On April 15, two weeks after Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov signed the “foreign representatives” bill into law, the Open Society Foundations cited the law in its announcement that it would close its Kyrgyzstan foundation after 31 years. The Open Society Foundations, formerly the Open Society Institute, is a grantmaking network founded by George Soros. According … Read more
On March 22, Russia suffered its worst terrorist attack since the Beslan school siege of 2004 in Chechnya. The four alleged perpetrators, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, killed over 140 people and left many more injured in an attack on a popular concert venue, Crocus City Hall, on the outskirts of Moscow. As … Read more
“My children go to school just for the sake of it,” said Saodat, a 42-year-old mother of three from Tashkent who prefers to go by her first name only. “We paid for private tutoring for four years before my eldest could enroll at a university. My second child is in the same situation – besides … Read more
On April 2, Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov signed a bill on foreign funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into law. NGOs that receive funding from abroad will be registered as “foreign representatives,” and they will be subject to costly reporting and auditing requirements. In the many months it took for this piece of legislation to pass … Read more
On April 6, investigative journalist Bolot Temirov claimed in a Telegram post that his wife, Makhabat Tajibek kyzy, had been beaten alongside other detainees by prison guards in Kyrgyzstan. Prison authorities offered a weak denial, stating that pre-trial detention employees do not have the right to beat prisoners. The Kyrgyz Ombudsman Institute visited the pre-trial … Read more
There are not many references available on cooperation between Indonesia and the states of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – which perhaps explains the low level of political-economic commitments between the two so far. While Islam plays a key part in both sides’ sociocultural fabrics and both Indonesia and the Central … Read more
Uzbekistan may soon authorize private medical institutions to practice the delivery of newborns starting from 2025. A draft presidential decree is up for discussion until April 19, but so far, no comments have been received from the public in the online portal. While this move marks another step in the country’s privatization efforts and aims … Read more
Since 2018, Tajik citizens have been able to travel to Turkey for up to 90 days without a visa. That opening is closing soon, with Turkish authorities announcing that a visa regime will be put in place starting April 20. The announcement came in the wake of the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert … Read more
The risk of the Uyghur genocide being forgotten is a grave concern. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has not only employed deliberate and calculated tactics to conceal its genocide and crimes against humanity in East Turkestan but has also orchestrated a campaign to ensure others forget it is happening. Gregory H. Stanton, the president of … Read more
After four extremists stormed the Crocus City Hall, a music venue in Krasnogorsk on the outskirts of Moscow, with assault rifles and incendiary devices, the world was shocked as footage emerged of crowds fleeing the scene amid a hail of bullets and bodies. Confirming the carnage as its handiwork, Islamic State (IS) media outlets claimed … Read more