Laughter Amidst Ruins: Rediscovering Tajikistan’s Resilience Through Comedy and Cultural Exchange
The UN General Assembly's Human Rights Council recently condemned the government of Tajikistan for its failure to implement the recommendations of a 2019 study by UN representatives. The study focused on the unreconciled atrocities and societal wounds caused by the civil war that swept through the republic after the collapse of the Soviet Union. More than 60,000 people died in this war, and more than 250,000 fled the republic. Reading this news, I was reminded of and reflected on post-war Tajikistan, which I visited in the late summer of 2000. At that time, the country had been in a state of fragile peace for two years, and you could still feel the tension in the air. Since my visit to the country in 2000, the Tajik Civil War has been reflected on by many people in the arts. In the same year that UN researchers were raking up the old tragedy, the film Kazbat was released in Kazakhstan. This movie is a military drama about the real deaths of 17 soldiers of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan (now the National Guard), who fell into an ambush in Tajikistan on April 7, 1995. A little earlier, in 2017, Russian writer Vladimir Medvedev released the novel Zakhok, which talks about the horrors of that six-year war through the struggles of a single family, where the mother is Russian, and the children are half Tajik. My visit to this war-torn country was for a reason most wouldn’t have expected - a comedy festival. The group that I traveled with consisted of my teammates, Almaty residents, as well as people from other Kazakh, Uzbek, and Kyrgyz cities. Despite coming from all over Central Asia, we ended up in Tajikistan for the first international СVN festival (СVN - Club of the Funny and Inventive) in Central Asia. СVN is an improv and sketch comedy competition involving students that originated in Soviet times, the point of which is to satirize the surrounding reality through theatrical skits and question-based improv. Due to its satirical nature, СVN was banned for two decades during the Soviet-era. It was later revived during Perestroika, and, in the shortest possible time, became a phenomenon in all universities in Russia and across almost all of post-Soviet space. In Kazakhstan, СVN was developed immediately after the collapse of the USSR. Alma-Ata, which was the capital city back then, organized its own league, which included teams from the leading national universities of that time - Kazakh State University, Narkhoz, Almaty Institute of Transport Engineers, and Almaty State Medical Institute. I belong to the second generation of СVN players. Our task was to popularize this game throughout the republic and attract not only universities but also colleges and schools. Later, the new СVN league went beyond Kazakhstan, starting with friendly meetings with universities from Bishkek, Tashkent, and other Central Asian cities. Then, the International League of СVN, which was created and headed by Alexander Maslyakov, who passed away recently, came to Kazakhstan. The best teams in the country got their own СVN coaches who were famous in Russia. For example, the coach of one of them was Vladimir Zelensky himself and members of his team from “Kvartal-95”. The Kazakh Super League received from Alexander Maslyakov a kind of carte blanche to attract Central Asian teams to the games of the International СVN League. To attract more teams, an international festival was organized. The idea of holding it in Tajikistan was connected with the task of showing that in this republic, the civil war had finally become a thing of the past. The festival was not organized in Dushanbe, in the north of the country where it was still rumored to be turbulent, but in the south near the city of Khujand (formerly Leninabad). In Khujand itself, the closing gala concert was held, which ended with a friendly meeting between the teams from Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian republics. The two-day competition of СVN teams took place on the territory of the former pioneer camp near Khujand, on the bank of the man-made Kairakkum Reservoir. Kazakhstani teams had traveled to Khujand by buses, for which they had to cross the territory of Uzbekistan. A local guide and a СVN player from Dushanbe Medical University got on our bus at the border with Tajikistan. He introduced himself by the name Abdullo, which he had been given when he converted to Islam. He did not give his “secular” name. For Kazakhs, whose republic had made significant progress in creating a secular and even anticlerical state during the Soviet era, the Tajik fascination with the Muslim religion seemed unusual at the time. Abdullo quickly explained to the boys on the bus that they should change from shorts to pants. Some of us tried to protest - the heat outside the bus was approaching 40 degrees Celsius - but Abdullo pointed to a man in camouflage carrying an automatic rifle who was standing on the road just beyond the Tajik checkpoint. At first, we thought he was a border guard who had grown his bushy beard for some reason. “He may shoot,” Abdullo warned us; ”he’s from Mastchoh, they are Islamic fanatics.” After that, even the most stubborn quickly changed their clothes. On