Central Asia's week that was #22
German chancellor visits, TAPI resumes (again), and deaths at Uzbekistan gas field. Also, Karakalpak activist loses asylum bid, religious troubles, and tech innovation.
So this happened…
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Kazakhstan, where he met with the five leaders of Central Asia for talks on prospects for energy and technology cooperation. At a gathering of investors, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev proposed a "raw materials in exchange for technology" partnership with Germany, offering access to Kazakhstan's rare-earth metals in exchange for technological expertise. Tokayev pointed to an ongoing $500 million lithium extraction project in eastern Kazakhstan as a model for future cooperation. Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev called for a detail-rich roadmap that would lay out how German companies working in investment and technology propose to engage with Central Asia.
Afghanistan and Turkmenistan resumed work on the long-delayed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline. The project as designed, should it ever be completed, envisions the 1,800-kilometre pipeline carrying 33 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually from Turkmenistan's Galkynysh field to South Asia. Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the prime minister of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, was joined by former Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov to inaugurate construction of a critical section. The Taliban government has repeatedly offered reassurances it can complete the project and protect it from any security threats. Sceptics suggest lack of funding and tensions between India and Pakistan could ultimately derail the pipeline.
The Karasuu customs post on the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border reopened after lying idle for 15 years. The crossing was overhauled before its reopening and is now designed to accommodate more than 12,000 people crossing daily. In addition to offering a new avenue for trade between the two nations, the crossing will benefit residents of Kyrgyzstan by drastically shortening the route between parts of the southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad. The Karasuu crossing was shuttered in 2010 following a wave of deadly ethnic unrest that claimed the lives of hundreds of Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan. Bilateral relations have improved dramatically since Uzbekistan’s President Mirziyoyev came to power in 2016.
Kazakhstan’s President Tokayev has undertaken a major reshuffle of senior security officials, dismissing two deputy heads of the National Security Committee (KNB) and the head of the National Guard in quick succession. Ruslan Seisembayev and Askar Amerkhanov, who led the KNB’s anti-terrorism and foreign intelligence services, respectively, were removed from their posts without official explanation. These dismissals follow ongoing scrutiny of the KNB since the deadly unrest of January 2022, which led to the arrest of former KNB head Karim Massimov on treason charges. Yerkin Botakanov, head of the National Guard since January 2022, was dismissed amid investigations into the alleged mistreatment of troops.
At least four workers were killed in another accident at a gas field in Uzbekistan which experienced a leak of poisonous hydrogen sulphide gas earlier this month. Senior officials and foreign specialists were dispatched to the site in the aftermath of the incident. The authorities had quickly sought to allay fears around the gas leak, but these deaths are likely to sow fresh concern that operators of the Mustaqillik-25 field are unable to ensure the safety of either employees or nearby residents. The affected field is being developed under a production-sharing agreement signed in 2017 between Uzbekistan and a consortium of investors that comprises Cyprus-based Altmax Holding, Uzbekneftegaz, and Russia’s Gas Project Development Central Asia, a subsidiary of Gazprom International.
The one-time head of Kyrgyzstan’s anti-organised crime and anti-narcotics agencies was reportedly arrested by the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) on suspicion of plotting to seize power. Mambetaliyev was initially placed in a temporary detention centre, but later moved to house arrest when Bishkek's Pervomaisky district court rejected a GKNB investigator’s request to hold him in custody pending investigation. Mambetaliyev held several key roles in the Interior Ministry before being appointed head of the State Drug Control Service in 2015, a job he held for 15 months until he was dismissed. No further details of the alleged plot have been disclosed. The GKNB has arrested numerous politicians and public figures on similar charges in recent years.
And there’s this too…
A government commission in Kazakhstan rejected an asylum request from Uzbek rights activist Aqylbek Muratbai, who was arrested in Almaty earlier this year at the request of Uzbek authorities. The decision leaves Muratbai facing possible extradition to Uzbekistan — a prospect that his supporters fear will culminate in an unfair criminal trial. Muratbai drew the ire of authorities in Tashkent by using his social media platform to highlight rights abuses in Uzbekistan’s autonomous republic of Karakalpakstan, where at least 21 people were killed in July 2022 following a violent crackdown of a protest. Uzbek authorities claim the activist was seeking to sow fresh turmoil in Karakalpakstan through his online advocacy.
The body that regulates the activities of Islamic clerics in Uzbekistan revealed that eight imams and 10 deputy imams have been dismissed from their positions in Tashkent mosques so far this year for improper conduct and poor performance. Speaking at a review of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan’s activities, its head, Nuriddin Kholiknazar, issued a sweeping criticism of Tashkent imams. Kholiknazarov was appointed head of the muftiate in October 2021 in apparent response to concerns that the standing of state-approved Islamic clerics has been waning among the population, while more independent-minded imams have been harnessing the power of social media to boost their standing.
One of Tajikistan’s most senior Islamic clerics, the Grand Mufti, Saidmukarram Abdukodirzoda, 61, was stabbed at the central mosque in Dushanbe after evening prayers. The attacker was swiftly apprehended by law enforcement near the mosque. Abdukodirzoda sustained minor injuries and was released from hospital after receiving medical treatment. While initial reports suggested “hooliganism” as the motive for the assault, the Interior Ministry later stated that the attacker's motives remained unclear and that various hypotheses were being investigated. Despite initially planning to proceed with the customary Friday prayers at the central mosque in Dushanbe, Abdukodirzoda failed to turn up. No reasons were given for his absence.
Kazakhstan inaugurated an 840-metre road tunnel, the longest in the country, in the southern Turkestan region as part of its ongoing efforts to facilitate the passage of transit traffic along the transport corridor connecting Western Europe to China. Deputy Transportation Minister Satzhan Ablaliyev stressed at the opening ceremony that the tunnel would also serve local residents by improving year-round access to the region and ensuring safer driving conditions during winter. Emergency response drills conducted at the site ahead of the opening tested tunnel safety systems, including ventilation and fire suppression, and involved simulations of vehicle breakdowns and traffic management.
Yandex Qazaqstan, a taxi-hailing and food delivery platform, has begun using wheeled robots in parts of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s business capital, to dispatch food orders to customers. The company says that robots are equipped with advanced sensors and artificial intelligence to help them navigate city streets, avoid obstacles, and recognise traffic signals. The service is currently only operating in one area of the city known as the Golden Square, but Yandex Qazaqstan says it plans to extend the coverage area in time.
A company in Kyrgyzstan has begun assembling two-seater helicopters capable of covering distances of up to 600 kilometres. The aircraft will be priced upward of $60,000 and are assembled from components manufactured in Poland. It is unclear if the company intends to sell the helicopters domestically. A spokesman for President Sadyr Japarov’s office cast this development as evidence of the country’s growing aeronautical industry capabilities.