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, diverse nightlife community carving out one of Bishkek’s few remaining safe spaces for self-expression. After a year marked by escalated repression and shrinking civil liberties in Central Asia’s “island of democracy,” Novastan sits down with two leading figures from the targeted venues to discuss how their communities endure as Kyrgyzstan slides deeper into authoritarianism.

Kyrgyzstan has long been seen beyond Central Asia as a rare abode of democratic values in a region dominated by post-Soviet authoritarianism. When Sadyr Japarov, the country’s current president, suddenly rose to power in the wake of the 2020 Kyrgyz Revolution, he swore to the nation from day one to protect the Kyrgyz people’s cherished liberty. Four years later, the president himself has emerged as the largest threat to Kyrgyzstan’s already fragile democracy.

Japarov’s governance in just the first two years of his rule landed Kyrgyzstan on the 2022 Freedom House Index’s list of “consolidated authoritarian regimes.” In 2024, Kyrgyzstan earned a position on the CIVICUS Monitor’s “watchlist of countries experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms.” At the heart of Japarov’s consolidation of power lies the systematic erosion of Kyrgyzstan’s already flimsy freedom of expression. Japarov has frequently deployed his power over state institutions to stifle dissent in both political and civic spheres. An unlikely casualty of the crackdown has been Bishkek’s emerging techno scene.

Japarov’s Techno Raids

On the night of 14 April 2024, Kyrgyzstan’s special forces, working alongside local police, raided Ailan Bar to conduct a search for illegal substance use at electronic music gatherings. In addition to heavy firearms and drugs tests, the police brought along a professional camera crew to document the raid for their social media page. The following night, another raid was done at PLUR, another of Bishkek’s techno institutions, in a similar fashion. Both bars are central to Bishkek’s electronic music scene and known throughout the city for providing above all else a “safe space” for all partygoers, regardless of background. 

In both instances, officers drew their weapons and forced the men present to lie on the floor with their hands behind their backs while they searched the venues. According to RFE/RL, police assaulted several people at Ailan Bar, striking one in the leg and another in the stomach.

In both raids, police were noted to be genuinely surprised with the minimal amount of illicit substances they were able to sniff out. At Ailan Bar, officers opened the raid with a lecture on “irresponsible drug use,” a message that fell flat when only three of the dozens present tested positive for cannabis use. The police statement regarding that night notes they were only able to find “a ready-made cigarette with narcotics” and a packet of a legal anti-epilepsy medication.

The lack of significant narcotics did not surprise Chyngyz, one of Ailan Bar’s directors and part-owners. “Our community is quite healthy in that sense,” he asserted. Chyngyz explained that like himself, the vast majority of those who enjoy techno music in Bishkek do not use illegal substances at their parties. “I think if people truly love electronic music, they don’t need drugs.”

Read More on Novastan: Inside Bishkek’s Metal Boom: Portrait of a Music Pioneer in Kyrgyzstan

Unlike most patrons to Bishkek’s techno venues, some of the police involved with the raid were later revealed to be engaging in illegal activities themselves. “In the fall, I read in the news that one of the investigators present at the raid got charged with corruption,” Chyngyz stated.

New Wave of Kyrgyz Populism Threatens Self-Expression

For both partygoers and staff, the raids were an unprecedented shock. Up to that point, both bars had been cooperative with local police and had never faced any prior incidents. Both the heavy-handed police tactics and the state’s post-raid messaging indicated that the operations were directed from the highest levels of government.

The raids aligned neatly with Japarov’s emerging populist agenda to enforce traditional Kyrgyz values. “In the government’s eyes, young people must study and start a family. There’s no room for alcohol and dancing,” Chyngyz states. 

