Field Reports

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.

On January 11, former Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. In addition, he was deprived of his General’s rank and obliged to pay a heavy fine. Isakov was found guilty of the illegal transfer of one of the ministry’s apartments to his son’s ownership while heading the office. At the same time, the Bishkek Military Court freed Isakov on other two charges – the illegal selling of written-off military hardware and embezzlement of budget funds.  Isakov has already appealed against the sentence at the Republican Military Court.

Umida Ahmedova is a documentary photographer and Uzbekistan’s first camerawoman. In the end of 2009, she was charged with insult and defamation of the Uzbek nation on the basis of some of her works. Ahmedova went through a trial, where she was found guilty on all charges. The incident received wide publicity domestically in Uzbekistan, as well as internationally. This is a likely reason why the artist was granted an amnesty and released.

Georgia's president Mikheil Saakashvili voiced the proposal for Georgia is to become a logistical hub for NATO's Afghanistan mission in a phone interview with the Associated Press on January 29th.

On February 3, Tajikistan’s Prime Minister Akil Akilov received a letter from his Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoev, who requested the Tajik Government to reconsider its construction of the Roghun hydropower station. The Government of Uzbekistan insists that an international and independent assessment of the Roghun construction project should be conducted, and is concerned that the Roghun project may entail disastrous consequences for the entire region.