Latest Articles about Central Asia

KARIMOV ACCUSES KYRGYZSTAN OF ASSISTING TERRORISTS

Tashkent's latest official explanation blames Kyrgyzstan for the bloody Andijan riots on May 13. At a parliamentary meeting on September 5, the Uzbek Prosecutor-General accused the Kyrgyz government of allowing up to 70 religious extremists to train on its southern territories ahead of the Andijan... MORE

KYRGYZSTAN BANS “EXTREMISM” WITH PRODDING FROM BEIJING

On August 17, three days after his inauguration, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the new law "On Counteraction against Extremist Activity." official Kyrgyz government newspaper Erkin Too published the text of the law on August 19. Activists from Hizb-ut-Tahrir (the Islamic Party of Liberation) immediately... MORE

KAZAKHSTAN OPENS MILITARY LANGUAGE INSTITUTE

Kazakhstan has taken a small, but significant step towards preparing more of its military personnel to receive education and training in Western countries by opening a new military language institute in Almaty. In many ways this development serves to highlight the extent of the uphill... MORE

NAZARBAYEV EXPECTED TO EASILY WIN ANOTHER TERM

On September 7 the lower house of Kazakhstan's parliament put an end to months of speculation and scheduled presidential elections for December 4. Members of parliament and the Constitutional Court had argued over whether elections should be held in December 2005 or December 2006. The... MORE

IMPLICATIONS OF CHINA’S TAKEOVER OF PETROKAZAKHSZTAN

The state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation's (CNPC) more-than-friendly takeover of the PetroKazakhstan company would, if consummated, signify yet another setback to U.S. and European energy interests in Central Asia. The deal, first announced on August 22, would mark a setback of a novel type. Until... MORE

TURKMENISTAN PULLS BACK FROM CIS

Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov announced on September 1 that his country would downgrade its links with the Commonwealth of Independent States. Arguing on the basis of his avowed and UN-approved neutral status, Niyazov advanced the idea of a looser associate CIS membership, eschewing the participation... MORE

ANTICLIMACTIC END TO KYRGYZ REVOLUTION

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's August 14 inauguration demonstrated that Western expectations and Russian fears of a democratic revolution in Kyrgyzstan were equally misplaced. By the same token, the inauguration and its immediate aftermath highlighted the daunting cultural distance to democracy that Kyrgyzstan (and some of... MORE