Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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Society

World Happiness Index: Central Asian Countries Stand Out With “Warm Social Climate”

Kazakhstan has been named the happiest country in Central Asia, according to the World Happiness Report 2025 published by the Oxford Wellbeing Centre. Ranking 43rd globally, Kazakhstan outperformed its regional neighbors in metrics such as social support, trust, and freedom of choice. The report evaluates national well-being based on six key indicators: GDP per capita Social support (help from family, friends, and society) Healthy life expectancy Freedom to make life choices Generosity (willingness to help others) Perceived absence of corruption Kazakhstan scored 6.38 out of 10, demonstrating especially strong performance in trust and honesty. The country ranked 30th globally for the likelihood of returning a wallet to a neighbor and 42nd for returning it to a stranger. Uzbekistan followed at 53rd place with a score of 6.2. The country stood out for its high levels of charitable giving (29th) and public trust in law enforcement (19th). Kyrgyzstan ranked 75th with 5.9 points and was recognized as the regional leader in helping strangers. Tajikistan placed 90th with a score of 5.4 but made the global top four in volunteering, an indicator linked to longstanding traditions of mutual aid. Turkmenistan was excluded from the ranking due to insufficient data. The report highlights that Central Asian countries exhibit some of the world’s highest levels of kindness. The region's mutual aid index ranges from 0.30 to 0.36, compared to the global average of 0.33. “Despite economic differences, the region maintains strong social ties and a culture of collectivism, where helping others and participating in community life remain important values,” the report notes. According to the authors, happiness is influenced less by income than by trust, stability, and personal freedom. Central Asia, they conclude, fosters a “warm social climate,” where interpersonal kindness often offsets institutional shortcomings and economic hardship. Globally, Finland topped the 2025 rankings, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands. At the bottom of the list were Sierra Leone (146th) and Afghanistan (147th), where happiness levels remain the lowest worldwide.

Cultural Heritage

U.S. Envoys Experience Kazakhstan’s Living Nomadic Traditions

U.S. Special Representative for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor and Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau recently visited Kazakhstan as part of preparations for the upcoming C5+1 summit. While official releases highlighted meetings on regional cooperation and stability, local media also noted cultural engagements showcasing Kazakhstan’s living nomadic traditions. While in Almaty, the U.S. delegation also toured the Shymbulak ski resort and the Medeu high-altitude skating rink. Amidst the picturesque alpine scenery, they participated in traditional archery, an enduring symbol of the nomadic peoples’ skill and heritage. Archery: A Living Legacy Traditional archery, known as sadak atu, is experiencing a revival in Kazakhstan. As in the past, both boys and girls train in the discipline, a tradition rooted in the realities of steppe life, where women were equally taught to hunt and defend their communities. Far more than a sport, archery reflects a nomadic philosophy. In ancient times, the bow served both as a hunting tool and a weapon of war, requiring intricate craftsmanship using wood, bone, and animal tendons. Archers learned to shoot from horseback, relying on instinct and experience rather than sights. Today, this heritage is inspiring a resurgence of interest among young Kazakhs. Archery clubs are opening across the country, competitions are being held, and the traditional art is gaining popularity. The 5th World Nomad Games, held in Astana in 2024, prominently featured sadak atu among other ethnic sports. Petropavl also hosted the Kazakhstan Youth Traditional Archery Championship, drawing 400 participants aged 10 to 17, many in national attire. Meanwhile, Uralsk hosted the 4th Republican Traditional Archery Championship, with 270 athletes from 18 regions competing. Coaches expect the popularity of sadak atu and zhamba atu, mounted archery, to grow, offering Kazakhs a tangible link to their ancestral culture and a spectacle that continues to impress international visitors. [caption id="attachment_22863" align="aligncenter" width="909"] Horseback archery at the World Nomad Games 2024; image: TCA, Ilyas Otan[/caption] The Tazy: A National Symbol The Tazy dog, sometimes referred to as the Kazakh or Central Asian greyhound, holds a special place in Turkic heritage. Once indispensable to nomadic hunters, the breed’s cultural and historical value is now protected by state policy. In 2023, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev was gifted a Tazy puppy called Nauryz, which is named after the spring festival celebrating renewal. The president emphasized the importance of promoting the Tazy and Tobet breeds internationally and called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to participate in preservation efforts. A special law was adopted to support this cause. By 2024, President Tokayev had three Tazy dogs under his care. He is known to walk them personally in his free time. That same year, he gifted two Tazy puppies to French President Emmanuel Macron. Delivered to Paris, the puppies were named Jules and Jeanne. [caption id="attachment_38363" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The Tazy; image: TCA, Stephen M. Bland[/caption] Hunting with Birds of Prey: The Wings of Victory The tradition of hunting with birds of prey, kusbegilik, has deep roots in Turkic culture, dating back millennia. Archaeological...

