Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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Chess

Kazakhstan Hosts FIDE Chess Tournament for Players with Disabilities

Chess is a “great equalizer,” says Henry Lopez, a player from the Philippines. “It’s for everybody.” Lopez, who uses a wheelchair because of polio, is among dozens of competitors from around the world who are participating this week at the 2nd Chess Olympiad for People with Disabilities in Astana. The event is organized by FIDE, the international governing body of chess, and hosted by the Kazakhstan Chess Federation, which is making a big push to introduce the game in schools across the country, as well as cultivate high performers at the elite level. The weeklong competition, whose closing ceremony is on Saturday, features 34 teams from 29 countries. There are teams from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The players have visual, hearing, and physical impairments. The event is taking place at the Paralympic Training Centre, whose facilities are designed to help people with disabilities. In an interview posted on YouTube by FIDE, Lopez said he was taking part in the second edition of the event. The first, won by Poland, was held in Belgrade, Serbia in 2023. The Philippines came third in Belgrade and will try for the top spot again in Astana. “Chess for me now is my source of living in the Philippines,” Lopez said. “I’m a national player and we have stipend every month from the government.” FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said the contest has drawn more teams and more countries this time around, and was consistent with the organization’s goal of providing access to top level events to as many people as possible, according to a FIDE interview. “We do believe that chess is inclusive and we have to make sure that it’s inclusive indeed,” Dvorkovich said. Shantel Panashe Gweshe, a player from Zimbabwe, told FIDE that the Astana event had inspired her. “When I go back to Zimbabwe, first thing, I’m going to make sure that I’m going to empower other people with disabilities to ensure inclusivity and participation,” she said.

Higher Education

New Partnerships Aim to Turn Kyrgyz Students into Entrepreneurs

On October 20, the investment fund Central Asia Capital signed strategic cooperation agreements with Jusup Balasagyn Kyrgyz National University (KNU) and the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University (KRSU) to promote practice-oriented education, support student startups, and create new employment opportunities. The partnerships aim to bridge the gap between academia and industry by providing students with hands-on business experience, mentorship, and pathways to entrepreneurship. “Our agreements with KNU and KRSU are a major step toward creating conditions where students not only gain knowledge but also apply it in real business settings. This is a strategic investment in the future of Kyrgyzstan’s economy,” said Anton Sobin, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Central Asia Capital. A flagship initiative under the agreements will be the launch of an Acceleration School, where students can develop business projects, receive expert mentorship, and compete for investment grants. “We want young people to see that they can build successful businesses in Kyrgyzstan without going abroad,” Sobin emphasized. Under the agreement with KNU, the fund will support curriculum modernization, scholarship programs, and internship placements within its subsidiaries and partner firms. The KRSU partnership emphasizes innovation and startup support, along with infrastructure development. Planned upgrades include a new innovation lab, enhanced sports facilities, and improvements to the university campus. Central Asia Capital will also assist in the renovation of KRSU’s educational and recreational complex at Lake Issyk-Kul.

Q-Pop

Q-Pop Is Back. Is Kazakhstan Ready This Time?

Around 2015, Kazakhstan saw the rise of Q-pop, led by the boy band Ninety One. A decade on, the cultural tension remains: while youth artists enjoy greater visibility, many observers argue that freedom of expression is still shaped by a silent boundary — ‘you can make music, but not stir too much controversy. A little over a decade ago, five young men in earrings and pastel clothes released “Aıyptama!” (“Don’t blame me”) - a slick, catchy track in Kazakh, with a video that looked like it came straight out of Seoul. The group, Ninety One, was born out of a reality TV show modeled on the K-pop system. At the time, Kazakh-language pop had little presence on mainstream radio or TV, where Russian-language and Western hits dominated. Much of the Kazakh-language music most people heard came from weddings and folk performances rather than commercial pop charts. Occidental pop, rock and Russian-language hip hop ruled the charts. So, when Azamat Zenkaev (AZ), Dulat Mukhamedkaliev (Zaq), Daniyar Kulumshin (Bala), Batyrkhan Malikov (Alem), and Azamat Ashmakyn (Ace) debuted as a group, they looked and sounded like nothing the local music scene had ever seen. Their appearance sparked outrage. In Karaganda, a 2016 concert was canceled after protests. “We are against them because they dye their hair and wear earrings!” a demonstrator shouted, captured in the 2021 documentary Men Sen Emes (Sing Your Own Songs) by Katerina Suvorova. “No parent would want their son to look like a woman,” a conservative activist added. Even their producer, Yerbolat Bedelkhan, noted, “They shook up Kazakh show business with their unusual looks.” And yet, their rise was unstoppable. Despite boycotts and online abuse, Ninety One topped national charts. Each video release became an event. Over time, their success helped make gender-fluid aesthetics more visible in Kazakhstan’s pop scene — and made singing in Kazakh fashionable again among young audiences. But their aesthetics stood in sharp contrast to the state-promoted model of Kazakh masculinity. [caption id="attachment_37776" align="aligncenter" width="770"] Ninety One; image: JUZ Entertainment[/caption] Revival and Restriction: The State’s Masculine Ideal In 2017, then-President Nursultan Nazarbayev launched Rukhani Zhangyru – a sweeping state program for “spiritual renewal.” Its goal was to forge a unified Kazakh national identity after decades of Soviet domination, largely by reigniting traditional values. Streets were renamed after historical khans, a National Dombra Day was established, and the country began shifting from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. But the cultural revival came with a gender script. School textbooks were rewritten, according to a 2021 Rutgers University study, to cast masculinity as a blend of strength, rationality, and emotional restraint. The ideal Kazakh man - the Batyr - was reimagined as a stoic warrior of the steppes. In this context, Ninety One’s aesthetics didn’t fit in. “Many thought Q-pop artists didn’t act like ‘real Kazakhs’,” Merey Otan, a musician and PhD candidate at Nazarbayev University told The Times of Central Asia. “Wearing makeup, earrings, or bright clothes, expressing emotions or sexuality – these all clashed with a...

