Category: Kyrgyzstan
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 care… [...]
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 for… [...]
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. Kyrgyzstan… [...]
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 young,… [...]
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Dead in the Water: Has the Common Turkic Alphabet Failed to Boost Turkish Influence in Central Asia?
It has been one year since the Organization of Turkic States approved the implementation of a common Turkic alphabet, designed for uniform use in all member states. Under the guise… [...]
Kyrgyzstan’s march to smother the free press
Kyrgyzstan is sliding down to full blown autocracy. The country has traditionally stood out for offering greater protections for free speech, political parties, and NGOs than any other Central Asian… [...]
Welcome the Shitheads: Bishkek band Vtoroi Ka goes on a European tour
In October and November, avant-garde music duo Vtoroi Ka will be touring Europe, from Istanbul to Reykjavík. This is the first tour of its kind for a popular music band… [...]
Sex, Drugs, and Postpunk – the new album of Bishkek’s Duo Vtoroi Ka
Bishkek musical duo Vtoroi Ka has recently dropped its third album: carnivalesque postpunk in a world where nothing is as serious as it seems. Novastan’s review. “These post-Soviet cities have… [...]
New voices: Central Asian short films at the GoEast Festival 2024
Central Asia’s young filmmakers and their work are extremely diverse. The audience at the 24th goEast film festival in Wiesbaden was able to see this for themselves in various short… [...]
Violence against foreign students in Bishkek
On the night of May 17 to May 18, an angry crowd turned against South Asian students and workers in Bishkek. The attack occurred after a video was published on… [...]
Leaving the island: Japarov’s campaign to silence independent media
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Kyrgyz Republic has been considered an island of democracy in a largely autocratic region. However, the latest administration has spent the last… [...]