Identity

Petropavl – A City of Two Tales

No one seems to like the name Petropavl. The city, situated in northern Kazakhstan in a peninsula of territory that juts into Russian Siberia, has long lived between two worlds. From monuments to manhole covers, there have long been conflicting stories about who belongs here. In the Russian telling, the city was founded as a fortress on “empty steppe” in 1752 by Tsarist troops, named for Saints Peter and Paul – in Russian, Petropavlovsk. For over a century, it remained a frontier post that guarded the empire’s edge before the push into Central Asia in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet for Kazakhs, this place was never empty: long before the Cossacks came, nomadic Kazakhs from the Middle Zhuz grazed their herds here along the Ishim River, calling the place Qyzyljar – “the red ridge”. [caption id="attachment_38326" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] Manhole covers imprinted with Qyzyljar; image: TCA, Joe Luc Barnes[/caption] Since independence, Kazakhstan has restored the names of thousands of cities, towns, and villages across the country in order to give the land a more Kazakh stamp. But Qyzyljar has not returned. Instead, the authorities’ immediate solution has been to Kazakh-ify the Russian name, leaving us with Petropavl. It’s a fudge that satisfies no one, and the official name is rarely heard on the city streets. In this overwhelmingly Russian-speaking city, most continue to call it “Petropavlovsk,” or even “Piter,” echoing Saint Petersburg’s nickname. Ethnic Russians Ethnic Russians now make up just under half the population of the North Kazakhstan region. In individual cities such as Petropavl, the proportion is far higher, although official information is hard to come by. The boundaries of Kazakhstan’s provinces, or oblasts, were gerrymandered in 1997 to soften perceptions of Russian dominance, but a mere walk around the city makes it clear that about two-thirds of the population is not Kazakh. These numbers and the region’s proximity to Russia have long made it a focus of uneasy attention. When Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014, President Vladimir Putin remarked that Kazakhstan had “never had statehood” before Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Dmitri Medvedev called it an “artificial state” in 2022 (although he subsequently claimed to have been hacked). Other Russian lawmakers have called northern Kazakhstan “a gift from Russia,” while nationalist commentators as far back as Solzhenitsyn have called for Northern Kazakhstan to be “reunited” with Russia. Dr. Petr Oskolkov, affiliated researcher at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, was part of a team that undertook research on the ethnic Russian population in Kazakhstan in 2020-21, and believes that these fears are overblown. “Initially, there was a lack of public trust in the prospects of Kazakhstani statehood, especially among Russian-speakers. Nowadays, these doubts are absent,” he told The Times of Central Asia. “Moreover, the overall level of the identification with Kazakhstan, and the quality of life, have both grown significantly since the 1990s, so the idea [of separatism] has lost its main appeal.” [caption id="attachment_38320" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Soviet mosaic; image: TCA, Joe Luc Barnes[/caption] Nevertheless, doom-mongers in Astana worry that Petropavlovsk...

Silk Road

The Artistic Brilliance of Central Asia Takes Center Stage at Sotheby’s

On October 29, Sotheby’s will host its Arts of the Islamic World and India sale, featuring a dazzling selection of manuscripts, ceramics, metalwork, and jewelry that together trace the creative reach of Central Asia across six centuries. The auction highlights how the region’s artists shaped Islamic visual culture from the early medieval period to the Timurid age. Among the most important works is a rare page from the monumental Baysunghur Qur’an, produced around 1400 in Herat or Samarkand. Another piece connects to the earlier Samanid Dynasty, whose rule from Bukhara and Tashkent fostered a flourishing of calligraphic pottery in the ninth and tenth centuries. The Arab geographer al-Maqdisi once praised the “large bowls from Shash,” an early name for Tashkent, noting their reputation throughout the Islamic world. [caption id="attachment_38298" align="aligncenter" width="1797"] A line from the 'Baysunghur Qur'an', attributed to 'Umar al-Aqta, Herat or Samarkand, circa 1400; image: Sotheby's[/caption] Two colorful Timurid mosaic tiles from the fourteenth or fifteenth century illustrate the architectural splendor of Samarkand and Herat. Their glazed patterns in cobalt, turquoise, and white once formed part of vast decorative panels in mosques and mausoleums. The geometric interlace and stylized foliage that define them became a visual signature of Timurid architecture, a style that spread from Central Asia to Persia and India. [caption id="attachment_38301" align="aligncenter" width="1346"] A Golden Horde turquoise and pearl-set gold belt or necklace, Pontic-Caspian Steppe, 14th century; image: Sotheby's[/caption] The Times of Central Asia spoke with Frankie Keyworth, a specialist in Islamic and Indian Art at Sotheby’s, for a closer look. TCA: How did manuscripts like the Baysunghur Qur’an serve as symbols of power and faith in the Timurid court, and what does its immense scale - a Qur’an so vast it took two people to turn a page - reveal about the empire’s ambition, artistry, and self-image? Keyworth: The manuscript was a hugely ambitious and challenging project, even just by the tools it would take to create, with monumental sheets of paper measuring 177 by 101cm., and a large pen whose nib would have to measure over 1cm. Displayed on a magnificent marble stand, the manuscript would be a staggering visual representation of the patron’s wealth and piety. Their subsequent use during public recitation reinforced the elite’s religious aspirations. The fact that this manuscript is unsurpassed by any other medieval Qur’an and remains so valued centuries after it was produced at the turn of the 15th century reveals the key role manuscripts played in the establishment of the Timurid dynastic image. [caption id="attachment_38299" align="aligncenter" width="1346"] A Timurid brass jug (mashrabe), Herat, Afghanistan, 15th-early 16th century; image: Sotheby's[/caption] TCA: A brass jug from Herat shaped like a Chinese vase, a ceramic bowl from Tashkent inscribed in Arabic script - these objects tell of traders, scholars, and artists linking worlds from Samarkand to Beijing long before globalization had a name. What can you tell us about how this trade transpired, and are there similarities to modern transport corridors? Keyworth: Trade via the so-called Silk Road endured for...

