Read Doors remain closed in Turkmenistan by Judith Evans, Central Asia Now’s latest piece of analysis.

This week, despite continued criticism of its human rights record, Uzbekistan appeared to be let off the hook by the UN, as the Human Rights Council voted to suspend monitoring of the country under procedure 1053, according to Human Rights Watch. The very next day the Uzbek government told visiting German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier that it was not prepared to be lectured on human rights, reports the Pakistan Daily Times. New Eurasia provides us with tangible evidence of Uzbekistan’s failings, carrying a photo essay on child labour in the cotton fields. In a worrying development on the media freedom front, Deutsche Welle journalist and Uzbek citizen Natalia Bushuyeva is to face charges of “tax evasion and conducting her activities without a license”. She faces up to six months in prison. 

Elsewhere, Turkmenistan comes under indirect fire from Krassimir Kanev in The Guardian, who lambasts Bulgaria for its recent decision to begin extradition of Turkmen dissident  Annadurdy Hadjiev. Hard on the heels of Tajikistan’s decision to demolish mosques in Dushanbe, a court there sentences 17 year old Muminbek Mamedov to eight years in jail for membership of banned group Hizb-ut-Tahrir, according to Reuters.  

Despite the country celebrating the two-year anniversary of the ‘Tulip Revolution’ on Saturday, the road to constitutional reform in Kyrgyzstan has not been smooth. New proposals have been set out by the opposition group Movement for Reform, but whether they are accepted by President Bakiev remains to be seen. In a move that echoes Turkmenistan’s decision to restore pensions to 100,000 citizens, Kyrgyz legislators voted to lower the retirement age on Monday, despite warnings of the strain that this will put on the country’s finances.

In a beautiful demonstration of the art of spin, Kazakhstan-based website gazeta.kz reports that the European Union “will support Kazakhstan for OSCE 2009 presidency”. Go to RFE/RL however and the story is somewhat different: “EU Questions Almaty’s Bid For OSCE Presidency In 2009″. Assuming the OSCE presidency would be a triumph for Nazarbayev, but EU officials point to - among other things - the continued harassment of independent media in Kazakhstan as evidence that the country still has an enormous way to go.

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In a 21st century take on The Great Game, Russia, Iran and the US vie for influence in the Central Asian region. This week saw Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev in Moscow to discuss Russia’s plans for a resurrection of its nuclear industrial complex. Kazakhstan possseses the world’s second largest reserves of uranium, according to Qatar based Gulf Times.

David A. Merkel, until recently Director of Aegean, Caucasus and Central Asian affairs on the US National Security Council has warned of the need to engage with Turkmenistan and to head off efforts by Gazprom to gain control of its enormous natural gas reserves, reports Eurasia.net. While Kyrgyzstan and Iran continue to make friendly noises towards each other after the Kyrgyz parliament’s speaker’s recent Iranian tour, relations with the US are dogged by controversy over the airbase at Manas. On Monday the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General’s office demanded the extradition of a US serviceman who shot dead a Kyrgyz citizen at the base last December. In the meantime, Kyrgyzstan has ratified the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s counter-terrorism agreement and announced that the grouping’s next summit will be held in the country in August.

As Uzbekistan apparently blocks access to the news and comment site Registan.net, Moscow based site Ferghana.ru carries an interview with human rights activist and journalist Ruslan Sharipov as he prepares to return home, having spent the last two and half years in the US. At the same time scores of Andijan refugees return home to face an uncertain future, amid fears that they may have been pressured into re-entering the country. Some weeks after the US State Department’s indictment the Uzbek human rights situation, Insitute for War and Peace Reporting reflects on whether the report will make any difference on the ground.

In a sign that governments across the region remain intensely wary of Islamism, the government of Tajikistan, home to the region’s only official Muslim party, is embarking on a religious crackdown. It is set to demolish 148 unregistered mosques in the capital Dushanbe, according to Associated Press, via Taiwan’s China Post. This comes just days after the country’s former spiritual leader Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda called for an amnesty for prisoners who fought against the government during the civil war of 1992-1997. Meanwhile, in a gesture that would seem to bring him closer to the country’s Persian - and it could be argued, Muslim roots - President Emomali Rakhmonov announced, on the eve of the traditional new year’s celebration of Noruz, that he would be dropping the Russian suffix -ov from his name.

In a sign that he may be keen to dissociate himself from the legacy of his all-powerful predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov restored pensions to more than 100,000 citizens, according to Associated Press, via the International Herald Tribune. He has also brought back maternity payments. Turkmenistan’s economy grew by 13% last year.

Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.

Energy is back on the agenda this week. In Kazakhstan news agency Kazinform reports that the government has set itself the ambitious target of raising gas production by 32% in just two years.  Russian-based site turkmenistan.ru reports the opening in Turkmenistan of a refinery owned by Dragon, an Irish oil company with longstanding interests in the country’s Caspian oilfields. The site also carries a report on “the largest discovery in history of hydrocarbon resources of Turkmenistan”. Meanwhile ABC money says that Turkmenistan has extended the hand of friendship to Azerbaijan, its competitor in the Caspian energy stakes, though it’s not clear what, if anything, this really amounts to.

Uzbekistan came in for some strong criticism in the US State Department’s Human Rights Report, published on March 6th. According to ferghana.ru (via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) the Uzbek government has predictably responded by dismissing the report and calling it “counterproductive”. Freedom of religion has hit the headlines again this week. Pastor Dmitry Shestakov has been sentenced to four years in prison by an Uzbek court for “illegal religious practices” according to Christian website Compass.

Ankara based Turkish Weekly reports from Kazakhstan that the pastor of an unregistered Baptist church has been thrown in jail following a court order banning the organisation. Amnesty USA highlights the continued incarceration of Muslim cleric Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah in Turkmenistan.Tajikistan’s leaders continue to show enthusiasm for ties with Iran, which is providing resources and expertise to help develop the country’s transport infrastructure, according to Iranian news agency IRNA. Another regional giant, Russia, is set on extending its influence across Central Asia, says Roger McDermott of the Jamestown Foundation, primarily through better relations with Uzbekistan. McDermott argues that Russia is seeking to “dissuade Tashkent’s neighbors from becoming more involved in Western security assistance packages.” It may be facing an uphill struggle, as ITAR-TASS reports this week that Kyrgyzstan has joined NATO’s Planning and Review Process program, a scheme designed to provide advice in reforming the country’s defence and security sectors.

Environmental concerns over one of the region’s largest bodies of water, Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan, will be addressed at an international conference in Almaty later this month, says Eurasianet. This follows discussions on March 7th with Chinese and Kyrgyz counterparts over the fate of the lake, which supplies 20% of Kazakhs with drinking water. Experts fear that it could soon go the same way as the devastated Aral Sea. Water, it seems is no trivial matter: management of this resource will be a key plank of EU policy towards Central Asia, reports EUobserver.

Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.