Field Reports

On April 15-16, 2011, India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid his first official visit to Kazakhstan, after attending a meeting of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) on the Chinese island of Hainan. A series of bilateral agreements signed in the wake of his meeting with President Nazarbayev testify to India’s firm commitment to strengthening and expanding its presence in the most developed country of Central Asia. Previously, a lack of adequate air communication, the remoteness of both capitals and scarcity of financial inflows from India impeded relevant cooperation to the advantage of other regional players, primarily Russia and China.

On April 5, 2011, the Central Election Committee of Kazakhstan made public the official results of the latest presidential elections, in which the incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev won a landslide victory. Nazarbayev obtained 95.5 percent of the public vote, convincingly outbidding his three competitors. Senator Gani Kassymov, leader of the Kazakhstan Patriots’ Party, is credited with 1.9 percent of the ballots, while Zhambyl Akhmetbekov of the Communist Party, and Mels Yeleusizov who represents the independent environmentalist organization “Tabigat”, managed to secure only 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent of the total number of voting bulletins, respectively. Almost 90 percent of the Kazakhstani public are said to have presented themselves at polling stations on April 3.

As the Kyrgyz president dismissed the acting Prosecutor General, the latter decided to raise allegations of corruption against the country’s leadership, which in turn led to broad public debate. Many consider his dismissal as part of a “removal of political undesirables” in light of a serious political struggle related to the upcoming presidential elections. However, political analysts claim that it is unclear who will benefit the most from the dismissal.

The Tajik government prepares to introduce a constitutional reform process which, according to analysts, will alter the country’s political system, possibly paving the way for President Rahmon’s son to succeed him as the country’s leader in 2020.

On March 28, The Russian Federal and Ingush enforcement units launched an air and ground attack on an insurgent camp in Ingushetia’s Sunzha district, officially killing 17 people. It was part of a large scale counterinsurgency operation in the region and has been qualified by President Medvedev as a “heavy blow” to the insurgents.

On March 7-10, 2011, Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon paid an official visit to Pakistan where he met with his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari. Official media report that the parties discussed “strengthening and further development of friendly relations and bilateral cooperation” during the visit. In addition, the President of Tajikistan held separate meetings with relevant ministers and discussed cooperation between the two countries in the fields of trade and economy, agriculture, public health, etc. As a result of the visit, over 30 agreements were signed, including a joint communiqué by the two Presidents, an interstate agreement on cooperation in the field of sport, and a number of inter-agency agreements in the fields of agriculture and public health.

“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.