In the valleys of Delolo, in South West Tajiksitan, Bunafsha Nasreddinova, 44, fills her bucket with water from the newly built tapstands. Now this precious commodity flows in abundance in fresh, clean quantities but Bunafsha sadly remembers the days when there was no clean water;

“I remember the water sources were not clean and I got typhoid. I was pregnant at the time and received treatment for typhoid throughout my pregnancy. I remember having a fever with high temperature and no appetite but as my kids were young I had to leave hospital and continue my treatment at home. My baby died when he was born and the doctors told me it was from drinking unsafe water.”

Water-borne diseases such as typhoid and dysentery used to be common in the village. Bunafsha’s children also suffered from ill-health due to dirty water.

‘My kids had diarrhea, often in summertime as they used to drink un-boiled water, as they’d come in from the yard thirsty’.

Bunafsha has to take care of her six children alone as her husband and son are working in Russia.

‘My husband is in Russia working as a construction worker. The work is very difficult and affects his health. He has a lot of arthritis but he is forced to go as we need think about the future of our kids and their weddings.”

For Bunafsha, the burden of water fell on her shoulders;

‘Before the water source was a long distance away. My kids and I fetched water using a donkey. We spent one hour walking to the water source and one hour walking back’.

Spending so much time collecting water had an impact on her children’s schooling.

‘As we spent so much time collecting water the children were often late for classes. They were often too tired and did not want to go to school – they lost interest. I wanted them to go, but the priority was to have water at home’.

Bunafsha found it difficult to make water last, particularly with having six children.

‘With six children it was hard to measure and save water. All housework needs water. Sometimes I asked for a bucket of water from my neighbour’.

With support from Oxfam, who installed new water systems in her village, Bunafsha is now able to access safe drinking water.

‘I was very happy to hear that I will have water in my house. I now have more time to take care of my children and grow food on my small piece of land’.

Oxfam has trained people in the village to teach others about the importance of water and sanitation.

‘My children now have a better understanding of the importance of saving water, as the tap is in our yard has a water meter. I pay one Somoni per one meter squared cubic (14p). I am happy with this, and I am ready to pay more, as I know that my kids will not suffer anymore collecting water.’

‘Women in the village are happy that we now have water! Before we left our children sleeping and ran to fetch water, or when we were cooking we had to leave the soup boiling to collect water.’

For Bunafsha, access to water means her children now have the chance to gain an education;

‘They attend school and are never late now. My younger daughter is six and now sees how much time her elder sister is spending over her books instead of fetching water. Her sister is helping her to learn letter and numbers. I want them to be educated and find a good job in the future.’

The photo is from the www.aigine.kg web-site

On May 14, 2013 in the Great Hall of the National Philharmonic named after T.Satylganov in Bishkek was held a presentation of the video version of “Manas” and “Semetey” for the general public. Program of the event consisted of the impressive performance of the epics’ storytellers – manaschy; performances by musicians with traditional instruments, and the presentation of the video version of “Manas” and “Semetey”. On the big screen was showed something like a slide-show with fragments from the video shoot.

The important reason of the event is not only the contribution to the cultural development of the Kyrgyz people, but also the cause that the trilogy “Manas. Semetey. Seytek” has been nominated for inclusion in the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO on behalf of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The video version of two parts of the trilogy “Manas”, epics “Manas” and “Semetey” was prepared in 2012-2013 by the CRC “Aigine” and was sponsored by the Christensen Fund. It is a 51-hour live epic story by famous contemporary storytellers. 25 hours of “Manas” and 26 hours of “Semetey” is a real achievement of the Kyrgyz nation. In the future, as promised by the organizers, will be also created the video version of the third part of the trilogy that is called “Seytek.” As you know, the epic “Manas” consists of several hundred thousands lines of poetry and it excels all the famous epics in the world by size. This fact is one of its distinctive features.

Around this time three years ago, I posted about the video game “Metro 2033″, based on the novel by Russian journalist Dmitry Glukhovsky. The sequel (“Last Light”) has just been released, thus prompting this post. The setting of the series is an underground society founded by survivors of a nuclear war that was waged in 2013 (yikes!). They scrape by in the Moscow subway system, which has transformed into an almost Biblical sheol. NewEurasia’s snobbish managing editor Sanjar says, “it’s no War and Peace”. Sure, sure. But speaking as a person who’s probably imbibed way too much post-apocalyptic fiction since childhood, Glukhovsky and his compatriots at 4A Games have made one of the more engrossing scenarios in the genre. The series mixes mysticism, science fiction, and politics in an unusual way. It’s also nice to see some Eurasian sensibilities injected into Western popular culture; we’ve been surely lacking it since the Seventies.

