A Closer Look: Scholz Trip Shows Europe’s Interest in Central Asia
Energy, trade, climate change, geopolitical conflict. These are some of the big themes surrounding a trip by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Central Asia, whose countries seek to expand their range of international partners while securing their autonomy from outside, sometimes competing influences. Joined by German business leaders, Scholz was scheduled to arrive in Uzbekistan on Sunday and also visit Kazakhstan prior to a Central Asia-Germany summit there on Tuesday, the last day of his tour. It is Scholz’s first trip to Central Asia, signaling how important the region has become for Europe as it seeks new energy alternatives to reduce dependence on supplies from Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Western-backed Ukraine in February 2022. The relationship goes beyond the stopgap purchase of energy and minerals, even though Russian officials has accused Western countries of trying to use Central Asia as a tool in their conflict with Russia. At an inaugural summit last year in Berlin, Germany along with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan agreed to a “strategic regional partnership.” European countries recognize that the Central Asia is deeply bound to Russia and China, the regional powers, and that European and Central Asian goals and priorities won’t always align, according to Western analysts. However, Central Asian countries also recognize that engaging with Europe, the United States and other more distant partners is in their interests because it helps them to maintain strategic autonomy and leverage. “If the Central Asian states want to gain weight and be heard in the emerging multipolar world order, they must strengthen their technological, industrial and geopolitical independence,” analysts said in a commentary posted by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, which advises the German government and parliament. “This does not necessarily imply decoupling from Russia and China, but rather spreading risk through the addition (not substitution) of partners.” The analysts said Germany should bolster Central Asian autonomy by helping to strengthen the region’s “crisis resilience” via support on issues such as transport routes, electricity infrastructure and water management. They also said European efforts to “win the support of regional states for Western sanctions against Russia must be measured against the realities on the ground” – an apparent reference to the trade with Russia that Central Asia considers vital to its economies. Kazakhstan, which shares a long land border with Russia, has in particular faced a difficult balancing act on sanctions. At a press briefing with Scholz in Berlin in September 2023, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country would comply with Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine war while still cooperating with its neighbor. However, Serik Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister and trade minister, told the Bloomberg news agency last month that Kazakhstan won’t always “blindly follow the sanctions” and will be looking out for its own economic interests. Human rights groups want Scholz to bring up freedoms and the rule of law during his trip to Central Asia. They argue that avoiding the topic will only hinder efforts to bring German investment and projects into the region. “Serious human rights concerns across the region include suppression of the rights to protest and express opinions, including online, jailing of activists, torture in detention, crackdowns on civil society, violence against women, impunity for abusive security forces, and a lack of free and fair elections,” Hugh Williamson, director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. At last year’s Berlin meeting, Scholz and the Central Asian leaders “reaffirmed their commitment to work together for peace, security, democracy, the rule of law and sustainable development in full respect of international law,” according to their joint statement. In a regional step forward, Kazakhstan this year approved a law that strengthens protections for women and children against domestic violence. A country of particular concern for free expression advocates is Kyrgyzstan, where some media groups have faced prosecution and closure. At the far end of the spectrum is Turkmenistan, an isolated country where it is especially difficult to get independent information. Scholz will absorb some of the region’s storied culture, meeting Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the historical city of Samarkand to talk about matters including labor migration, education, health and tourism, according to the Uzbek presidency. The German chancellor may have a little downtime ahead of his heavy schedule in Central Asia. Asked on Instagram what goes through his mind on long flights, the German chancellor said such trips are a chance to work and talk to colleagues traveling with him. “But because these are long flights, you also have to rest, sleep, eat something,” Scholz said. “That is a moment when I sometimes think about completely different things that have nothing to do with work."
