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ASHGABAT (TCA) — U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Kami Witmer on November 28 celebrated the completion of a joint project with the National Conservatory of Turkmenistan to restore and digitize recordings of traditional Turkmen music. In 2012 the U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat awarded a grant to the National Conservatory to help preserve endangered music for posterity and use in music schools and other educational institutions, the Embassy said. Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed an executive order on October 27 tasking his government to prepare the Kazakh alphabet for a transition to Latin letters from Cyrillic ones by 2025, Sputnik news agency reports. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Moscow has taken efforts to retain its political, and economic, influence in the post-Soviet republics, including in Central Asia. Preserving the use of the Cyrillic alphabet has been a part of Russia’s policy aimed at keeping the region’s states within its sphere of influence. We are republishing this article by Paul Goble on the issue, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor: Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — The language issue has always been a sensitive one in the non-Russian republics of the USSR and now in the post-Soviet independent countries, especially in Central Asia. Moscow has always advocated that the Russian language retain its strong position in such countries as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Today, however, Russia is facing the language problem within its own borders — in the Turkic-speaking republic of Tatarstan, and this problem may have serious implications. We are republishing this article by Paul Goble on the issue, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor: Continue reading
ASTANA (TCA) — Whatever the reasons for Kazakhstan’s planned transition to the Latin alphabet — from defining the nation’s identity to departing from the Imperial colonialism and Soviet-era dominance of the Russian language and Cyrillic alphabet — Kazakhstan has made the decision and the transition process is now irreversible. We are republishing this article by Uli Schamiloglu* on the issue, originally published by EurasiaNet.org: Continue reading
DUSHANBE (TCA) — Tajikistan’s lawmakers have approved legislation that obliges individuals and organizations "to stick to traditional and national clothes and culture," a move widely seen as an effort to discourage people from wearing the hijab and Islamic clothing, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. The lower house of parliament passed the bill — an amendment to an existing law governing the practice of traditions, rites, and celebrations — on August 23. The bill is expected to be approved by the upper house of parliament and signed into law by President Emomoli Rahmon, who has endorsed the legislation. It was first published on his website on August 11. Hilolbi Qurbonzoda, chief of the lower chamber’s Committee on Social Affairs, told RFE/RL that the legislation supports a government program to promote what authorities define as Tajik culture, traditions, and clothing. Qurbonzoda said that separate legislation on possible punishment for those who wear "alien Islamic garments" rather than "traditional" Tajik clothing will be outlined by parliament soon. Since May 2016, authorities in the predominantly Muslim Central Asian country have closed down scores of shops that sell women's religious clothing that does not conform with what the government calls "national traditions." Human rights activists say Tajikistan’s government uses the term “nontraditional dress” and "alien garments" as euphemisms for the Islamic hijab. Although the bill passed by the lower chamber does not specifically mention the hijab, authorities in the past have said that head scarves that cover the front of a woman’s neck are a form of “alien culture and traditions.” In early August, more than 8,000 hijab-wearing women were stopped in public places across Dushanbe by teams of state officials who pressured them to wear head scarves in the style of “traditional national clothing” — that is, by tying the scarf with a knot behind the head in a way that leaves the front of the neck exposed. Tajik police have asserted that some women and girls associated with extremist terrorist organizations can be identified because they follow "alien culture and traditions." Regional authorities also have threatened to detain women in hijabs in order to investigate whether their husbands are "militant Salafists" from the ultra-conservative movement within Sunni Islam. The Tajik Constitution says citizens have the right to adhere to any religion, or to no religion at all, and to observe religious customs and ceremonies. The constitution does not prevent Tajikistan’s government from passing legislation that regulates religion.
