Local Politics - The Times Of Central Asia

Viewing results 7 - 12 of 1235

Education

Kazakhstan Moves to Require Content Creators and Online Course Authors to Confirm Qualifications

Kazakhstan is preparing new legislative measures that would tighten requirements for content creators and authors of online courses who publish educational content. Under the proposed rules, such materials would have to include confirmation of the author’s relevant education or professional qualifications. The initiative is outlined in an official response by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov to a parliamentary inquiry regarding the regulation of online educational content. According to Bektenov, a draft law on online platforms and mass media has already been developed, along with amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses. The proposed legislation would require users of online platforms who distribute educational courses or training materials in a specific field to disclose information confirming their qualifications, including details of a diploma or certificate. The government also plans to introduce administrative liability for online platforms operating in Kazakhstan that fail to comply with authorized bodies’ orders to remove illegal content. Authorities note that existing legislation already provides for advertising and selling unregistered medicines and prescription drugs. Bektenov stated that state bodies continuously monitor social networks and cooperate with the administrations of major platforms, including Meta and TikTok, to remove prohibited content. According to him, up to 91% of identified violating materials are removed from TikTok. Oversight is also conducted through the Cyber Surveillance system, which tracks advertisements related to pyramid schemes, online casinos and drug trafficking. Over the past year, authorities identified and blocked more than 13,800 pieces of content promoting drugs, more than 34,700 posts advertising online casinos and over 13,500 materials involving citizens in pyramid schemes. Access to the relevant resources was restricted, and site owners were issued warnings. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that members of the Senate, the upper house of parliament, had proposed introducing licensing requirements for content creators in response to widespread violations of the ban on advertising online casinos on social networks and messaging platforms.

Arkadag

Turkmen Arkadag Without “Unnecessary” People: Crackdown on Residents Without Jobs or Registration Intensifies

The “smart” city of Arkadag, developed at the initiative of Turkmenistan’s National Leader Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, has once again become the focus of a campaign to “clean up” its population, according to Turkmen.news. Local officials are reportedly conducting apartment inspections to identify residents who do not hold official employment in the city. Inspectors are said to be focusing on three main criteria: possession of a local residence permit, confirmed employment in Arkadag, and the degree of kinship with the property owner. The legal basis for these inspections remains unclear, but reports indicate that authorities are taking a strict approach, requiring individuals who do not meet the criteria to vacate their accommodation immediately. According to informal rules described by sources, a “proper” resident of Arkadag must be employed and registered at their actual place of residence. Only immediate family members, spouses, children, and parents are permitted to live together. Brothers, sisters, and more distant relatives residing in the same apartment may face eviction. A local source stated that even individuals officially employed in Arkadag but registered in another region may face restrictions. For example, a person who has secured employment in the city but is temporarily staying with a sibling could be required to return to their place of permanent registration and commute daily. The same restrictions reportedly apply to students. Those enrolled at the International Academy of Horse Breeding and vocational institutions are permitted to reside only in dormitories and may not live with relatives, including close family members. Legally renting accommodation in Arkadag is described as virtually impossible. Property owners are not issued permits authorizing them to lease apartments, resulting in an informal rental market. As a consequence, renters cannot obtain temporary registration, and no tax payments are made on rental income. This situation leaves newcomers in what sources describe as a legal vacuum: they may be able to secure employment but lack lawful housing options. Formally, purchasing an apartment is presented as the only pathway to full residency in the city. Individuals employed in Arkadag may qualify for a mortgage, but strict conditions apply. Authorities reportedly verify that applicants do not hold permanent registration elsewhere. An initial down payment of 10% of the property value, estimated at approximately $2,000-$3,000, is required. In addition, sources allege that intermediaries demand unofficial payments ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 to facilitate mortgage approval. Similar practices have been reported in Ashgabat in recent years. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, ahead of the 30th anniversary of Turkmenistan’s neutrality, inspections targeting visitors from other regions intensified in the capital. Witness accounts at the time described interrogations at checkpoints, alleged physical abuse, and raids at locations where day laborers gather. Developments in Arkadag suggest that comparable internal migration controls may now be taking shape in the newly built city. Arkadag was conceived as a symbol of modernity and national pride; the reported controls suggest it is also emerging as a laboratory for managing who is permitted to belong.