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In addition to sensationalizing illegal drug usage in electronic music spaces, authorities have begun to frame Bishkek’s techno community as a conduit for LGBTQ+ influence, portraying it as a danger to Kyrgyz youth due to the bars’ inclusive policies. LGBTQ+ youth in Kyrgyzstan already face severe state and social repression, and to many, Bishkek’s electronic music parties are the only spaces where they are fully allowed to be their truest selves. This, to those running Bishkek’s techno institutions, is a red line they will not back down from. “Keeping our environment safe for all is our main responsibility,” Chyngyz states firmly.

Repression Necessitates Adaptation

After the raid, PLUR bar began adjusting its strategies to deal with the new wave of state repression. Constrained by resources and now under the state’s watchful eye, the bar’s operators refused to surrender to their opposition. “We hadn’t done a lot yet. We still hadn’t shown everybody what we really want to create,” says Innokentii, PLUR’s creative director. “No one has told us no yet.” 

Ailan Bar, too, remained committed to their vision to provide safety and a safe space for their community in the months following the raid. However, their brazen commitment to provide for and defend the LGBTQ+ community had to transition to more covert operations if it were to continue in the new repressive climate. Prior to the raids, Chyngyz used to host regular “queer nights” at Ailan Bar. He is firmly committed to continuing these events, but recognizes that Ailan Bar’s public advertising must now be more strategic. “It is all about being discreet. Queer people must know that they are welcome here, but also the wrong people must not know that queer people are welcome.”

Read More on Novastan: Queer life under pressure in Kyrgyzstan

Since the raid, Ailan Bar has closed its physical location and transitioned to a model where the organization pops up for one-time events across Kyrgyzstan. The bar’s organizers note that they feel safer in Kyrgyzstan’s more remote regions away from the state’s watch. 

PLUR has since taken on a new identity as QQ Bar and moved into a smaller space closer to the city center. Innokentii sees the move as an opportunity to learn from their past mistakes. “I want to make it stable enough to continue without me if I leave the country. I’m not from here—I don’t want to die here,” he says. Innokentii, like a large part of Bishkek’s contemporary techno community, came to Kyrgyzstan from Russia in recent years to flee war drafts. Helping to create spaces for electronic music in Bishkek helps him feel close to the subculture in his home country, a subculture that remains his central inspiration.

In order to ensure their subculture survives, Chyngyz has founded a DJ school within Ailan Collective to train and teach the next generation of Bishkek’s rebellious electronic music scene.

The Future for Bishkek Ravers

While law enforcement targeting youth subcultures is nothing new for Kyrgyzstan, those involved with Bishkek’s techno scene note that the current wave of repression feels different than those that have preceded it. “With the previous government, it is not right to categorize what we had as ‘freedom.’ We had negligence. We could only exist freely because the government didn’t care about us,” Chyngyz notes. “Now, authorities no longer turn a blind eye–they have a blueprint and they follow it. They’re populists, and populists have to show results in order to keep the people happy.”

After the raids, both bars saw their regular number of attendees dwindle. However, since the bars have implemented new strategies to prevent police altercations, they have largely been successful in fending off further government attacks. In just over a year and a half since the April raids, the crowds have largely returned. QQ Bar, even in their smaller venue, now sees over two hundred attendees at their most popular events. 

The techno community in Bishkek is as diverse as it is tight-knit. Chyngyz notes that he always finds it hard to describe the demographics of his crowd to others, as it spreads across every age group, profession, and walk of life. Innokentii, however, notes that there is one thread that unites all of their party participants. “Unlike techno scenes in larger cities, in Bishkek, everyone who comes is a character.”

With the survival of Bishkek’s techno institutions, the venues now serve as a cultural meeting point for the city’s other repressed creative communities. Innokentii notes that it is not an uncommon sight at QQ Bar to see people from Bishkek’s art industry, bar industry, rock scene, and rap underground all mixing freely.

Bishkek’s electronic music vanguard now sees their scene’s creativity and resilience as more than a local story. They have created something unique that they want to share with the world. While domestic challenges persist, few in Bishkek’s techno leadership appear ready to back down. “If you’re scared, you do it scared. So we do it scared,” Chyngyz remarked.

