Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday that it was forced to shut down its operation in Uzbekistan after a 15 year presence in the country. For an unspecified reason, the Uzbek Justice Ministry moved to revoke HRW registration earlier this week which necessitated the organization to close its offices in Tashkent, the country’s capital. “With […]
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake On Thursday, March 10, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake Jr. testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia, on U.S. policy and engagement in Central Asia. The hearing was chaired by […]
Kazakhs walk past an election poster for President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Almaty last week. RFE/RL Kazakhstan is gearing up for a snap presidential vote on April 3, announced only one month ago and scheduled almost two years ahead of the originally planned 2012 election. There has been speculation whether president Nursuntan Nazarbayev’s decision to hold […]
TAPI Signatories in Ashgabat The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline or TAPI is a 1,680 km (1,050 m) natural gas line originating in the Daulatabad gas fields in southeastern Turkmenistan. It crosses Afghanistan and continues on through Pakistan ending in Fazilka, a northwestern Indian city close to the India-Pakistan border. TAPI is one of the largest pipelines in […]
Uzbekistan is systematically sneaking electricity from Kazakhstan’s power grid beyond amounts agreed between the two parties, the Kazakhstan Electricity Grid Operating Company (KEGOC) claims. Kazakhstan has had tensions with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan off and on for the last ten years on electricity. Basically, there isn’t enough electricity for the latter two states during the winter. […]
A History of Inner Asia by Svat Soucek is a scholarly work about the history of Inner Asia which includes the present day five independent states of Central Asia (in historic terms also known collectively as Russian or Western Turkestan), Mongolia (Outer Mongolia) and China controlled Sinkiang (Eastern or Chinese Turkestan). It is not customary […]
On Thursday, February 17, Kyrgyz parliamentarians overwhelmingly voted in support of Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev’s proposal to name a 4,446 m (14,587 ft) peak in the country’s northern Tian Shan range after his counterpart Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. In an explanatory note the MPs said it would “cement friendly ties between Kyrgyzstan and […]
In January 2011, Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov made a controversial visit to Brussels and met with both E.U. and NATO officials creating somewhat of an uproar among human rights activists. His European visit drew attention and sharp criticism towards renewed Western engagement with a state that violates human rights and personal freedoms, remains corrupt, brutally […]
Early morning February 7, 2011, Hikmatullo Saifullozoda, a 60 year old editor of the opposition newspaper Najot and a prominent member of the opposition from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), was ambushed and brutally beaten by unidentified perpetrators near his home in the capital city Dushanbe. He is currently in a hospital in […]
On Friday, February 4th Kazakhstan’s president Nazarbayev announced that his country will hold presidential elections on April 3, 2011, almost two years earlier than previously scheduled for 2012. Nursultan Nazarbayev has held a grip on power in this Central Asian republic since before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. At the age of […]
A sizeable amount of natural gas has been found in Tajikistan- 60 billion cubic meters of gas, enough to supply Tajikistan for 50 years. Some of this gas may be available this year to Tajik households, freeing the country from Uzbekistan’s stranglehold on energy supplies. With a few more hydro-electric plants coming on board by […]
Ata-Jurt leader Kamchybek Tashiev Yesterday, on October 10, Kyrgyz voters cast their ballots for a new parliament. Overall, there were not a lot of new faces chosen, casting doubt on a fresh start after June’s riots and killings, when over 400 people reportedly died and more than 400,000 were forced out of their homes. On the other […]
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