BUlgaria, Azerbaijan confirm gas deal
16 November
Azerbaijan will make good on commitments to supply Bulgaria with 1 billion cubic meters of gas per year, Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov said this week. Appearing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev Monday in Baku, Parvanov said the two countries are ready to make official a deal struck last year to supply that from Azeri gas fields in the Caspian Sea, the Sofia News Agency reported. The agreement could serve as an example to the European Union how to successfully negotiate energy deals with Azerbaijan as the EU strives to diversify its natural gas supplies from Russia. "Bulgaria has its place of being a pro-active factor in these energy relations that can overtake the relations between the EU and Azerbaijan with the realization of some of the initiatives that we started long ago," Parvanov said. Calling the agreement a "small breakthrough," he said it could eventually be of great significance and lead to much more sizable deals in the "southern corridor," including the ambitious Nabucco pipeline proposal and smaller projects to connect Azerbaijani supplies with European customers. The Sofia-Baku agreement, which is separate from the ongoing negotiations on the EU-sponsored Nabucco pipeline, to which Bulgaria is also a party, could serve "to demonstrate to Europe how things can be done," Parvanov asserted. The news agency said current plans call for the gas to flow into Bulgaria via Georgia, Turkey and Greece once gas network interconnections between Bulgaria and Greece are ready.
S. Ossetia views EuroParliament’s resolution on Georgia an example of double standards
18 November
The European Parliament's resolution on Georgia, in which South Ossetia and Abkhazia are described as occupied Georgian territories, does not have any significance to these republics, South Ossetian parliamentary speaker Mira Tskhovrebova told Interfax on Friday. "The resolution does not reflect the current historical and political realities in the Caucasus. The European Parliament is continuing its policy of double standards - if things have been different, then why has a similar resolution not been passed on Kosovo? However, Kosovo's sovereignty meets the interests of the European countries, but in the case of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the European parliamentarians just once again supported the interests of Georgia as their ally and mouthpiece of their interests in the region," Tskhovrebova said. South Ossetia and Abkhazia are recognized independent countries, and the European Parliament's resolution cannot affect their status and the geopolitical situation in the Caucasus, she said. The European Parliament's resolution on Georgia passed on Thursday, in particular, calls on Russia to pull its troops out of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and urges the European Union to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia as occupied Georgian territories. (Interfax)
Russians want Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan to join Common Economic Space –poll
18 November
Sixty-one percent of Russian citizens interviewed by the Public Opinion foundation said they were aware that Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan were forming a Common Economic Space. Forty-three percent of respondents suggested that this initiative would do Russia more good than harm, 14% of those polled took the opposite view, and 43% were undecided. Twenty-eight percent of respondents said they had heard nothing about the Common Economic Space project. The public opinion survey was conducted in 43 Russian regions in mid- November and involved 1,500 respondents. A total of 58% of those polled applauded the fact that citizens of the three countries would be able to freely choose where to live, study or work within the Common Economic Space, while 20% took the opposite view. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at the end of October that the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space were open to other countries, and Kyrgyzstan and subsequently Tajikistan could become its members in the future. The possibility of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan joining the Common Economic Space was supported by 43% of respondents, while 34% criticized such plans. The respondents named a number of countries that they think could enter the Common Economic Space, should it be enlarged: Ukraine (24%), Armenia (19%), Tajikistan (15%), Uzbekistan (15%), Kyrgyzstan (15%), Azerbaijan (14%), Turkmenistan (13%), Moldova (13%), Georgia (6%), Latvia (6%), Lithuania (5%), and Estonia (4%). Thirteen percent of those polled suggested that no new members would be admitted to the Common Economic Space. The majority of respondents (61%) supported the integration of former Soviet republics, and 20% expressed the opposite opinion. (Interfax)
Azerbaijan Ponders Legislation to ‘Protect National Leader’
20 November
