Local Politics - The Times Of Central Asia

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Opposition

Tajikistan’s Islamic Opposition Changes Leader After 20 Years

The Islamic Renaissance of Tajikistan (formerly the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan) has elected a new chairman after longtime leader Muhiddin Kabiri decided to step down. The IRP has been one of the most influential groups in Tajikistan since the country became independent in late 1991. The organization subsequently became the principal target of a sustained government crackdown, which culminated in its activities being banned in Tajikistan and pressure being applied to members who fled the country. The New Leader Members of the IRP’s Supreme Presidium met in Vilnius, Lithuania, on September 19 to choose from three candidates: Abubakr Nuri, Abdukodir Shehov, and Islomiddin Saidov. Sixty-four percent of members voted for Saidov, the group's first deputy chairman. In late August 2026, the IRPT changed its name to simply the Islamic Renaissance of Tajikistan. Saidov, who made that announcement, explained to the Tajik opposition’s Azda TV that the removal of the word “Party” and the change of the organization’s symbols were part of internal reforms. The leadership change appears to be another part of those reforms, although Kabiri said he had wanted to step down as the group’s leader for some time. Edward Lemon, president of the Washington-based Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, has followed events in Tajikistan for some two decades. He has lived in the country and speaks Tajik. He met Saidov and describes him as a moderate, much like Kabiri. Saidov is from Nurobod in the Rasht Valley, and, according to Lemon, is a cleric “who takes a firm stance on issues of authoritarianism and Islamic rights.” Saidov takes over Tajikistan’s largest opposition group, but one that has been embattled for years and forced to conduct its work far from the borders of Tajikistan. There Since the Start The Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) was formed in the final years when Tajikistan was a Soviet republic, after Mihail Gorbachev’s perestroika policy was implemented. Following independence in 1991, the IRPT spearheaded the opposition to the government that eventually took over and was led by Rahmon Nabiyev, a former leader of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic who was ousted in Gorbachev’s anti-corruption campaign in the mid-1980s. When civil war broke out in the spring of 1992, the IRPT joined forces with the Democratic Party of Tajikistan and the Pamiri organization La’li Badakhshan to fight government forces. The IRPT was the backbone of this unlikely alliance. When the Tajik Peace Accord ended the war in June 1997, then-IRPT leader Said Abdullo Nuri signed on behalf of the opposition. The peace deal legalized all three opposition groups, making the IRPT the first, and to date only, Islamic party to be registered in any Central Asian country since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The agreement also stipulated that the opposition would receive 30% of positions in the government, from local to ministerial posts. Marginalized and Ousted The arrangement lasted only a few years before Emomali Rahmon, who had come to power during the civil war, gradually began removing former opposition...

