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How Kyrgyzstan’s new flag design serves as a litmus test for the health of its democracy.
Tom Fort from the University of St Andrews reviews the recent changes to the Kyrgyz Republic’s flag and what this means for its democracy.
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Decolonisation and Adaption for the Future: Language Politics in Kazakhstan
Image via Wikimedia Commons Driving down any street in Astana, Kazakhstan’s new, hyper-futuristic capital city, you may be surprised to note the total absence of any Russian-language signage. In fact, insofar as whoever is in charge of Kazakh road marking is concerned, English takes precedence over Russian, with Latin script transliterations of placenames sitting under…
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Trading Places: The Rise of China in Kazakhstan
Image: Richard Hagues via Flickr The power dynamic in Central Asia is shifting due to Kazakhstan’s changing economic and cultural relations with both Russia and China. Historically, Kazakhstan has maintained close ties with Russia, underlined by substantial trade and cultural affinity. However, due to the war in Ukraine, Kazakhstan is moving away from long-standing Russian…
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A Taboo: Why the Civil War is not Remembered in Tajikistan’s Art
Farrukh Negmatzade, ‘Women behind trees’ (Image: Redwood Art Group via flickr) In modern-day Tajikistan, artists choose to celebrate the natural beauty of Tajikistan and the richness of its traditions. With very few exceptions, contemporary Tajikistan artists rarely touch upon the complicated topics of the past and sensitive matters of the present. Most crucially, there are…
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‘The Age of Maturity for the Turkmen Spirit’: The Ruhnama and identity production in post-Soviet Turkmenistan
Photograph: Beth via Flikr. Towering above Ashgabat’s Independence Park is a ten-metre monument of the Ruhnama: the magnum opus of Turkmenistan’s first president, Saparmurat Niyazov.1 Translated into English as ‘Book of the Soul’, it has gripped the country’s social, political, and intellectual life for nearly two decades, encapsulating the personality cult constructed by Niyazov in…
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Turkic Winds of Change: How Kazakhstan and Türkiye are Forging a New Strategic Partnership
Photograph: Ninara via Flikr In September this year, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan travelled to Astana, the gleaming capital of the Kazakh steppe which has come to embody the ambition of the country’s leaders for the future. To many, a Turkish minister in a Central Asian city may seem to represent a relatively minor act…