Uzbekistan: Everyone, yes, everyone is picking cotton. But two women taking photos

19.10.2016 10:42 msk Business Cotton Human Rights Politics Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan is planning to decrease the amount of manual labour in agriculture, in cotton cultivation in particular, by 30 per cent. The issue was discussed in print materials distributed during the 12th International Cotton and Textile Fair recently held in Tashkent. Interestingly, three fairs ago i

Punitive psychiatry gaining momentum in Kazakhstan

18.10.2016 09:41 msk Human Rights Kazakhstan Politics

Authorities and totalitarian countries often utilize physicians and medicines to suppress dissenting citizens and political opponents. Modern Kazakhstan is no exception. Those criticizing Astana risk being declared insane and ending up in psychiatric institutions.

Tajikistan’s imitation civil society

10.10.2016 12:04 msk Analytics Human Rights Kyrgyzstan Politics Tajikistan

Civic activism has been on the rise in Tajikistan in recent years. At first, groups of disgruntled women started breaking into opposition parties’ offices and western embassies , accusing the first of wanting to start a new war in the country, and the second of harbouring dissidents. Then the disgru

Central Asian Survey: Uzbekistan Forum and Virtual Special Issue

01.10.2016 08:35 msk Central Asia Media Review Politics Uzbekistan

The passing of Islom Karimov, the first president of independent Uzbekistan, in the late summer of 2016 raises important questions for the whole Central Asian region and for those who study it. Amid the clamour of media coverage about prospects for change under the leadership of interim President Sh

Who was Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov?

03.09.2016 12:37 msk Politics Uzbekistan

Preschool Education in Kyrgyzstan

25.07.2016 12:30 msk Analytics Ferghana Valley Kyrgyzstan Politics

I am a citizen of the United Kingdom who is currently living in Bishkek. I was asked to contribute an article on life in Kyrgyzstan to Fergana.ru from the perspective of an expat, explaining for example, what I found surprising, interesting, unusual, what I liked or did not like about life in Kyrgyz

Andrew Finkel, The Guardian: Turkey was already undergoing a slow-motion coup – by Erdoğan, not the army

17.07.2016 09:56 msk Analytics Politics Religious life Turkey, Republic of

What happens in Turkey matters. It is a G20 economy in a sensitive part of the world, sharing borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria. Turkey is an asset to its Nato partners when it is able to exercise a leadership role. It can be a liability when its own problems – like the tension with its Kurdish popu

Registan.Net: Kazakhstan at odds with homegrown terrorism

20.06.2016 14:32 msk Analytics Kazakhstan Politics

In June, Kazakhstan fell victim to homegrown terrorism. On June 5, a group of about 20 unknown armed assailants stormed two gun supply shops and a National Guard base in Aktobe (Northwestern Kazakhstan) in a vaguely coordinated assault that initially left 4 gunmen, a police officer, and 2 civilians

«Hizb ut-Tahrir» and Donald Trump: mutual contempt

15.06.2016 15:31 msk Analytics Central Asia Human Rights Kyrgyzstan Politics Religious life Tajikistan Uzbekistan

Islamophobia as a tool for pre-election race

Kazakhstan: Land Protesters Face Police Rampage

25.05.2016 12:04 msk Business China Human Rights Kazakhstan Politics

Street protests, against plans to step up land privatisation, were broken up by police in many of Kazakhstan ’s largest cities on Saturday. The demonstrations were organised by informal on-line networks, rather than by any of the recognised opposition groups. Here are key points from a report by AND

Lost childhood in the «Caliphate»

20.05.2016 17:05 msk Analytics Central Asia Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Politics Religious life Tajikistan Uzbekistan

ISIS prepares suicide children bombers from Central Asia

Washington and Sanjar Umarov want to shed light on Uzbek Kleptocracy money

27.04.2016 02:27 msk Analytics Business Interview Politics Uzbekistan

A public discussion to address the issue of where the Uzbek funds frozen in Swiss banks could be directed, took place in Washington, DC, on April 20.

UN Human Rights Committee urges Kyrgyzstan to release Azimjan Askarov, quash guilty verdict

23.04.2016 11:56 msk Human Rights Kyrgyzstan Politics

“UN experts have called on Kyrgyzstan to immediately release jailed political activist and journalist Azimjan Askarov, after finding that he had been arbitrarily detained, held in inhumane conditions, tortured and mistreated, and prevented from adequately preparing his trial defence,” reads in part

Uzbek expert criticizes World Bank over monitoring of forced labour

09.12.2015 19:06 msk Analytics Business Cotton Human Rights Politics Uzbekistan

In late November, the International Labour Organization (ILO) in collaboration with the World Bank published the monitoring results of the use of child and forced labour during the cotton harvest in 2015 in Uzbekistan . The experts of the ILO, as the report says, «could not find conclusive evidence

Uzbek rights advocate in need of rights advocate

24.11.2015 22:49 msk Human Rights Politics Uzbekistan

When Uzbekistan has finally released well-known politician Murad Jurayev, who spent 21 years behind bars, very few naively thought the move was an indication of the Islam Karimov regime’s weakening after a quarter-century state-sponsored elimination of its critics and opponents. Only several days la

Taalatbek Masadykov: “Radical religious views can quite realistically fracture Afghanistan”

19.11.2015 15:44 msk Afghanistan Analytics Central Asia Interview Politics Religious life

Taalatbek Masadykov, the former political director of the UN Special Political Mission to Afghanistan in 2002-2014, has had a conversation with Central Asia expert Arkadiy Dubnov to discuss the current events in Afghanistan and whether Taliban or IS could or should be negotiated with. They also disc