Conflict - The Times Of Central Asia

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As Conflict Rages, Kazakhstan Evacuates Citizens from Lebanon

Kazakhstan has evacuated several dozen Kazakh citizens and their family members from Lebanon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. It cited “escalating tensions in the Middle East,” a reference to fighting between Israel and its Iran-backed enemies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon. “This operation was organized through Istanbul and Dubai, resulting in the safe return of 41 people to Astana and Almaty from Beirut between October 17-31, 2024,” the ministry said in a statement. “The evacuation was conducted to protect the rights and interests of citizens of the Republic of Kazakhstan who were in the conflict zone,” it said. Other countries have also organized evacuations of their citizens from Lebanon. Türkiye assisted in the air evacuations of more than 2,000 people from 21 countries, including Uzbekistan, Türkiye’s state Anadolu Agency reported last month. Israeli air strikes have pounded parts of Lebanon and Israeli forces launched a ground incursion into southern Lebanon last month, a year after Hezbollah started firing rockets and other projectiles into Israel in support of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza. The Hezbollah action was a show of solidarity with Hamas in the war that broke out after its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Iran, meanwhile, has directly threatened Israel with retaliation for Israeli air strikes on Iranian targets last month, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat attacks between the two adversaries. The United States said it was sending more military aircraft to the region to deter Iran.

Keeping Central Asia Out of Conflicts: An Interview with Political Analyst Uran Usenov

In recent years the ability of diplomacy to ensure a stable world has been steadily declining, with the outbreak of more wars and international misunderstandings. The latest evidence of this trend is the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the war in Ukraine, as well as rising Iran-U.S. tensions. At the same time, ties between Iran and the countries of Central Asia have started to intensify. We spoke about this with Uran Usenov, a political analyst from Kyrgyzstan with extensive experience in international structures, including at the UN and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, where he worked between 2014 and 2022. Usenov is currently a Special Issues Consultant at the World Bank. TCA: Recent years have seen an active expansion of relations between the countries of Central Asia and Iran. Is it dangerous or advantageous these days to have a friend who supports Palestine, and even attacks U.S. military targets? UU: Indeed, Iran has recently intensified cooperation with Central Asian countries at a political level and even abolished visa requirements for some Central Asian countries. Such cooperation clearly carries political risks. Iran and the U.S. are basically in a cold war. And of course, any deepening of relations [with one side] will be regarded as taking a side in the conflict. In general, the countries of Central Asia have taken a cautious position in every [current] conflict. Regarding the conflict in Palestine, the Central Asian countries overall do not support Israel's military operation. Iran is a large country in the region and an immediate neighbor of Central Asia – the issue of expanding cooperation is just a matter of time. TCA: Could this draw Central Asia into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially against the backdrop of last year’s call by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Muslim countries to “arm Palestine?” UU: I think this is an unlikely scenario. The countries of Central Asia generally support a multi-vector foreign policy. Despite Iran's regional proximity, it is also important for Central Asian countries to maintain relations with the EU and the U.S., which are among the main contributors to the Central Asian economies. TCA: We remember numerous stories of citizens of Central Asian countries, especially young people, joining ISIS in Syria, so it seems possible that at a certain stage in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Central Asian people may again want to go and fight. How can this be prevented, or is it impossible? UU: Of course, it is impossible to fully prevent citizens of Central Asia from fighting in any of these conflicts, especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. But I think this will not be widespread. In the criminal codes of Central Asian countries, there is an article against fighting as a mercenary, with real prison time for taking part in any unauthorized military conflict. Still, we understand that this rule will not stop certain people. At the state level, not enough educational and preventive work is carried out among young people, and this is a failure of state policy. TCA: In the...

Conflict Delimitation & Demarcation

Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Agree on More Disputed Border Areas

As reported by RFE/RL, officials from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan say the two countries agreed on another 24 kilometers of the border between the two former Soviet republics after special talks on the issue were held over the past week, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security said on December 5th that the talks were held in the northern town of Buston, near the Kyrgyz border. According to the Kyrgyz government, the next round of talks regarding other parts of the border will be held on Kyrgyzstan's territory on a day that is yet to be determined. In a sign of thawing relations, back on November 9th 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic announced that a further 17.98 kilometres of its border with Tajikistan had been agreed upon, with another meeting of the of topographic working groups due to be held in Batken from November 11th to17th. A long-standing source of conflict between the two nations, it is emblematic of the problem that even the length of the border - sometimes cited as being 975-kilomtres long, and at others times 972-kilomteres - is rarely agreed upon. As of January 2023, Tajikistan’s President Rahmon stated that 614-kilometres have been agreed upon, backtracking on a previously stated figure of 664. The delimitation and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border has been an issue for decades, but turned into an extremely urgent problem in recent years after several deadly clashes took place along disputed segments of the frontier. With its scant natural resources and dwindling water supplies, the border has been the scene of numerous skirmishes for many years. In 2014, all borders between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were closed indefinitely to Kyrgyz and Tajik citizens following clashes over a bypass road in disputed territory; mortars were fired and both armies suffered casualties. In the spring of 2021, trouble flared up again when an armed conflict along one segment of the border left 36 Kyrgyz nationals, including two children, dead, and 154 injured on the Kyrgyz side. The Tajik authorities officially said that 19 Tajik citizens were killed and 87 were injured during the clashes. Many border areas in Central Asian former Soviet republics have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The situation is particularly complicated around the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.

Kazakh Citizen Sentenced to Over Six Years for Joining Wagner Mercenary Group

The Qaraghandy regional court in central Kazakhstan sentenced a local resident, Aleksei Shompolov, to six years and eight months in prison for joining Russia's Wagner mercenary group and fighting against Ukrainian forces in May in Bakhmut, where he was injured, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on November 28th. The 34-year-old, who pleaded guilty, was arrested after arriving back in Kazakhstan, where it is a crime to serve as a mercenary abroad. Shompolov's sentence was upheld on November 15th, the court said, adding that his payment from Wagner - 205,590 roubles ($2,300) – had been confiscated.