By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan, the country where the Soviet atomic bomb was first tested exactly 70 years ago, has become the 26th State party by depositing with the United Nations Secretariat the ratification instrument to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) thus marking one step closer to the […]
Journalists Get to Know the Rich Culture of Kazakhstan
By Yukie Asagiri NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) – Journalists from Asia and Europe who joined a weeklong cultural press tour of the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan in August broadly concurred that “this country has something to offer even to the well-travelled tourist”. The week-long press tour was purported to showcase the rich culture and history […]
Chinese Mining Company in Kyrgyzstan Suspected of Playing Havoc with Ecology
By Bagymdat Atabaeva SOLTON SARY, Kyrgyzstan (IDN) – On August 5 about 300 villagers from Solton Sary area, about 200 km from capital Bishkek, gathered at the Chinese owned Zhong Ji mining company’s office here to protest against gold mining works, which they claimed were killing their cattle. Thus, another mining scandal has erupted in […]
The ‘Roof of the World’ Festival Keeps Tajikistan’s Traditional Culture Alive
By Alisher Kukanbekov KHOROG, Tajikistan (IDN) – In this mountainous Gorno Badakhshan region with around a third of the population estimated to be unemployed, the exodus of the people for greener pastures abroad has gathered momentum in the past decade. To protect the colourful traditional culture from disappearing along with its population, the ‘Roof Top […]
Costly City Housing Threatens Farming in Southern Kazakhstan
By Milena Melnikova* CHOLDALA, Southern Kazakhstan (IDN) – “I work six days a week, like my wife. I can sometimes take extra hours, and she takes work home. We don’t have time to grow something or raise cattle,” says Andrei Pan, who has been living in Choldala about 580 miles (or 933 km) south of the […]
Afghani Teenager in Kyrgyzstan Plunges into Learning
By Bagymdat Atabaeva* NARYN, Kyrgyzstan (IDN) – Turganbay Abdulbhakhidov is a 16-year-old teenager from Afghanistan who immigrated into Naryn region two years ago. His family used to make a living through cattle breeding in the Pamir mountains. Without electricity, proper medical services, educational institutions, and sustainable housing, these people live on the roof top of […]
Standoff in Kyrgyzstan After Parliament Strips A Powerful Ex-President of Immunity
By Kamila Eshaliyeva* | Open Democracy BISHKEK (IDN-INPS) – At the end of June 2019, Kyrgyz MPs removed former president Almazbek Atambayev’s immunity from prosecution by 103 votes out of a possible 109. Parliament’s decision is based on a new law signed by current President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, which provides a mechanism for removing immunity from […]
Climate Change Finds Its Way to the ‘Rooftop’ in Tajikistan
By Alisher Kukanbekov* PAMIR, Tajikistan (IDN) – The great mountains of Pamir that have been known as the ‘Roof of the World’ over the centuries is now falling victim to climatic change. One of the largest glaciers here, Garmo glacier, has retreated by a staggering 7 kilometers in the past few decades with the annual […]
Kazakh Election Shows Youth Wavering between Apathy and Passion for Change
By Milena Melnikova* NUR-SULTAN (IDN) – When Kazakhstan went to the polls on June 9 with six candidates challenging the incumbent president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, one may have thought that the people had a clear choice to make after almost three decades. But many young people in this oil-rich former Soviet Republic do not share that […]
Ancient Silk Route Hub Gets Ready for Modern Tourism
By Kalinga Seneviratne BUKHARA, Uzbekistan (IDN) – The city of Bukhara was a major trading hub of the ancient Silk Routes that connected Asia to the Arab world and Europe. With the Uzbekistan government’s lifting of restrictions on foreign tourists in 2016 and global interests on the ancient Silk Routes gathering momentum, this 2000-year-old city […]