Field Reports

The U.S. State Department’s 2009 Human Rights Report expresses concern over cases of human rights violations and the state of media freedom in Georgia, while it also notes positive steps taken by the government towards continued democratic development in the country.

As the one-year agreement on the U.S. airbase at Manas is at the point of renewal, recent visits of high-ranking U.S. officials to Kyrgyzstan are largely viewed as intended to ensure a prolongation of the deal. At the same time, the growing military cooperation between the U.S. and Kyrgyzstan may complicate Bishkek’s relations with Moscow.

The February 28 election to Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament predictably ended in a landslide victory for the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT), headed by President Emomali Rakhmon. With 43 elected party members and 12 nominally independent candidates that had been fielded and supported by the party, the PDPT has extended its control of the 63-seat parliament for another five years. The remaining eight seats went to the Agrarian Party (APT), Communist Party (CPT), Islamic Revival Party (IRPT) and the Party of Economic Reforms (PERT) which will be represented in the parliament with two seats each. Another three parties – the Democratic Party (DPT), Social-Democratic Party (SDPT) and Socialist Party (SPT) – failed to pass the electoral threshold.

As the peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh continue, the interest and involvement of regional players increases. In recent months, Iran appears to seek to increase its role in Caucasus along with its competitors, Turkey and Russia. This also seems connected with the reduced activities of the U.S. in the region.

Speaking at the extended Cabinet meeting on February 18, President Gurbanguly Bedimuhammedov announced that Turkmenistan should register new political parties that would compete with the sole existing Democratic Party of Turkmenistan. At another meeting with the State Security Council on March 1, the president also declared his plans to liberalize Turkmenistan’s major legislation on criminal law.

On February 17, Russia and Abkhazia signed a treaty on building a military base in Gudauta during the official visit of Abkhazia’s president Sergei Bagapsh in Moscow. The document is a result of the general agreement on military cooperation between Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia established in September 2009. The Russian land base will be established using and modernizing the existing military infrastructure in Gudauta, where 1,700 soldiers are already deployed.

The upcoming mayoral elections are increasingly causing confusion among Georgian opposition leaders. The political maneuvers of the most popular opposition candidate, Irakli Alasania, between Western-oriented and pro-Russian parties last week have decreased the opposition’s chances of winning the post of Tbilisi Mayor.

On February 17-21, the U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, visited the Central Asian states. As part of the tour, he visited Uzbekistan on February 19 and met with President Islam Karimov in the Oqsaroy residence. Uzbekistan’s President expressed his intention to further develop Uzbek-U.S. cooperation on the establishment of peace and stability in Afghanistan. In return, Holbrooke noted an interest on the U.S. administration’s part in strengthening cooperation on regional security. In addition, Holbrooke emphasized the special importance of Uzbekistan’s position for the settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.

On February 1, the Armenian government introduced a bill to the National Assembly which marks a new step in the development of its state structure, as it is intended to radically increase the role of local municipalities. The local self government bodies in Armenia have so far been very week, with limited powers and influence. In particular, this is obvious in the weakness of their financial capacities. In 2010, the integrated budget of the local communities is set to 88.3 billion drams (US$232 million), which is just 9.4 percent of the central government budget. The local municipalities are expected to collect only 25 billion drams through their own revenues, the remaining 63 billion being transferred from the central government. In addition, almost half of this transfer, 30 billion drams, will be allocated to the capital city of Yerevan, which harbors one third of the country's population. Not surprisingly, the local municipal governments are usually poorly organized, poorly paid and short of qualified specialists. Until recently, the central government was the only body eligible for collecting taxes, but has gradually passed the collection of land and property taxes to municipalities.

On February 23, a preliminary hearing took place in a lawsuit against three independent weekly newspapers and a lawyer that were accused of libel for publishing the content of a press conference. Two judges of the Supreme Court of Tajikistan and one judge of the Municipal Court of Dushanbe sued three media outlets of Tajikistan, the “Asia Plus”, “Farazh” and “Ozodagon” newspapers. The judges demanded to defend their honor and dignity and to recoup moral damage at a total amount of 5,5 million somoni (approximately US$1,2 million). Furthermore, the judges demanded that the newspapers’ activities should be stopped while the court’s decision is pending.