Azerbaijani parliament deputies are considering the possibility of submitting a law establishing former President Heydar Aliyev as the "all-national leader," RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service reports. Deputy Jala Aliyeva told parliament during a session this week that a working group should be established to prepare such legislation. "The people have already selected Heydar Aliyev as their national leader. We, the legislators, have a major obligation to protect the national leader's legacy, personality, honor, and dignity," she said. "I propose the establishment of a working group in the Milli Majlis to discuss the issue in the spring session." Aliyeva, who is not related to Aliyev, did not say how precisely the law would protect Aliyev or if it would apply to his son, Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father as president. Aliyev was leader of the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan from 1969-82 and president of independent Azerbaijan from 1993 until his death in 2003. Deputies from the ruling Yeni Azerbaycan Party and other pro-government parties made similar suggestions in previous sessions of parliament. Ali Hasanov, head of sociopolitical department at the presidential administration, told the Trend news agency on November 15 that "a law on an all-national leader" could be adopted. "If there is a proposal to adopt such a law, it has a right to be discussed," he said. Some Baku residents told RFE/RL on November 16 that they would support the adoption of such a law but others said they saw no need for such legislation to declare the former president the leader of the nation and perhaps give him or his family -- including the current president -- additional privileges and powers. (RFE/RL)
Tajik railways wants probe with Uzbeks of alleged terrorist blast
21 November
Tajik Railways has proposed conducting a joint investigation with Uzbek officials of an explosion last week on a railroad in southern Uzbekistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. The Uzbek state newspaper "Pravda vostoka" (Truth of the East) reported that the explosion occurred on the train track between the Uzbek towns of Galaba and Amuzang overnight on November 16-17. The newspaper described the incident as a terrorist act. Tajik Railways Deputy Chairman Usmon Qalandarov told RFE/RL the explosion damaged a bridge in Uzbek territory that caused key rail traffic between Termez in Uzbekistan and the Tajik city of Qurgonteppa to be shut down. He said Tajik Railways has written to the Uzbek State Rail Company proposing a joint investigation. Qalandarov said the Tajik side asked for detailed information about the blast, including confirmation that it was a terrorist act. The Uzbek side has not yet responded. (RFE/RL)
Russian food safety regulator limit crop product imports from Tajikistan
21 November
Russian food safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor may impose restrictions on crop product imports from Tajikistan. The regulator said it had discovered 154 violations in supplies of crop products from Tajikistan from January to September, which Rosselkhoznadzor is very concerned about. Russia discovered two types of pests on its quarantine list: Callosobruchus spp. (107 cases) and Cuscuta (47 cases). They were discovered in products coming from Tajikistan in hand baggage (152 cases) and in two commercial consignments accompanied by phytosanitary certification, allocated by the Tajik Agriculture Ministry's State Inspectorate on Phytosanitary and Plant Quarantine. The certificates guaranteed that the contents met Russian phytosanitary requirements. Rosselkhoznadzor said the risk of penetration from Tajikistan of pests on the Customs Union quarantine list is growing because Tajikistan has announced it does not have Callosobruchus spp., on its territory. This means that unchecked products from third countries are being brought in from the Tajik side of the border, the regulator said. "To avoid a temporary ban on imports of all types of crop products from Tajikistan, Rosselkhoznadzor has asked the Tajik Agriculture Ministry's State Inspectorate on Phytosanitary and Plant Quarantine to carry out an official investigation of the violations and take measures against those responsible for allowing them to occur," Rosselkhoznadzor said. If the violations are not resolved, restrictions on the import of crop products from Tajikistan may be imposed, Rosselkhoznadzor Press Secretary Alexei Alekseenko told Interfax. (Interfax)
Kazakhstan scraps over 30 customs checkpoints on border with Russia
21 November
Since customs control was lifted on the Kazakh-Russian border, Kazakhstan has removed 32 customs checkpoints, Kazakhstan's Customs Control Committee has reported. Also, cuts have been made in the staff of regional customs departments, individual customs control services have been reorganized and the customs departments Astana-Shana Kala and Baikonyr, and the Financial Customs Departments have been disbanded. The number of deputy heads of the Customs Control Committee has been cut from four to three, the Customs Control Committee said. (Interfax)
Opposition popular front will support Azat in Kazakhstan’s election
21 November
The unregistered opposition party Alga!, the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and their Popular Front will support the Azat Social-Democratic Party in the upcoming parliamentary election."We plan to cooperate very closely. We believe that the leaders of the Popular Front, Alga and Communists are ready to cooperate," Azat Cochairman Bulat Abilov told Interfax on Monday on the sidelines of an opposition conference. "I think that it is a very good, important movement to go through the election campaign together and most importantly, to stop vote rigging on election day," Abilov said. In his speech at the conference, Alga leader Vladimir Kozlov said that members of his party will be able to take part in the work of Azat election teams. "We stand for putting up resistance, we stand for uniting as much of the healthy electorate as possible," he said. Meanwhile, talking to an Interfax correspondent, Abilov said that the question of the participation of members of the Communist Party, Popular Front and Alga in the upcoming election on the Azat ticket will be discussed. Alga has been in the process of registration for years and the Communist Party established the Popular Front at the end of June to take part in the coming election. The Popular Front was expected to nominate candidates for the elections according to the Communist Party ticket. However, in October a special inter-district court in Almaty decided to suspend the operations of the Communist Party for half a year. Early elections of members of the lower house of parliament, elected by party tickets, are slated for January 15. The remaining members of parliament will be elected by the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan on January 16. (Interfax)