the road to the Kairakkum Reservoir, we saw fields where cotton once grew, but now they bore nothing but stones and scorpions. Abdullo told us about the people from Mastchoh, who had suffered greatly during the Soviet period because of cotton. In 1956, the Soviet authorities organized their resettlement, during which many of them died. In one of the settlements, we came across a traffic light. Each of its three “eyes” was covered with bars, and the traffic light was not working. “The consequences of the war,” Abdullo explained to us. However, when we finally reached the pioneer camp, we felt nothing of the sort. The neatly cleaned territory, the buildings with beds covered with snow-white linen, and an abundance of food — all this made us forget for a while that we had come to a war-torn republic. However, we were constantly reminded of this when talking to the locals, especially those in Dushanbe. It seemed that each of them carefully evaluated their words before answering any questions. Abdullo, with whom we became friends during the journey, explained that this was also a consequence of the war. “We don't want any more conflicts, especially because of carelessly spoken words,” he said, warning us not to talk to Dushanbeans in particular. “They suffered a lot during the war, and post-traumatic stress syndrome can manifest itself at any time. And you Kazakhs don't watch your talking at all,” he said. However, there were no conflicts during our time there, and during the festival the Tajiks seemed to thaw, laughing with pleasure at any, even the silliest jokes that came from the stage. The gala concert in Khujand (а city founded over 2,500 years ago) caused a real sensation. It was held in a local theater with excellent acoustics and a perfectly equipped stage. Our team performed with a short program of 5-7 minutes, but because of the incessant applause, the time of the performance doubled. Everyone, from those sitting in the hall and those standing backstage, seemed to sing along to the final song. After our performance, we went outside, escaping the heat and stuffiness of the auditorium. Sitting on the steps of the porch of the theater, we ate pomegranates that had just been picked and marveled at how fertile this land is and what people have changed it into. Leaving the republic, we sincerely wished it happiness and prosperity. But this, alas, has not happened. But, perhaps it still has yet to come.
Kyrgyz President Applauds Son’s Golf Project Despite Questions
Kyrgyzstan is building the biggest golf course in Central Asia, President Sadyr Japarov says. The man building the golf course? Japarov’s son, Rustam. Japarov has often said that his friends and family won’t get involved in politics and government, though some media reports and critics say that he hasn’t kept his word in a country where corruption has been a longstanding concern. In an interview this week with the state-run Kabar news agency, the president stuck to his position that family members won’t get mixed up in state affairs. “I always tell them not to do business with the state. We must learn from the past,” said Japarov, who has previously said that critical media coverage of his government amounted to slander and trafficking in rumors. “Rustam is busy attracting investors. He is building a golf course in Issyk-Kul. God willing, we plan to open it next year,” said Japarov, who didn’t offer details about the project other than that “it will be the largest golf course in Central Asia.” The president also praised his son for a project that he started last year to build a football field with lighting in every village in the country. The area around Lake Issyk-Kul, where the golf course is being built, is one of Kyrgyzstan’s main tourist sites. Its attractions include beaches, hiking and ancient petroglyphs showing deer, leopards and hunting scenes. There are restaurants, wellness centers and conference facilities catering to international delegations. Telegram founder Pavel Durov was spotted there earlier this year. Japarov’s son, Rustam, drew attention in 2022 when a photo circulating on social media appeared to show him with leaders at a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security group, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. At the time, the 24.kg news service questioned why he was there since he didn’t hold any government position and wasn’t part of the official Kyrgyz delegation. In June, President Japarov apologized when news emerged that the fiancé of his niece had proposed marriage after the pair traveled on a rented government helicopter to the mountains near Bishkek. The scandal got worse when the fiancé, Aftandil Sabyrbekov, was arrested on drug charges. In the Kabar interview that was published on Wednesday, Japarov also disputed any suggestion that the involvement of Taimuras Tashiev, son of a high-ranking government official, in a road project in the town of Özgön was inappropriate. Tashiev’s father is Kamchybek Tashiev, chairman of the State Committee for National Security. “Why not say thanks to Taimuras,” said the president, who regularly gives interviews to state-run Kabar while some more critical media have faced state prosecutions. “Would Taimuras introduce the company he founded if it would harm the state?”
