{"id":38882,"date":"2021-01-13T20:01:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T19:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novastan.org\/en\/?p=38882"},"modified":"2021-02-15T16:57:45","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T15:57:45","slug":"central-asia-in-2020-the-year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novastan.org\/en\/kazakhstan\/central-asia-in-2020-the-year-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Central Asia in 2020: the year in review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coronavirus, border clashes, a political crisis in Kyrgyzstan… Central Asia had a turbulent 2020. Here is Novastan’s overview. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Central Asia as in the rest of the world, 2020 was the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, which pushed the region\u2019s health systems and economies to breaking point. But numerous other issues also made headlines, from border conflicts and environmental concerns to violence against women and the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There was some good news, too, with the region producing exciting cultural projects, some progress in biodiversity and growing social engagement in many places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kazakhstan: <\/strong>coronavirus, political appointments and snow leopards<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

As in the previous year, Kazakhstan\u2019s government was put to test in 2020. At the beginning of the year an interethnic conflict<\/a> in southern Kazakhstan between the local Dungan<\/a> minority and Kazakhs rocked the country. Thousands of Kazakhs are said to have raided several Dungan-settled villages in the incident, killing 11 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, the official line was that the violent confrontation had been sparked by a personal argument. The Dungans, however, see the events as a pogrom. The investigations indicate that many drug smuggling criminal gangs were involved. The criminal prosecution did not bring the nationalistic nature of the clash to light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the incident did not get mainstream attention for long, as containing the coronavirus dominated the political agenda from the beginning of March. Kazakhstan has the highest official number of infections in Central Asia. After gradually shutting international transport routes, the authorities declared a state of emergency and a nationwide lockdown in March. Social life was at a standstill until May, with some large cities cordoned off<\/a>. The online publication Kurziv.kz published photos<\/a> of a nearly deserted Almaty in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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