Turkmens, Russia spar over gas reserves
23 November
Ashgabat and Moscow have escalated their war of words over Russia's publicly stated doubts about the size of Turkmenistan's natural gas reserves. The Turkmen foreign ministry issued a sharply worded statement Saturday after Alexander Medvedev, deputy chief executive of the state-owned Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, questioned whether an audit of Turkmenistan's Caspian Sea reserves was accurate. The countries have been sparring as Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has moved to lessen his country's dependence on Gazprom as a customer and seeks to open new markets within the European Union and Asia. Medvedev said in a Russian television interview Friday there "are no grounds" to believe an audit by the British company Gaffney, Cline and Associates that 26.2 trillion cubic meters of gas are held in Turkmenistan's three major gas fields, The Moscow Times reported. "I believe that there are no grounds … and no reason to make such statements that there is such a natural deposit with reserves of this scale," Medvedev said. That brought a denunciation from Ashgabat, which says Russia has embarked in a coordinated misinformation campaign to hinder its efforts to more than triple its natural gas output by 2030 through the development of new markets. "The Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan notes that such statements by the representative of Gazprom are extremely faulty and disrespectful of partnership relations in the energy sphere," the statement said. "Particular confusing is the fact that such a biased assessment was made public by a professional." It's not the first time Russia and the former Soviet republic have clashed over estimates of the size of its Caspian Sea gas reserves. Sergei Pravosudov, director of the Institute for National Energy in Moscow, wrote last month on a Russian Internet news site that the gas in Turkmenistan's Southern Yolotan field is held at a very deep level -- more than 2 miles below the sea bed, Eurasianet.org reported. Pravosudov cited a report by the British management consulting firm McKinsey and Co. estimating the costs to first extract and then refine the gas to remove sulfur contaminants would make it among the most expensive gas operations in the world. (UPI)
Georgian Church Leader Says His Moscow Visit was 'Useful'
25 November
Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, said that his week-long visit to Moscow was “very important and useful for our country, our church.” He was in Moscow from November 18 to November 24 to participate in celebration of Russian Orthodox Church leader Kirill’s 65th birthday. He held talks with the Russian Patriarch and also met with Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, together with other heads of delegations of the Orthodox Churches from several other countries, who were visiting Moscow for the Russian Patriarch’s 65th birthday celebration. “We focused on the fate of refugees and talked about the issue of refugees; there is a hope that they will be able to return back to their homes,” Ilia II said after arrival from Moscow. While the Georgian Patriarch was visiting Moscow, President Saakashvili has twice slammed the Russian Orthodox Church on two separate occasions, calling it “the Kremlin’s branch”, which had “declared a crusade for restoration of the Soviet Union.” “You know that the Russian [Orthodox] Church has declared a crusade for restoration of the Soviet Union, that means, for putting an end to Georgia’s independence,” Saakashvili said on November 22, referring to remarks by head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Kirill, who said last week that the collapse of the Soviet Union was negative event. Next day, on November 23, while unveiling a statue to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, Saakashvili said:“Russian Orthodox Church, which is directly the Kremlin’s branch, declared a crusade for restoration of the Soviet Union and called the former Soviet Union territory, including Georgia, ‘historic parts of Russia’ which should be returned back to Russia.” “No matter how many crusades they will declare for restoration of the Soviet Union and no matter how many prayers or curses KGB-uniform elements in the north from us will say, freedom will definitely prevail and any attempt of restoration of the Soviet Union will lead to further destabilization of Russia and will lead this state – which deserves much better fate – to the verge of collapse,” he added. (Civil Georgia)
Border closure seen as an inconvenience
27 November
