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International Women's Day

How Much is Berdymuhamedov’s 8 March “Gift” to Turkmen Women Actually Worth?

Turkmenistan’s President Serdar Berdymuhamedov has ordered that female residents of the country receive 60 manats each in honor of March 8, International Women’s Day. At the current market exchange rate of 19.5 manats to the U.S. dollar, this amounts to approximately $3. Officially, the decision is described as recognition of “the great contribution of women in bringing about changes for the prosperity of the country, in raising a healthy and enthusiastic generation devoted to the Motherland, in order to continue the noble traditions of our ancestors in honoring our beloved mothers and dear sisters in the era of the rebirth of a new era of a powerful state.” Payments are scheduled to be distributed between March 2 and March 6. Eligible recipients include women employed in enterprises and organizations regardless of ownership, pensioners and recipients of state benefits, graduate and doctoral students, clinical residents on leave from work, students of the Academy of Public Administration with a term of study of at least two years, as well as schoolgirls, university students, and kindergarten pupils. Turkmen women have received the equivalent of about $3 for the holiday for seven consecutive years. However, since 2019, the cost of food and consumer goods in the country has risen significantly. The official exchange rate of the Turkmen manat has remained fixed at 3.5 manats per dollar since 2015. By that rate, 60 manats would equal approximately $17. However, the widely used parallel market rate currently stands at about 19.5 manats per dollar, reducing the real value of the payment to roughly $3. As a result, the actual purchasing power of the “gift” is significantly lower than the figure implied by calculations based on the official exchange rate. In September 2025, one elder publicly called for an end to increasing such payments, stating that “the social and living conditions of the country’s population have reached a high level.”

Tourism

Kyrgyzstan Advances Construction of Ala-Too All-Season Ski Cluster

On February 25, Kyrgyzstan’s Ala-Too Resort OJSC and the Austrian company Doppelmayr, a global leader in cable car construction, signed a contract for the installation of four additional cable-car lines at the Jyrgalan resort. The site represents the first phase of the Ala-Too Resort project, a flagship state investment initiative to develop an all-season mountain ski cluster in the Issyk-Kul region, east of Lake Issyk-Kul. Construction of the Ala-Too Resort cluster, which will combine three resorts, Jyrgalan, Ak-Bulak, and Boz-Uchuk, began in August 2025. The new agreement follows a contract signed last year under which Doppelmayr is currently building two cable-car lines at Jyrgalan. Their commissioning is scheduled for May 2026. The four additional cable-car lines are expected to be completed by the end of this year, with the official opening of Jyrgalan planned for December. Once operational, the total length of cable-car lines at the resort will exceed 8 kilometers, while ski trails will extend to 46 kilometers. Doppelmayr has also completed a 1-kilometer cable-car line in the Ala-Archa State Nature Park, located about 30 kilometers from the capital, Bishkek. Officially opened on February 18, it became Kyrgyzstan’s first gondola lift. According to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, the Ala-Too Resort project will be implemented in stages through 2038, with total investments estimated at approximately €1.2 billion. The cluster aims to attract up to 4 million tourists annually. The total area of the mountain cluster will cover 3,916 hectares, with ski slopes extending to 260 kilometers. Project developers state that this would place Ala-Too Resort among the world’s top ten resorts by total trail length and make it the largest ski destination in Central Asia. The development plan includes the construction of private villas and three- to five-star hotels, as well as a panoramic restaurant, conference facilities, a medical center, a stadium, an amphitheatre, and recreational parks. Infrastructure works are currently underway, including the construction of power transmission lines, drinking water systems, and wastewater treatment facilities. Reconstruction of the road linking Jyrgalan with Karakol, the administrative center of the Issyk-Kul region, has also begun. The Ala-Too Resort project is expected to provide a significant boost to Kyrgyzstan’s tourism sector, positioning the country as a major destination for mountain skiing in Central Asia.

