Field Reports

On September 22, the U.S. Congress adopted a decision to abolish sanctions on provision of military aid to Uzbekistan. The sanctions were imposed in 2004 due to a worsening situation in press freedom and repression of civil society in the country. After the Andijan events in 2005, relations between Tashkent and Washington cooled even further. Nevertheless, Uzbekistan recently reasserted its strategic importance in its relations with the U.S. and has come to play an important role in the so called Northern Distribution Network (NDN), which supplies NATO troops in Afghanistan. In light of the worsened relations between U.S. and Pakistan, it seems that the Obama administration plans to increase Uzbekistan’s role in the NDN, in spite of continued protests from international and local human rights activists calling for careful attention to Uzbekistan’s poor situation in terms of human rights and freedoms.

Since early September, Kazakhstan’s domestic politics have focused on a language controversy stemming from the publication of the so-called “Letter of 138,” in which a number of politicians, cultural workers and associative leaders called for an amendment of Article 7 of Kazakhstan’s constitution. The current reading of its second clause says that “the Russian language is officially used in state organs and local government authorities along with the Kazakh language.” According to the initiator of this demarche, a former Member of Parliament and a famous poet, Mukhtar Shakhanov, many Kazakhstanis are confused about the interpretation of this article, sometimes believing that both Russian and Kazakh are official languages in the country, whereas the constitution reserves this privilege only for Kazakh. In an interview to journalists given in the wake of the publication of “Letter of 138”, Shakhanov even referred to the unwillingness of some Kazakhstanis to properly study Kazakh, as they may wrongly think that “their President is Putin and their official language is Russian”.

Over the course of three days, from September 16 to September 18, the tenth annual International Investment Forum was held in Sochi on Russia’s Black Sea coast. This year, the forum was primarily devoted to projects related to the 2014 Winter Olympics, but the signing of a new agreement concerning Moscow’s ambitious ski resort project in the North Caucasus also attracted some attention. At the first day of the forum, state owned French financial institution Caisse des Depots et Consignations and Russian state company Resorts of the North Caucasus agreed on a new framework for their joint venture assigned to the realization of the resort project. The French party committed to provide more than US$ 14 billion within one year and in the optimistic final draft for the 2012 federal budget that was presented on September 20, an additional US$ 1 billion was allotted to the company Resorts of the North Caucasus.

A joint declaration adopted on September 30 at the EU Eastern Partnership summit envisages the launch of negotiations on a deep and comprehensive trade agreement (DCFTA) between the EU and Georgia by the end of this year. The document was approved in Warsaw by the leaders of EU member states and five of the Eastern Partnership countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The document does not specify a date when such talks could start, but underlines the need for “fulfillment of a number of remaining key recommendations.”

A new major gas discovery in the Caspian Sea by the French oil company Total SA strengthens Azerbaijan’s position in gas negotiations with Europe and Russia. This improves the prospects for the EU-backed Nabucco pipeline to transport Caspian gas to Europe and reduce European dependence on Russian energy supplies. The company revealed on September 9 that is has encountered “more than 500 feet of cumulated net gas pays” at the Absheron X-2 well. “The well’s first results confirm a potential of several trillion cubic feet of gas and associated condensates,” a statement on Friday read. The discovery was made in what Total termed “high quality sands” on the northern part of the structure which is spread out over 270 square kilometers. “Reservoirs are expected to extend over the entire northern part of the structure,” the company stated. The discovery was made at a depth of 6550 meters but drilling is set to continue to explore for possible deeper objectives.

In the first days of September, Tajikistan hosted the CIS Summit, a meeting of the “Dushanbe four”, and received consecutive official visits by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Both leaders perceive Tajikistan as a “strategic partner” in the Central Asian region. However, relations between Tajikistan and the two regional powers have developed quite differently. Relations between Tajikistan and Iran have seen positive developments in all fields including political, economic and cultural cooperation. By contrast, a number of unresolved and problematic issues exist in Tajikistan’s bilateral cooperation with Russia, which is aggravated by the polemic from both sides.

The fifth round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks between Georgia and Russia, mediated by Switzerland, did not yield any substantial changes. Negotiators met in Geneva on September 12 for the latest round of WTO talks. The discussion sought to close the positions of the two countries on establishing custom checks and international monitoring mechanisms in the Georgian breakaway regions to increase the transparency of trade in these territories. Tbilisi considers Russian compliance on such measures to be a key precondition for Russian WTO membership, whereas Moscow views the proposal as contradictory to its interests.

A record number of people have applied for registration to run for the presidential post in Kyrgyzstan. As the end of the registration period approaches, the number of qualified candidates is decreasing, with most applicants being unable to fulfill the registration requirements. Despite the authorities’ promises to ensure free and fair elections, it is evident that the main contenders started campaigning before the authorized period.

On August 16, the World Bank in Tajikistan distributed a statement related to the construction of the Rogun hydropower station. In this statement, the World Bank recommends Tajikistan not to start constructing the dam required for the station. The international consultants, who are conducting a feasibility study for the Rogun project on behalf of the World Bank, advised Tajikistan’s government to halt the start of the dam construction, which is planned for this year. Instead, the experts propose to conduct a more comprehensive analysis of the planned dam.

In Yerevan, a series of meetings are being held between the two delegations of the ruling coalition and the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) created by Armenia’s first President Levon Ter-Petrosian. In the political jargon of Armenia the series of meetings, which are a unique phenomenon in the political history of Armenia, are simply called Dialogue. While negotiations between government and opposition to manage crises are overall unusual in former Soviet countries, the current dialogue features special peculiarities in the political context of Armenia.