FIVE PARTIES TO GAIN SEATS IN PARLIAMENT OF KYRGYZSTAN
13 October
Five parties will gain seats in zhogorku kenesh (parliament) of Kyrgyzstan: Ata-Zhurt, the Social-Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), Ar-Namys, the Republic, and Ata Meken, the agency reports citing the news agency AKIpress. According to the preliminary data of the state automated system Shayloo, five parties will gain seats in zhogorku kenesh (parliament) of Kyrgyzstan: Ata-Zhurt, SDPK, Ar-Namys, the Republic, and Ata Meken. The following parties will gain seats in zhogorku kenesh: Ata-Zhurt - 28; SDPK - 26; Ar-Namys - 25; Republic - 23; Ata Meken - 18. (Kazakhstan Today)
RUSSIA DENOUNCES GEORGIAN VISA SCHEME AS 'PROVOCATION'
15 October
Russia has condemned Georgia's unilateral decision to make it easier for people living in the Russian North Caucasus to travel across its border. From now on residents of the volatile republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia,
Dagestan and four others will not need a visa to travel to Georgia. The Georgian authorities said the move was todeepen the relationship between the peoples. But the Russian foreign ministry described it as a provocation.
The only usable land border crossing between Russia and Georgia - at Verkhny Lars, high up in the Caucasus mountains - was re-opened in March for the first time in four years. It opened up the route to trade, presenting
potential business opportunities for people in the republics of the North Caucasus, where war and militant attacks have left around half of the total workforce unemployed. The BBC's correspondent in the Caucasus, Tom Esslemont, says that by relaxing the visa requirements, the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili may be seeking to harness some of that labour by developing his country's tourist industry. But the Russian foreign ministry has condemned what it calls an "attempt to divide the Russian population into different categories". (BBC)
GEORGIA APPROVES POWER SHIFT AS OPPOSITION CRIES FOUL
16 October
Georgia's parliament approved a system strengthening its own and the prime minister's powers on Friday under reforms the president's critics say will allow him to rule after his term ends in 2013. The constitutional reforms change the ex-Soviet republic's strongly presidential system to a "mixed" one with a more powerful prime minister and parliament, starting in 2013 when President Mikheil Saakashvili's final term as president expires. The reforms answer calls from Georgia's Western allies for a more balanced system with a stronger parliament. Georgia's parliamentary opposition supported the proposals, but more radical opponents say Saakashvili plans to keep the reins of power as prime minister. They say Saakashvili is copying his Russian nemesis Vladimir Putin, who stepped down as president to become prime minister in 2008 and is widely seen as Russia's paramount leader. Saakashvili, 42, co-led the 2003 "Rose Revolution" that ousted Georgia's corrupt ex-Soviet old guard, but has faced criticism over his own commitment to democracy. He said last month he did not wish to cling to power. The government argues that under the constitutional change no single official will have ultimate authority. "We achieved two main goals. We will have a balance between branches of power and will secure more stable work of the government in the future," David Darchiashvili, a ruling party MP said at the session. Saakashvili's critics are not convinced." Saakashvili and his administration are just strengthening the position of prime minister while having the parliament as weak as it was," Irakly Alasania, an opposition politician, told Reuters. "Saakashvili does not serve the constitution. He uses the constitution to serve his ambition," he said. The reform gives parliament the power to appoint the prime minister to a strong executive government. The president keeps some powers over foreign affairs, the military and in periods of emergency or a no-confidence vote in the government. The amendments were passed in the third and final reading on Friday in parliament with 112 in favor and just five against. The ruling party commands the necessary two-thirds support. Saakashvili has worked to shed Georgia's Soviet legacy and drag the country of 4.5 million people into the European mainstream. Energy reform, a crackdown on corruption and an economic overhaul have attracted investment and driven growth. But critics say he has monopolized power and Western concern persists over his record on democracy and free media. Relations with Russia soured over Georgia's bid to join NATO, with Moscow and the West vying for influence in the Caucasus, an energy transit route bordering Russia, Turkey and Iran. Saakashvili's standing in the West was dented further by a war in 2008, when Russia crushed a Georgian assault on the rebel region of South Ossetia after months of Russian baiting. Council of Europe experts have said the reform is a "step forward," but advised the addition of more powers to parliament. (Reuters)
