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Articles

Turkish referendum: sending the wrong signal to Central Asia

LONDON (TCA) — It all looks like a shameful charade. But on a slightly longer term, Turkey’s referendum can be considered a step backward rather than forward and is certain to create more problems than it could possibly solve. It goes in the opposite direction of a trend emerging throughout Central Asia away from personality rule and towards a more collective form of government. While expected to have little immediate geopolitical spillover, the message sent by Turkey’s narrow majority in the direction of Central Asia is most of all psychological – and it is the wrong message. Continue reading

8 years ago

Uzbek, Kyrgyz and Tajik radicals behind terrorism ‘made in Central Asia’

LONDON (TCA) — In the attack on an Istanbul nightclub last winter and recent ones in Stockholm, St. Petersburg and Astrakhan most of the perpetrators appeared to be not Chechens, Ingush and Dagestanians “as usual” but people from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as well as ethnic Uygurs from western China. This, in the eyes of the public, has turned Central Asia into a terrorist brand. It appears that the region is ill-prepared to cope with it. Continue reading

8 years ago

Will Kurds in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan seek joining Greater Kurdistan?

LONDON (TCA) — Should Central Asia care whether or not Kurds in the world will have their own home in the form of the Greater Kurdistan Republic, covering the northern regions of Iraq and Syria? The answer would be no without taking precedent mechanisms into consideration. There has been talk more than once about Kyrgyzstan being split up into North and South or Tajikistan’s east proclaiming independence, and separatist tendencies in northern Kazakhstan. Any other attempt to change the geopolitical map anywhere in the world means bad tidings for other areas suffering from either real or imaginary geopolitical threats. Continue reading

8 years ago

Central Asia corruption: high-brow racketeers society in Kazakhstan (part 2)

LONDON (TCA) — In Kazakhstan, two former prime ministers are serving jail terms now, and shadows are packing on top of dozens of other members of the upper circle and hundreds within slightly lower echelons. Continue reading

8 years ago

Central Asia corruption: how Kyrgyzstan can make a fresh start (part 1)

BISHKEK (TCA) — How can Central Asia’s nations reverse the force of greed thriving their upper echelons in favour of a fairer division of wealth en replace personal enrichment by collective economic improvement? If western parties would replace provocations by assistance to get justice done, it would help a lot, and give a new political generation no longer driven by selfish aspirations a chance to impose a velvet transition in the right direction. Kyrgyzstan appears to be the best-placed for such a process. Continue reading

8 years ago