Video Highlights: World Nomad Games Day Six
On the final day of the World Nomad Games, themed as the “Gathering of the Great Steppe,” TCA took in the Tenge Ilu and the Baige, with a focus on the Kusbegilik (hunting with birds). It's been a blast! Stick with us andd let's Go Nomad again in 2026. [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/nomad-game_2.mp4"][/video]
Tajikistan to Increase Defense Budget
Tajik authorities plan to increase the 2025 defense, law enforcement, and judiciary budget to 4.7 billion somoni ($446 million); a rise equivalent to $92 million compared to the $354 million spent in 2024. As a percentage, spending on the army and security forces will rise to 2.8 percent of GDP, up 0.2 percent from the previous year. In adherence to the State Secrets Act, data on the breakdown of the budget remains confidential. However, issues concerning the efficient spending of allocated funds have recently come to light. In August 2024, the Agency for State Financial Control and Anti-Corruption reported that over 120 million TJS ($11.3m), intended for clothing and food for servicemen, had been embezzled from the Defense Ministry. In response, a criminal case was opened against 52 suspects, including ministry officials. According to documentation of increased military spending in Central Asia by the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI), in 2023, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan's expenditure on defense totalled $1.8 billion. Figures for Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan remain unknown. The growth of the defense budget in the region is due to several factors, and in particular, border conflicts between Central Asian countries, the unstable situation in Afghanistan, and the war in Ukraine which have forced the region's states to strengthen their defense and revise strategic priorities regarding security. Changes in the geopolitical environment have also impacted military expenditure. Whilst Central Asian states previously relied heavily on Russia for security, the number of external partners has increased significantly. Alongside Russia, countries such as Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Germany, France, China, and Belarus, are beginning to play an essential role in the region's security. They also supply arms and military equipment. Experts note that increasing defense budgets, while necessary to maintain stability, cannot solve all security-related problems, and for the foreseeable future, political instability and internal factors remain severe challenges for Central Asian countries.
Video Highlights: World Nomad Games Day Five
On the fifth day of the World Nomad Games, themed as the “Gathering of the Great Steppe,” TCA soaked up the raucous atmosphere and took in the finals of the equestrian events, including the ever-popular kokpar and kok boru: [video width="1920" height="1080" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/nomad-game-1.mp4"][/video]
World Nomad Games 2024: A Golden Spectacle
September 13 sees the final day of the World Nomad Games in Astana, themed as the “Gathering of the Great Steppe.” An extravaganza of color and culture, the Games were about much more than sport, however. As described by Sultan Raev, General Secretary of the International Organization of Turkic Culture, even the sports themselves are “not about physical strength. They are about spiritual endurance.”
[video width="848" height="480" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/WhatsApp-Video-2024-09-13-at-11.46.04.mp4"][/video]
The Games have proven an unmitigated success for Kazakhstan, not only due to the nation’s huge medal haul, but in a diplomatic sense, as well, with important regional leaders in attendance. The Games brought together around 3,000 participants from 89 countries competing for 581 medals across 21 sports, with media outlets from 64 countries applying for accreditation. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports has stated that over tens of thousands of foreign tourists will have attended the Games, which will “help showcase Kazakhstan's cultural and sports heritage to a global audience, significantly boosting interest in tourism to the country."
On the last day proper of the Games, the finals of the kokpar and the kok boru were staged. Described by Ablai Kondybaev, Deputy Head of the Directorate responsible for preparing and organizing the 5th World Nomad Games in an interview with TCA as the “most famous” events, they are “traditional games akin to polo played with sheep or goat carcasses. Long popular among Turkic people, especially in Central Asia, these fast and furious competitions attract record numbers of spectators.”
[video width="848" height="480" mp4="https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/WhatsApp-Video-2024-09-13-at-11.46.041-1.mp4"][/video]
Games popularized by Jenghiz Khan - though it is said his horde preferred to use a human torso for a ball – these days, at international events at least, the goat carcass has been replaced by a dummy, known as a serke. Still, with the stampeding horses producing a great wall of dust, the flag-waving partisan crowd were hugely engaged, and it is easy to see why. A scrum of whips and sweating horses snorting, occasionally a horseman would emerge, swinging the serke by a leg.
Forecasts had pointed to the finals likely being between the favorites, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and this proved to be the case, and in the kokpar, Kazakhstan were victorious. However, the hosts had to settle for silver in the kok boru, losing 10-4 to neighboring Kyrgyzstan after beating Turkey 15-1 in the semis in a surprise drubbing. Overall, however, the Games have been a golden event for the nation as a whole.
Despite earlier reports indicating that the World Nomad Games would return to Kyrgyzstan in 2026, according to Kondybaev, “it is planned that it will be Uzbekistan” who will stage the next iteration, which would mean another new host nation for this dazzling demonstration of the resilience of nomadic culture and its dramatic resurgence in the era of globalization.
