Kazakhstan

The video of an ‘exorcism’ performed on a little girl that has gone viral on social networks is sparking heated debate in Kazakhstan. The denunciation of intellectual Gaziz Abišev: ‘The ultra-conservative part of society, behind the slogans of passionate ideologies, is trying in various ways to drag the nation back to the darkness of the past’.

With Russia's doors increasingly closed, many workers from the region have left for South Korea. But Central Asians seeking prospects in Western countries are also increasing, often ending up as victims of unscrupulous exploiters. Turkey as an intermediate destination where they stay for a few years hoping then to reach Europe or America.

To allay Putin's ill-will, Kazakhstan's ambassador to Moscow has published an article in an authoritative Russian daily in which he defends the transformations taking place in the country. He hoped that ‘the de-globalisation underway’ would not lead to ‘new opposing blocs’.

A group of Kazakh parliamentarians is calling for measures against ‘Furry Fandom’, a phenomenon in which groups of young people go around dressed as animals theorising that this is the true expression of their personality. In an investigation by Currentime their stories and the accusations of those who claim they are ‘a problem for society’.

From Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan former leading politicians are on trial on charges of high treason just because they were identified as possible alternatives to ‘dynastic’ successions. While in Kazakhstan on trial is a group that allegedly ‘menacingly’ planned to storm the presidential palace with a tractor and a cannon loaded with potato fragments.

On the bitter clash triggered by President Yoon's attempt to proclaim martial law, Radio Azattyk has gathered the opinions of Kazakhs who (with or without papers) are lacorating in the Korean capital. In their voices the hope that a change in the country's leadership will make life easier for them too.

In spite of distancing itself from the invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan continues to cooperate intensively with Moscow, but also intensifies agreements with Western countries. Today it is ‘closer than Europe’ for Russia, and at the same time ‘brings Europe closer to China’. And precisely the meeting of different worlds could be the great opportunity for the heirs of the nomads of Central Asia.

Beyond political and military alliances and strategies, Kazakhstan aims to be an important cultural and professional training hub for the whole of Central Asia, working in this sector with great support from Russia.

Public schools at all levels, from kindergartens to universities, are growing in the countries of the region. And in several cases it is the state itself that is stimulating investors with the aim of modernising the education and training system.

Among the films entered in the race for Best Foreign Language Film, a story told by director Kučinčirekov recounts the traumas linked to the ancient custom of entrusting the upbringing of the first or last child to grandparents. It brings to the screen a comparison between the Kazakhstan of the past and that of modern times.

Istanbul presses for the strengthening of the ‘Turkic world’, rejecting ‘Eurocentric’ descriptions of the region. But Tajik historian Kamoluddin Abdulloev objects: ‘Iran would have just as many arguments to assert its historical influence. In a land where the phases of Mongol domination and the spread of Islam have led to divisions and recompositions between Shiites and Sunnis.

From Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan, new regulations are lengthening the time it takes to obtain citizenship, with tough tests of knowledge of the local language to discourage Russian relokanty. In Turklmenistan, citizenship is almost impossible to obtain without Turkmen kinship, but ‘ius soli’ is still in force for children of foreign parents.