Field Reports

“For now, the parliamentary majority coalition will continue to work”, said Kamchibek Tashiev, leader of the Ata Jurt parliamentary faction, following a high-powered meeting of the group on March 22. By this statement, Tashiev may have laid speculations around the potential collapse of the alliance to rest, but not without a note of caution. He added that the prospect of leaving the coalition will remain a matter for further discussion.

February 14 was marked by nationwide festivities, concerts and conferences in Turkmenistan to celebrate the fourth year of Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov’s presidency. The ministries, government departments and state agencies organized conferences and massive public events praising the president’s achievements over the last four years in Turkmenistan. The state TV and radio channels broadcasted in a festive mood for three days before and after the event. However, none of these events provided for critical appraisal of any real reforms or changes made during these four years.

A few weeks before the upcoming presidential elections in Kazakhstan, President Nazarbayev’s former son-in-law, former ambassador to Austria Rakhat Aliyev, accused the Kazakh leader of having signed a secret agreement with China about the handover of 1 million hectares of arable land to Chinese farmers for 99 years of lease on his recent trip to Beijing. This unverified piece of information published in Aliyev’s personal blog, which has recently become an outlet for critical statements about Nazarbayev’s handling of Kazakh politics, sparked serious controversy and pushed some opposition leaders to demand explanations from the president or his administration.

On March 3, 2011, two of Uzbekistan’s state-owned TV channels broadcast a special documentary called Kurnamaklar (Ungrateful), which uncovered the illegal activities of several Turkish business enterprises operating in Uzbekistan. Local observers note that during the last two years about fifty Turkish enterprises were closed in Uzbekistan and various charges were pressed against their managers. Meanwhile, local media report several reasons for the crackdown against Turkish businesses in the country.

The Azerbaijani interior forces arrested over 100 anti-governmental protesters during a two-day rally in Baku inspired by the Middle East uprisings. Despite the crackdown, activists believe that it is just a start and that street protests will continue.

On March 5, Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev held a meeting in Sochi. The Russian President, Dmitri Medvedev acted as a mediator. The meeting was the eighth trilateral one since the presidents met in Russian Meindorf on October 2008, and was initially welcomed by observers as a sign that the negotiation process is still alive. The two presidents signed a statement in Sochi stating that they “emphasized the importance of their regular contacts on issues related to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement and agreed to continue these in the same format to complement the work of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group”.

On his two-day working trip to the South Kazakhstan region on March 10 and 11, 2011, President Nazarbayev sparked controversy by saying that it was unacceptable for Muslim women in Kazakhstan to wear hijabs and niqabs. Nazarbayev particularly warned against the spread of such practices in public places, such as schools and universities, where younger people are especially prone, according to him, to the “imposed” kinds of religious teaching, not the ones Kazakhstan has always been faithful to. Earlier on that day, Kazakhstan’s President visited Turkestan, a city famous for its holy places that are regarded local cultural treasures by Central Asian followers of Islam.

Less than two months after reporting that militant commander Alovuddin Davlatov (more commonly known as Ali Bedaki or Bedak) was killed in battle, Tajik security agencies are confronted with a video that allegedly undermines the official account of the rebel’s death. The four-minute mobile phone video circulating in Tajikistan and posted on YouTube shows uniformed men, supposedly members of Tajik law enforcement agencies, questioning a bearded man whom they address as Ali Bedaki. The latter sits half-naked in the back seat of a car, with a gun pointed at him, and appears very humiliated.

The Turkish Prime Minister paid an official visit to Kyrgyzstan to demonstrate his political and economic support as the country faces hardships after last year’s government change. Many experts believe that the visit opens a new page in the relationship between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey and provides a special place for Turkey in Kyrgyzstan’s foreign policy. However, others contend that Turkish active economic involvement in Kyrgyzstan may not coincide with Russian interests, and may thus lead to cooler relations between Bishkek and Moscow.