Uzbekistan - The Times Of Central Asia

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Murder Convictions

Uzbek Women Murdered in Istanbul: Two Men Sentenced to Life

Two Uzbek nationals have each been sentenced to life imprisonment in Turkey for murdering two Uzbek women in Istanbul. The investigation began in January after the remains of one woman were discovered and later led authorities to a second victim. The killings sparked protests in Istanbul and Ankara. The Istanbul Anadolu 17th High Criminal Court found Dilshod Turdimurotov, 31, and Gofurjon Kamalkhodjaev, 29, guilty of murdering Durdona Khakimova, 36, and Sayyora Ergashaliyeva, 32. Each man received two aggravated life sentences, Turkey’s most severe form of life imprisonment, which carries stricter prison conditions than an ordinary life sentence, along with two additional seven-year prison terms for theft from a residence after the victims’ deaths. The case drew widespread attention on January 24, when Khakimova’s remains were found in a garbage container in Istanbul’s Şişli district. The two suspects were detained at Istanbul Airport as they attempted to leave Turkey. A second victim was later linked to the case. Sayyora Ergashaliyeva’s family lost contact with her after January 23 and sought assistance from the Association for the Protection of the Rights of Uzbek Women in Turkey. Her relatives traveled to Turkey and filed a complaint with prosecutors on February 6. In February, Uzbekistan’s Consulate General in Istanbul confirmed Ergashaliyeva’s death. Investigators determined that Ergashaliyeva had been at a house in Istanbul’s Ümraniye district. Security camera footage showed her entering the property on January 23, followed by Turdimurotov and Kamalkhodjaev. The next day, the two men were recorded making several trips from the house with black garbage bags before removing a white suitcase. Prosecutors said both women were killed at the house and their remains disposed of in garbage containers in different parts of Istanbul. Khakimova’s remains were recovered, but authorities have not reported finding Ergashaliyeva’s. During the trial, Kamalkhodjaev said he and Ergashaliyeva had been married in a religious ceremony and that he had killed her over what he described as her infidelity. He denied involvement in Khakimova’s killing. Turdimurotov admitted killing Khakimova. In his final statement, he expressed remorse and said he deserved the harshest punishment. Khakimova’s killing prompted protests in Istanbul and Ankara. Women’s rights organizations called for stronger protections against violence, with activists drawing particular attention to the vulnerability of migrant women. On January 30, Khakimova’s remains were repatriated to Uzbekistan, while her two children also returned home. The costs were covered by Uzbekistan’s Consulate General and Migration Agency.

Podcast

Pannier and Hillard’s Spotlight on Central Asia: New Episode Out Now

As Managing Editor of The Times of Central Asia, I’m delighted that, in partnership with the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, we are the home of the Spotlight on Central Asia podcast. Chaired by seasoned broadcasters Bruce Pannier of RFE/RL’s long-running Majlis podcast and Michael Hillard of The Red Line, each fortnightly instalment will take you on a deep dive into the latest news, developments, security issues, and social trends across an increasingly pivotal region. This week, the team covers world leaders arriving in Bishkek for the SCO summit, one Central Asian state proposing new martial-law amendments that could concentrate enormous power in just a handful of institutions during a national crisis, Tashiev's charges being amended yet again as questions continue to grow over his political future, a Central Asian state striking an unusual military deal with a European partner, the Turkmen Border Service holding talks with its Afghan counterparts, the completion of a major new railway line in Kazakhstan, and plans to build what could become the tallest tower in the region. Before turning to our main story this week, where we look at the World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan and what the event tells us about the country, the region, and the way Central Asia is presenting itself to the wider world. - Jonathan Campion (British Alysh Competitor) - Stephen M. Bland (The Times of Central Asia) - K. Krombie (The Times of Central Asia) Special guests: Stephen M. Bland, Managing Editor at TCA; K. Krombie, Senior Editor at TCA, both of whom covered the event on the ground; and Jonathan Campion, who competed for Team GB in the Alysh Wrestling.

