishkek, with several thousand protestors rallying on April 13 and 14 in front of the National TV and Radio Broadcasting Corporation office, demanding unbiased media coverage of their protest actions. Speaking at a press conference in Bishkek on April 15, United Front leader Kulov demanded that President Kurmanbek Bakiev resign, according to RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. Kulov warned that "the country is on the verge of regional confrontation and is very close to a state that can be called civil war," and demanded "immediate" formation of "a government of national reconciliation together with our parliament." He rejected the demand by some opposition activists for the dissolution of the Kyrgyz parliament, however, explaining that such a move "may cause even further destabilization" in the country, Akipress reported. The Kyrgyz authorities have ordered police to avoid any direct confrontation with the demonstrators and are hoping for an end to the rallies when the parliament opens a debate on April 16 of a set of new constitutional amendments formulated by a special working group led by Prime Minister Almaz Atambaev. (RFE/RL)

PRO-GOVERNMENT RALLIES CANCELED IN KYRGYZSTAN
16 April
Topchubek Turgunaliev, the leader of the pro-government For Political Stability and Unity Movement, announced on April 13 that a series of rallies in support of President Bakiev has been canceled, AKIpress reported. The pro-government demonstrations were to be held throughout Kyrgyzstan to counter the continued opposition rallies held in Bishkek against the Bakiev leadership. Turgunaliev failed to explain his decision, saying only that "we canceled our earlier plans to hold rallies, in order not to excite people with some more demonstrations," but warning that "if the opposition takes some illegal steps, an immediate reaction will follow." Turgunaliev, the leader of the Erkindik (Freedom) party, formed the pro-government bloc in late March in an attempt to mediate between the Kyrgyz authorities and opposition. Despite his

criticism of Bakiev, Turgunaliev opposes demands for early presidential elections. (RFE/RL)

Kyrgyzstan's ex-security service chief joins opposition
16 April
Ex-Chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service Kalyk Imankulov has joined the ranks of the united opposition. "I officially announce that today I have joined the ranks of the united front For a Decent Future of Kyrgyzstan and will actively participate in its actions," Imankulov said at a news conference on Monday. He said he made the decision after an incident on the evening of April 15, when a Toyota Prado belonging to the Imankulov family was set ablaze near the home of his daughter and her family.

"It was a political act of intimidation" Imankulov said. (Interfax)

Number of dead seals on Kazakhstan's coast reaches 435 - ministry

16 April
The number of dead seals found along the Caspian coast in Kazakhstan's western Mangistau region has reached 435. "In all, 435 dead seals, including 385 young and 50 adult species, had been found by April 15," the Kazakh Emergency Situations Ministry told Interfax on Monday. The first dead seals were found on March 30. The so-called animal plague infection could have caused the seals' mortality, the Biological Security Institute of the Kazakh Education and Science Ministry reported. The Kazakh Environmental Protection Ministry said last week, citing a tentative report by a commission investigating the disaster, said unfavorable weather conditions may have been to blame for the seals' deaths. (Interfax)

HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS SOUND ALARM OVER CHECHEN REFUGEE'S ABDUCTION, MURDER
16 April
The heads of one Chechen, two U.S.-based, and two European human rights groups have addressed an open letter to UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev requesting that they launch an investigation into the abduction, torture, and killing of Ruslan Eliyev, a Chechen granted refugee status in Azerbaijan, chechenpress.org reported on April 14. Eliyev was snatched on the street in Baku in November 2006; his mutilated body was one of several thrown from a helicopter over the village of Samashki, west of Grozny, in late March. (RFE/RL)

