![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/region-central-asia.jpg)
Latest Articles about Central Asia
RUSSIAN MASS MEDIA SHAPE PUBLIC OPINION IN KYRGYZSTAN
Last week Murat Zhurayev, a Kyrgyz parliamentarian from Batken, supported the idea of Kyrgyzstan entering the ruble zone. He thus joined the ranks of Kyrgyz politicians who advocate moving deeper into Russia’s orbit (24.kg, December 2). Given the ongoing economic crisis and political instability in... MORE
PRESIDENT BAKIYEV REASSESSING BISHKEK’S FOREIGN SECURITY RELATIONS
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, shaken by recent events within Kyrgyzstan, used the opportunity presented by the November 28 Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Minsk to reassert his efforts to improve national security. During his meeting in Minsk with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rakhmonov, he... MORE
The Islamist Underground in Southern Kyrgyzstan
Last year's uprising in the Uzbek city of Andijan was only the first symptom of renewed tensions in the Ferghana Valley. The region has seen an increase in inter-ethnic tensions and in operations by Islamist radicals. Groups such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan... MORE
WILL POLITICAL CHANGES IN KYRGYZSTAN AFFECT U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE?
At the November 27-29 NATO summit in Riga, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer mentioned the importance of the U.S. military base in Kyrgyzstan and its role in the anti-terrorist operations in Afghanistan. Today, Kyrgyzstan is the only location in the Central Asian region where the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Nazarbayev.jpg)
KAZAKHSTAN’S EU STRATEGY BASED ON REGIONAL ASCENDANCY
Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev emphasized regional security as a crucial strategic area of cooperation between Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom, during a visit to London on November 21. “Cooperation between Kazakhstan and Great Britain in the field of security in the region is very important.... MORE
ASTANA PLAYS IT SAFE IN DEVELOPING TIES WITH TEHRAN
Given the tense international atmosphere surrounding Iran, Astana has prudently declined to publicize its expanding ties with Tehran and depicts bilateral relations almost exclusively in economic terms. For example, official sources in Kazakhstan made few comments about the Kazakh-Iranian business conference held in Almaty on... MORE
RUSSIA AND UZBEKISTAN PLEDGE TO BOOST TIES, BUT PROBLEMS REMAIN
Although Tashkent has moved to re-join the Moscow-led post-Soviet security framework, bilateral issues remain between Russia and Uzbekistan. Uzbekistan moved to revive its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and this month the lower house of the Uzbek parliament approved a draft law... MORE
U.S. FOREIGN POLICY IN CENTRAL ASIA: TIME FOR CHANGE?
On November 10 John Ordway, U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan, attempted to play down speculation that the Republican defeat in the U.S. mid-term elections could presage changes in Washington’s priorities in Central Asia. In fact, basing his assessment on the continuity of U.S. foreign policy in... MORE
STRENGTHENING THE “EASTERN VECTOR”: ANKARA HOSTS TURKIC SUMMIT
Leaders of Turkic nations are meeting today, November 17, in Turkey’s Mediterranean resort city of Antalya. This first summit of Turkish-speaking peoples in five years appears to reflect Ankara’s ongoing rethinking about its international identity. Increasingly frustrated with the mounting hurdles on the path of... MORE
KAZAKH, UZBEK PRESIDENTS CONFER OVER LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN KYRGYZSTAN
On November 3 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev paid an informal visit to Uzbekistan. The trip came as a complete surprise inside Kazakhstan, as it had not been announced in advance and looked like a spontaneous decision. Nazarbayev had been touring South Kazakhstan and he arrived... MORE