Category: Kyrgyzstan
More Women in Central Asian Politics – But Where Is the Power?
Support Novastan, the European Central Asia magazine By supporting Novastan, you are supporting the only English, French and German-language media specialising in Central Asia. We’re independent and we need your… [...]
The Vocabulary of Reform: Why Central Asia Is Reimagining Its Political Traditions
From Kazakhstan’s Kurultai to Uzbekistan’s Mahalla, governments across Central Asia are increasingly framing political reform through institutions rooted in local history rather than imported political models. For much… [...]
Money, boxes and absent men: the hidden economy reshaping Central Asia
At Central Asian airports, remittances do not always look like money. They can look like taped cardboard boxes arriving from Istanbul, oversized suitcases from Moscow, bags of clothes bought… [...]
The Hidden Weight of Divorce in Kyrgyzstan: Why Its Social Consequences Remain Gendered
This article is published as part of a partnership between AUCA and Novastan, which brings graduate students’ academic work to a wider readership. Through this collaboration, Novastan aims to… [...]
What lies beneath Central Asia? Rare earths, critical minerals and the new race for resources
Central Asia is often described as the next frontier in the global race for rare earths. The reality is both more promising and more complicated. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and their… [...]
Support Novastan, the European Central Asia magazine
By supporting Novastan, you are supporting the only English, French and German-language media specialising in Central Asia. We're independent and we need your help to stay that way!
Bukhara Before the Border: Aini and the Politics of Tajik-Uzbek Memory
Some books are interesting because they tell a story. The Sands of Oxus: Boyhood Reminiscences of Sadriddin Aini is interesting because it captures an entire world at the moment… [...]
Manas and the Making of Kyrgyzstan
Few works of literature are as politically alive as the Kyrgyz epic Manas. It is not simply an old poem, nor only a heroic tale recited by specialists. In… [...]
Through roads, markets and silence: Tolomush Zhanybekov films Kyrgyzstan’s unseen lives
Kyrgyz director Tolomush Zhanybekov turns his camera toward the people and places often left outside the frame: cemetery guards, pensioners selling their belongings, children facing humiliation, brothers bound by… [...]
In Kyrgyzstan, after the dismissal of the GKNB chief, the political-security apparatus is reshuffled
On 10 February, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov dismissed Kamchybek Tashiev, head of the State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, and a central figure in power… [...]
Kyrgyzstan in the EU’s sights for the twentieth sanctions package against Russia
The visit to Bishkek on 26 February by EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan reflects the European Union’s tougher stance on the circumvention of sanctions targeting Russia in the region. [...]
How Central Asia is trying to protect the snow leopard
From Kyrgyz volunteer rangers to strict penalties in Uzbekistan, Central Asia is stepping up efforts to protect the rare and emblematic snow leopard. [...]
“If You’re Scared, You do it Scared”: How Bishkek’s Techno Scene Survives State Repression
Last April, Kyrgyzstan’s special forces carried out heavy-handed raids on two of Bishkek’s most popular electronic-music bars. Expecting a hotspot of drugs and illicit activity, officers found instead a… [...]