How Kyrgyz Authorities Are Fighting Energy Shortages
Despite the launch of the construction of the Kambarata-1 hydroelectric power plant, Kyrgyzstan needs more electricity. One solution could be to launch small hydropower plants. Officials said building such plants on the country's numerous rivers is not costly. According to the Kyrgyz Energy Ministry, commissioning such HPPs could take only 1.5-2 years. There are currently 24 small hydropower plants in operation in the country, and there is potential for more than 80 more. In an interview with The Times of Central Asia, Kyrgyz Deputy Energy Minister Nurlan Sadykov said that every citizen has the opportunity to build a small hydropower plant. Startup permits can be obtained quite easily. “We have a Green Energy Fund, which is authorized to issue land for small-scale energy needs, including the construction of solar panels and wind farms. This body holds a competition where anyone can participate equally, whether a Kyrgyz citizen or a foreign investor. The main thing is to confirm your financial capabilities,” Sadykov said. Sadykov said most investors borrow from local or international banks in one way or another. The authorities can guarantee the return of invested funds through electricity tariffs. “A presidential decree has been issued. According to the document, the state is guaranteed to buy electricity. If the investor wants to receive money for generated electricity in foreign currency, the state can provide payments in US dollars,” the deputy minister emphasized. Chinese and Russian companies are interested in building renewable energy sources in Kyrgyzstan. A campaign to raise funds from local businessmen is also underway. It is worth noting that Kyrgyzstan is experiencing an increase in electricity consumption. The country produces about 14 billion kilowatt-hours annually, but consumption, especially in winter, can reach 17 billion kilowatt-hours. To compensate for the missing electricity, the authorities import it from Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Mideast Conflict Disrupts Flights with Central Asia
The growing conflict between Israel and Iran has disrupted international air travel in the Middle East, and Central Asia is grappling with cancellations and rerouted flights to and from the region. Flynas, a low-cost Saudi airline, and Qeshm Air, an Iranian carrier, have temporarily canceled flights to Uzbekistan “due to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East and the closure of part of the airspace,” the state-run Uzbekistan Airports company said on Telegram on Wednesday. The cancellations were a Flynas flight on the Jeddah-Tashkent-Jeddah route; another roundtrip Flynas flight from Jeddah to the Uzbek city of Namangan and back; and a Qeshm Air flight from Tehran to Tashkent and back to the Iranian capital, according to the Uzbek company. It advised travelers to check departure information with airline representatives. Air Astana, Kazakhstan’s national carrier, said it had decided to bypass Iran’s airspace on its flights to Dubai after analyzing the situation in the Middle East and following guidance from the national aviation authorities. “As a result, the flight routes from Astana and Almaty to Dubai will be altered, and flight time will be extended,” Air Astana said on Telegram. “Flights to Jeddah will remain unchanged but may be reconsidered if military activity in the region escalates. If necessary, the airline will implement additional changes to ensure flight safety.” Aviation authorities of Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Transport have advised domestic airlines to avoid Iranian airspace, according to Kazinform, a state-run news agency. The flight disruptions came after Iran launched hundreds of missiles at Israel on Tuesday, and Israel warned that it will respond forcefully to the attack. The confrontation threatens a broader conflict in the region as Israel is already conducting military operations against two Iran-backed groups, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Kazakhstan’s Youth Suicide Crisis: Unraveling the Complex Web of Societal Challenges
A wave of suicides among teenagers and young adults has swept across Kazakhstan. Parents and the Children's Ombudsman have said children were provoked to do dangerous things by the internet, and deputies have demanded that social networks should be blocked. The media, meanwhile, has been accused of creating a “Werther effect,” fixating on the rash of suicides and thus encouraging teenagers to repeat these acts of self-harm. However, experts believe the cause is much more nuanced and cannot be eliminated by blocking harmful content alone. Chronicle of a Fateful September On September 13, a teenager fell from an eighth-story window in Astana. The boy died of his injuries. The very next day, a schoolgirl plummeted from a fifth-floor window in Shchuchinsk. The 12-year-old girl is in hospital, and the causes of both incidents are still under investigation. On September 16 in Almaty, two seventh-grade students from school No. 25 named after the writer I.Esenberlin, left class and climbed to the attic of a neighbor's apartment complex. The girls both fell to their death from the roof. “I came, and I saw two girls lying there. They had jumped from the roof," an eyewitness stated. "The girls were about 13 years old; seventh graders. One had a backpack next to her, and the other had no shoes and was wearing black tights. She had taken her shoes off and placed them neatly. One fell on a car, and her body rolled away. The second was immediately killed on the asphalt.” Later, it became known that one of the girls was the daughter of a famous Almaty