Politics and Society
NewEurasia received this communiqué, which makes us wonder how many people in Turkmenistan, who were members of other Soviet republics when the Union collapsed and got trapped inside the new Turkmen state, are officially registered with the government as “stateless”? (The photograph of the passport has been anonymized to protect the identity of its owner.)
I am so upset, actually angry. How much do you know about the temporary passports of Turkmenistan non-citizens?
A friend of mineis struggling to get out of country and she finally got a (useless) certificate, after so many years of writing to the President and waiting for a decision to get any sort of document that will allow her to go study abroad, and come back, since she also has her mother living in Turkmenistan.
My friend was not originally a Turkmenistani citizen. During Soviet times, they didn’t have to acquire any sort of special exit passport, just the standard Union common passport, and they were registered with a different SSR. But after independence, they had to give up their other citizenship and apply for the Turkmenistani passport — and they are still waiting for it.
In the meantime, they’ve received a temporary passport for non-citizens. And you know what’s written on it? “Stateless person certificate“.
Editor’s note: What, if any, is the connection between the Boston bombings and Kyrgyzstan? NewEurasia’s Schwartz suspects not much. What will be more interesting, he says, is how online forums shall start thinking about the possible linkages.
During the dramatic events in Boston, I have sat on the sidelines somewhat bemused. I am still waiting for a clear picture to emerge. I am not a security expert, so I shall refrain from speculating on the nature of the attacks (which, I imagine from a terrorism perspective seem kind of, well, aimless and incompetent); rather, of more interest is the Eurasia connection.
NewEurasia has published story These Orphanages Should Not Exist! by Aida Aizeman about violence in Kyrgyz private orphanage “Meerim Bulagi”. Video, that this blogger sent to us last week, is really shocking. We publish it without comments.
On February 14th, women and men from all around the world joined the One Billion Rising campaign and danced to protest against gender-based violence. Bishkek was no exception. Read the full story »
The story about Raim Zhumanazarov, the Kyrgyz blind musician, and his big family
To mark International Women’s Day, Oxfam Communication Officers, Caroline Berger and Nino Gvianishvili, report from Samegrelo in Western Georgia on one woman’s story who has overcome tragedy, started her own business and is now a role model in her village
Read the full story »
I want to share with you impressions of the many contrasts in Turkmenistan by citizen-journalists I know. Except for two from Flickr (but I’m reassured are under Creative Commons licensing), I publish these photos with explicit permission from their owners, who must stay anonymous.
Photo #1:Ashgabat is forever under construction, and everything is glistening marble. Always new government ministries everywhere, and elite apartments for the government coterie that cost cost around 100,000-200,000 USD (!). There are some rumors these days that even the pedestrian walkways in the main quarters shall be re-paved with marble. This is all to impression of lightning-fast development in the “era of happiness of the stable state”. But it is false impression, mis-spending money that could be used to increase living standards, healthcare, education, etc.
Photo #2: Only a few blocks away from marble facade are vast colonies of crumbling Soviet-era residential blocs. Many of these are in process of being bulldozed to make way for more marble extravaganza. Kicked-out residents are given new homes in the outskirts of the city. A sharp contrast exists between the center and the periphery. It was always sort of there, even during the Soviet days, but now much more visible, much more pronounced. You notice that the same people of one city live completely different lives and are faced everyday with different realities.
On January 19, in Moscow anti-fascists will start demonstration in memory of community activists – lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova. The main slogan of the action – “For freedom against fascism” and “Moscow – anti-fascist town!”. Demostration will be organized by the anti-fascist group called the “Committee of 19 January.”
This year the “Committee of 19 January” has prepared stickers using more than 10 languages of the former Soviet Union with the main slogan of the action – “For Freedom! Against fascism.” Stickers are in Armenian, Belarusian, Georgian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Moldovan, Russian, Tajik, Uzbek, Ukrainian languages.
Activists were contacted with citizens of Central Asia, and provided them with an opportunity to express their solidarity. Different designers from CA countries prepared their stickers (with design and slogan in their native language). Stickers were printed out and circulated in Moscow. You can see in our gallery stickers in Kyrgyz, Tajik and Kazakh.
Lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova were murdered by the Russian neo-Nazis on January 19, 2009. Killer sentenced to long terms. It is murder – the most prominent one, but not the only one in a series of neo-Nazi crimes. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people (there are no exact statistics) – social activists, experts, workers – were killed by the Nazis in Russia over the last decade, according to the site 19jan.ru. Now January 19 is the unofficial day of the memory of all victims of fascists and nazis in Russia.
The first ever law regulating the mass media in Turkmenistan, started to work from 3 January. The corresponding decree, as reported TURKMENinform, was signed by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov. The new law provides citizens of the republic free access to foreign media, prohibits censorship and will defend journalists against pressing by government officials.
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