Healthcare

Kazakh Surgeons Use MAKO Robotic System in Tashkent for the First Time

Kazakh surgeons have performed groundbreaking joint replacement procedures in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent using the MAKO robotic system, an advanced technology in orthopedic surgery. The operations were a centerpiece of the event 'Days of Kazakh Medicine in Uzbekistan'. A surgical team led by traumatologist-orthopedist Timur Baidalin, head of the endoprosthetics department at the Batpenov National Scientific Center for Orthopedics and Traumatology, successfully conducted two joint replacements, one knee and one hip, using the MAKO robotic assistant. The system enables surgeons to plan and execute procedures with exceptional precision and reduced risk of complications. Developed by the U.S. based company Stryker, the MAKO system functions as an intelligent surgical assistant using 3D modeling technology. It creates a virtual replica of the patient’s joint, allowing the surgical team to pre-calculate the optimal implant angle, depth, and trajectory. During the procedure, the surgeon guides the MAKO manipulator, which operates with micromillimeter accuracy. This significantly lowers the risk of tissue damage and extends the lifespan of the implanted prosthesis. “The main advantage of MAKO is the ability to combine the surgeon’s experience with machine precision. This sets a new standard in endoprosthetics,” said Baidalin. For Uzbek specialists, the event served as a hands-on masterclass. In addition to observing the procedures, local doctors operated the system under the supervision of the Kazakh team. “We’ve been anticipating this technology for a long time. Today, we not only saw it in action but experienced the difference. This is a milestone for Uzbek orthopedics, and we’re grateful to our Kazakh colleagues for the opportunity to gain this experience,” said Odil Valiev, head of the adult orthopedics department at Uzbekistan’s Republican Specialized Scientific and Practical Center for Traumatology and Orthopedics. This collaboration follows another recent highlight: in spring 2025, Kazakh specialists from UMC, led by cardiac surgeon Yuri Pii, presented the ALEM device at EXPO 2025 in Osaka. The technology enables the long-term preservation of donor organs and represents another significant advance in regional medical innovation.

History

Rediscovering Mustafa Shokay: A Fragment of Kazakh History in an American Bookstore