ecologist and artist. Deputy Interior Minister Igor Lepekha said that what happened "is a suicide; the case was opened based on it being suicide." On September 21, another schoolgirl fell from a high-rise in Almaty. Allegedly, the girl left the house to perform a routine task, but climbed to the 13th floor, from where she plunged. The Almaty Police Department confirmed the girl's death and has opened a criminal case. By this time, in schools, online, and on social networks, parents had started to spread panicked rumors about the impact on children of a particular computer game, similar to the semi-mythical game “Blue Whale.” In the past, Blue Whale has been decried as a malicious game which encourages teenagers to commit suicide and acts of violence, but no convincing evidence has ever been presented. The Almaty police stated that gossip regarding the involvement of dangerous internet games in the girls' deaths is not valid and reminded the public about their responsibility vis-à-vis spreading false information. On September 22, in the yard of a multi-story residential building in Almaty, the body of a 3rd-year cadet from the Border Academy of the National Security Committee (NSC) who was on regular leave was found. “The cause of death was a fall from a height,” the NSC press service reported. On September 23, also in Almaty, multiple sources reported that a young man had tumbled from a high-rise building. Police confirmed this information and the young man's death. The seventh tragic case in the largest city in Kazakhstan was the death of a student at the prestigious Almaty Management University (AlmaU) on September 25. The student's body was found on a sports field near a high-rise. The student was in his 20s, was studying to be a director, and was the son of a prominent official. The cause of his death is also believed to be suicide; however, there is no official statement as of yet. Search for the Guilty Given that this September has been filled with unexplained tragic incidents, the level of anxiety in Kazakhstan, especially in Almaty, has risen sharply. The media has been chock-full of stories about how a game called “Red Dolphin” has allegedly affected children in the same way it was said Blue Whale did. Photographs of books reportedly found among the belongings of the girls involved in the September 16 suicide were also shared, with unfounded rumors indicative of the widespread panic claiming these books were only available in marketplaces and were not sold in stores; it later transpired that the teen fantasy books were widely available. The Ministry of Internal Affairs announced it was checking the schoolgirls' phones. “Participation in suicidal game is not established. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) constantly monitors networks to identify and respond to illegal content. Since the beginning of the year, about 22,000 illegal foreign internet resources have been identified. Information has been sent to the authorized body to block access to them. The participation of Kazakhstani citizens in internet games with a suicidal orientation has not been established,” the Interior Ministry stated. The Almaty Education Department also announced the formation of a commission to investigate all aspects of the case, involving representatives from relevant government agencies. Additionally, many schools across the city have held meetings with parents focused on suicide prevention. Children's Ombudsman Dinara Zakieva published a memo on her social networks, which is being distributed among teachers and parents. The memo mentions Red Dolphin and dozens of other internet resources that, according to some sources, push children to suicide. It also mentions the teen fantasy books allegedly found in possession of the dead girls. According to the Interior Ministry, the average age among children who take their own life in Kazakhstan is 15-17 years old. The Ombudsman notes, however, that cases are increasingly common among the age group 11-13. “The main reasons are loneliness, relationships with parents, relatives, peers, and bullying. In addition, social networks significantly impact the modern world,” Zakieva wrote. The Ombudsman also stated that a pilot implementation of the KIVA anti-bullying program has begun in 110 schools, and will be introduced in all schools next year. From January, all schools should have one psychologist per 500 children. Currently, there is one per 1,500. Editorial staff at Factcheck.kz analyzed the pertinent internet materials and books, finding they “do not contain any calls for dangerous actions or information promoting suicide, but some of them are intended for the age category 16+. Red Dolphin and other groups associated with the RNBWN online community do contain information normalizing homicide and suicide. However, the actual effect of these resources is not entirely clear as of now. History shows that the impact of death groups tends to be greatly exaggerated,” the study concluded. Several psychologists, meanwhile, have spoken to the media pointing to the “Werther effect,” where the publication of news about suicides increases the risk of copycat actions. The psychologists' recommendations included increasing control over a child's phone use, and advising parents to build more trusting relationships with their children. Without waiting for the results of the investigation, meanwhile, Mazhilis deputy Zhuldyz Suleimenova has called on the authorities to block social networks and messengers across the country. Fictitious and Real Threats Unfortunately, youth suicide in Kazakhstan is not a rare phenomenon. At the same time, computer games, books, and social networks do