Sports

Uzbekistan’s Abdukodir Khusanov Judged Asia’s Joint Most Valuable Footballer

At just 21 years old, Uzbek defender Abdukodir Khusanov has been named as Asia’s joint most expensive footballer, with a current market valuation of €35 million, according to Transfermarkt’s latest update. This places him on par with Brighton's Japanese winger Kaoru Mitoma, whose value was recently revised down from €40 million to €35 million. Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae, a South Korean international, also saw a decrease, from €40 million to €32 million, making Khusanov the continent’s equal top-valued player with Mitoma. Khusanov’s meteoric rise follows his high-profile transfer to English champions Manchester City earlier this year. The long-term deal, reportedly valued at €40 million, marked a record for an Uzbek player and one of the largest fees ever paid for an Asian footballer. Manchester City confirmed the signing from French club RC Lens in January. British media reported that the deal includes performance-based bonuses, which could further increase its value. The central defender made 31 appearances for Lens after transferring from Belarusian side Energetik-BGU Minsk in 2023. Khusanov is the first player from Uzbekistan to play in the English Premier League, a landmark achievement that has garnered widespread attention in his home country. Manchester City officials praised his tactical awareness, composure under pressure, and pace, qualities he demonstrated throughout his Ligue 1 campaign.

Horses

Kazakhstan’s Horse Breeding Institute Set to Be Fully Operational by 2026

The Research Institute of Horse Breeding in the Aktobe region of western Kazakhstan is expected to become fully operational in 2026. The institute aims to support national livestock breeding and safeguard Kazakhstan’s rich equestrian heritage. The creation of the institute was first announced in the fall of 2024 during the inaugural Forum of Agricultural Workers. Its objectives include increasing the national horse population, advancing selective breeding of native breeds, and boosting the export of horse products. The transformation of a former experimental station in Aktobe into a specialized scientific center marked the project’s practical launch. A new facility is currently under construction and will include five laboratories focused on genetic and breeding research. Completion is scheduled for May 2026. “The main tasks of the institute are to develop exports of horse meat and milk (kumys), promote national sports and sport horse breeding, and create conditions for domestic jockeys to compete internationally,” said Alibek Bazargaliev, chairman of the Kazakh Horse Breeding and Feed Production Research Institute. The institute’s infrastructure will feature a riding arena, stables, a veterinary station, research labs, and a racetrack, forming a base for research, breeding, and the training of industry professionals. Although Kazakhstan’s horse population has grown, the share of purebred animals remains below 1%. Of the country’s 4.2 million horses, only about 40,000 belong to recognized breeding lines. This disparity was a driving factor behind the institute’s establishment. Kazakhstan is home to several unique native breeds, including the Jabe, Adai, Kostanay, Kushum, and Imugaljar. The Jabe, considered the oldest, has been integral to nomadic life for millennia. It is known for its endurance and versatility, making it suitable for riding, labor, and the production of meat and milk. In 2023, a new law was adopted to preserve domestic breeds. It facilitates the import of foreign sport horses for breeding purposes, increases funding for breeding programs, and provides compensation for producers’ costs. Kazakhstan is also advancing efforts to restore rare species, including Przewalski’s horse, the Turanian tiger, and the snow leopard.