Uzbekistan Life & Culture - The Times Of Central Asia

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News Consumption

Telegram Leads News Consumption in Uzbekistan, but Television Remains Most Trusted

Telegram channels are Uzbekistan’s most widely used news source, but television remains the most trusted, a national survey has found. The study, presented by the Mass Media Foundation in Tashkent on November 2, found that 51.6% of respondents used Telegram channels for news. Television followed at 44.6%, while 41.6% used social media. Trust followed a different pattern. Television was the most trusted source for 44.3% of respondents, compared with 11.3% for Telegram channels and 7.4% for news websites. The findings also show demand for more reliable reporting and greater attention to everyday problems. Some 41.3% of respondents said they lacked information about prices, employment, and social support. Another 40.6% wanted more coverage of people’s everyday problems. A Generational Divide The gap between Telegram and television was particularly pronounced across age groups. Among respondents aged 18–24, 66.2% used Telegram channels for news. Television led among those aged 55 and older, cited by 77.4%. However, the audiences overlap. Respondents could select up to three news sources, so the findings do not represent separate groups. Among Telegram users, 40% also received news from television. The study also examined the languages people prefer when receiving information. Uzbek remains the leading choice, with 71.7% preferring publications in Uzbek Cyrillic and 49.8% also selecting Uzbek Latin. Russian was mentioned by 43.3% of respondents, while 11.3% said they prefer English-language information. Smaller shares selected Karakalpak (7%), Kazakh (5.6%), and Tajik (4.8%). Respondents could select more than one option. The preferences differ across generations. Older respondents are more accustomed to reading Uzbek in Cyrillic, reflecting the language and writing systems used during their education. Younger people are more oriented toward Latin-script Uzbek, while English is also more prominent among younger audiences. Telegram’s overall reach extended well beyond news consumption: 86.1% of respondents used the platform for communication or other activities. That figure should not be confused with the share using Telegram channels as a news source. Speed was the most frequently cited reason for choosing information sources, mentioned by 48.6% of respondents. Access at any time and from any location followed at 31%. Demand for Reliable Reporting Nearly half of social media users, 48.7%, said they had encountered false or unreliable information. Some 37.5% reported a shortage of verified news, while 31.6% wanted more objective coverage. These findings do not establish why television received higher trust ratings than Telegram, but they do show concerns about the quality of information available online. Across the full sample, 46.6% considered the spread of false information the main problem in the media environment. When asked what improvements they expected, 27.6% called for more in-depth analysis and 22.5% for an objective presentation of different viewpoints. Television viewers also identified shortcomings, including repetitive programming and excessive advertising. Rural respondents wanted more educational programs and coverage of life outside the capital, including everyday social and economic problems. How the Study Was Conducted Interviewers spoke face-to-face with 1,411 adults at their homes across all 14 regions from September 8 to 19, 2026. The organizers said the...

Museum Conservation

Central Asian Museum Experts Visit U.S. to Study Heritage Preservation

A group of museum workers and other cultural heritage specialists from Central Asia are currently in the United States to study preservation practices and exchange experiences with counterparts at the Getty Museum and other American institutions. Experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are participating in the tour, which began on October 17 and will end on November 7, according to Turkmenistan’s Ministry of Culture. It said the goal is to learn more about cultural heritage preservation, the planning and designing of exhibitions, and how to ensure the safety of museum facilities. The trip is occurring under the auspices of a U.S. Department of State program aimed at facilitating exchanges with museum professionals from Central Asia. The program was discussed by Sarah B. Rogers, under secretary for public diplomacy, during a visit to Ashgabat in June. “These Central Asian countries have some of the world’s greatest cultural heritage, these ancient sites from the Silk Road, and so engaging with their museum professionals on antiquities preservation is a great line of effort for us,” Rogers said at the time. The visit began in Washington, D.C., where the representatives from Central Asia learned about U.S. policy on countering the illegal trafficking of cultural heritage. The group later traveled to Los Angeles. There, experts discussed the joint project between the Getty Museum and Turkmenistan’s State Museum to restore and conserve an ancient Buddha head that was found in Merv, an ancient Silk Road city in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, in 1960. “It was unearthed in the stupa of a Buddhist monastery within the Gyaur Kala at Merv, an ancient fortress known as the 'castle of infidels' because its inhabitants adhered to different faiths—Zoroastrian, Christian, Jewish, and Buddhist—at the time of the Arab conquest,” said Susanne Gänsicke, senior conservator and head of antiquities conservation in the Department of Antiquities at the Getty Museum. “Dated to the fifth–sixth century CE, this Buddha is the westernmost example of its kind and is crucial for understanding Buddhism’s spread,” Gänsicke said in a commentary posted on the Getty website this year. The restoration of the Buddha head involves a number of complex processes, including the removal of materials used in previous restoration efforts, the cleaning and stabilization of fragile clay surfaces, and the use of 3D scanning, modeling, and printing to help reconstruct fragments.