not, in principle, play a significant role in these tragedies. In this climate of misinformation, in May of this year a schoolgirl threw herself from a multi-story building in Taldykorgan and died. According to some reports, the girl was driven to take such a step after receiving unsatisfactory results in the Unified National Test (UNT), which determines the possibility of receiving a grant to study at university. However, the school said the girl was yet to sit the UNT at the time of her death. In August, two sisters were hospitalized in Shymkent after trying to end their lives. They told police they had decided to commit suicide because they were being blackmailed over an intimate video they were filmed participating in. A criminal case was opened under the article “Driving to suicide.” Overall, according to the General Prosecutor's Office, 2,389 cases of suicide were registered in Kazakhstan in the first eight months of 2024, including 128 cases among children between the ages of 5 and 18. According to information for 2023, the number of suicides among minors in Kazakhstan increased by 48% - from 94 to 139, and the number of attempted suicides from 210 to 233 cases. In this regard, a Comprehensive Plan for 2023-2025 to protect children from violence and prevent suicide was adopted. The Comprehensive Plan envisages the development of anti-bullying programs based on foreign experience and several other measures that include rapid responses to incidents of violence. In February of this year, Aigul Kadirova, coordinator of the adolescent and youth development program of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Kazakhstan, outlined the leading causes of mortality among children and youth. Kadirova said that according to the Bureau of National Statistics, the leading causes of death among young people aged 10 to 34 includes accidents, poisoning, injuries, transportation accidents, and suicide. She noted that the study shows that traffic accidents and self-harm are the leading causes of death among young people. “This conclusion applies to all age groups of adolescents. Starting from the age group of 15-19 years, self-harm, which includes suicide, comes in first place,” said Kadirova. In 2023, a statement by Professor Muslim Hasenov, a PhD in law and associate professor at the Narikbayev KazSLU, argued that according to his data, about 170 children end their lives by suicide every year in Kazakhstan. There is a “very high latency, very unclear reasons in many cases. I analyzed all the statistics for eight years and came to shocking conclusions. Every year in Kazakhstan, an average of 172 children commit suicide, and the number of suicide attempts among minors reaches 350 cases a year,” wrote Hasenov. But, he noted, only about 40 cases a year are registered under the article, Driving to suicide. “We should not simplistically perceive suicide as a voluntary departure from life, especially if it concerns a child, because this is a very cynical and dangerous approach," Hasenov stated. "We must realize that any suicide, especially child suicide, has reasons when a person, especially a child, is driven to despair, and, in addition to internal psychological factors, there are external ones. And the science of criminal law has already formed the concept of 'criminal suicide' [where] a suicide is caused by an external negative impact of a physical, mental, or informational nature.” According to statistics, 40% of all child suicides in Kazakhstan are committed for unspecified reasons, leading Hasenov to argue it is impossible to establish the reasons behind such actions if this remains the case. "If there is no investigation or collection of evidence, it is practically impossible to establish guilt and bring the guilty to justice. There are also facts when relatives of persons who committed suicide, for some reason, do not apply or refuse to initiate proceedings due to fear, bribery, or simply unwillingness due to the tragic circumstances,” said Hasenov in calling for a full investigate into all the facts in cases of children's suicides. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has also expressed his opinion on the situation, stating that violence provokes children to commit suicide. “Unfortunately, cases of abuse and even violence among students do not stop, which, in turn, provokes children into suicide. Bullying causes irreparable damage to the mental state and health of children and adolescents, hurts the learning process, and leads to exclusion from the social environment and mental disorders. The State must ensure the protection of the rights and safety of children. It is necessary to eradicate bullying forever,” the president said last year, adding that he constantly receives letters from desperate parents. Tokayev instructed his administration to take control of the situation regarding the safety of children in schools. “The Prosecutor General's Office should finally fulfill the duties assigned to them as far as the safety of children is concerned. The Ombudsman for Children's Rights should record all such cases and report to me. We will take the toughest measures,” said Tokayev. Immediately after the wave of suicides, on September 30, Children's Rights Ombudsman Zakieva published a report on her trip to the Turkestan Oblast; the report clearly identifies the leading causes of children's suicidal behavior. Located in the country's south, Turkestan Oblast is Kazakhstan's most populated and “multi-child” region. It is also heavily influenced by religion and patriarchal traditions, including the subordinate, dependent position of women and children. “In a rural school in the Saryagash district, children