TAJIKISTAN REPORTS KILLING THREE MILITANTS
17 October
Security forces have killed three militant fighters in the east of the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, an Interior Ministry official said Sunday. Takhid Normatiov said the three had received training at terrorist camps in Afghanistan and were operating in the Rasht region, RIA Novosti reported. At least 23 Tajik soldiers were killed in a rebel attack in the eastern region in September, and 30 police officers were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the north, he said. (UPI)
TWO POLICE KILLED IN SHOOTOUT IN RUSSIA'S CHECHNYA
17 October
Two policemen were killed in a shootout with unidentified gunmen in the capital of Russia's North Caucasus republic of Chechnya, the republican prosecutor's office said on Sunday. The police were attacked late on Saturday near a food market in the Leninsky district of Grozny. The attackers were driving a Lada car without number plates, the prosecutor's office said. An investigation into the attack has been launched. Measures are under way to apprehend the attackers, the prosecutor's office said.Terrorist attacks and shootouts with police are common in Russia's troubled North Caucasus republics, especially in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya and Ingushetia.
The Kremlin has vowed to clamp down on militant groups in the North Caucasus while stepping up efforts to boost the local economy. (RIA Novosti)
TAJIKISTAN SAYS RESTIVE EAST IS UNDER CONTROL
18 October
The Tajik government says it can control the situation in the restive east of the country, where it says three militants died at the weekend. Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi said the situation had worsened but "not to the extent where it can threaten the country's national security". He said the government had enough forces there to keep the situation "under control". Tajikistan is battling Islamist militants in the east of the country. Mr Zarifi said Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan had offered assistance, but outside help was not needed. He also denied reports that the secret services of some foreign countries were involved in the unrest. "I don't think that instability in Tajikistan would be advantageous to any country, because a fire started in one state can easily spread to the neighbours' territory," he said. Tajikistan shares a poorly-protected 1,300km (800 mile) border with Afghanistan, and borders Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and China. On Sunday the interior ministry said government forces had killed three armed militants on the outskirts of the town of Garm, in Rasht district. Officials said the three had taken part in an ambush on troops in September, killing about 28 soldiers. It said they were Tajik citizens who had trained abroad. The al-Qaeda-linked Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan said it carried out the ambush, about 250km (150 miles) east of the capital, Dushanbe. Earlier this month a military helicopter crashed in the Rasht Valley, killing at least 25 soldiers, military sources have said. An official statement confirmed four of the deaths and said the helicopter crashed after hitting a power line. Twenty-five prisoners, including several Islamic militants, escaped from a prison in Tajikistan in August. The Rasht Valley region has been a stronghold of Islamist militants since the 1990s, when guerrillas fought the government of President Emomali Rakhmon. Tajikistan is the poorest of the states to emerge from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. (BBC)
GUNMEN DEAD AFTER ATTACK ON CHECHEN PARLIAMENT
19 October
Heavily armed gunmen burst into the Parliament building of Chechnya, in southern Russia, on Tuesday morning, killing at least three people and wounding more than a dozen before the assailants were killed by police officers or by their own explosives, officials said. The assailants, including one suicide bomber, sprayed automatic rifle fire and set off at least one explosion in one of the most brazen assaults to occur for some time in Chechnya, a region in the volatile North Caucasus where violence linked to a simmering Islamist insurgency is common. The police were able to prevent the militants from reaching Parliament members’ chambers, investigators said, though the men were able to barricade themselves on the first floor and open fire. Investigators said that three gunmen drove through the front gates of the Parliament complex, in a busy section of downtown Grozny, Chechnya’s capital. Without uttering a word they