Central Asia

Joseph Elgars on how the recent election of Sadyr Japarov as Kyrgyzstan's new president might change domestic and international dynamics.

Mamut Churlu is part of the mass return of Tatar repatriates to the Crimean Peninsula at the fall of the Soviet Union. Churlu worked for years in Uzbekistan and Russia on researching folk art [...]

Have you ever read a book that was so good you couldn’t put it down? What about an academic text? That’s how I felt about Russia and Central Asia: Coexistence, Conquest, Convergence by Shoshana [...]

January editorial. Since Kazakhstan became independent in 1991, it has yet to uphold the democratic standards laid out in its constitution. The young nation has had only two presidents: Nursultan [...]

Let us face it, for many of us 2020 has been a monster of a year, one that seemed devoid of much of the joy and light that makes life enjoyable; much like a member of Brezhnev’s politburo. [...]

One of my favourite things about the upcoming holidays is the amount of time I can spend on reading. Every year, I find at least one book under the Christmas tree and usually, I finish it before [...]

Thousands of women in Kyrgyzstan are victims of bride-kidnapping every year. According to the report published in 2016 by the National Statistical Committee, about 10,000 cases of [...]

December editorial. On 13 November 2020, a new statue dedicated to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow’s favorite dog breed was unveiled. This new artifice has attracted the attention of Internet [...]

Avj – a tiny village in the Pamir Mountains of Tajikistan. Majestic nature, welcoming people, dangerous roads, colourful culture, delicious plov, juicy apricots and sweet mulberries. In 2019, I [...]

Turkmenistan – a country largely ignored in International Relations, is actually a central piece of the natural gas geopolitical realm. After its independence, most of the country’s gas [...]