complained of bullying and extortion in questionnaires and surveys. In the same school, a boy committed suicide in the spring; at the same time, a 15-year-old girl was found to be pregnant after being raped. It transpired that these students had earlier signaled in their drawings, which psychologists had collected, that they felt bad. However, no one paid attention,” Zakieva said. At a school in the Tole Bi district, four children from the same class wrote that they had been beaten, including with a stick, and were being mistreated at home. However, as the Ombudsman noted, psychologists and school administrators failed to report this to the authorized bodies, and the necessary actions were not taken. “A girl made a suicide attempt at school in the Sairam district, but no further work including the involvement of health services and psychiatrists was done,” Zakieva wrote. Several other similar cases are cited in the report. No matter how attractive the idea of declaring social networks, books, or computer games the cause of suicides may be, the facts do not bear out this theory. On the contrary, there is evidence that Kazakhstan's children decide to kill themselves because of violence, adult indifference, and disenfranchisement. According to the World Health Organization, more than 720,000 people commit suicide each year. Suicide is the third leading cause of death for people aged 15 to 29. Globally, 73% of suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries. There are helplines for people who find themselves in a difficult life situation in Kazakhstan. Kazakhstanis of any age can call this number with their problems and worries - the operators will not refuse them in counseling. The call is anonymous. The contact center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. National helpline for children and youth at 150 or 1303. You can also write to WhatsApp at +7 708 106 08 10.
Sumbar the Life-Saving Brown Bear Settles in Ashgabat Zoo
The National Museum of Wildlife of Turkmenistan, known as the Ashgabat Zoo, has a new resident — a brown bear named Sumbar, transferred from the Volokolamsk Center of the Moscow Zoo. This bear is not an ordinary bear: earlier, as a donor, his blood saved the life of another female bear. This is a rare case because there are seven groups of bear blood, and the blood of Sumbar suited the sick animal. The bear was given to the Ashgabat Zoo on the initiative of the Eurasian Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EARAZA) in honor of the 33rd anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence. Sumbar will have to adapt to a new place where comfortable conditions have been created for him in a spacious enclosure. Caring zookeepers have hidden food in different corners of the zoo's territory so that the bear can show its instincts. Currently, Sumbar is showing unexpected vegetarian preferences, favoring fruits and nuts. He is soon to be joined by a female brown bear named Aydere, also from the Moscow Zoo. Given that bears reach sexual maturity by age three and that Sumbar and Aydere are still "little," they have time to adapt and become friends, with the prospect of starting a family in the future. This case is unique because it is extremely rare for bears to become donors due to the difficulty of blood group compatibility. When veterinarians discovered that a sick bear cub had a serious illness requiring a blood transfusion, Sumbar's blood matched perfectly. Thanks to this, the bear cub's life was saved. This case attracted the attention of zoologists and veterinarians worldwide, and Sumbar gained heroic status among his subscribers and the center's staff.
Despite High Water Levels in Kyrgyzstan’s Toktogul Reservoir, Electricity Shortages Persist
Despite an increase in water levels at Kyrgyzstan’s Toktogul hydroelectric power plant (HPP) reservoir this year, the country continues to face electricity shortages, Energy Minister Taalaibek Ibrayev said in an interview with Birinchi Radio. Located on the Naryn River, the Toktogul HPP is Kyrgyzstan’s largest power plant, providing around 40% of the country’s electricity. As of October 1, 2024, the water volume in the Toktogul reservoir reached 13.033 billion cubic meters, approximately 1.3 billion cubic meters more than the previous year. The reservoir currently receives 365 cubic meters of water per second while releasing 284 cubic meters per second for power generation. "Despite the increased water levels in 2024, we are still facing an electricity deficit of about 3.9 billion kilowatt-hours," Minister Ibrayev stated. To address the deficit, Kyrgyzstan is working to expand its energy capacity by building small and large hydroelectric plants. "In the past, small hydroelectric plants produced around 200-300 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. This figure has now increased to 750 million kilowatt-hours," Ibrayev explained. He also noted that the country’s electricity consumption has risen by 400 million kilowatt-hours this year, driven by the launch of new industrial enterprises. According to the National Statistics Committee, Kyrgyzstan generated 13.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2023, with hydropower plants accounting for approximately 87% of total electricity production. In 2023, Kyrgyzstan met 80% of its electricity demand, which totalled 17.2 billion kilowatt-hours. The remaining 20%, or 3.4 billion kilowatt-hours, was imported. To help reduce reliance on imports, an agreement was signed between Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan in May 2023 for the supply of 1.7 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Turkmenistan, starting on January 1, 2025.