Children's Rights

Too Young to Be Responsible: When Children Raise Children in Uzbekistan

“The household chores are now on my shoulders.” The words come from a girl quoted in a UNICEF study of children affected by labor migration in Uzbekistan. Her grandmother died when she was in seventh grade. By the time she spoke to UNICEF, her grandfather had also died the previous year. She described cleaning, cooking, washing clothes, and looking after her brother, a household’s work done by one child. Her account raises a question that is rarely asked when an older sibling is praised for being helpful: who is looking after the child who is doing the looking after? In Uzbekistan, caring for younger brothers and sisters is often understood as oilaga yordam, helping the family. An older sister watches a baby while her mother cooks. A brother takes a little sibling outside. These arrangements can express affection and solidarity, and build independence, patience, and practical skills. But there is a difference between helping and becoming indispensable. What happens when caring for a younger sibling is no longer an occasional contribution, but the thing that decides how an older child spends their afternoons and how much freedom they have? Different Families, Different Boundaries In MEN AYOLMAN, a private Facebook community for Uzbek women, mothers were asked whether they let their children play outside without an adult, and whether they knew families where young children looked after even younger ones. The replies showed sharply different ideas of independence, safety and responsibility. One mother let her 12-year-old and 2-year-old go outside together. The older child looks after the younger, but with precautions: the courtyard is enclosed, there are security cameras and a guard, and she watches from the window. She reminds the older child not to lose sight of the little one. In her view, children can play together if they are independent enough and the place is safe. Another mother tried letting her six-year-old daughter go out with her four-year-old brother near their home. It did not work. The boy kept making demands, upsetting his sister and calling for his mother, who watched anxiously from the window and finally went outside herself. For her, it showed how hard it is to expect a young child to manage another child. A different mother said that some families in her neighborhood send small children outside with older siblings, but objected because the older ones are children themselves. “You can’t entrust a child to another child.” These comments concern outdoor supervision and are not a representative survey of sibling care in Uzbekistan. They show conflicting expectations: children should grow independent and responsible while being protected from burdens they may not be ready for. These accounts focus largely on the younger child’s safety. The older child’s well-being receives less attention. When Children Become Unusually Serious Mutabar Ruzikulova, a kindergarten teacher in Uzbekistan, has watched how responsibility for younger siblings can shape children’s behavior. In an interview for this article, she described children who seemed to become unusually serious or independent after taking charge of someone...

Viral Music

Brazilian Funk’s Kazakh Side Hustle

Orpheus took music somewhere it had no business going. Luís Guilherme Gonçalves, known as DJ Guilherme, created a beat that has managed something less fatal but almost as improbable. A Brazilian funk track born in São Paulo has found an unlikely second home in Kazakhstan, where local creators have embraced it as part of their digital culture. BEAT UnderCover – Taqap Taqap (Slowed Reverb), produced by DJ Guilherme and remixed by Rand0m, was released through Clima Funk in June 2025. It grew out of Só Socadinha, a baile funk single first released in January 2019. The scale of its reception in Central Asia is striking. As of October 8, data from Chartex linked the track to approximately 16.45 million video views across 112 posts in Kazakhstan, and 586,000 views across 13 posts in Uzbekistan. In Uzbekistan, the beat also found its way into football fandom, providing the soundtrack to videos celebrating Abdukodir Khusanov, the Tashkent-born Manchester City defender who became the first Uzbek international to play in the Premier League. The Times of Central Asia spoke to DJ Guilherme about the track’s unexpected success in Central Asia and how it has changed his understanding of where music can find an audience. TCA: When did you first realize something unusual was happening in Kazakhstan? Guilherme: The first clue actually came from a video in Turkey. After that, I noticed growth in my statistics and started receiving notifications from Apple Music for Artists about chart activity in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. I began checking the charts and videos every day. Seeing the music appear in different videos and then in the charts made me realize that something bigger was happening. TCA: What stood out about how creators in Kazakhstan were using the track? Guilherme: It was how people were bringing the sound into their own everyday interests. In the videos I followed across the region, I saw edits of lowered cars, car sound systems, clubs, and football. People were using the track to give their videos energy and atmosphere. They didn’t need to know who I was to connect with the music. For someone making music independently in São Paulo, seeing those different uses so far away was a real surprise. TCA: Why do you think the recording connected so strongly with creators in Kazakhstan, and did anything about its reception surprise you? Guilherme: I think the strong kicks, repeating rhythm, and electronic elements may have helped. Those are sounds that can work well with car videos, nightlife, and football edits, even when someone doesn’t understand Portuguese. The slowed versions may also have suited the atmosphere creators wanted. What surprised me was seeing people find their own place for a Brazilian sound without any promotion being aimed at them. I’ve wondered whether its circulation in Turkey helped it reach Central Asia, but I still don’t know the exact route. I’m continuing to look into that. TCA: Before this happened, how much did you know about Kazakhstan or Central Asia as a music market?...

