Central Asia

by Vladimir Rozanskij | KYRGYZSTAN

The lack of children's literature in the Kyrgyz language has prompted two mothers to publish at their own expense a series of books based on local stories and traditions told to their children. These initiatives have quickly met with considerable success. They talk to Current Time: ‘They will make our people's boat stronger’.

by Vladimir Rozanskij

During Ramadan, the forces of order are deployed in force around Islamic places of worship, where the ‘official’ imams do not tolerate any form of dissent towards President Berdymukhamedov. But the increasingly widespread ‘danger’ is the theft of shoes, which forces many worshippers to return home barefoot.

| 11/03/2025
| TURKMENISTAN
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Every year a festival is dedicated to the kalpak, the typical white double-pointed headdress of the Kyrgyz people. Its shape is reminiscent of the snow-capped peaks of the country's mountain ranges. A symbol of dignity, wisdom and honour, according to tradition it cannot be thrown away or even donated or sold to others: it can only be passed on to one's descendants.

| 07/03/2025
| KYRGYZSTAN
by Vladimir Rozanskij

As expected, the party of Emomali Rakhmon, who has been at the helm of the country since 1994, obtained an absolute majority and only parties controlled by the president entered parliament. Despite the regime's clearly repressive nature, there are no international sanctions against Tajikistan, confirming the feeling that the ruling caste in Dushanbe is untouchable.

| 04/03/2025
| TAJIKISTAN
by Vladimir Rozanskij

Markets, palaces, buildings and thousands of hectares of land: after the clashes of January 2022, their power was formally stripped of all honor, but a long list of assets that should have been requisitioned are still firmly in the hands of the family that dominated “old Kazakhstan”.

| 27/02/2025
| KAZAKHSTAN
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The company Yandex has increased the percentages for taxi drivers, and has stifled all the other players in the market for the transport of people and goods (including Uber) in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The measures launched by the local antitrust agencies have been ineffective.

| 25/02/2025
| CENTRAL ASIA
by Vladimir Rozanskij

The Tajiks consider themselves the main heirs of the trade routes of centuries ago, of the ‘first Eurasian globalisation’ in history. But today, according to the political scientist Abdugani Mamadazimov, they are forced to play catch-up with their neighbours while the whole world looks to Central Asia as a crucial area of connections between East and West.

| 18/02/2025
| CENTRAL ASIA
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“L’Asia: ecco il nostro comune compito per il terzo millennio!” - Giovanni Paolo II, da “Alzatevi, andiamo”