2004:

2006:

2008:

I got back from Central Asia yesterday – after three weeks of road-tripping with Gareth, Christoph, Ollie and Sascha. We managed to cover quite some distance: Starting in Almaty, we made a 36-hour excursion to Astana (…), then back by overnight train to Almaty, from there by car to Karakol, then a four-day tour along the southern shore of lake Issyk-Kul, after which we stayed in Bishkek for two days; then by An-24 to Osh and directly off to the Alai (afoot the Pamirs) with old driver friend Hadji. After a 40km walk across a big pass, we went back to Osh, Bishkek and finally Almaty. Phew.

There are a few things I’d like to write about in the coming weeks (fingers crossed). First, I definitely found Astana very strange and want to have the post go along with pictures fellow traveler Christoph took. Second, another entry on Sary Moghul is definitely in the pipeline, hopefully I’ll be able to quote Peter’s piece once it’s up on the wires. Again, Christoph made beautiful photos there, so I hope they’ll go along with it. The third one I’m not 100% sure about yet is a more general piece on my impressions this time. As I had the benefit to visit most places for the second or third time over four years, I thought of writing a personal report here. Let’s see how far this gets.

Could be the amount of vodka involved the night before the picture was taken in 2006, but that might be wishful thinking… Kenesh’s father did better than me I think.

2004:

2006:

After some years of missing out on the latest web developments, I caught up with these million people already on Flickr and got myself an account. You can see many of my pics from Central Asia there.

Venice’s annual art exhibition has – for the first time – a Central Asian Pavillon.

Also online here.

(Kyrgyzstan-Germany, 2005, 85 min, Director/Script: Ernest Abdyshaparov. With Kumondor Abylov, Askat, Sulaimanov, Tabyldy Aktakov.)

We are in the fourteenth year after the Soviet Union disintegrated and released its socialist republics into a sudden and unexpected independence. The five Central Asian republics were probably the least prepared: The economic malaise that followed the withdrawal of Moscow’s subsidies, and more deeply, the ideological vacuum that arose, left the five -Stans in the Soviet backwaters stranded on a potholed road to an uncertain future.

Hardly anywhere else has this been more tangible than in “Saratan”, a Kyrgyz-German co-production screened at the 49th London Film Festival. In a vivid and most comical manner, this film is a happy-sad snapshot of life in a country whose average citizen is struggling with a sheer insurmountable number of difficulties.

It’s early in the morning and an alarm clock breaks the silence in an average Kyrgyz village afoot the mighty Tien Shan. The Mullah has overslept (again) and hastens to the mosque for the Morning Prayer. No one seems to show any interest for such early-morning devotion, though. The lonely warden on the main square delegates the non-existent rush-hour traffic. His boss, the local police officer, once again wakes up in the bed of a married woman whose husband works away from the village.

Fourteen years into independence, there are several things that just don’t seem to work in this small Kyrgyz village: Agriculture is defunct; people are poor and lack a perspective for a better future. A few rich have benefited to the disadvantage of the average villager. Employment is virtually non-existant and the little money earned is all to often spent on vodka.

However, the film is anything else than sad. Director Ernest Abdyshaparov says that “without doubt, only humour and self-mockery are capable of conceiving and understanding the whole power of the sad daily life images; a humour that is at work beyond the mere laughter, as it derives directly from the absurdity of the situation.”

Abdyshaparov brilliantly illustrates that religion does not really emerge as a new form identity after the demise of the Communist system. Islam, although formally the religion of the Kyrgyz, has never had a profound grip on this nomadic people, even before the Soviets banned religion into the private domain.

The cattle thief and his family speak an Islamic prayer fused with nomadic gestures when slaughtering a stolen lamb; the Mullah has a hard time garnering people’s attention, whereas the female shaman has her doors run in by the sick whom she heals with pagan rituals; the vagabond Jehovah’s Witness missionary finds a receptive listener in the Communist die-hard when both share a prison cell. Welcome to Kyrgyzstan.

More than 40 characters form a dazzling puzzle of relationships; like in a grand theatre play, there are drunkards, thieves, philanderers, hypocrites, adulterers. The hero, however, is the Kyrgyz people – that despite a steep and uphill track finds ways to cope with the hopelessness.

Abdyshaparov and the fabulous cast make this movie a fun and satiric starter to understanding post-Soviet reality on the ground in one of the more blurry corners of the former empire.

As the mayor says: “Before Russia separated from us and declared independence, our world was at least in some kind of order.”

Now, the only thing that’s certain in Kyrgyzstan is that nothing is for certain anymore.

I will be watching this one on Tuesday and write a small review for oD.

It sounds like a very good film.

Via IFEX, I received a couple of Emails lamenting the attack on Editor-in-chief of “Zhany muun” newspaper, Jyldyz Bekbayeva, and Mahmud Kazakbayev, a reporter with “Demos Times” newspaper and the founder of Allians-Press advertising agency.

Just yesterday, the Times of Central Asia, an English-language publication from Bishkek, was closed down amidst unclear charges. Laurence had it on Registan yesterday.

Can there be a connection between these three incidents? I don’t think so. The first two assaults rather speak for a grown lawlessness in the Kyrgyz south. The Karasuu incident is clearly linked to organised crime, whereas the attack in Osh should be seen in the light of the Ombudsman Tursunbai Bakir’s wounded pride. The Times of Central Asia, though not a very prominent news source for us internet users, is widely read on the spot – catering for the NGO-folks in Bishkek and beyond. The reasons for its closure seem all but blurry until now. One cannot say much about it before more information sees the light of day.

These news come at the same time RFE/RL runs a story on independent media in Kyrgyzstan:

It may prove a long and difficult process [the transformation to a totally independent media] . But Kyrgyzstan does appear to be the only country in Central Asia capable of making such a move. With its existing small but independent media, the foundations are already there.

Kyrgyzstan has, after the March events, still a long way to go before one can speak of a truly free media landscape. The article discusses impediments that might obstruct progress on this way, such as the involvement of Russian-style media oligarchs with a political agenda (well, they are not only found in Moscow).

The three incidents under discussion in this post should not generate a biased picture, they should rather point at problems that cannot be solved by good legislation only: Criminals, local administration, and regional power struggles can be more dangerous for a free press. Bekbayeva and Kazakbayev would most probably agree.

Update:Matt responds to the Registan post over the Times closure:

I always found the Times to be fairly pro-Akayev. Nevertheless Bakiyev is getting away with destroying one of the most liberal environments Central Asia has, without a word of condemnation from the West. I appreciate the sentiments of “maintaining stability” but surely this guy is behaving no better than his predecessor. Theres an interesting article about the media situation over at the Central Asia – Caucusus Analyst, the link is on my blog for those interested.

The article mentioned is here. It offers a more sombre view than the RFE/RL piece.

So far, unfortunately, the electoral campaign and the post-election developments indicate that the new regime is wary of implementing real democratic reforms, most importantly the reform of mass media.