Kamchybek Tashiyev

After Firing Close Ally Tashiyev, Japarov Says Goal for Kyrgyzstan is Unity

Kyrgyzstan's President Sadyr Japarov, who fired his powerful security chief Kamchybek Tashiyev last week, says he plans to wipe out the “disease” of division between northern and southern groups in the country. In an interview published on Monday by the state Kabar news agency, Japarov spoke about his broader vision for Kyrgyzstan in some of his most detailed comments since the dismissal of Tashiyev, the head of the State Committee for National Security who campaigned effectively against organized crime and was a close confidant of the president. Some criticism of Japarov suggests he made the move to amass more power as part of an authoritarian project for Kyrgyzstan. But the president said he wants to repair traditional rifts that he blamed for political unrest in the country over the years. His government has accused some political figures of trying to exploit Tashiyev’s stature and undermine Japarov’s government, though the former security chief said he accepted the president’s decision to remove him. Japarov is from northern Kyrgyzstan, while Tashiyev is from the south. For a time, their tight alliance appeared to be a way of smoothing over divisions between factions in the two regions. Japarov was sworn in as president in early 2021 after a tumultuous period that included his imprisonment, protests and victory in a landslide election. Tashiyev has been a supporter of Japarov all along, including during moves against the media that opponents described as democratic backsliding in a country once known for relative freedom of expression. “Since independence, politicians have been dividing the country into north and south,” Japarov said. “I saw this with my own eyes when I first entered politics in 2005. They divided the government so that half of it would be north, half south, or something like that in some ministry. And I was very sad.” Japarov said the divisions had been “disappearing” since he took office, thanks to a policy of rotating district chiefs, prosecutors, governors, judges and the heads of other institutions around the country. People from the south hold leadership jobs in the north, and vice versa, he said. “I will eventually eradicate the disease of North-South divide. It will take time,” Japarov said in the Kabar interview.

Emomali Rahmon

After Absence, Tajikistan’s Rahmon Highlights a Daily Schedule

He’s back. President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan met Kazakhstan’s foreign minister on Monday, two days after welcoming the head of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to Dushanbe. It might seem like routine business for the leader of a country. But the meetings, during which Rahmon was photographed and shown in video, followed more than two weeks during which Tajikistan’s president hadn’t been seen in public. The absence prompted some media and other online questions about his whereabouts and health, possibly prompting the presidency to issue a statement last week that said Rahmon had upcoming meetings. The 73-year-old president, who has held the post since 1994, posed for a photographed handshake with Kazakh Foreign Minister Yermek Kosherbayev that was posted on the website of Tajikistan’s presidential office. Rahmon’s account on X also showed a video of a meeting between him and Zou Jiayi of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on Saturday. In addition, on Sunday, the presidential office posted a video of Rahmon congratulating Chinese President Xi Jinping on the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Speaking in a deep voice, Rahmon sat in front of an image of tree blossoms that are associated with the Spring Festival, which runs into early March. Rahmon´s son, Rustam Emomali, is chairman of the National Assembly and would take over as interim president if his father is unable to serve.

Referendum

Cost of Holding Referendum on Kazakhstan’s New Constitution Estimated at $42 Million