Education Policy

Kazakhstan Education Reform Puts 12th Grade Under Review

Kazakhstan is considering whether to eliminate the 12th grade at Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools (NIS), as some families transfer their children to regular schools after the 10th grade so they can graduate a year earlier. Established in 2008, NIS is a state-funded network of elite schools specializing in science, mathematics, and languages. It operates its own 12-year curriculum. Education Minister Zhuldyz Suleimenova said 88% of NIS graduates finish school at age 18, while about 300 received their diplomas at age 19 last year. A commission is examining whether the curriculum can be compressed into 11 grades, with conclusions expected by January 2027. The discussion began after remarks by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on August 26. At a national education conference, Tokayev questioned whether it made sense to keep 18-year-olds in school and instructed officials to review the 12-year programs at NIS and private schools. Possible changes would also affect international programs. Suleimenova referred to the uniform national standard for school education enshrined in Kazakhstan’s new Constitution, which took effect on July 1. No decision has yet been made to eliminate the 12th grade. The commission is comparing the curricula of NIS and regular schools and calculating the number of instructional hours. NIS has a longer school day, roughly from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., plus eight hours of individual instruction a week. In regular schools, the main curriculum ends after the ninth grade; at NIS, it ends after the 10th. In the 11th grade, students at regular schools take state examinations while preparing for the Unified National Testing, Kazakhstan’s university entrance exam. NIS students have another year. There is a historical irony to the current debate. For more than two decades, Kazakhstan prepared to move in the opposite direction by making 12 years of schooling the national standard. The transition had been discussed since the early 2000s, and by 2012 the new model was being tested in more than 100 schools. The timetable was postponed several times, in part because of insufficient infrastructure. As recently as 2019, a full transition was planned for 2021. But the 12th grade ultimately took root mainly at NIS and some international schools. Today, the NIS network includes 22 Intellectual Schools and three international schools, with about 20,000 students and more than 2,600 teachers. Its schools use the NIS Programme and the International Baccalaureate. More than 4.1 million children are attending Kazakhstan’s schools in the 2026/27 academic year, including about 227,000 in the final 11th grade. The number of years spent in school, however, is only one part of the discussion. There is also an external measure of educational outcomes. On September 8, the same day Suleimenova spoke, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the results of the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Students in Kazakhstan scored 420 points in science, 414 in mathematics, and 385 in reading. The respective OECD averages were 482, 463, and 461. More than 41% of participants from Kazakhstan failed to reach the baseline Level 2 in...

Secularism

Kazakhstan Hijab Debate Exposes Divide Over Secularism

Kazakhstan’s long-running controversy over hijabs in schools has collided with a wider public argument about religion, exposing sharp differences among prominent public figures and institutions over the boundaries of the country’s secular model. The latest religious controversy in Kazakhstan’s social media space was triggered by two statements made within the span of a week. On September 3, well-known Kazakhstani film and entertainment producer and former television host Bayan Alaguzova wrote on Threads that she was “tired of religion and its propaganda.” “I’ll say this right away,” she added. “There’s no need to frighten me with hell – it doesn’t exist for me. Not a single person in the world can claim to have seen hell, or heaven for that matter. Now that is reliable information! The same goes for the 72 virgins thrown into the bargain.” She went on to sarcastically ask how a disembodied spirit was supposed to deprive the heavenly maidens of their virginity. The deliberately provocative tone used by the prominent film and entertainment figure stirred debate among social media users. Soon afterward, another Threads user posted a screenshot of an official complaint submitted through Kazakhstan’s eOtinish system against the producer, calling for Alaguzova’s posts to be examined for possible incitement of religious discord. There have so far been no official reports of further action on the complaint. Even so, Kazakhstanis on social media began joking about how the complainant intended to prove the existence of heaven and hell. Journalists and other users also spoke out in support of Alaguzova. On September 8, in response to the backlash, Alaguzova acknowledged on Instagram that her “words had hurt believers” and offered her “sincere apologies,” explaining that she respected “every person and every faith, as long as it does not harm others.” She then said her remarks had been misunderstood. “All those accusing me of ‘offending the feelings of believers,’ read carefully: I said that I am against the imposition of dogmas alien to our people, against radical and fanatical propaganda, not religion itself... Do you want girls to be married off at the age of nine? To be denied education or medical care? To be beaten supposedly ‘as a preventive measure against the influence of shaitan’? To be taken as wives without anyone assuming responsibility for them? To be easily abandoned simply by loudly saying ‘talaq’ three times? Do you want your daughter or sister not to be an individual in her own right, but simply an appendage to someone else? To be unable to appear in public or speak without permission? To be unable even to protect herself and her children? I am categorically against this!” the producer said. That same day, journalists at a government briefing asked Kazakhstan’s Education Minister Zhuldyz Suleimenova about reports that some private schools had allowed pupils to wear hijabs. Each new school year in Kazakhstan has brought renewed disputes over hijabs in schools. Some Muslim parents, particularly in western Kazakhstan, require their teenage daughters to wear hijabs to school. This conflicts...