killed two police officers standing guard at the entrance, said Alvi A. Karimov, the press secretary for Ramzan A. Kadyrov, Chechnya’s leader. One militant then blew himself up, killing a staff member, Mr. Karimov said. The force of the blast blew out windows and wounded several others. Russian television showed panicked workers, some with wounds, stumbling past corpses to flee the Parliament grounds, while heavily armored police officers in helmets and bulletproof jackets raced in. All Parliament members were evacuated, but at least 17 people, including 6 police officers, were wounded in the attack, which ended when special forces units killed the remaining militants. No one immediately took responsibility for the attack, though it bore all the hallmarks of similar violence carried out by the region’s Islamist insurgents. An embattled, though still potent, force, the insurgency arose from the remains of a fierce separatist movement that kept Russian forces at bay during nearly a decade of intermittent war in Chechnya that began in the mid-1990s. At a parliamentary session in Grozny held later on Tuesday despite the attacks, Mr. Kadyrov accused the insurgents of seeking to spread “chaos and anarchy” through the region. “Today’s incident shows once again that these remaining gangs are truly devils,” he said in remarks posted on his Web site. “They have no humanity and have nothing in common with Islam. They are not human beings.” Tuesday’s attack echoed a raid by militants in August on Tsentoroi, Mr. Kadyrov’s home village. More than a dozen people were killed in that attack, including several civilians, according to Russian news media reports. On Tuesday, Russia’s interior minister, Rashid G. Nurgaliyev, played down the significance of the day’s violence, calling such attacks uncommon in Chechnya. Mr. Nurgaliyev, who happened to be visiting the region, called Chechnya “stable and safe,” and praised the response by riot police officers, who thwarted what he said was an attempt to take over the Parliament building. “As always, the attempt failed,” he said in televised remarks. “Unfortunately, it was not without losses.” (The New York Times)
Tajik police kill 12 militants in eastern region
20 October
Tajik police killed 12 militants in an anti-terrorist operation in the east of the country. Three special task force police officers were killed, and several others were wounded, the republic's Interior Minister Abdurakhim Kakhkharov told a news conference on Wednesday. "The operation involving all law-enforcement agencies is being held in the Rasht district with the view of detecting and neutralizing the militants involved in the attack on the military convoy on September 19, in which 28 soldiers and officers were killed on the spot or died later in hospital," Kakhkharov said. Two groups of militants led by former filed commanders of the irreconcilable opposition Abdullo Rakhimov and Alovudin Davlatov are fighting the government forces. "The operation is taking place in the remote and hard-to-access Kamarog Gorge. The situation in the Rasht district is fully under the authorities and law-enforcement bodies' control," the Tajik police chief underlined. Speaking about the extremist and terrorist underground in the country, he said two al Qaeda activists, 7 members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and eight supporters of the Jamaat Tablighi movements had been detained in the past nine months. The operation of these organizations is banned in the territory of the country. Overnight to August 23, 25 inmates escaped from a remand prison in Dushanbe, vaunted as the tightest security facility. They included hardened criminal, including members of the armed group arrested in the summer 2009. There were six Russian citizens among them, convicted for participation in an illegal paramilitary formation. The Tajik authorities later blamed the runaways for attacking the military convoy on September 19. Independent observers said the eastern region of Tajikistan, during the Civil War, was the stronghold of the Opposition and has remained the main source of instability since. On Monday, Tajikistan's Foreign Minister Khamrakhon Zarifi said the republic has all the means and opportunities to restore order in the eastern region of the country on its own, and does not need the assistance of third countries. Zarifi acknowledged however that the situation had aggravated in the region some time ago, but "not to the extent where it can threaten the country’s national security." According to the foreign minister, "one or two terrorist groups are operating in the mountains, but the government has enough forces there to keep the situation under control." Speaker of the national parliament Shukudzhon Zukhurov has been in the Rasht district with a peace mission since October 13. Unofficial sources said the speaker, who is a native of the region, had met with residents of several districts, and urged the elders to help bring the young people -- led astray by the militants -- back to peaceful life. The same sources said the authorities had sent messages to the insurgents offering them to surrender in exchange for the president's amnesty guarantees. (Itar-Tass)