Prehistoric Rock Paintings Found in Uzbekistan’s Nurota Mountains

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a Bronze Age settlement, as well as rock paintings that may be thousands of years older, in the Nurota Mountains of Uzbekistan’s Samarkand Region. The discoveries were made during an October survey of Qo‘shrabot district by archaeologists Azbiddin Kholmatov and Timur Ruziboyev of the Samarkand Archaeological Institute. The paintings, found on the walls and ceilings of rock shelters in the Oqchobsoy area, were made using ochre, a natural pigment. Archaeologists believe they may date to the Mesolithic or Neolithic period. The team also explored the nearby Pangat area, finding pottery fragments believed to date to the Bronze Age. At one site, about 700–800 meters east of Qumoloqli village, archaeologists dug a small test trench measuring two meters by one meter. They uncovered a layer of archaeological deposits about 60 centimeters thick, containing pottery fragments and numerous bones. The institute said further excavations were needed to investigate the settlement. In another archaeological discovery in southern Uzbekistan earlier this year, an Italian-Uzbek team found what may be the earliest known evidence of surgery in Central Asia. The remains, discovered at Djarkutan near the Afghan border, belonged to a child who died at around five years old approximately 4,000 years ago. The skull showed signs of trepanation, a procedure involving the deliberate opening of the skull, possibly using stone or bone tools.

Memoirs of East Turkestan Republic’s First Leader Published in France

A French edition of Turkiston Qayg‘usi (The Sorrow of Turkestan), written by Alihan Tora Saghuni, an Uzbek religious leader who headed the East Turkestan Republic established in 1944 in what is now China's Xinjiang region, has been published in France under the title Amer Turkestan (Bitter Turkestan). The 448-page volume, published by Bleu Autour on October 23, brings the memoirs of a leading figure in the region's independence movement to French readers. The book examines the political upheavals of the 20th century through Saghuni's experiences of persecution by Soviet and Chinese authorities and his involvement in the East Turkestan independence movement. Combining history and memoir, the work reflects the author's personal experiences and political views. The French edition also includes writings in which Saghuni recounts his leadership of the East Turkestan Republic between 1944 and 1946. The translation was prepared by French historian and Orientalist Stéphane A. Dudoignon, a senior researcher at France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). From 2024 to 2026, he worked on the book with Saghuni's son, Qutlughkhan. The edition includes scholarly commentary to help readers understand the historical events and political context of the narrative. Alihan Tora Saghuni was born in 1885 in Tokmok, in present-day Kyrgyzstan, to a family of Uzbek origin. His pen name is associated with the ancient city of Balasagun, one of the centers of the medieval Karakhanid state. After receiving a religious education, he became involved in the social and political life of Turkestan and later moved to China's Xinjiang region. In November 1944, amid an uprising against Chinese authorities, the East Turkestan Republic was proclaimed in the city of Ghulja, also known as Yining. Saghuni became head of its provisional government. The republic existed amid a complex struggle involving local nationalist movements, Chinese authorities, and the Soviet Union, which exercised considerable influence over events in the region. The name East Turkestan remains politically sensitive in China, where authorities associate it with separatist movements seeking independence for Xinjiang. Beijing rejects the term as a designation for the region, which has been under Chinese Communist rule since 1949. In a 2019 government white paper, Beijing declared that "there has never been any state known as 'East Turkistan,'" despite the establishment of short-lived republics of that name in 1933 and 1944. In 1946, Saghuni was forcibly taken to the Soviet Union. He spent the remainder of his life in Tashkent, where he worked on historical and religious writings. He died in 1976. The Sorrow of Turkestan became one of his best-known works on the region's history and fate. Dudoignon presented the book at the Rendez-Vous de l'Histoire festival near Blois, France, on October 9. According to Uzbekistan's UzA news agency, an English translation is planned as the next step. The work has previously appeared in other languages, including Turkish. According to Dudoignon's research institute, the French edition is the first translation of Saghuni's writings into a Western European language.