The cost of holding a national referendum on the adoption of Kazakhstan’s new Constitution is preliminarily estimated at 20.8 billion tenge (KZT), or approximately $42 million at the current exchange rate. The figure was announced at a press conference by Mikhail Bortnik, a member of Kazakhstan’s Central Election Commission. According to Bortnik, the estimate is currently under review by the Ministry of Finance, and the final amount will be approved at a later stage. These expenses are not included in the approved republican budget for 2026; funding is expected to be allocated from the government reserve. Approximately 75% of the total sum is projected to be spent on remuneration for members of precinct election commissions involved in organizing and conducting the vote. Another CEC representative, Azamat Aimanakumov, stated that 12,416,759 citizens will be eligible to participate in the referendum. A total of 10,413 polling stations will be opened. Of these, 9,779 will be located at voters’ places of registration, while 634 will operate at temporary places of residence, including 82 polling stations abroad in 64 countries. Polling station commissions are scheduled to receive voter lists on February 22. Citizens will be notified of the time and place of voting between February 27 and March 4. Ballots are to be delivered to polling stations between March 12 and 14. March 14 has been designated a day of silence, during which campaigning is prohibited. Voting is scheduled for March 15, 2026. CEC Deputy Chairman Mukhtar Erman said that invitations to observe the referendum have been sent to relevant organizations in more than 30 countries, including European and American states, leading Asian countries, and members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Separate invitations to international organizations will be issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Accreditation of foreign observers will close on March 9. The draft of the new Constitution has been published on the website of the Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan. Under Article 94 of the draft, if approved in the referendum, the new Basic Law will enter into force on July 1, 2026, and the current Constitution will cease to have effect on the same date. The Times of Central Asia previously reported that work on the draft Constitution was being conducted on an accelerated timetable, after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced a package of political reforms, including a proposal to transition to a unicameral parliament.

Constitution

Opinion: Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Referendum – Strategic Reset or Institutional Consolidation?

Kazakhstan will hold a nationwide referendum on March 15 to adopt an entirely new constitution – an initiative President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev describes as a decisive break from the country’s super-presidential legacy. The draft, published on February 12 after deliberations by a Constitutional Commission, proposes far-reaching institutional reforms. Among the most notable changes are the replacement of the bicameral parliament with a unicameral body known as the Kurultai; the reinstatement of a vice presidency; and the constitutionalization of commitments to digital transformation, economic modernization, and strengthened sovereignty. The government presents the reform as a necessary modernization of the state in response to global turbulence. Yet the scope and timing of the proposal indicate that the referendum is as much about strategic recalibration as it is about institutional redesign. The Accelerated Timeline The speed of the process has drawn considerable attention. In September 2025, Tokayev advised against rushing constitutional reform and suggested that 2027 would allow sufficient time for public consultation. However, by February 2026, the referendum had been scheduled for mid-March. This abrupt shift suggests a deliberate political calculation rather than simple administrative urgency. One factor under discussion is the legal effect of adopting a wholly new constitution. While reforms in 2022 limited presidents to a single seven-year term, the introduction of a new constitutional order could create ambiguity regarding the continuity of those limits. Even if not explicitly intended as a reset mechanism, such a transformation inevitably introduces flexibility into questions of tenure and succession. Geopolitical pressures also help explain the acceleration. Tokayev has pointed to profound changes in global trade, security alignments, and technological competition. In a world increasingly shaped by sanctions regimes and geoeconomic fragmentation, Kazakhstan seeks to project institutional coherence and responsiveness. Constitutional reform, in this sense, becomes a signal of adaptive capacity. At the same time, the draft completes the political transition that began after the unrest of January 2022. Although earlier amendments removed former President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s constitutional privileges, the 1995 framework remained largely intact. The new proposal replaces that structure altogether, extinguishing residual legal ties to the Nazarbayev era and consolidating a distinct political phase under Tokayev’s leadership. Sovereignty as Constitutional Doctrine A defining feature of the draft is the elevation of sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and the unitary nature of the state to foundational, effectively immutable principles. This language carries clear geopolitical resonance, particularly in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Kazakhstan continues to pursue a multi-vector foreign policy, the constitutional entrenchment of territorial integrity reinforces the state’s insistence on inviolable borders. The draft also expands restrictions on foreign financing of political parties and introduces stricter transparency rules for foreign-funded non-governmental organizations. These provisions reflect a doctrine of symmetrical distance: limiting political influence from any external actor, whether Russia, Western governments, or other international stakeholders. The emphasis is not ideological alignment but institutional insulation. Language and Identity: Managed Ambiguity The most domestically sensitive amendment concerns the status of Russian. The draft alters the phrasing from Russian being used “on an equal...