Latin Alphabet Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan’s Senate Approves Latin Alphabet Changes

Uzbekistan’s Senate has approved changes to the country’s Latin-based alphabet, replacing four existing forms with individual letters: Oʻ will become Ö, Gʻ will become Ğ, Sh will become Ş, and Ch will become Ç. The revised alphabet will contain 28 letters and one apostrophe instead of the current 26 letters and three letter combinations. The law was approved at the Senate’s 19th plenary session on September 10 and sent to the president for consideration. The changes are expected to affect schools, official documents, media, publishing, and digital technologies. The reform follows years of debate over Uzbekistan’s transition from Cyrillic to Latin script and attempts to resolve technical problems created by the version of the alphabet adopted in the 1990s. Senator Odiljon Mamatkarimov, who presented the legislation, said the new system moves Uzbek closer to the principle of “one sound, one letter.” Particular attention has focused on Oʻ and Gʻ. According to Mamatkarimov, different apostrophe-like characters are used to write them, producing more than ten variants in practice. This can cause software and search systems to treat different spellings of the same word as separate entries, complicating indexing, electronic dictionaries, and other digital applications. The Ng combination will be removed from the alphabet as a separate unit. Its use and pronunciation will instead be regulated through spelling rules. Officials also argue that standardized characters will simplify the development of Uzbek-language keyboards, software, and artificial intelligence tools, including speech-to-text systems. The selected characters are already used in other Latin-based alphabets. Azerbaijani and Turkish, for example, use several of the same letters. Officials have also presented the changes as a way to improve compatibility between Uzbek and other Turkic languages using Latin scripts. Textbook Transition Planned by 2031 The reform will require changes to textbooks, teaching materials, software, and publications. Deputy Minister of Preschool and School Education Azizbek Turdiyev said the transition would follow the existing textbook replacement schedule. “If the law comes into force in 2027, we will print first-grade textbooks in the new alphabet,” Turdiyev said. “By 2031, all textbooks will be published in the new alphabet.” According to Turdiyev, this should avoid separate spending on wholesale textbook replacement. First-grade textbooks are already renewed annually, those for grades two through four every three years, and books for grades five through eleven every five years. Seminars on the proposed alphabet have also been held for teachers and students, he said, and examinations will eventually use the revised system. Changes to the education system come as Uzbekistan is already overhauling school materials and teaching methods. Cyrillic Remains Widely Used Uzbekistan officially began moving from Cyrillic to Latin script after independence, adopting a Latin alphabet in 1993 and revising it in 1995. More than three decades later, both scripts remain widely visible. Nodir Jonuzoq, head of the Cabinet of Ministers’ Department for the Development of the State Language, said the government intends to end this parallel use in official communication. “We have been caught between two alphabets, Cyrillic and Latin,” Jonuzoq said. “After the...