China Officially Joins the Middle Corridor
It was announced during the 8th International Silk Road Expo in Xi’an in September 2024 that China will formally join the Middle Corridor under the guise of participation by the China Railway Container Transport Corporation (CRTC). This move signals a growing reliance on Central Asia’s trade-route infrastructure potential. China's shift to overland routes is part of a broader strategy to diversify away from traditional maritime routes through chokepoints like the Strait of Malacca, which carry geopolitical risk. Kazakhstan's strategic geographic location naturally makes it indispensable to China’s trade, and infrastructure projects currently underway represent a key component of the Middle Corridor’s potential. In July 2024, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ratified agreements with China aimed at further developing the Middle Corridor, enhancing both road and rail infrastructure. The country has already been upgrading its rail infrastructure, modernizing dry ports like Khorgos on the Chinese border, and expanding transit facilities at the Caspian Sea port of Aktau. The increased flow of goods through Kazakhstan is evident: over 212 container block trains have passed through the country by September 2024, with the number projected to exceed 300 by the year’s end. These build-outs, and particularly Kazakhstan’s modernization of its railways, go hand-in-hand with the recently finished improvements along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) line, which connects Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia. The expansion of the BTK line's capacity from 1 million to 5 million tons per year has now been completed. As a result of all these efforts, the travel time for goods from China to the Black Sea has been reduced to just 10–12 days, highlighting the efficiency of the corridor. Azerbaijan also plays a crucial role in this economic ecosystem. Baku’s port of Alat serves as a critical transit point for cargo crossing between Central Asia and the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan’s collaboration with Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Turkey has led to significant investments in expanding port facilities and upgrading railway systems beyond the crucial BTK link mentioned above. The result is a smoother, more reliable flow of goods from China to Europe. Azerbaijan is winning its bet to become a regional logistics hub. In addition, a Chinese consortium recently secured the contract for the construction of the Anaklia deep-sea port in Georgia, a strategically important site on the eastern edge of the Black Sea. The project was initially awarded to a Georgian-American consortium, but was cancelled in 2020 due to political and legal disputes. Following a new tender process this year, the Chinese consortium emerged as the sole bidder. If supporting infrastructure is adequately developed and the Black Sea’s cargo transit capacity can be significantly enhanced, then the Anaklia port could become a critical node in the Middle Corridor, enhancing its role in Eurasian trade and bolstering regional connectivity. China’s increased reliance on Central Asian, trans-Caspian, and South Caucasus routes is not just about efficiency. It is also a strategic diversification to mitigate the risks posed by geopolitical instability in other regions. Traditional sea routes through maritime choke-points as well as overland routes like the Northern Corridor through Russia have become problematic, all for different reasons. Due to global geoeconomic complications arising from Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, not only China but also Europe has expressed concerns about the reliability of the Northern Corridor. The Middle Corridor offers an alternative bypassing these risks while leveraging Central Asia’s increasingly sophisticated logistical integration. In addition to economic and strategic benefits, the Middle Corridor offers what are viewed as environmental advantages. Overland routes, particularly those relying on rail, tend to be less carbon-intensive than long-distance maritime shipping, which is a major contributor to global carbon emissions. China thus showcases its shift toward rail and multi-modal transport along the Middle Corridor as an element in its policies to align with global sustainability goals. This has provided it with opportunities for successful public diplomacy around UN-driven development goals. It also plays well in the European Union, where reduced carbon footprints in international trade are still a major policy point. It seems likely that China may contribute to initiatives for the Middle Corridor's integration and logistical efficiency in such technological domains as advanced tracking systems, real-time data sharing, and seamless customs procedures. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia have been cooperating on digital platforms to facilitate smoother and more efficient border crossings; these reduce delays while ensuring the integrity of goods. Such advances also ensure Central Asian competitiveness as a transport link. China’s integration into the Middle Corridor marks a qualitatively new stage in the country’s trade strategy, where Central Asia's role becomes indispensable to it. It confirms the emergence of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan as vital players in Eurasian logistics. Countries along the route are poised to benefit from China’s investments and their own efforts to modernize infrastructure. For Central Asia, the Middle Corridor is more than just a transit route. It represents a gateway to greater economic integration and regional stability.
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