While studying in the United States, I have spent my free hours chasing traces of home — fragments of Kazakh history scattered across libraries, archives, and private collections. Much of our past lies far from the steppe, carried off by the tides of empire and exile. My purpose has been simple: to return those fragments, in words and images, to our people. One afternoon in Washington, D.C., I wandered into an old bookstore. The two floors seemed to contain the intellectual wealth of the world — every shelf whispering stories of vanished nations and stubborn identities. I made straight for the section on Central Asia, where the spines of a few rare volumes caught my eye. As I turned the pages of one yellowed book, something stopped me cold: a photograph of Mustafa Shokay, the Kazakh statesman and intellectual who devoted his life to the cause of Turkestan’s autonomy. [caption id="attachment_37511" align="aligncenter" width="596"] Mustafa Shokay in his student days[/caption] A Visionary in Exile Born in 1890 in what is now southern Kazakhstan, Mustafa Shokay emerged as one of the most eloquent voices for Central Asian self-determination during the revolutionary upheavals of 1917. When the Russian Empire collapsed, he helped lead the short-lived Kokand (Turkestan) Autonomy, which sought to build a government based on equality and Muslim representation. Within weeks, the Bolsheviks crushed the movement. Forced into exile, Shokay continued his work from abroad — first in Turkey, then in France — editing journals and writing tirelessly about the rights and dignity of Turkic peoples. His story embodies the tragedy of a generation of intellectuals who dreamed of independence decades before it arrived. During World War II, Shokay’s moral integrity was tested once again. Arrested by Nazi forces after the invasion of France, he was asked to lead the “Turkestan Legion” — a military formation of Soviet prisoners of war. Shokay refused, condemning the brutal treatment of the prisoners and rejecting any collaboration with the Nazi regime. He died in captivity in 1941, but his name endures as a symbol of conscience and courage in Kazakhstan. Richard Pipes and the Rediscovery of Forgotten Nations The photograph I found was printed in The Formation of the Soviet Union: Communism and Nationalism, 1917–1923, a classic study by Richard Pipes, the Harvard historian who helped introduce Western audiences to the complexity of the early Soviet era. Pipes’s research explored how the Bolsheviks built a multiethnic empire from the ruins of tsarist Russia, often manipulating national aspirations for political ends. Crucially, he paid special attention to the Muslim and Turkic regions — to the Caucasus, the Volga, and Central Asia — and recognized that their quest for self-determination represented the “Achilles’ heel” of the Soviet system. His work anticipated the eventual collapse of the USSR and the independence of states like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan. In one recollection, Pipes described visiting Almaty in the 1950s and watching a May Day parade. As Kazakhs marched silently past portraits of Stalin, he turned to a Russian colleague...

Alcohol

Experts Warn of Risks as Kazakhstan Considers Alcohol Sales Restrictions

On October 13, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs shocked citizens by proposing a ban on the sale of alcohol in regular grocery stores, retail chains, and online platforms. The announcement overshadowed global headlines and quickly sparked widespread debate. While the number of alcohol-free settlements in Kazakhstan is rising, overall consumption remains high, prompting concerns among experts about the potential consequences of such a sweeping ban. A Push for Specialized Alcohol Stores The ministry justified the proposed restrictions as a public safety measure. According to Minister of Internal Affairs Yerzhan Sadenov, alcohol is a major contributor to crime, with up to 10,000 crimes committed annually under the influence. Violations of age and time restrictions on alcohol sales are reportedly common. “They sell around the clock under the guise of cafes and bars. Online delivery is widely used. The measure of revoking a license is ineffective, it can be obtained the next day by other persons,” said Sadenov. The ministry is advocating for alcohol to be sold only in specialized stores, so-called alcohol markets. It also proposes tightening the licensing process and limiting the number of licenses issued. Additionally, it recommends restricting alcohol sales in entertainment venues, where more than 1,400 alcohol-related crimes, including three murders, have occurred. A New Front in the Fight Against Alcohol Abuse Many Kazakhstani citizens observe that alcohol consumption has declined since Soviet times, a trend attributed to increasing religiosity in the predominantly Muslim country and the popularity of healthy lifestyles. Still, the issue remains pressing. Over the years, Kazakhstan has introduced stricter regulations. In 2014, restrictions were imposed on sales hours. High-alcohol-content beverages were banned in stores from 9 p.m. to 12 p.m., and low-alcohol beverages from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. In 2020, the minimum legal age for purchasing alcohol and tobacco was raised from 18 to 21. As of 2025, 429 villages have officially renounced alcohol. In the Aktobe region, 33 villages adopted alcohol-free policies, while 18 in the Kyzylorda region and 53 in the Atyrau region followed suit. According to officials, no offenses have been recorded in some of these areas over the past two years. Kazakhstan Still Drinks Despite these measures, alcohol consumption remains substantial. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the average per capita alcohol consumption in Kazakhstan among those aged 15 and older stood at 5.4 liters of pure ethanol in 2022. The global average that year was 6.2 liters, with consumption in Europe ranging from 9 to 11 liters. In predominantly Muslim countries, the average is below 3 liters. WHO considers levels above 5 liters a significant health risk. A June 2025 survey found the highest consumption in northern regions, Pavlodar, Kostanay, and North Kazakhstan, as well as in Astana and Almaty. In contrast, Shymkent, Atyrau, and Turkestan reported the lowest levels. Interestingly, young adults aged 18 to 24 were found to drink less frequently, a trend attributed to stronger family oversight and cultural values. Economic and Social Risks of a Ban Experts urge caution in pursuing aggressive...