As previously reported by TCA, in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony, President Tokayev pointed out that: “Even amid globalization, the nomadic lifestyle that existed for a thousand years is reviving and taking a new shape. Modern nomads are making efforts to reclaim a central place in history. We are moving and traveling easily all over the world in search of education and job opportunities.”
Since Estonia became the first country to offer a “digital nomad visa” in 2020, sixty-five more nations have followed suit, with their number continuing to grow. In the modern world, nomadic traditions, it appears, remain vital, and are once again thriving.
Latest Baikonur Space Launch Helps to Set a Record
It seemed almost routine: One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts traveling to the International Space Station in a Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After all, the Russian-run facility in a remote, barren part of the Central Asian country has been a mainstay of travel to the station for many years. But the three-hour trip on the Soyuz on Wednesday made some space history, increasing the total number of people currently in Earth’s orbit to a record of 19. The previous record of 17 was set last year. The trip brings the number of people currently on the International Space Station to 12, including seven Americans and five Russians, according to NASA. The group will get a little smaller on Sept. 23, when one American and two Russians are scheduled to depart. There are also three people on China’s space station and four people led by billionaire Jared Isaacman on the five-day Polaris Dawn mission, for a total of 19. The new arrivals at the International Space Station are NASA astronaut Don Pettit and Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. They’ll spend about six months in space and return to Earth in the spring of 2025. It’s the fourth trip to space for Pettit and Ovchinin and the second for Vagner. NASA and Roscosmos currently have a “cross-flights” deal involving travel to and from the International Space Station for three Russian cosmonauts on the U.S. Crew Dragon spacecraft and three U.S. astronauts on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The two space agencies are working on extending the agreement beyond the spring of 2025, the Russian news agency Interfax reported in a story with a Baikonur dateline. It quoted Kenneth Bowersox, NASA associate administrator for space operations. The joint missions are one of the rare areas of collaboration between Russia and the United States at a time of heightened tension over the Ukraine war.
The Subtle Politics of the World Nomad Games
Attending the World Nomad Games in Kazakhstan, one might be tempted to look for a possible political dimension, or the seeming lack thereof. The 5th World Nomad Games have brought together in Astana more than 3,000 participants from 89 countries competing for 581 medals across 21 sports, with a prize fund of 250 million tenge ($521,000). This dwarfs the 19 nations which participated in the first iteration of the event, hosted in Kyrgyzstan in 2014, where just ten sports were held. Of course, the Games have expanded exponentially since then, and interest from visitors and media alike has also skyrocketed. Kazakhstan's Ministry of Tourism and Sports has stated that over 100,000 foreign tourists will attend the Games, which will “help showcase Kazakhstan's cultural and sports heritage to a global audience, significantly boosting interest in tourism to the country." Also hugely significant is the level of media interest, with outlets from 64 countries applying for accreditation. With competitors, visitors and media from around the globe, clearly the appeal of the Games has expanded far beyond those nations from which the heirs to nomadic civilizations hail. As for its cultural significance, it speaks volumes that the World Nomad Games has been included in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Games, however, are also acting as a semi-official summit, as evinced by the attendance of President Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan, President Japarov of the Kyrgyz Republic, Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedow, the Chairman of the People’s Council of Turkmenistan, the Rais (Head) of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, the Head of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Aisen Nikolayev, the former president of Mongolia, Nambaryn Enkhbayar, the son of Turkey’s President, Bilal Erdogan, and more. Given all this, the World Nomad Games as more than just an event, sporting or otherwise, and have been utilized as part of Kazakhstan's strategic course in pursuit of a balanced and multi-vector foreign policy aimed at ensuring the best interests of the state, whilst positioning the nation as an increasingly important land-bridge between East and West, both in terms of trade and diplomacy. This dynamic neutrality has made the Nomad Games in Astana the first international sporting event since the beginning of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine in which the Russian team has been able to participate under the national flag. Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that the “Russian national team, comprising 150 athletes, was welcomed with applause in Kazakhstan’s capital, accompanied by a rendition of “Katyusha.” It’s a celebration of sport and friendship! Kazakhstan has reminded the world of what global sports should be: depoliticized, inclusive, and focused on promoting athleticism rather than being tainted by various perversions.” This, however, does not mean that Kazakhstan is cosying-up to Russia in the slightest. Despite disruptions in trade chains and logistical problems, Astana has followed Western sanctions to the letter, much to Putin’s chagrin. In this ever more open and outward looking nation, rallies against Russia’s invasion have been allowed to be staged. Even the death of Alexei Navalny – no friend of Central Asia given the xenophobic stances he often adopted - was met with makeshift memorials. Thanks to Kazakhstan's efforts, however, the Russian team has been able to compete alongside the U.S. and other teams from nations with tense relations with Russia; and despite these dynamics, this has not caused any controversy in Kazakhstan or in those countries with adversarial relations with Russia. The genuinely depoliticized and open nature of the Games has only served to highlight the success of Kazakhstan's diplomatic, multi-vector approach, which in June 2024 even saw Astana offer to host negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. This stands in stark contrast to what happened at the Olympics in Paris earlier this year, when the International Olympic Committee’s decision to allow just over a dozen athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete under a neutral flag led to calls from some counties for a boycott. Whilst the efficacy of allowing Russian athletes to perform at sporting events remains up for debate, certainly adopting such extreme positions in the West as banning teaching of the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky – who was himself sent to penal servitude in Siberia for reading books banned in Tsarist Russia – ultimately benefit no one. In a geopolitical arena which is increasingly portrayed as black and white, Kazakhstan’s position has been far more nuanced, and has seen President Tokayev’s “multi-vector” foreign policy described as “visionary” by figures such as Ariel Cohen, a Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Eurasia Center of the Atlantic Council. By leveraging both its geographic location and its vast natural resources, particularly in energy, Kazakhstan has positioned itself as a key player in both regional and global affairs. The World Nomad Games has once again served to underline its growing international importance.
Tokayev Pardons Chinese Scholar Konstantin Syroezhkin
The Kazakh political analyst Andrei Chebotaryov has announced on his Telegram channel that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has pardoned a scholar of Chinese studies, Konstantin Syroezhkin, who was convicted of treason in 2019. “On the proposal of the Commission on pardon issues under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the head of state Kasym-Jomart Tokayev pardoned the doctor of political sciences and professor Konstantin Syroezhkin by an appropriate decree. In this regard, his criminal record was removed, and his rights were restored. In general, justice has triumphed! I wish our colleague and mentor good health and new scientific achievements!”, Chebotaryov shared. Syroezhkin was arrested in February 2019 in a criminal case of high treason. The case caused widespread outrage, especially in scientific circles. At the same time, little is known about it. The trial was closed, and the circumstances of the case were not disclosed. In October 2019, Konstantin Syroezhkin was found guilty of high treason and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the specialized inter-district criminal court of Almaty. In April 2024, the appellate panel granted Syroezhkin's appeal and released him on parole with probation supervision for the remaining term of four years, five months, and 22 days. The board concluded that Syroezhkin's exemplary behavior, conscientious attitude to work, and participation in prison life proved he did not need to serve the entire sentence. Syroezhkin has been engaged in Oriental studies for many years and has had a long academic career in Kazakhstan. Earlier, he worked at the Institute of Uyghur Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Kazakh SSR and at Kazakhstan's Center of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences. During the investigation that ended his career, Syroezhkin was chief scientific officer of the Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, from 2006 to 2019. Among his significant works are such studies as “Modern Xinjiang and its Place in Kazakhstan-China Relations,” “Kazakhstan-China: From cross-border Cooperation to Strategic Partnership,” and “Should Kazakhstan be Afraid of China: Myths and Phobias.” He has also researched the life of Kazakhs in China, which became his work “Kazakhs in China: Sketches of Socio-Economic and Cultural Development.” It is worth noting that other well-known scientists have also been convicted in Kazakhstan. For example, in 2011, the leader of the country's Sufi community and a Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Sayat Ibrayev, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on charges of “organizing a criminal group.” The same year, he was nominated in absentia for the Alikhan Bukeikhanov Award of the Union of Journalists of Kazakhstan.
Sunkar Podcast
Kazakhstan’s Return to Nuclear Power