Pakistan's closure of its border to NATO convoys carrying supplies to troops in Afghanistan would hit only about a third of the traffic, The Guardian reported. Pakistan took the action to protest a weekend NATO air strike that killed 24 of its soldiers. The opening of alternate supply routes to landlocked Afghanistan from the north through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan has reduced reliance on the Pakistani routes from the Karachi container ports on the Arabian Sea over road and rail links to the border towns of Tokham and Chaman, The Guardian said. Thus, the latest Pakistani border closure would be no more than an inconvenience for NATO that would slightly add to the total cost of the war, the British newspaper said. The northern distribution network, which is much longer at its start in Europe, had to be opened as U.S. relations with Pakistan began to deteriorate and as the Pakistani routes became more vulnerable to insurgent attacks. Multiple fuel and other NATO truck convoys have been blown up in recent months. The Guardian said currently only 30 percent of the U.S. supplies and less than half of NATO supplies move through Pakistan, while about 40 percent of the U.S. supplies are shipped from the north. The remaining 30 percent is sent by air. A Western military official told The Guardian the northern route, along with stockpiling of essential equipment, would allow NATO to continue its operations unaffected for several months. (UPI)
Tbilisi Says S.Ossetia Polls 'Kremlin-Planned Event'
28 November
Sunday’s presidential runoff in breakaway South Ossetia is not an election, but “an event planned by the Kremlin,” Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister, Nino Kalandadze, said on November 28. “What is happening there is not considered as elections; that’s an event, which is planned by the Kremlin and which is led by the official Moscow and Moscow is responsible for its results,” she said. “Events not agreed with Tbilisi are taking place in Georgia’s occupied territories. Unfortunately, human rights violations are also taking place and [Moscow], which is in charge of situation there, is responsible for that. We hope that the international community will react adequately. There was a very prompt and adequate reaction from the international community when the so called first round of [election on November 13] was condemned by the U.S., the European Union,” she added. (Civil Georgia)
BP to train Turkish gas pipeline engineers
28 November
British energy company BP said, through its Azeri consortium, that it backed a training program in Turkey for natural gas pipeline engineers. BP and its partners at the Shah Deniz gas field in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan said it was supporting at program at Turkey's Middle East Technical University to train and certify engineers in quality assurance for pipelines and gas transportation systems. Rashid Javanshir, BP's president for the Caspian region, said Turkey has a "critical" role to play in ensuring that natural gas from Azerbaijan reaches regional consumers. "As Turkey takes on this new role and becomes an energy hub for Europe, it must undertake important new projects, such as expansion of the current natural gas network or building new pipelines and storage facilities," he said in a statement. The program at METU is expected to last four years and train and certify an estimated 300 pipeline engineers. BP said its program at Shah Deniz includes more than 300 miles of subsea pipelines that could increase the export capacity in Azerbaijan."This will increase gas supply and energy security to European markets through the opening of the new southern gas corridor," the company said. Baku is weighing proposals from Nabucco, the Interconnector Turkey-Greece and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline projects. (UPI)
Six suspects arrested for terror attacks in Kazakhstan
30 November
Kazakh police have arrested six suspected associates of an alleged terrorist who killed seven people in the southern city of Taraz earlier this month, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. Prosecutor-General's Office spokesman Nurdaulet Suindikov told journalists in Astana on November 30 that "the spiritual leader of the terrorist group is among" those arrested. He said the criminal group was created earlier this year and consists of people with prior convictions for different violent crimes. Suindikov said the leader of the group "has been persuading its members to conduct jihad, namely to attack and kill police in order to establish an Islamic caliphate." Suindikov added that forensic tests established that the group member who committed a terrorist act in Taraz on November 12 was under the influence of drugs at the time. A man identified only as Kariev, and said to be 34 years old, shot seven people dead in running battles with security forces in Taraz. Four members of the security forces and two civilians were among those killed. Kariev later set off an explosive device when cornered by security troops, killing himself and another policeman. Kariev's attack was preceded by two bombings in the western city of Atyrau on October 31. A suspected extremist allegedly associated with an Islamic jihadist group called Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate) seemed to accidentally blow himself up in the Caspian Sea port city, causing no other casualties. Suindikov said at a press conference on November 30 that the Atyrau city court ruled on November 25 that Jund al-Khilafa is a terrorist organization and banned it. "Anyone associated with Jund al-Khilafa in Kazakhstan will be officially charged with terrorism and extremism," he said. (RFE/RL)