KAZAKHSTAN TO ISSUE MORE KARACHAGANAK TAX CLAIMS
20 October
Kazakhstan may issue new tax claims against ENI and BG Group's Karachaganak gas project, in which the state is also seeking a 10 percent stake, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday. "I can say that the amount will be substantial, good enough for the tax authorities," Daulet Yergozhin, the head of the ministry's tax department told journalists. Yergozhin declined to disclose the amount of the new claims, saying all financial checks on the Karachaganak consortium would be completed by the end of 2010 and a case could be launched against the company after that. "Our main questions on Karachaganak include funds transfer pricing, payment of value-
added and corporate income taxes, and the third big issue is cost reimbursement... We have questions about the lawfulness of these costs," he said, giving no detail. Kazakhstan had earlier accused the Karachaganak Petroleum Operating Group of violating immigration laws and overstating costs by $1.3 billion as the government seeks a stake in the giant oil and gas field in the west of the oil-rich country. ENI Chief Executive Paolo Scaroni confirmed in August that his company was in talks with Kazakhstan on cutting a stake in the gas field. But he declined to confirm information from some sources that the Central Asian nation had agreed with the four foreign shareholders to relinquish 10 percent of the company to itself. The KPO is made up of ENI, BG Group Plc, U.S. major Chevron Corp and Russia's LUKOIL. A source said in August that the companies would transfer 5 percent to Kazakhstan if it abandoned the reintroduced oil export duty or dropped its lawsuit on alleged cost overstatement. BG owns 32.2 percent and ENI has a similar stake. Chevron has 20 percent and LUKOIL 15 percent. (Reuters)
EU DOES NOT AGREE WITH RUSSIA'S POSITION ON TERRITORIES OF GEORGIA
20 October
Withdrawing its troops from the Perevi village of the Sachkhere region of Georgia, Russia made the first step to implement the ceasefire agreement dated Aug.12, 2008, the head of the EU observer mission in Georgia, Hans
Joerg Haber, told journalists in Tbilisi. The statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Perevi village means the Russia's non-fulfillment of the Sarkozy-Medvedev agreement has been resolved and it does not has any international obligations in this regard now. "This is Russia's position, but the EU has a different point of view," Haber said. He stressed that the Russian troops must
return to positions they held before Aug. 8, 2008. However, Haber expressed satisfaction with the fact that today the inhabitants of Perevi are able to move without restrictions. On Aug. 8, 2008, large-scale military action began in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. The Georgian troops entered Tskhinvali. Later Russia's troops occupied the city and drove the Georgian military to the territory of Georgia. In late August, Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. In response, Tbilisi severed diplomatic relations with Moscow and declared the two breakaway republics as the occupied territories. (Trend)
MEDVEDEV IN ASHGABAT FOR ENERGY TALKS
22 October
With Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on a state visit to Ashgabat, the Kremlin said natural gas imports were on the rise following a 2009 pipeline blast. Russian gas monopoly Gazprom in January resumed imports of natural gas from Turkmenistan. The company in 2009 halted imports after an explosion on a Turkmen pipeline and declining European demand during the economic recession. Ashgabat blamed Gazprom for the blast and has since moved to diversify its export options to European and Asian markets. The country said in September it was keen to send its gas through the planned Nabucco pipeline for Europe. The Kremlin said imports approached 280 billion cubic feet of natural gas from Turkmenistan so far this year, the Bloomberg news agency reports. Medvedev visited Friday with his Turkmen counterpart Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov for an official state visit to discuss trade and energy issues. "I am convinced the visit will be interesting and productive," the Russian president was quoted by state-run news agency RIA Novosti as saying. Moscow said last week it started operating a $176 million gas pipeline in Turkmenistan. Trade between the two countries passed $1 billion in 2009 excluding gas deliveries. (UPI)