Sports

Uzbekistan Continues Busy Sporting Year with Tashkent Judo Grand Slam

The 12,500-capacity Humo Arena in central Tashkent is preparing to host the OTP Group Tashkent Grand Slam 2026 this week. The three-day elite competition starts on 27 February. The event is the second stop on the 2026 World Judo Tour, following the Paris Grand Slam, and will feature 400 world-class judokas representing more than 40 countries. Home hopes are resting on the Olympic medallist and World champion Davlat Bobonov, while other high-profile competitors include Olympic champions Hidayat Hedarov and Zelym Kotsoiev from Azerbaijan, and the Georgian Lasha Bekauri. The Grand Slam is separated into 14 weight categories. Friday’s action focuses on the lighter weight classes, including the women’s 48kg and men’s 60kg divisions. On Saturday the competition switches to the middleweight categories, while the final day on Sunday features the heavyweights. Uzbekistan is quietly establishing itself as a host for judo tournaments, having previously hosted the 2022 Judo World Championships, and the Grand Slam for the last five years. Uzbek judo is on the rise, with Diyora Keldiyorova winning the country’s first ever gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. “We look forward to welcoming the world’s best judokas to compete in Uzbekistan,” said Otabek Umarov, First Vice President of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan, and Vice-President of the Olympic Council of Asia. “It is a great honour for Tashkent to continue to host major international judo events, and we thank the International Judo Federation for their continued trust. Hosting the Grand Slam not only inspires the next generation of athletes but stands as a testament to Uzbekistan’s dedication to the sport.” The 2026 Judo Grand Slam comes at the start of a standout year for Uzbek sports. The country’s football team will make its first appearance at a FIFA World Cup at the tournament in North America this summer. Samarkand will host the World Triathlon Championship Series on 25-26 April, then the 46th Chess Olympiad in September. The World Aquatics Swimming World Cup comes to Tashkent in October. To ensure the spirit of judo remains accessible to all fans and aspiring athletes across Central Asia, the Humo Arena will offer free admission to the public for the duration of the event. For fans abroad, the competition will be broadcast live to a global audience via the JudoTV platform.

History

An Early European View of Nomadic Central Asia

During a period when Central Asia remained largely unknown to European audiences, Among Kirghiz and Turkimans offered Western readers a rare first-hand account of the vast steppe and desert regions. The book was written in the late nineteenth century by Richard Karutz, a German traveler whose work belongs to the broader tradition of European exploratory travel literature. I first encountered this book while studying in the United States and later incorporated it into my research. A copy preserved in the library of the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., was published in Leipzig in 1911. Since then, it has been regarded as one of the more noteworthy works in early European writing on Central Asia. Who Was Richard Karutz? Richard Karutz was a late nineteenth-century German traveler and writer who journeyed through parts of the Russian Empire’s Central Asian territories. Though not widely known today compared to some British or Russian explorers, Karutz represents a generation of European intellectuals fascinated by the perceived “frontier zones” of empire, regions seen as remote, exotic, and culturally distinct. [caption id="attachment_44400" align="aligncenter" width="312"] Richard Karutz[/caption] He was neither a colonial administrator nor a military officer; rather, he traveled as an independent observer. His writings reflect the curiosity of an educated European shaped by the intellectual currents of his era, including Orientalism and the growing interest in ethnography. Like many travelers of his time, Karutz sought to document ways of life he believed were on the verge of transformation under imperial modernization. Across the Steppe and Desert In Among Kirghiz and Turkimans, Karutz traveled among communities then commonly referred to in Russian and European sources as “Kirghiz”, a historical term often applied to Kazakhs, as well as Turkmen tribes. His route took him across vast grasslands, caravan routes, and oasis settlements shaped by pastoral migration, tribal organization, and Islamic traditions. Rather than producing an official report or military survey, Karutz wrote in a personal and descriptive style typical of travel literature. His narrative often reads as impressionistic reflection rather than systematic analysis. He documents everyday life, including nomadic encampments and felt yurts, equestrian culture and elaborate codes of hospitality, tribal leadership and clan loyalty, as well as desert trade routes and caravan movement. Mangyshlak, a peninsula on the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea in present-day Kazakhstan, features prominently in his descriptions. Significant mineral deposits were later discovered there, leading to its designation as a “peninsula of treasures.” Mangyshlak is characterized by stark desert landscapes and was once described as a barren land consisting largely of sand and stone. In the Middle Ages, it served as a gateway for trade between East and West. The region also played a role in the early history of Turkmen communities. Karutz’s writing attempts to capture both the hardship and the quiet grandeur of steppe existence. Depicting Nomadic Society A central strength of the book lies in its attention to social organization. Karutz was particularly struck by the mobility of Kazakh life, seasonal migrations, a livestock-based economy, and...

