Eurasianet

Japarov has said he is waging a war to rid Kyrgyzstan of corruption.

The president-prime minister has pledged to hold elections soon.

Japarov declared himself acting president, a dramatic rise for a man sprung from prison last week.

Japarov and his supporters have shown little compunction in using violence to try and achieve their ends, although the events in Bishkek today easily outstrip anything that has happened in this crisis to date.

Any political turmoil was bound to worsen Kyrgyzstan's eviscerated economy, but what has happened over the past week has been especially destructive.

The threat of serious violence hangs heavy over these small farces of impromptu constitutional procedure.

A prime minister has been nominated under highly unusual conditions.

Nobody seems certain about President Jeenbekov's whereabouts.

A tainted election was swiftly followed by a violent night and confusion about who rules Kyrgyzstan.

Police used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse rock-wielding demonstrators. Injuries were reported on both sides.

The election did not feel very competitive in the president's hometown.

Usenov claims he died in 2013 and that he is really called Uritsky.

Before her sudden sacking, the ex-president’s daughter had been calling for more power.

A British court has unfrozen $99 million in property belonging to the former president’s daughter and grandson, only after they spoke more candidly about the sources and scope of their wealth than they have ever done at home.

Failure to take defensive measures against the pandemic is not the product of authoritarian caprice. Just delusion and mismanagement.

Proud Bukharans want to cherish their history, but not at the expense of foregoing the future.

It never once mentions China or Russia explicitly, although the shadow of those countries looms ever-present over the document.

There is no plangent chest-beating here – just a powerful, sympathetic account of the lives that are ruined when cruel rulers become addicted to their own power.

Turning to the year ahead, we outline the big trends in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Only pro-government parties are allowed to compete in parliamentary elections this month.

Credit and access to hard currency are no longer problems. But the lack of experienced technicians has forced businesses to scope out other ways of bringing staff up to scratch.

A catalogue of crude procedural violations stands to gravely undermine Uzbekistan’s claimed embrace of reformist values.

As ongoing protests show, Kazakhstan’s political landscape is not as predictable as the regime’s tacticians have heretofore believed.

The leader of the nation’s eldest daughter, Dariga Nazarbayeva, indicated she has no intention to run.

Tajiks read Radio Ozodi as Washington’s word.