 RFE/RL Central Asia Report 9/2/2009 4:27:13 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the five countries of Central Asia.For more stories on Central Asia, please visit and bookmark our Central Asia page . |
 IMF Mum On Audit Of Tajik Power Company The company, Barqi Tojik, has come under criticism locally over perceived shortcomings that include opacity in its operations, and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon dismissed the company's director and deputy directors earlier this year. More  Unlucky If Your Surname Is Aliev Last week, we reported that Kazakhstan's "Rakhat-TV" is changing its name to "STV" -- not of course anything to do with renegade black sheep, Rakhat Aliev. More  Aboard The 'Eastern Express' Mumin Shakirov, a reporter for RFE/RL's Russian Service, recently traveled through Central Asia aboard the "Eastern Express" -- the train linking the Tajik capital of Dushanbe to Moscow. During his four-day trip, his fellow travelers tell him of their hopes, their concerns, and their lives as migrant workers in Russia. More  Kazakh Rights Defender On Trial For Manslaughter One of Kazakhstan's most prominent human rights activists has gone on trial in a case his colleagues fear could be used for political purposes. More Tajik Foreign Ministry's spokesman Davlat Nazriev told RFE/RL that 17 of those deported have already arrived in Tajikistan and three others are on their way home. More HRW is also calling for Turkmenistan to end "new, burdensome requirements for studying abroad that violate the rights of freedom of movement and to education." More  Lone Private University Defies Tajik Closure Order Tajikistan's Education Ministry has ordered the temporary closure of the country's only private university. But the educators are questioning their motives, and the university is refusing to comply. More  Kyrgyz President Announces Structural Reforms But addressing lawmakers at the opening session on September 1 of the country's parliament, the Supreme Council, President Kurmanbek Bakiev dismissed as untrue recent speculation that he planned to dissolve the legislature. More French movie star Gérard Depardieu is in southern Kazakhstan, where he is acting in a new Kazakh movie, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Islam Becomes Mandatory Study in Secular Tajik Schools With schools set to open on September 1, Tajikistan becomes the first country in Central Asia to break with the tradition of secular education and add Islam to its curriculum. Some see it as part of an effort by the government to take an active role in overseeing how the nation's young are learning their religion. More  Deadly Head Scarves Authorities in Uzbekistan have banned the wearing of hijabs, or Islamic head coverings, as a security measure until Thursday. More  A Visit To The Test Site Today It was 60 years ago, on August 29, 1949, that the Soviet Union first tested its nuclear arsenal. In the first of many tests, an atomic bomb was detonated at the Semipalatinsk test site, which would become a main hub of the arms race over the next 40 years. On the anniversary of the first test, Yermek Boltayev and Regina Kozhikova of RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service visited the former nuclear site in East Kazakhstan. More 60 Years After Nuclear Test, Legacy Of Misery Lives On On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, sending a mushroom cloud high above northern Kazakhstan and a shadow of fear over the rest of the world. The nuclear arms race had begun in earnest. That initial blast, and the many that followed, continue to claim victims. More  Aliev: Kazakh Authorities Trying To 'Get' Me Rakhat Aliev, the former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, told RFE/RL's Kazakh Service that Kazakh authorities are trying "to get him" using his former associate Alnur Musaev. More  Hundreds Of Kyrgyz Children Unable To Attend School Hundreds of Kyrgyz children will not be able to attend schools this year, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports. More  CSTO Military Exercises Off To Discouraging Start A military exercise in Russia marks the first official test of the new Collective Operational Reaction Forces, created within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. But the exercises have been overshadowed by profound divisions within the CSTO concerning the new force. More  Former Kazakh KNB Head Speaks On Aliev's Role In Kidnappings The former chief of Kazakhstan's Committee of National Security (KNB) says the former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev "might" have been involved in the kidnapping of two high-ranking bankers in Kazakhstan. More  Rethinking Kyrgyzstan's Tulip Revolution Kyrgyzstan's 2005 "Tulip" or "People's" Revolution was hailed by many as a promising triumph of democracy in the brief era of "colored" revolutions. But the years since have seen a regression on the country's path to democracy. More  Hemorrhagic Fever Takes A Deadly Toll In Central Asia While Central Asia has been preoccupied with the threat of the swine flu pandemic, another deadly virus is already marking its return to the region. Congo-Crimean hemorrhagic fever, a tick-borne illness, is starting to reappear, and has already claimed lives in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. More |
