This week Turkmenistan celebrated both its President’s 50th birthday and the addition of the Parthian fortress of Nisa to UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. The ruins, near Ashgabat, date back to the 2nd century BC reign of Arsaces I.

International Anti-Narcotics Day (26th June) was marked in several Central Asian countries. Officials in Kazakhstan emphasised the need for regional cooperation. The Pakistan Daily Times reports that the Uzbek authorities destroyed around 400kg of seized heroin while Turkmen officials managed more than a ton, according to pro-government site Turkmenistan.ru. All three countries lie on the drug smuggling route that extends westwards from Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer of opium.

Many of those infected with HIV/AIDS in Central Asia are intravenous drug users. Though it was completely free of the HIV virus until 1996, Kyrgyzstan is now home to 1,193 registered sufferers, according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. In Kazakhstan on Wednesday judges found 21 medical staff guilty of charges relating to the infection of 119 babies and children with HIV, in the climax to a case that has caused popular outrage.

The politics of water came to the fore this week as Kyrgyzstan warned countries downstream that their access to water will be compromised unless an agreement is reached over the reciprocal supply of fossil fuels. Meanwhile, floods and landslides are the threat posed by glaciers in Tajikistan’s Pamir mountains. The Tajik government has stated that global warming is to blame for a increase in the rate of melting and a heightened risk of disasters. Elsewhere, Ted Rall reports from Gordo-Badakhshan on the impact of foreign aid.

There was gloom in Kyrgyzstan as the EU blacklist of airlines was updated. It currently bans all carriers certified by the Kyrgyz authorities for reasons of safety.

In other news the Uzbek authorities sought to boost entrepreneurship this week by making it easier to declare bankruptcy and in an interview with New Europe, UK ambassador to Kazakhstan Paul Brummell outlined his plans for economic cooperation.

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

Read Uzbekistan’s Children of the Cotton, by Matthew Jenkin, Central Asia Now’s latest piece of analysis.

On Wednesday President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan dissolved the lower house of parliament and called early general elections. This, UK’s Guardian reports, was seen by the opposition as a maneuver to secure his grip on power. It also coincided with the divorce of Nazarbayev’s daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva from Rakhat Aliyev, who is currently facing kidnapping charges. The divorce is thought to strengthen Dariga Zazarbayeva’s position as a successor to her father.

The Kazakh government this week also presented plans to construct a 435-mile-long oil pipeline from the city of Atasu, central Kazakhstan, to the Caspian, which will become a part of the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline to China. According to Kazinform, this comes amid growing cooperation between the two states: at the same time a railway line is being planned from Western China to the Caspian Sea.

Kazakhstan was not alone in improving seeking to improve regional ties, as Caspian energy players Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan announced an ambitious plan to bolster cooperation. This, reports Rovshan Ismayilov, would take the form of a joint exploration of an offshore oil field.

Turkmenistan also extended its international diplomatic efforts as far as USA, with the president stating willingness to expand his relations with Washington and US businesses, and the need to cooperate on stabilizing Afghanistan.

The International Herald Tribune reports that Kyrgyzstan’s lawmakers voted on Tuesday to privatize two unfinished hydropower plants in an attempt to increase the nation’s exports of electricity. At the same time Uzbekistan was praised in an IMF report for high growth, and increasing economic confidence. 
 
Norwegian website Forum 18 Agency continues to report on Uzbekistan’s religious intolerance, stating that a Full Gospel Pentecostal church in Andijan was recently forced to close. Pakistan’s Daily Times highlighted similar restrictions on freedom of religion in Kazakhstan, where police raided houses of International Society for Krishna Consciousness followers.

Radio Free Europe reported on Wednesday that three refugee families who fled a clampdown in eastern Uzbekistan more than two years ago have been reunited with their children, thanks to the efforts of Czech and UN officials.

In Tajikistan, on the eve of the Day of National Unity, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon signed into law an amnesty for certain convicted criminals, according to Itar-Tass. Eurasianet, meanwhile, reports on the effects of the drive for personal austerity currently being promoted in the country.

Thanks to Dorota Szawarska for this week’s digest. Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.

This week Russia’s largest oil company, LUKoil, clinched a vital deal - its first in Turkmenistan - to develop three Caspian offshore fields. Further evidence, according to Stratfor, of President Berdymukhammedov’s willingness to break with tradition and end his country’s relative isolation. Elsewhere, a suggestion for closer political union with Russia made by Kyrgyzstan’s opposition leader has been greeted with derision, according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Felix Kulov’s plan for a confederation of former Soviet states was made in a television broadcast on May 30th. Nevertheless, some see Russian influence behind a recent upsurge in calls for the US base at Manas, established in 2001 as part of the War on Terror, to be closed.

The legacy of a different war, Tajikistan’s civil conflict of 1992-1997, continues to destroy lives, reports the BBC. The danger posed by unexploded cluster bombs long after the final ceasefire is evidence, says the UN, that such weapons should be banned. And in the capital Dushanbe, refugees from fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan are suffering harassment at the hands of officials, according to Reuters Alertnet.