India, Azerbaijan to Cooperate in Energy
16 April
India says it will work with Azerbaijan to develop Baku's oil and gas sector. An Indian Commerce Ministry statement said Indian firms will play a major role in developing Azerbaijan's fast-expanding oil and gas industry. The decision came at a meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Indian junior Commerce Minister Jairam Ramesh, who visited Azerbaijan last week, The Business Line newspaper reported Monday. The ministry statement said that Aliyev agreed India's state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. and Azerbaijan's government-controlled SOCAR would initiate talks for cooperation and investment. Aliyev sought Indian help in increasing oil recovery and deep-sea drilling. Ramesh offered the expertise of state-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd. in gas-based petrochemicals and city gas distribution. ONGC will take part in the Caspian Sea Oil and Gas Exhibition that begins in Baku June 3, the statement said. Ramesh also offered India's help in tapping Azerbaijan's high wind-energy potential, the statement said. In its bid for energy independence, India, Asia's No. 4 energy consumer, has tried to reach out to international partners. Estimates of Azerbaijan's proven crude oil reserves range between 7 billion and 13 billion barrels, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says. It has proven natural gas reserves of roughly 30 trillion cubic feet, according to the Oil and Gas Journal. (UPI)

First Kazakh NPP to be built in Aktau
17 April
First Kazakh NPP will be built in Aktau, Kazakh Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov announced at a governmental session in Astana, a Regnum correspondent informs.

Aktau, experts believe, is the most convenient place for an NPP construction. As far as in the Soviet time, a desalter that worked on nuclear fuel was built in the city, which is located on the Caspian Sea shore and has no reserves of fresh water. Its reactor, built in 1973, was stopped several years ago. The site and strong personnel potential allow settling the issue of deploying a nuclear power plant there most effectively, the ministry believes. Answering a question by Prime Minister Karim Masimov regarding development of nuclear energy industry, Izmukhambetov said that the question is now halted by lack of financing of the feasibility study. (regnum.ru)

Five killed as UN car blown up in Afghanistan
17 April
Four Nepalese security guards and an Afghan driver were killed Tuesday when a bomb destroyed a UN vehicle in one of the deadliest attacks on the world body in Bottom of FormAfghanistan since 2001. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the remotely controlled blast targeting a UN convoy in the southern city of Kandahar -- the birthplace of the Islamist movement which was ousted from power five years ago."The blast has claimed the lives of an Afghan driver and four Nepalese contractors working with the United Nations office for project services," the UN said in a statement released from the capital Kabul.The world body, which oversees reconstruction in post-conflict Afghanistan, said the attack was "a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the UN will be pursuing full accountability for those who are behind this." UN spokesman Adrian Edwards told AFP it was "certainly one of the deadliest attacks against the UN in Afghanistan since 2001." (AFP)

Top U.S. general says Iranian weapons in Afghanistan
17 April
The United States' top general on Tuesday said U.S. forces intercepted Iranian weapons headed to the Taliban in Bottom of Form

Afghanistan in the last month, but he did not know who had sent them."It is not as clear in Afghanistan which Iranian entity is responsible but we have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were made in Bottom of FormIran," said Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "We do not know with the same clarity we know in Bottom of FormIraq who is delivering those weapons, who is involved," he told reporters in Washington.Pace's comments mark the first U.S. accusations that Iran could be playing a role in Afghanistan.They come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran's nuclear ambitions and accusations by the Bush administration that Iranian forces are providing weapons technologies and other support to Iraqi insurgents. (Reuters)

Tajikistan’s FOrEIgn Minister changes his name in line with tradition
18 April
Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister has followed the national president and changed his surname to meet the national tradition. The minister dropped off the Russian-style postfix ‘-ov’ at the end of his surname that has read ‘Zaripov’ until now. His full name will read as Khamrakhon Zarifi as of this moment, he told a news conference. Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon /previous surname version Rakhmonov/ did the same a short while ago. Zarifi said he found Rakhmon’s call for returning to the roots of the national tradition of the Tajik people to be “a very timely and important one.” He voiced the hope that many Tajiks will follow the example set by the President. As for the change of his own surname, Zarifi said “all the legal documents have been processed and all the diplomatic missions in Dushanbe will get appropriate notifications soon.” ‘Correct spelling’ of Tajik first names and surnames is not the only thing that President Rakhmon has shown much care for recently. He also spoke out against ‘farewell-to-classes’ days and graduation parties at school and prohibited the use of mobile phones at school by kids. When it came down to the cars at the wheel of which some of the kids come to schools, he did not confine himself to banning arrivals at the doors of schools by own private cars but asked the national anti-corruption agency to track down the sources of their parents’ revenues. (Itar-Tass)