Besides the horrific mutants prowling the ruined surface and the endless subterannean labrynth of tunnels, vents, and pipes, the survivors must also contend with each other. In an obvious satire of both Soviet history and contemporary Russian society, the metro has largely been divided into four major factions — the neo-Nazi Fourth Reich, the neo-Stalinist Red Line, the neo-liberal Hanseatic League (or “Hanza”), and the neo-pagan Polis. Polis is the most intriguing, as it is also the least explored (at least in the games). Insofar that the series is also a deconstruction of modern civilization, Polis represents something of a Camelot, an idyllic last bastion of balance between material and spiritual needs, which also serves as a kind of symbolic capital for the metro. A fifth faction, the Rangers (or “Spartans”), descends directly from the Russian military and is ideologically non-aligned but sort of politically aligned to Polis. The Rangers are on a mission to protect the metro, a loyalty-to-the-whole notion.

There is a surprising connection to Central Asia in the form of of one of the series’ most memorable characters, the mystical Khan Aitmatov. He is sort of a walking, talking, shooting piece of Russian Orientalism, right down the martial badassery, lonely nomadism, and panpsychism:

“Most people believe the Metro to be just tunnels and stations, a lifeless and soulless conglomerate created by human hands alone. [But] the Metro is a living, breathing thing… with a heartbeat and a soul — and a mind.”

Nevertheless, he also serves as a crucial mentor for the main character. In fact, in the original game, he represents one of two philosophical worldviews, the other represented by Hunter, a Ranger. The dualism hinges upon the willingness (Khan) or unwillingness (Hunter) to embrace the unknown. Hunter’s worldview is presented as the empirical one (“If it’s dangerous, kill it”) Khan’s as the spiritual one (“It’s not any more ‘evil’ than, say, fire. It all depends on your point of view”). Hunter’s view has a certain kind of common sense to it, all the more so in the blasted purgatory of the metro. However, if the player adheres to Khan’s view, though, he or shall achieve the better of two possible endings in the game.

“He who is brave and patient enough to peer into the darkness his whole life will be the first to see a flicker of light in it.”

The original novel has spawned an entire literary universe (and unless Glukhovsky and his coterie don’t act quickly to instigate horrific nuclear war, it shall quickly become a uchronic series, too). There are now books examining the metros of several other post-Soviet cities, and even somewhat strangely, a Russian Artic base (I’m not certain about how utility this series would have outside of its setting). Last year, the series finally went West, with a novel exploring the ruined London situation. Rumor has it plans are in the works for Paris, but no word yet on New York, arguably the London and Moscow’s main rival for title of world’s most famous subway system.

Now, if I could get Glukhovsky on the phone, I would certainly offer him my services to write a New York edition. But I would also try to pitch him a Tashkent and, yes, even an Almaty edition. The New York edition would certainly have its own version of Khan, a walking, talking, shooting piece of American Occidentalism, a zany Bahá’í who believes in optimsim, rationalism, and that the apocalypse represents the best chance at unity humanity has ever had — but who also likes whiskey a wee bit too much, not to mention the ladies (shut up Sanjar, it’s obvious who this character’s based upon!) But who knows, maybe Khan has a long lost relative in Uzbekistan or Kazakhstan, too…

To illustrate how this language can become a tool of domination let me tell a short story. On a recent trip to the countryside I accompanied two well-known photographers and had a chance to observe them taking pictures of a beautiful scene of villagers washing red carpets in a rivulet.

Girls washing their rugs in a creek

While the scene was indeed fascinating and picturesque, I found the power relationship between the photographers armed with their large cameras and the girls with their buckets of water even more interesting. Photographers’ active attention made the scene look unreal, staged and yet they interacted with their models with a certain ease which made me think of the classic concepts of hegemony: coercion and consent.

Photographers have easily penetrated the private space of the girls washing the carpets: are they neo-colonial manipulators or simply guests welcomed by villagers into their space?

The scene I observed has acquired a totally different dimension when I realised that it was intensely watched by a few school girls coming back from their class. They, as is common in villages, perhaps knew the women washing carpets and were intrigued to see the tourists / guests / invaders taking interest in the otherwise mundane household process.

School girls observe the photographers taking pictures of the above scene: what do they make of it all?

It was difficult for me to identify the school girls’ position: were they happy to see what they saw, or just curious or did they indeed disapprove of the evident artistic exploitation taking place in front of their eyes? It was clear though that in a way the roles got reversed somehow: now the photographers have become an object of observation, a group of performers for a silent yet critical local audience. Such postcolonial deconstruction seemed to me worth capturing in its wholeness.

School girls observing the orientalist photographers in action: what am I doing?

This, of course, brought about some reflection on my own stance. Originally part of the visiting group, I distanced myself from direct observation of the scene of everyday labour and instead focused on the activities of the artists acquiring the dominating power over their subjects only to discover that the whole process have turned into a large happening for the schoolgirls who could be interpreted as liberated women of the East who ultimately took an upper hand in the artistic contestation of power. Or have they? I was the ultimate observer of the scene of observation!

