Central Asia

Photo: Flags of six CSTO member states. Source: Astana Times

Eurasian Military Alliance of Post-Soviet States Marks 30th Anniversary of Closure of Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

By Radwan Jakeem

NEW YORK | NUR-SULTAN (IDN) — In a joint statement, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), comprising six member states, has highlighted the role of Kazakhstan’s First President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose decree shut down the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site on August 29, 1991.

The statement was published by the press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs on August 26 in the run-up to the International Day against Nuclear Tests, which this year is commemorated on the 30th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.

: Radwan Jakeem; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 27 August 2021

Photo: The UN has been supporting displaced families in Afghanistan, providing emergency shelter and protection. Credit: IOM/Mohammed Muse

UN Relocates its Besieged Staff from a Strife-Torn Kabul in Virtual Chaos

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — As the US airlifts its diplomats and embassy staffers, along with thousands of local Afghan employees, from the chaotic capital of Kabul, the United Nations has followed in its footsteps by relocating some of its more than 300 international and 3,400 national staffers who were tasked with peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.

UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said August 18 that some of these staffers were traveling from Kabul to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where they will continue their work remotely.

: Thalif Deen; UN INSIDER; 19 August 2021

Photo: Nisar Keshvani (third from left) at the UCA campus in Naryn during its launch.

Dreams Have Come True As the University of Central Asia Graduates its Inaugural Cohort

By Nisar Keshvani

SINGAPORE (IDN) — Imagine. The most remote of mountains. Two thousand metres above sea level. On the Silk Road, and 240 km away from China. In secondary cities with populations going up to 150,000. Therein, majestically stands a fully-residential university, delivering a world-class education for the next generation of Central Asian learners—regardless of their financial position.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 20 June 2021

Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi on the sidelines of ASEAN ministerial events, Singapore, August 2, 2018. Credit: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China and Russia Build a Central Asian Exclusion Zone

Viewpoint by Emil Avdaliani*

TBILISI, Georgia (IDN) — State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted the China+Central Asia (C+C5) Foreign Ministers’ meeting in the Chinese city of Xi'an on May 12. This is the second such meeting, which increasingly focuses (with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan) on geopolitical issues. More broadly, it signals China’s lack of concern for what Russia considers its vital economic and political interests in the region.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 17 June 2021

Image credit: Kazinform, IDN-INPS partner.

Kazakhstan Celebrates 175th Anniversary of Eminent Poet Abai

By Saltanat Suraganova

ALMATY (IDN | Kazinform) – The name of Abai is known worldwide just as Shakespeare, Goethe, and Pushkin are well-known in many countries. His books were translated into many foreign languages. So, we can say definitely that Abai made a contribution to not only Kazakh culture and folklore but world literature as well. This year Kazakhstan celebrates the 175th anniversary of Abai. His popularity in our country is undeniable.

: Admin; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 09 October 2020

Collage of photos of the author in his IAEA capacity at the Semipalatinsk “polygon” on 29 August 2011, with ‘Stronger than Death’ monument in Semey in the centre. It was erected in 2001 in memory of the victims of nuclear testing at Semipalatinsk. Photos by Tariq Rauf.

Extinguishing Prometheus’ Nuclear Flame: International Day Against Nuclear Tests

By Tariq Rauf*

VIENNA (IDN) – The first nuclear explosive device was detonated at the Alamogordo Test Range in the New Mexico desert in the United States of America on July 16, 1945, and then on August 6 and 9 the US carried out the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the next seven decades, nine additional countries carried out some 2060 nuclear explosions, spreading radioactive contamination in the air, lands and space, and in the world's oceans, leading to long-lasting catastrophic consequences for the health and well-being of millions of innocent people.

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 29 August 2020

Photo: Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Source: Kazakh Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Kazakhstan Concludes One Year of Transition With President Tokayev

Viewpoint by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (IDN) – On June 12, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev completed the first year of his term as President of Kazakhstan, traversing a road to multifarious reforms at home, reflecting the maturity and stable political transition in Central Asia's biggest nation-state. At the same time, he has been strengthening bilateral and multilateral relations, building on Kazakhstan's rich experience in negotiating peaceful ways out of conflictive situations.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 13 June 2020

Photo: UCA's undergraduate curriculum is designed in partnership with top tier global universities in growing industry fields. Credit: The University of Central Asia (UCA),

CENTRAL ASIA: Turning COVID-19 Calamity into an Opportunity

By Hamid Ali Khan Eusafzai

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (IDN) – The University of Central Asia (UCA), along with many other universities across the globe, suffered the effects of COVID-19. Being forced to close the campus and send students back home, for the health and safety of both students and staff, it also opened a new opportunity for the university to develop digital learning. But, with most students coming from remote rural mountain communities, the challenges were more daunting.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 22 April 2020

Photo: Kazakh Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Chair of the LLDCs Group, speaking at at the Ambassadorial level First 2020 Meeting of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries on 22 Januray. Credit: Kazakhstan Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.

Kazakh Roadmap for LLDCs as 2020-2021 Chair

By Ambassador Kairat Umarov

Kazakhstan assumed the chairmanship of the Group of Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) on 8 January for the period 2020-2021. The following are extensive excerpts from the statement of LLDC Chair Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York, at the First 2020 Meeting of the LLDCs at the Ambassadorial level,

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 12 February 2020

Photo: Mairam Bibi, a victim of bride kidnapping, with her sons. Credit: Mairam Bibi

The Story of a Kyrgyz Mother Bride Kidnapped as A Teenager

By Aqila Hassanzada*

NARYN, Kyrgyzstan (IDN) – Mairam Bibi says her sons will not follow in their father’s footsteps – an abductor who kidnapped a teenage girl and forced her into a violent marriage.

At the age of 41, Mairam is sitting in her small straw house telling the story so many women in Kyrgyzstan could tell.

One morning when she was a teenager, Mairam was going to school when an old car stopped in front of her. Two men ran out of the car and headed towards her. She was terrified.