Education

Kazakhstan Tests AI After Finding 700 Errors in School Textbooks

Kazakhstan is testing artificial intelligence (AI) as part of an overhaul of school textbooks after the Education Ministry identified around 700 errors in existing educational materials. A pilot digital textbook platform is already being used in 40 schools while the authorities consider how AI could improve future editions. One of the more striking errors is in an 11th-grade history textbook, which still refers to the capital as Nur-Sultan, even though the name Astana was restored in September 2022. Education Minister Zhuldyz Suleimenova confirmed on September 8 that the textbook, last updated in 2024, will be reissued next year. Suleimenova referred to the pilot as AI-oqulyq, a name combining AI with oqulyq, the Kazakh word for textbook. It brings school textbooks together on a single platform and incorporates AI tools for working with their content. The ministry’s review covered educational materials from different publishers across 16 subjects. The problems identified include outdated information and factual inaccuracies. Publishers are required to correct and reissue problematic books at their own expense. The ministry has also referred the matter to the Department of Economic Investigations, part of the Financial Monitoring Agency, because some of the same errors remained despite an earlier allocation of public funds. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly raised the issue of textbook quality in August. He was particularly critical of history materials containing unreliable information and accounts of supposed heroes and events that, he said, never existed. Tokayev argued that patriotic education should not be based on falsified history. AI is also becoming part of Kazakhstan’s school curriculum. Digital Literacy in grades 1–4 is being expanded to include artificial intelligence, while Computer Science in grades 5–11 is becoming Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. In grades 10–11, students are expected to study machine learning and neural networks and learn how to analyze data. Separately, Kazakhstan has begun piloting a national AI-powered education platform intended to personalize learning by adapting assignments to students’ abilities and identifying gaps in their knowledge. The first stage began in September in 10 small rural schools, with further expansion planned. At university level, Qazaq AI Research University in Astana is admitting around 600 students in its first intake for the 2026–27 academic year. Kazakhstan is moving relatively quickly to introduce the technology into schools, while education systems elsewhere continue to debate how generative AI should be used. UNESCO recommends a human-centered approach, with teacher training and safeguards to protect children and their personal data. Using the technology to check textbooks carries its own risk because generative AI can produce convincing text containing false information or incorrect dates. AI may help identify inconsistencies across large amounts of material, but expert review remains necessary before textbooks are published. For the Education Ministry, however, the more immediate challenge is correcting the hundreds of errors already found in school materials. The AI-oqulyq pilot will test whether the technology can help prevent similar mistakes from reaching classrooms.

Migration Policy

Kazakhstan Prepares QazETA Entry Authorization for Visa-Free Travelers

Kazakhstan is preparing to change entry rules for citizens of countries that enjoy visa-free travel: before their trip, they may be required to obtain an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). The system remains voluntary for now, but legislation already suggests that authorities are preparing for their phased mandatory introduction. The new rules will also affect Russians and citizens of other Eurasian Economic Union countries. An ETA is a form of pre-travel authorization used by a number of countries to screen visa-exempt travelers before arrival. QazETA is the digital platform through which Kazakhstan issues the authorization. It does not replace a visa or extend the permitted period of stay. Kazakhstan launched the platform in pilot mode earlier in 2026, with a new phase of implementation beginning on August 25. Citizens of visa-exempt countries are currently advised to apply through the mobile app no later than 72 hours before traveling. The authorization is valid for 180 days. For now, the absence of an ETA is not grounds for border authorities to deny entry. Kazakhstan’s Law on Migration already contains a separate article governing electronic travel authorization. It provides for a fee for obtaining an ETA, with the proceeds to be divided equally between financing the digital system and supporting tourism development. The government has not yet publicly set the amount of the fee. A detailed timetable reported from an earlier version of Serbia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs travel advisory indicated that the ETA could become mandatory for air travelers from November 1, then be extended to road crossings with China, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, followed later by the borders with Russia and Kyrgyzstan, and by mid-December to rail and maritime travel. However, the ministry’s current advisory no longer lists those dates. It says Kazakhstan will announce the dates for each stage, as well as the fee, separately. The same reports have also cited an indicative fee of around 3,900 tenge – approximately $9 – for a standard application and twice that amount for an application submitted directly at the border. In practical terms, the new system means that visa-free travel will remain in place, but travel itself will no longer be entirely free of advance formalities. Foreign nationals will still be able to enter without a visa, but they will likely have to register through QazETA and obtain an ETA before crossing the border. For Kazakhstan, the mechanism provides a way to obtain information about incoming travelers in advance and monitor migration flows more closely. Attracting Skilled Professionals At the same time, the government is seeking to make the country more attractive to skilled professionals and investors. In May, authorities presented a new migration model with separate arrangements for entrepreneurs, highly qualified workers, and other categories of foreign nationals. The new rules have attracted particular attention because of Russia. The two countries share a long land border, are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, and maintain visa-free travel. After Russia announced partial mobilization for the war in Ukraine in September 2022, Kazakhstan became one...