Reports from Uzbekistan suggest that freedom of religion remains seriously curtailed by the state. Norwegian site Forum 18 documents the treatment of the country’s Jehovah’s witnesses. It also carries the story of imprisoned Pastor Dmitry Shestakov’s move to a labour camp further away from his wife and children. Meanwhile the Uzbek government’s campaign against Islamic militancy has led to the destruction of scores of homes along the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. All this against the background of increasing uncertainty over President Karimov’s plans for the future of his regime.

In Shuchinsk, Kazakhstan, a two-day conference organised by the government and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe explored ways of keeping up momentum in the field of legal reform. President Nazarbayev has also claimed that his country’s GDP is set to top $100 billion this year, with annual growth rates of 10% expected to continue.

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

Take a look at Central Asia Now’s first photo essay, an illustration of how access to water affects everyday life in southern Kyrgyzstan, by Zafar Atajanov.

The cloud of controversy surrounding Kazakh president’s son in law, Rakhat Aliyev, refused to lift after he was arrested in a Vienna hair salon last Friday. Wanted by Kazakh authorities on charges of kidnapping and extortion, on Sunday Austrian authorities released Aliyev on bail while a decision on his extradition to Kazakhstan is made. Aliyev insists that the charges against him are politically motivated, claiming his intention to challenge President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 2012 poses a serious threat.

There is increasing pressure on the US government to close the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan ahead of a planned visit by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, reports Associated Press. Russia and China have joined the Kyrgyz parliament in calling for the troubled base to be scrapped.

On Wednesday Uzbekistan received the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Kuwait, Mohammed Al-Sabah. Kuwait is playing an increasing role in the development of Uzbekistan’s infrastructure and during a meeting at President Islam Karimov’s residence in Tashkent officials from both countries discussed furthering bilateral relations. On Wednesday EurasiaNet carried an analysis of the behind-the-scenes Uzbek reaction to increasing Russian involvement in the country’s energy sector.

Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industries are set to benefit from further foreign investment, it was announced this week. At the inauguration of the refinery built by Irish/UAE oil firm Dragon, President Berdymukhammedov laid the foundation stone of a $500 million gas processing plant, to be built by the Malaysian company Petronas.

Heavy rains in the southern Kabodiyon region of Tajikistan caused landslides on Tuesday, killing three and destroying homes and crops 200 km from the capital Dushanbe. As the UK’s Channel 4 reports, the continued melting of Tajikistan’s mountain glaciers could lead to major natural disasters. Experts warn countries in the region have to start building dams near glaciers now and changing their own irrigation systems – though this has proved controversial, with Uzbekistan threatening to cut off Tajikistan’s gas supplies if rivers vital to the neighbouring country’s water supply are dammed. Cotton production in the region is especially especially dependent on reliable access to water. Early investigations, reported during a world environment day conference in Dushanbe on Tuesday, show the alarmingly rapid rate at which snow and glacier coverage in Tajikistan is decreasing.

Thanks to Matthew Jenkin for this week’s digest. Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts. 
 

This week Uzbekistan looked to China for energy infrastructure development with a fresh agreement to build a 530-kilometre natural gas pipeline. On Thursday the country’s president, Islam Karimov, launched his latest book, “Progress of the country and better living standards of the people as the ultimate objectives of all democratic innovations and economic reforms” amid a fanfare of state-sponsored publicity.

Meanwhile, Uzmetronom reports that the restrictions on liquor implemented on May 1 in Uzbekistan have had an invigorating effect on the black market. Prices have rocketed, while bazaar vendors continue to illicitly sell alcohol.

On May 24th, the Kyrgyz authorities approved a bill allowing the government to use technology to monitor the internet. News Briefing Central Asia correspondents suggest that such censorship would be both costly and ultimately impossible to achieve.

Felix Kulov of the opposition Front For The Worthy Future has said he does not rule out the possibility of a confederation between Kyrgyzstan and Russia, stating that it might, for example, help overcome corruption. 300,000 signatures in favour of the move need to be collected to allow a national referendum on the subject to be called.

Across the border in Kazakstan, commentators have denounced constitutional changes granting more powers to local government as ‘a smokescreen’, given that the president will still be able to dissolve them at any moment. According to political scientist Nikolai Kuzmin, the changes create ‘the preconditions for stronger elected assemblies, but fail to provide them with greater autonomy’.

On 29th May, police detained Yekaterina Belyayeva as she held a poster reading “Amendments to the constitution - the path to totalitarism” in Almaty’s Central Square, saying she had broken the law on holding mass gatherings. Under the amendments, which were adopted on May 22nd, President Nursultan Nazarbaev is entitled to remain in office indefinitely.

The Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov arrived in Russia this Thursday on his first official visit since taking office. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to discuss the implementation of the declaration on the Caspian gas pipeline signed by the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in early May.

On Monday the Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov embarked on an official visit to Kazakhstan, reports Turkmenistan.ru. During the visit the heads of two countries will sign a series of bilateral documents, including an “agreement on comprehensive cooperation until 2020”.

Tajikistan’s interest in working with NATO is not at odds with its membership of former Soviet security groupings, say News Briefing Central Asia observers, based on the fact cooperation would be confined to military training, planning for emergencies and natural disasters, border security, combating drug-trafficking and certain technical projects.

Thanks to Katherine Boothby for this week’s digest. Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.