SAAKASHVILI AT FRANCOPHONE SUMMIT
24 October
President Saakashvili participated in the Francophone Summit in Montreux, Switzerland, the Georgian President’s administration said on Sunday. Among nine resolutions, adopted by the participants of the summit, one deals with conflicts, which reaffirms supports for Georgia’s territorial integrity and call for full implementation of the August 12, 2008 ceasefire agreement, as well as by referring to UN General Assembly’s recent resolution, calls for return of refugees and displaced persons to their homes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in safety and dignity. (Civil Georgia)
AFGHAN PRESIDENT GOT CASH FROM IRAN; U.S. QUESTIONS MOTIVES
26 October
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan acknowledged Monday he has received cash from Iran and said the United States knows about it and does the same thing in doling out cash. In response, the U.S. State Department spokesman said the United States does not question Iran's right to give financial assistance to Afghanistan, nor does it question Afghanistan's right to accept it. "But we remain skeptical of Iran's motives, given its history of playing a destabilizing role with its neighbors," said spokesman P.J. Crowley. He acknowledged some U.S. aid to Afghanistan during the past nine years -- particularly at the start of the conflict there -- arrived in the form of cash. White House spokesman Bill Burton echoed Crowley's fears about Iran. "I think the American people and the global community have every reason to believe that -- or every reason to be concerned about Iran trying to have a negative influence on Afghanistan," he said aboard Air Force One. Karzai's comments followed a New York Times report that said Iranian officials once gave the president's chief of staff a bag stuffed with cash as "part of a secret, steady stream of Iranian cash" totaling millions of dollars. That stream, the newspaper reported, gives the president and his chief of staff a fund that has been used to pay "Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty." Karzai told CNN on Monday that the United States is and has been aware of Iran's financial contributions. He also said that the United States gives bags of money. "The United States is doing the same thing," he said. "They are providing cash to some of our offices." The president said Iran "asked for good relations in return and for lots of other things in return." He thanked the various countries for their assistance and stressed nothing about aid is secret. "The cash payments are done by various friendly countries to help the president's office and to help dispense assistance in various ways to the employees around here, to people outside, and this is transparent and this is something that I have discussed," Karzai said."Even when we were at Camp David [Maryland] with President [George W.] Bush, this is nothing hidden." "We are grateful to Iran for the help that they are giving and to those receiving that help under my instruction," he said. (CNN)
Ex-president Bakiyev accused of complicity with shooting at peaceful protesters
26 October
Former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has been accused of complicity with the shooting at peaceful protesters in the Aksy district of Kyrgyzstan on March 17-18, 2002. Policemen opened fire at several thousands of participants in a protest march near Kerben eight years ago. Six people died instantly. Bakiyev was the prime minister at the moment.The same charge is brought against former Kyrgyz Security Council Secretary Bolot Dzhanuzakov, former Prosecutor General Chubak Abyshkayev and a number of other high-ranking officials, a source at the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General’s Office told Itar-Tass. “The investigation is complete, and the defendants, the plaintiffs and their lawyers will start studying investigative materials,” he said. In all, 40 criminal cases have been opened against Bakiyev family members and associates. The president was deposed in April 2010 and found refuge in Belarus. “Bakiyev is internationally wanted,” the source said. Minsk has twice declined Kyrgyzstan’s request for extradition of the former chief of state. (Itar-Tass)
USAID issues $ 3 mln grant to Kyrgyzstan
26 October
