Category: Politics
The story of the Xinjiang Kazakhs: silent suffering along the Belt and Road
Relations between Kazakhstan and China are deepening fast. As a linchpin in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, Astana hopes to pluck the fruits of this global infrastructure development strategy, which… [...]
Kazakhstan to become an Unusual Addition to the Abraham Accords: Will this Diplomatic Gesture for Washington Pay Off?
Two years into the war in Gaza – which has killed over 68,000 Palestinians – Kazakhstan has volunteered to join Trump’s Abraham Accords initiative to forge closer ties with Israel. [...]
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… [...]
70 years of Xinjiang: Beijing celebrates and enacts new political doctrine
The 70th anniversary of Xinjiang, China’s Uyghur region, was celebrated with great fanfare in Ürümqi. The ceremony was marked by the presence of Xi Jinping, the first Chinese president to… [...]
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… [...]
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!
Carbon neutral by 2060? Kazakhstan’s green pledge faces a reality check
Kazakhstan’s economy remains heavily tied to fossil fuels, making its ambitious plans to shift toward renewable energy a daunting task. Whether the government can deliver on its pledge of reaching… [...]
Navigating the gridlock: Central Asia’s struggle with urban public transit
Traffic congestion is a major problem in urban centres around the world, as vehicle emissions pollute air quality and cause significant environmental and health issues. Central Asian governments have been… [...]
The Lexicon of Kazakh Decolonisation
Over thirty years after the Soviet Union’s collapse, colonial influences persist in Kazakhstan. Russian remains widely spoken and serves as the primary language for interethnic communication. As language is a… [...]
When Freedom of Speech Is a Joke: Author of a Satirical News Outlet Detained in Kazakhstan
Temirlan Yensebek, creator and author of “Qaznews24,” an agency of satirical news, has been detained on Saturday in Almaty. He is expected to stand trial under accusations of incitement of… [...]
Night train to Dushanbe – a travelogue of Uzbek-Tajik relations
For many years, relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have been fraught with tension. Some analysts even dubbed the ties between the two countries a Central Asian ‘cold war’. But… [...]
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… [...]
Moscow attacks highlight Tajikistan’s radicalisation problem
Russian authorities have charged four Tajiks for their involvement in the deadly terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow on March 22 that cost the lives of at… [...]