Chyngyz believes that the techno scene’s ability to adapt to evermounting challenges and unite diverse communities is not only what has led to the scene’s survival in Bishkek, but truly illuminates what the community is all about. “Techno is something that has the power to unite completely different people with completely unrelated backgrounds–people who maybe can’t even speak the same language. But they love techno, and enjoy the space it provides. Out of nothing, you create common ground.”

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Joseph Fisher for Novastan

The post “If You’re Scared, You do it Scared”: How Bishkek’s Techno Scene Survives State Repression appeared first on Novastan English.

In recent months, Tajik activists and members of the opposition have appealed to the international community to take action to protect human rights in the country. They feel that Europe is not doing enough, neither for the persecuted communities in Tajikistan nor for refugees in their own countries.

From 26 September to 6 October this year, a meeting of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (a body set up by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe OSCE) was held in Warsaw, at which the question of human rights in Tajikistan was discussed.

As reported by Pamir Daily, Tajikistan sent no official delegation; only Tajik opposition activists and journalists attended.

The main themes discussed were the imprisonment of journalists and the atrocities committed during the events of last May in Gorno-Badakhshan. This province, covering half of the territory of Tajikistan, is the scene of open conflict between the inhabitants and the central government. Human rights activists consider that Europe has the means to react but is too passive in the face of repression and “ethnic cleansing”.

Activists say international reaction is disappointing

After expressing their concern and sharing eye-witness accounts of the current repression in Tajikistan, the activists demanded that Europe not only end international assistance to the country, but implement sanctions against the regime of Emomali Rahmon.

Independent journalist Houmaïra Bakhtiyar claimed in the Majlis Podcast, a popular programme produced by the US-sponsored Radio Free Europe, that because Tajikistan depends heavily on foreign aid, sanctions would be effective. International pressure may, indeed, be the only means of preventing a worsening of the situation, since the opposition has been practically reduced to silence in the country.

Read more on Novastan: Five year ban on Islamic opposition in Tajikistan

After the violent suppression of demonstrations in the Pamirs in May this year, the European response was insufficient. The European Union and the Embassies of France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the USA published a joint statement, that condemned the repression, but the Tajik government never replied and no further action was taken by the international community.

As Moukhiddine Kabiri, leader of the Islamic Renaissance Party, points out in the same article in Pamir Daily, “if these events had happened in any other country, the reaction would have been totally different.”

Europe appeals to the Tajik government to respect Human Rights

Peter Stano, spokesperson of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, reaffirmed to Novastan that the EU was focused on the targeted repression of journalists and human rights activists. The EU had appealed to the Tajik government to respect its own laws, human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular in relation to the May events during which peaceful demonstrators were killed and members of Pamiri civil society were arrested.

The EU had demanded that the Tajik government grant the International Committee of the Red Cross access to GBAO to carry out an independent inquiry into the May killings.

Read more on Novastan: Tajikistan – dozens killed in Gorno-Badakhshan

According to Peter Stano, “In December, at the next Tajik-European dialogue on human rights and the General System of Preferences (GSP+), the EU will raise these issues and remind the Tajik government that human rights and fundamental freedoms, of assembly, of peaceful demonstration and freedom of opinion and the press, are essential parts of the   negotiation to obtain EU support for GSP+ and for strengthening the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement.”

Political opponents have difficulty finding refuge in Europe

Europe is not setting a good example when it comes to the protection of refugees. According to lawyer Leïla Nazgoul Seïytbek, in an issue of Majlis Podcast, most refugees coming to Europe from Central Asia are political refugees. As far as Tajik citizens are concerned, this is due to the fact that Russia, geographically more accessible, is no longer a safe country.

As Ozodi, the Tajik service of Radio Free Europe, has explained, the Russian police is collaborating with the Tajik authorities in the arrest of dissidents. Those most at risk must find illegal ways of getting to Western Europe, with most heading to Germany.