BRICS

Tokayev Meets U.S. Envoy Sergio Gor on Sidelines of BRICS Summit

India hosted the 18th BRICS summit in New Delhi on September 12–13. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are among the partner countries of this international grouping, which began meeting in 2006 and held its first summit in 2009. Uzbekistan was represented by a delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Jamshid Kuchkarov. Kazakhstan’s delegation was led by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. On Saturday, September 12, the Kazakh president met on the sidelines of the summit with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Sergio Gor, the U.S. president’s special envoy for South and Central Asia. During his meeting with the crown prince, they discussed economic and investment cooperation. In 2025, the United Arab Emirates ranked among Kazakhstan’s four largest foreign investors. Foreign direct investment from the Emirates totaled $1.6 billion. In January–March 2026, bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and the UAE amounted to $45.8 million. Over the past 20 years, Emirati investment in Kazakhstan has exceeded $7 billion, including around $3 billion over the past two and a half years. That same day, President Tokayev met with Sergio Gor, the U.S. president’s special envoy for South and Central Asia. Gor delivered a personal message from President Donald Trump congratulating Tokayev ahead of the 35th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence. They discussed the development of the Kazakhstan-U.S. enhanced strategic partnership, including cooperation in artificial intelligence and digitalization. According to the official readout, they also discussed the Kazakh president’s planned participation in the G20 summit, scheduled to take place in Miami in December 2026. Tokayev said: “I am currently preparing to take part in the G20 Summit in Miami. I believe this will also be a good opportunity to discuss the issues on the bilateral agenda. We prefer not fine words, but tangible results and practical steps to advance our mutual cooperation.” Tokayev also reaffirmed his invitation for President Trump to visit Kazakhstan. Contacts between senior Central Asian and U.S. officials have intensified. The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek reported on September 2 that Gor had met with Tokayev and other regional leaders in Kyrgyzstan. In June, Gor met with Kazakhstan’s foreign minister. Also in June, Tokayev met with Ben Black, chief executive officer of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), as part of Astana’s efforts to expand economic cooperation with Washington and attract more strategic investment. On July 10, Tokayev spoke by phone with President Trump. Another meeting of the secretariat of the C5+1 framework for U.S.-Central Asia cooperation took place in Ashgabat on September 9. Gor serves as both the U.S. ambassador to India and the U.S. president’s special envoy for South and Central Asia. Also on Saturday, Tokayev had an informal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in New Delhi, at the Russian leader’s residence during his visit to India. Reports suggested the meeting was unplanned. No details of their discussion were released. On Sunday, September 13, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev delivered a speech at the plenary session of the BRICS Outreach Summit in New Delhi, focusing on the theme of "Strengthening Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation, and Stability." In his speech, Tokayev noted: “Last year, the volume of transit cargo transportation...

