Central Asia

Photo: Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear test in eastern Kazakhstan near the secret town of Semipalatinsk on August 29, 1949. Credit: Katsuhiro Asagiri | INPS-IDN August 2019

It Is Time to Close and Lock the Door on Nuclear Testing

Viewpoint by Daryl G. Kimball

The writer is Executive Director of the Arms Control Association. The following is the text of his article published in Arms Control Today.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Everybody knows that nuclear weapons have been used twice in wartime and with terrible consequences. Often overlooked, however, is the large-scale, postwar use of nuclear weapons: At least eight countries have conducted 2,056 nuclear test explosions, most of which were far larger than the bombs that leveled Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The United States alone has detonated more than 1,030 nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, underwater, and underground.

: Arms Control Association; OPINION; 02 September 2019

Photo (left to right): Ms Zerbo, her husband Nazarbayev Prize laureate CTBTO Executive Secretary Lassina Zerbo, Kazakh President Tokayev, First President Nazarbayev, Ms Yukika Amano, widow of late IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, Nazarbayev Prize laureate and his brother Mari Amano. Credit: akorda.kz.

Kazakhstan Honours Advocates of a Nuclear-Free World

By Ramesh Jaura with reports from Katsuhiro Asagiri

BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) – Kazakhstan, widely acknowledged as a leader in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, has availed of this year’s International Day against Nuclear Tests to honour two eminent advocates of a world free of nuclear weapons. The Central Asian republic was one-time holder of the world's fourth nuclear arsenal as a part of the Soviet Union, defunct since 1991,

: Ramesh Jaura and Katsuhiro Asagiri; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 31 August 2019

Photo (L-R): The ATOM Project Honorary Ambassador Karipbek Kuyukov, Kazakh Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yerzhan Ashikbayev and UNODA Deputy High Representative Thomas Markram. Photo credit: inform.kz.

Kazakh Capital Hosts Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Delegates

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) – Representatives of five Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (NWFZs) and Mongolia have been exploring ways of inter-zonal cooperation and further coordination at a seminar in the Kazakh capital, co-organized by the Government of Kazakhstan and the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA).

Inputs from the seminar are expected to contribute to preparations for the discussions at the Fourth Conference of the State Parties to Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones on April 24, 2020 in New York.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 31 August 2019

Photo: Participants in Vienna ceremony to mark International Day against Nuclear Tests 2019. Credit: CTBTO.

Need for Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty's Entry into Force Reiterated

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – Urgent calls to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force as a key pillar of the international non-proliferation and disarmament framework marked the International Day against Nuclear Tests 2019 commemorated around the world on August 29 with ceremonies to remember the devastating consequences of nuclear tests. The Day will also be marked by a high-level UN plenary meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 9.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 30 August 2019

Photo: Kazakhstan officially hands over to UN document on ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapon. Credit: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Ratification Marks One Step Closer to Banning the Bomb

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 prospect of the entry into force of the landmark Treaty, which establishes a legal ban on nuclear weapons.

And this on August 29, the International Day against Nuclear Tests. This year, the UN officially commemorates the Tenth Anniversary of the Day.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 29 August 2019

Photo: A group of journalists from 12 countries. Credit: Kazakh Foreign Affairs Ministry.

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 of Kazakhstan as part of the project “Contemporary Culture of Kazakhstan in the Global World”. Participants came from Austria, Australia, China, South Korea, France, Japan, Switzerland, India, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Sweden.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 24 August 2019

Photo: Chinese trucks which bring goods to local markets. Credit for all photos: Bagymdat Atabaeva

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 Kyrgyzstan, where most people make a living on raising livestock.

Locals claim the mining company is contaminating their soil on which the cattle and sheep graze. “We have lost about a hundred sheep last month, we are pretty sure that the meat is contaminated and cannot be used as sheep are just dying out and it’s suspicious,” a local activist and a shepherd Osmonov K told IDN.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 19 August 2019

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 of the World” annual cultural festival was launched 12 years ago.

It now has the added objectives of attracting both its expat population to come back for a summer cultural break as well as to attract tourist to the region.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 13 August 2019

Collage: A glimpse of Choldala in Southern Kazakhstan. Photos by Kalinga Seneviratne, IDN-INPS

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 country's capital town Nur-Sultan for the past six years. He and his family moved from the nearby city Of Taraz in 2013 after numerous attempts to find affordable housing there.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 09 August 2019

Collage: Afghani teenager Turganbay Abdulbhakhidov with classmates in the background. Photos by Nurbek Bogachiev.

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 the world caught in a web of virtually no one’s land encompassing Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.