U.S. Agency for International Development has awarded a $3.25 million contract to Development Alternatives Inc. /DAI/ based in the town of Bethesda to assist the newly elected parliament in Kyrgyzstan, the Washington Post said Tuesday. The article described the grant as “an illustration of the /U.S./ government's growing - and often troubled - reliance on outside contractors to promote democratic institutions abroad.” “DAI, which has been in business for almost 40 years, has 87 projects in 60 countries and employs 2,000 "development professionals'',” the Washington Post says. “Its revenue in 2009 was $409 million, with its largest client being USAID. It also does work for the Departments of State, Defense and Labor.” “USAID selected DAI to run its Kyrgyzstan ‘Parliamentary Strengthening Program’ without competitive bidding because of what the agency described as the urgent need "to ensure from the outset that the new parliament and its members understand their representative roles and functions," the articles said. (Itar-Tass)
U.S. Dismisses 'Bags' Of Cash Suggestion By Afghan President
27 October
The White House has rejected Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's suggestion that the United States is among countries such as Iran that give Afghanistan "bags" of cash because Karzai's office lacks money. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said on October 26 that the Obama administration is "not in the big-bags-of-cash business." He said the United States provides "assistance and aid to the Afghan government through a fairly well-established developmental aid program." However, Gibbs added that he could not immediately be totally certain that there were no U.S. government agencies involved in making cash payments to Afghan officials. On October 25, Karzai admitted his office had received "bags of money" containing millions of dollars from Iran over the years, but said Washington had also given him "bags" of cash. Iran acknowledged on October 26 that it has been sending funds to Afghanistan for years, but said the money was intended to aid reconstruction, not to buy influence over Karzai, as suggested by "The New York Times," which broke the story. (RFE/RL)
Opposition Party Leader Pelted With Eggs In Kazakhstan
27 October
A Kazakh opposition party leader was pelted with eggs at a meeting in Almaty, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. The attack targeted Vladimir Kozlov, leader of Kazakhstan's unregistered Algha (Forward) opposition party, who recently announced that he plans to run for president. Kozlov and several activists from Algha and the Communist Party of Kazakhstan were attacked by a group of young men in the premises of the National Press Club, where they gathered to discuss the current political situation in Kazakhstan. The attackers identified themselves as Zheltoqsanshylar (December Activists), an allusion to the mass protests of December 1986. Tens of thousands of mainly young Kazakhs took to the streets that month in Almaty and other towns and cities to challenge the decision by Mikhail Gorbachev, then general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), to replace Communist Party of Kazakhstan First Secretary Dinmukhamed Kunaev with an ethnic Russian, Gennady Kolbin. Kozlov, who is also an ethnic Russian, announced in mid-October that he plans to participate in the presidential election due in 2012. He said it is not only time for 70-year-old incumbent Nursultan Nazarbaev to be replaced, but also for a new political system. Yermukhamet Yertysbaev, one of Nazarbaev's closest aides, said in September that Nazarbaev will run for a further presidential term in 2012. The Kazakh Constitution stipulates that the president of Kazakhstan must be fluent in the state language, which is Kazakh. Kozlov has never demonstrated fluency in Kazakh at any of his press conferences. (RFE/RL)
Armenia, Azerbaijan to swap prisoners
28 October
Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed on a Russian-mediated swap of military personnel captured during nearly two decades of conflict between the two former Soviet republics. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev mediated the deal in the city of Astrakhan on Wednesday. Medvedev called it a "small but vital" deal aimed at "strengthening trust" between the two countries. "Russia will continue its efforts. I believe a result is reachable. It inspires a somewhat moderate optimism, but the bulk of work is still ahead," he added. Both President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Serzh Sargsyan of Armenia were present during Wednesday's meeting. The move is mostly regarded as a trust-building gesture as the total number of prisoners is reported to be less than 10 from both sides. The ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh area has been fought over since Armenian troops took over the area in the early 1990s in a conflict that has left an estimated 30,000 people dead and one million displaced. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia claim the territory. The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in May 1994, but the dispute remains unresolved despite efforts by neighboring Iran and Russia to find a peaceful solution. Iran has offered a trilateral meeting to be held to resolve the dispute. (presstv.ir)