Karakalpak activist Aqylbek Muratbai has reportedly been granted asylum seeker status in Kazakhstan, where he is presently in detention at the request of authorities in neighboring Uzbekistan. Earlier reports, citing family and lawyers, claim that Muratbai has been charged in Uzbekistan with public calls for mass disorder and violence (Article 244 part 2 of the … Read more
Another winter in Central Asia is coming to an end, and smog has loomed over the cities of the region for many months now. At a glance, IQAir’s air quality map shows unhealthy or toxic air quality across numerous urban settlements in the Central Asian region on most days. It paints a disturbing picture that … Read more
An Almaty court has ordered Aqylbek Muratbai, an outspoken Karakalpak activist, to be held in custody for 40 days while Astana decides whether to fulfill an extradition request made by the government of Uzbekistan. Muratbai, who holds an Uzbek passport but has lived in Kazakhstan for more than a decade, was detained on February 15 … Read more
Multiple international actors have become involved in helping Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan alleviate the devastating consequences of one of the worst human-made environmental disasters across the Central Asian region: the loss of the Aral Sea. One notable partner in these endeavors is Japan. The East Asian nation has a long history of interactions with Central Asia, … Read more
Toxic dust storms, anti-government protests, the fall of the Soviet Union — for generations, none of it has deterred Nafisa Bayniyazova and her family from making a living growing melons, pumpkins, and tomatoes on farms around the Aral Sea. Bayniyazova, 50, has spent most of her life near Muynak, in northwestern Uzbekistan, tending the land. … Read more
This week, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev shuffled his government. Besides new Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov, notable new appointments included Finance Minister Madi Takiyev, and National Economy Minister Nurlan Baybazarov. The fresh faces in the economic bloc come as Tokayev pledges to pursue a new economic course, including promises to reduce the state’s outsized role in … Read more
Olzhas Bektenov is Kazakhstan’s new prime minister, but he will work with a similar ministerial team as his predecessor, according to the appointments that followed. The ruling Amanat party proposed Bektenov after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev fired the government on February 5, ahead of a plenary government session in parliament. Bektenov, 43, has had a long … Read more
Struggling with “dysfunctional rule of law, rising authoritarianism and systemic corruption” the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, released on January 30 by Transparency International, presents a “troubling picture” for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Meanwhile, countries that score highly in the index “have long fuelled transnational corruption,” a mantra familiar in the region we cover here … Read more
The Minister for Emergency Situations in Kazakhstan faces a possible layoff after the departments under his ministry performed poorly in response to an earthquake that rattled the population in the south of the country. On January 25, during a meeting on seismic safety in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reprimanded Minister Syrym Sharipkhanov, who was … Read more
A magnitude 7.1 earthquake in a remote part of China’s western Xinjiang region killed at least three people and caused extensive damage in freezing weather, officials said Tuesday while suggesting that the area’s sparse population contributed to the “very strong” quake’s low death toll. The quake rocked Uchturpan county in Aksu prefecture shortly after 2 … Read more