• KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
  • KGS/USD = 0.01149 0%
  • KZT/USD = 0.00190 0%
  • TJS/USD = 0.09166 0.11%
  • UZS/USD = 0.00008 0%
  • TMT/USD = 0.28571 0%
10 January 2025

Viewing results 1 - 6 of 249

A year in review: Uzbekistan pursues liberalization at home, neighborly relations abroad

TASHKENT (TCA) — The year 2017 was marked in Uzbekistan by the President’s efforts to reform the tightly-controlled economy and financial sector, liberalize the internal political sphere, and improve the country’s tense relations with neighboring Central Asian states. Although much has been done on the domestic and foreign fronts, it is yet to be done much more to bring in the real changes to Uzbekistan, and to make such changes irreversible. We are republishing this article by Umida Hashimova on the issue, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor: Continue reading

Astana grapples with growing sinophobic sentiment in Kazakhstan

ASTANA (TCA) — China’s western Xinjiang region is home to a large ethnic Kazakh minority. Being Muslims, the Kazakhs in Xinjiang, like the local Uighur minority, reportedly face the authorities’ pressure under the guise of fighting religious extremism. All this makes ethnic Kazakhs seek protection from Astana. We are republishing this article by Farkhad Sharip on the issue, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor: Following bloody clashes between ethnic Uyghurs and Han Chinese in the city of Urumchi, in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, in the summer of 2009, Beijing resorted to both carrot and stick policies to secure stability in this volatile territory. On the one hand, the central government is funneling massive funds to develop the local social infrastructure as well as promote minority ethnic cultures in Xinjiang, which borders on former Soviet Central Asia. But on the other, Beijing is stepping up political pressure on Muslims living there, under the guise of fighting religious extremism. Meanwhile, the continuing influx of Han Chinese from the inner provinces of China to Xinjiang fuels the fear of cultural and linguistic assimilation as well as the loss of ethnic identity among the region’s minorities—including Kazakhs. And Astana is increasingly being called upon by the Kazakh diaspora in China to intervene. According to official sources, between 1991 and 2016, more than 952,000 ethnic Kazakhs living abroad returned to Kazakhstan. But Kazakhs from China comprise only 14.2 percent of that number, compared to 61.6 percent from Uzbekistan (Diapazon.kz, January 26, 2017). Many observers attribute the significantly low percentage of ethnic-Kazakh “returnees” (or “oralmans” in official parlance) to draconian foreign travel regulations imposed by Beijing on ethnic Kazakhs and other minorities (Ratel.kz, December 7, 2017). At a press-conference organized in late 2017 by the Social Democratic Party of Kazakhstan, Kazakhs from China who had been granted Kazakhstani citizenship expressed concerns about the fate of their relatives jailed in China. Kadirali Orazuly, a well-known public figure and human rights activist said that family members of ethnic Kazakhs who maintain contacts with relatives holding Kazakhstani passports were being subjected to judicial persecution in China and subsequently sent to so-called “Centers of Political Education” before being imprisoned after a short, closed trial. According to Orazuly, Chinese authorities use any pretext, from money transfers to telephone conversation or visits to relatives living in Kazakhstan, as evidence of wrongdoing with which to prosecute ethnic Kazakhs. Lyazzat Kamze, the head of the Center for Legal Assistance of the Social Democratic Party, said the persecution and imprisonment of ethnic Kazakhs in China in defiance of international law have assumed unprecedented proportions. Further, she called on rights activists to appeal to Kazakhstani Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov and ask him to interfere (Ratel.kz, December 7, 2017). Some of the emotionally charged stories of arbitrary behavior of Chinese authorities toward ethnic Kazakhs may be untrue. But increasing anti-Chinese sentiment among the domestic Kazakhstani population is hard to ignore. Public protests provoked by rumors about the government scheme to sell agricultural lands to...

US says Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan violate religious freedom

BISHKEK (TCA) — The U.S. State Department has singled out Pakistan, Iran, and Central Asian countries of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan for policies violating religious freedom, RFE/RL reported. Continue reading

Kyrgyzstan: HRW calls on president to improve human rights situation

BISHKEK (TCA) — Human Rights Watch on December 20 sent a letter to Kyrgyzstan’s new President Sooronbai Jeenbekov to share its recommendations for steps the Kyrgyz government can take from the beginning of his mandate to improve the human rights situation in Kyrgyzstan. Continue reading

Court decisions limit press freedom in Kyrgyzstan, watchdog says

BISHKEK (TCA) — Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization that monitors the status of freedom around the world and advocates for democracy and human rights, on December 20 responded to the Supreme Court of Kyrgyzstan upholding a lower-level court decision to fine the founders of the independent outlet Zanoza.kg the equivalent of about $387,000 because of alleged libel against the country’s former president. Continue reading

Uzbekistan: president pardons 2,700 convicts in mass amnesty

TASHKENT (TCA) — Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoev has signed a decree ordering what state media outlets called the first mass pardoning of convicts in the country's history, RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reported. Continue reading