Weather

Storms and Abnormal Heat: Turkmenistan Experiences Severe Weather

From February 20 to 22, dust storms with storm-force winds swept across Turkmenistan. The storm damaged greenhouses and crops in a number of regions, and the week was memorable not only for the destruction it caused but also for the historic temperature records it set. Strong winds hit the country on February 20. In the Akhal region, gusts reached 18-23 m/s, and in the Mary region, 17-22 m/s. On the Beaufort scale, these readings are classified as storm force. In other regions, the wind was also very strong. Dust storms broke out in the east of the country and in some parts of the Ahal region. In the town of Turkmenabat, wind speeds reached 23 m/s, and visibility was reduced to 500 meters. Similar readings were recorded in the towns of Serkhetabat and Bayramali. In the town of Mary, visibility dropped to 300 meters, and in the village of Tagta-Bazar to only 200 meters. The storm knocked down trees, damaged road signs, and affected some buildings. The most significant damage occurred in rural areas. In the Mary and Lebap region, private farms and plots were affected. The wind blew away greenhouses, and their frames collapsed directly onto the beds, destroying cucumbers, tomatoes, and other crops. Flower growers also suffered serious losses. Many had expanded their acreage and hired additional workers to prepare for the peak sales period around March 8, but the storm deprived them of their harvest and any chance of compensating for months of low demand. The region has previously faced the devastating effects of natural disasters. In 2020, a hurricane caused extensive damage in the Mary and Lebap regions, knocking down buildings and trees and claiming dozens of lives. Some families have still not recovered from those events. At the same time, despite the regular occurrence of strong winds, no effective system has been created to protect farms and the population from such phenomena. As noted by Meteozhurnal, the current weather situation is due to the northwestern intrusion of air masses. High wind speeds continued on February 23, prolonging the period of adverse conditions. The week was marked not only by storms but also by unprecedented heat. For several days, temperatures were more typical of April or May. The peak occurred on February 19, 2026. In the city of Esenguly in the Balkan region, located in the southwest of the country on the coast of the Caspian Sea, the temperature reached 36.2°C. This is the absolute maximum in the history of meteorological observations in Turkmenistan. The previous record of 32.9°C was set in 1946 in Serakhs, Akhal region. On the same day, temperatures above 30°C were recorded in several regions. In the Balkan region, the thermometer rose to 33.4°C in the town of Etrek and 30.6°C in Makhtumkuli. In Baharden, Akhal region, it reached 33°C. Records were also broken in other cities, albeit with lower values.

Winter Olympic Games

From Denis Ten to Mikhail Shaidorov: Kazakhstan’s Thorny Path to a Gold Medal at the Winter Olympics

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy have officially come to a close. At the end of the competition, the Kazakh team won one gold medal and placed 19th in the overall medal standings. This is the country’s best result since 1994, when the team finished 12th at the Lillehammer Olympics, with skier Vladimir Smirnov winning gold. This time, Kazakhstan’s only medal was secured by figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov, who became the first Olympic champion in the history of Kazakh figure skating. It is not the country’s first Olympic medal in the sport, however: in 2014 figure skater Denis Ten won bronze. On February 14, Shaydorov paid tribute to Denis Ten, Kazakhstan's bronze medalist at the 2014 Olympics. “I think Denis Ten influenced not only me but also figure skating in Kazakhstan as a whole. He opened the door for many skaters, including me. And that is incredibly important. I hope that the medal I won today will open new doors for the younger generation, the children of Kazakhstan, who will know that there are no limits,” he said. Denis Ten, who tragically died at the hands of petty thieves in the center of Almaty, did much to popularize figure skating in Kazakhstan. He dreamed of opening his own school and founding an ice show for this purpose. Shaidorov is one of dozens of boys and girls inspired by the achievements of the Almaty native, who learned to skate at the Ramstor shopping center. The future champion took his first steps on the same rink. As residents often say, Almaty is a big village where everyone knows one another. In fact, there is limited accessible ice in Almaty, which is why Shaidorov was forced to train in the Russian city of Sochi, as Denis Ten had previously trained in Moscow. One of the defining stories behind the young skater’s journey is connected to his training. His father, Stanislav Shaidorov, a former professional figure skater and multiple national champion, helped him pursue his ambitions, including selling a car to invest in his son’s training. Stanislav is acquainted with Russian coach and Olympic champion Alexei Urmanov. In 2017, Urmanov held training camps in Yoshkar-Ola, Russia, where young Mikhail Shaidorov performed his first double axel. “Six months later, we returned to Urmanov. He assessed Misha's progress. Over the course of a year, we learned all the triple jumps, but we had to constantly change rinks. We called every day to arrange a time, which was not always convenient for us. Finally, in the fall of 2018, we were faced with a choice: continue renting ice in Almaty at our own expense or move to Russia to train properly. I called Alexei Evgenievich. He said, ‘Okay, come on over.’ That same day, I sold my car, and the next day we bought tickets and flew to Sochi, where Urmanov works,” recalled Stanislav Shaidorov. Mikhail, who was 14 at the time, later said in an interview that he had asked his father to leave...