However, once in Europe, Tajik citizens at risk of imprisonment in their own country have difficulty obtaining refugee status. Many do not have access to lawyers and to the necessary information; they are also unaware of the organisations that could help them.

Difficult to obtain refugee status

As Christian Riedle, responsible for asylum, migration and human rights in Austria, explains, it can take months or even years for the authorities to take the relevant decisions. In the case of Central Asian refugees, the final decisions may be biased due to lack of understanding of the situation by officials, who are unaware of the risks to which these persons are exposed.

Leïla Nazgoul Seïytbek notes a flagrant difference in the way various refugees are treated. Human rights activists complain about double standards for treatment of Ukrainians and Central Asians, even those who may initially have found refuge in Ukraine and had to move on to Western Europe after the beginning of hostilities.

Read more on Novastan: Tajikistan – dead and injured during protests in Gorno-Badakhshan

Obtaining refugee status requires proof of threats to safety in the country of origin, which is not always easy. Radio Ozodi cites a young man who participated in the November demonstrations in Khorog, and subsequently escaped to Germany.

“In my case, I had no advance warning: an official called my parents after the demonstrations. Some friends told me that my name was on a black list, but it will not be easy to prove this to the German authorities,” he explained.

Accusations of extremism prejudice the decision-making

Again according to Leïla Nazgoul Seïytbek, migrants may be refused refugee status because the Tajik government accuses them of terrorism or extremism. European authorities are not necessarily aware of the political situation in Tajikistan and do not know that these accusations are a ploy used for political purposes with no basis in fact.

In other words, these matters are not dealt with on the basis of presumption of innocence. If the Tajik government demands the extradition of one of its citizens by alleging extremism, European countries comply in the absence of contrary documentary evidence.

Read more on Novastan: Terrorist threats in Central Asia: facts or fiction?

The case of a Pamiri recently expelled from Austria and condemned to a long sentence in Tajikstan demonstrates that European judges lack a correct appreciation of the situation; the accusations of terrorism turned out to be false and were based on incorrect information from the Tajik government.

Activists extradited despite dangers faced

Even though Interpol undertakes inquiries that frequently determine the innocence of citizens that Tajikistan accuses of terrorism, mistakes can happen. According to Christian Riedle, it is difficult to tell whether Interpol really takes account of the fact that the accusations emanate from a state that makes accusations as part of a process of repression.

Read more on Novastan: Kyrgyz journalist Ulugbek Babakoulov finds refuge in France

Errors, whether emanating from Interpol or national agencies, are not, however, infrequent. Some activists from Central Asia who had obtained refugee status in Ukraine fled to Poland, where the Ukrainian positive decision was not upheld. Leïla Nazgoul Seïytbek reports tht there are dozens of refugees, separated from their children, in preventive detention in Poland.

She claims that the authorities responsible for granting asylum do not learn from their mistakes, and that letters from human rights organisations are ignored.

The struggle against terrorism is used as a pretext by the Tajik President

The Tajik news agency Asia-Plus reported that at a conference on co-operation against terrorism, held in the capital Dushanbe on 18 and 19 October this year, President Emomali Rahmon made a direct appeal to European countries not to grant refugee status to persons accused of terrorism. He claimed that “terrorists and extremists misuse refugee status and abuse the confidence of developed countries.”

Opposition parties that are not considered dangerous in Europe have been declared by Tajikistan as terrorist organisations.

In Central Asia, Europe is attempting to tackle numerous and genuine threats, such as the Islamic State and its regional offshoot Daech-Khorasan, as well as organised crime and problems related to the encroaching Taliban. However, in its dealings with the Tajik government, it must take account of the fact that this government does not apply the same definitions to “extremism” and “terrorism”.

Nane Bouvier
Editor for Novastan in Dushanbe

Translated by William Roberts

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The post European reaction to repression in Tajikistan has no effect appeared first on Novastan English.