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Pan Yue (right), the head of China’s State Committee for Nationalities Affairs, and Aida Balayeva, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Culture, hold copies of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between their agencies signed on September 18. (Photo: gov.kz)

Xinjiang crackdown downplayed during Chinese nationalities rep’s visit to Kazakhstan

An update on recent developments in Chinese-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Sep 22, 2023

Missing out: All the Central Asia presidents minus one, Kyrgyzstan's Sadyr Japarov, seen in Dushanbe last week. (Photo: Tajik presidential press service)

EurasiaChat: Speaking truth to (and about) power

Kyrgyzstan's Media Struggles, Electricity Woes, and Uzbekistan's Religious Discourse.

EurasiaChat, Alisher Khamidov, Aigerim Toleukhanova, Peter Leonard Sep 18, 2023

Don't mention the war: Kamyzyaki's support for the Ukraine invasion has made them undesirables in Kazakhstan. (Photo: Instagram)

In Kazakhstan, comedy is no laughing matter

A Russian comedy group getting concerts canceled over its support for the Ukraine war is another harbinger of where public sentiment lies.

Almaz Kumenov Sep 15, 2023

Kok-boru match before things went south. (Photo: Kyrgyz presidential administration)

EurasiaChat: The rough with the smooth in Kyrgyzstan

How a bike ride showed the depth of Kyrgyz hospitality, and the places where tensions persist nevertheless. This and more in the latest EurasiaChat podcast.

Alisher Khamidov, Peter Leonard, Aigerim Toleukhanova, EurasiaChat Sep 4, 2023

TikTok is a danger to children, Kyrgyz officials say. (Photo: Focal Foto / Creative Commons)

Kyrgyzstan moves to ban TikTok over child welfare concerns

Officials say that young minds are susceptible to addiction and dangerous behaviours encouraged by the app.

Aug 31, 2023

Kazakhstan unveiled prototypes of four different drone models produced in cooperation with China. (Photo: Ratel.kz)

Central Asia: Could Kazakh-Chinese joint venture export drones to Russia?

Our weekly update on recent developments in Chinese-Russian-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Aug 30, 2023

Few see the sense of turning up to soccer matches in Turkmenistan these days. (Photo: Turkmenistan football federation)

Turkmenistan: Union busting

Unfair soccer league, and potential and real gas deals aplenty, with Hungary, Iraq and Uzbekistan.

Aug 29, 2023

A street in Yerevan. Members of the Russian LGBTQ community who have moved to South Caucasus have found the region, where homophobia remains deeply entrenched, to be a complicated haven. (Photo: Kazimierz Popławski, CC BY-NC 2.0, t.ly/pPlQJ)

Georgia and Armenia are complicated havens for Russian LGBTQ émigrés

Many are looking to move on.

Andrea Palasciano Aug 18, 2023

A sticker pasted over a Russian-language poster in Yerevan, Armenia, part of a street-intervention initiative called “Decolonize Yourself/This Wall.” The campaign is being carried out by activists from the School of the Complex Past in the Armenian capital. (Courtesy School of Complex Past)

Perspectives: “We have common traumas, but no common memory”

Decolonization activism is on the rise in what Russia considers its traditional backyard

Barbara von Ow-Freytag Aug 16, 2023

Taliban militants patrol the streets of Kabul in September 2021, soon after taking over Afghanistan. (Photo: Tasnim via Wikipedia, CC BY 4.0)

Panel discussion looks at Afghanistan two years after the return of the Taliban

Some Afghans in Kabul aren’t going along with status quo.

Aug 15, 2023

Kyrgyz Prime Minister Akylbek Japarov (center right) and China’s ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Du Dewen, speak during a recent tour of the Sary-Jaz River where Kyrgyzstan is aiming to build a hydropower project with Chinese assistance. (Photo: gov.kg)

Central Asia: Low water levels on Irtysh River create quandary for Kazakhstan

An update on recent developments in Chinese-Russian-Central Asian affairs.

China-Central Asia Monitor Aug 11, 2023

The authorities are eager to inculcate more awareness of garbage management among the population. (Photo: Danil Usmanov)

Kyrgyzstan: Authorities impose plastic bag ban

The local prohibition should go nationwide from 2027.

Ayzirek Imanaliyeva Aug 11, 2023

A GKNB-issued image of one of the buildings alleged to have fallen foul of the rules.

Kyrgyzstan: 60 mosques, madrasas shuttered in Osh region

Security services cited extremist concerns and building code violations as grounds for the closures.

Aug 8, 2023

The president of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan pose for a photo at last week's Ashgabat summit. (Photo: Turkmenistan government website)

Turkmenistan: Party of three

Afghanistan's canal project is deepening anxieties on water security. This and more in this week's Akhal-Teke Bulletin.

Akhal-Teke: A Turkmenistan Bulletin Aug 8, 2023

Chief military prosecutors of China and Uzbekistan meet in Beijing in late July. (Photo: gov.uz)

Central Asia: China strives to shape Belt and Road-related media coverage