Education

New OECD Assessment Reveals Central Asia’s Student Performance

International student assessments help governments identify where students are succeeding, where they are falling behind and how learning outcomes are changing over time. The Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, tests how well 15-year-olds can apply what they have learned in science, mathematics and reading to real-world problems. Run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the assessment is intended to identify weaknesses and track whether learning improves over time. The results released on September 8 show improvement in some areas, declines in others and significant gaps in the regional data. PISA 2025 placed particular emphasis on science and introduced a new assessment of computational problem-solving, part of its broader work on learning in the digital world. What the Results Show Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan participated nationally. Tajikistan was represented by Dushanbe rather than a national sample, while Turkmenistan did not participate. Participant Science Math Reading Comp. ProblemSolving Kazakhstan 420 414 385 449 Kyrgyzstan 363 364 344 388 Dushanbe, TJK 334 382 368 — Uzbekistan 438 N/A N/A 402 OECD average 482 463 461 500 Kazakhstan recorded the highest published regional scores in mathematics, reading and computational problem-solving, while Uzbekistan recorded the highest score in science. Uzbekistan’s mathematics and reading results were not published, preventing a complete comparison across the three core subjects. Central Asia remained below OECD averages, but Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan scored higher than several EU member states in some subjects. Across OECD countries, average mathematics and reading performance fell to the lowest levels yet recorded by PISA. Science was comparatively stable. What Changed The latest scores and the longer-term trends do not always point in the same direction. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan both participated in PISA in 2022, while Kyrgyzstan’s previous participation was in 2009. Country ComparisonPeriod Science Math Reading Kazakhstan 2022–2025 −4 −12 −1 Kyrgyzstan 2009–2025 +33 +33 +30 Uzbekistan 2022–2025 +83 N/A N/A Kazakhstan’s mathematics score fell by about 12 points from 2022, a statistically significant decline for the country. Its smaller declines in science and reading were not statistically significant. Kyrgyzstan improved in mathematics, reading and science compared with its previous participation. The gains cover 16 years rather than a single PISA cycle. Uzbekistan recorded the largest movement in the regional results. Its science score rose from 355 in 2022 to 438 in 2025, an increase of 83 points. That was also the largest science gain among education systems with comparable results worldwide and more than twice the next-largest increase of 38 points. What Other Assessments Show Other international assessments help put the larger changes in context. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were the only Central Asian countries to participate in the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS. The assessment tests younger students and uses a different methodology from PISA. Among eighth-graders, Kazakhstan scored 443 in science and Uzbekistan 396. Two years later, PISA recorded science scores of 420 for Kazakhstan and 438 for Uzbekistan. The assessments cover different students and testing methods, so the scores cannot be compared directly....

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...

Banking

Uzbekistan Pitches Decades of Tax Breaks to Financial Firms

Uzbekistan is offering qualifying financial firms nearly half a century of tax exemptions to set up in Tashkent. The goal is to attract private capital into an economy where state-owned banks still control most banking assets. On September 10, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev appointed his daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, to head the planned Tashkent International Financial Centre, Reuters reported. She has led the presidential administration since 2025. Mirziyoyev announced the project at June’s Tashkent International Investment Forum, promising free capital movement alongside tax incentives. Its legal framework would draw on English common law principles, as is the case with Kazakhstan’s Astana International Financial Centre. Who Gets the Tax Breaks? Under the founding law, qualifying participants would receive income and social tax exemptions on financial services income until January 1, 2076. Eligibility requires an actual economic presence in the center and compliance with its rules. The income incentives exclude members of multinational groups with annual revenues of at least €750 million in two of the preceding four fiscal years. Those firms face a domestic top-up tax. The offer is therefore less generous for large multinational groups. A global bank would need a commercial reason to enter Uzbekistan beyond the prospect of a lower tax bill. Most of the foreign businesses operating in Uzbekistan are already concentrated in Tashkent. Almost 63% of the country’s foreign-invested enterprises were based in the capital as of June 1, 2026. Financial firms entering the city would therefore have an existing customer base to pursue, although the numbers alone reveal little about demand for particular services. The domestic banking market does offer scope for competition. In its 2026 assessment, the IMF reported that nine state-owned commercial banks accounted for 63% of banking assets. It also noted delays in privatizing two large banks and urged the authorities to withdraw directed and preferential lending. The center could attract private lenders and help more Uzbek businesses obtain loans. However, simply moving existing deals there to reduce tax bills would do little to expand access to credit. Astana’s Head Start Kazakhstan has operated its financial center since 2018. Its AIFC Court sits outside the national judicial system and uses procedures based on English common law. Businesses can also agree to bring disputes there even when those disputes originate outside the center. The court works directly with Kazakhstan’s authorities to enforce its judgments, and says its first ruling resulted in full payment through private bailiffs. That gives prospective users a concrete example of how a commercial judgment can lead to the recovery of a debt. Uzbekistan’s law likewise provides for an independent commercial court and nationwide recognition of its final judgments. It requires judgments to be published within 30 days, subject to limited confidentiality protections. For lenders, that could reduce uncertainty about committing money to an unfamiliar market. Tashkent would still need to establish a record of decisions and enforcement comparable to the experience available in Astana. The law allows 12 months to adopt essential operating rules, extendable by six months. Activation then requires...