Yet everything fell into its place when I turned back and discovered that my own photographic research of postcolonial deconstruction has become an object of observation by a dozen more school girls. Hmmm, I said to myself: documenting others involved in orientalist domination and watching this being deconstructed has been much more pleasant than being observed by other subalterns! I decided to end the experiment and hastily returned to the cognitive safety of our car.

I’d add that the victory in the Great Patriotic War, it is a great victory in the battle against fascism, but not winning the war against it. The battle with the nationalistic manifestations is still ongoing, and the activities of various activist organizations against neo – fascists serves us as a proof. Citizens of the world should be alert to such manifestations of the human mind, and stop them.

Even a few weeks before this important date, Kyrgyz people congratulate veterans, wearing St. George ribbons, create action groups that collect funds to help the heroes of the war, which number is becoming less and less every year.

And on May, 9 the whole country celebrates the heroes of the Great Patriotic War on the Victory Square in Bishkek and other cities of Kyrgyzstan. I also visited the festival in order to congratulate the brave old men and sincerely thank them for the peaceful sky over our heads. Here is the photoreport from the Victory Square named after Dair Asanov in Bishkek, May 9, 2013.

Local audience has not heard such quality rock-funk for a long-long time. Please see bellow the photo reportage from the concert. It is also important to mention the opening band The Children of Dushanbe city with its soloist Roma Buryak, more known as Roma

The Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic. Photo was taken from the www.president.kg web-site

On May 5, 1993 at the XII session of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, the new Constitution was adopted. Since then, the Republic of Kyrgyzstan became known as the Kyrgyz Republic, and the Constitution of the Kyrgyz SSR, adopted in 1978, has lost its power. It is an important date for all the Kyrgyz people because the adoption of a new constitution meant one of the most important stages in the state history – the independence of the Kyrgyz Republic.

The most important key points in the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic of 1993 are the principles of independence, freedom of speech and power of the people. The Constitution has 9 chapters and 114 articles. Each of them carries unique and significant promise to the Kyrgyz nation.

The first page of the Constitution of KR. Photo was taken from www.twirpx.com web-site

The Constitution of 1993 was revised four times  in 1994, 1996, 1998 and 2003 during the regimen of the first President Askar Akayev in favor of strengthening powers of the President. And on October 21, 2007, by the Decree of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, was held a referendum which adopted the new Constitution proposed by the President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. And it was signed on October 23, 2007.

Further in connection with the change of government in 2010 there was a referendum on a new Constitution in 2010. An important point in the new constitution can be considered the strengthening of  the role of parliament in the government. However, despite the numerous changes in the most important “document” of the country, the main laws and regulations of the Kyrgyz Republic have the common ground – the very first edition of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic dated May 5, 1993, which celebrates this year its 20th anniversary. And it is a really significant event for the whole nation.

The Turkish World Writers and Artists Association (TÜRKSAV) shall be having its 17th annual “World Service Awards” at the end of this month. Twelve people, institutions and organizations from shall countries will be awarded in a ceremony held within the context of “Turkish Day” in the USA.

Click “read more” to see the winners and get contact information for the event.

KYRGYZSTAN
-President Almazbek ATAMBAYEV
(his supports and services to Turkish unity and Turkish world ideal)

TURKEY
- Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the U.S, Namık TAN
(His supports to Turkish NGOs in the United States, his approach to provide cooperation and service coherence among them, his unifier role in cultural and social activities on Turkish world in USA)
-Artist Rauf TUNCER
(leitmotifs of Turkish history in his works)
-Orhan HAKALMAZ
(His well-qualified efforts and services for Turkish folk music)

AZERBAIJAN
-Ambassador to Washington, Elin SÜLEYMANOV
(His supports and contributions to Turkish world lobbying against Armenian diaspora’s unfounded claims)

USA
-President Ergün KARLIKOVALI on behalf of Assembly of Turkish American Associations
-President Faruk TABAN on behalf of Turkic American Alliance
-President Ali ÇINAR on behalf of Federation of Turkish American Associations
(These three umbrella organizations’ common stands, attitudes and services for the sake of Turkey’s international interests)
-Prof. Edward FOSTER
(His contributions to cooperation studies between universities in Turkey and USA and his prsentations by translation of Turkish literature)
-Prof. Hasan Bülent PAKSOY
(His studies on Turkish epics)

KAZAKHSTAN
-Poet and Writer Muhtar ŞAHANOV
(His services for Kazakhstan’s freedom and independence locally, his contribution to Turkish world culture in general and as a present for his 70th birthday)

Macedonia
-Prof. Numan ARUÇ
(His services for Turkish world culture and art in Macedonia Science and Arts Academia)

Address: Fevzi Çakmak 2 Sokak 36/14 Kızılay-Ankara
Phone Number: 0532 415 76 19 – 229 74 17
Email: yavuzgurler@gmail.com

The shot from the animation "Didn't let go"

Creative Group “705″ is a team that positions itself as the engines of anti-patriarchal art in Kyrgyzstan. On the last Saturday of each month, the guys arrange screenings of their works. Animators negotiate and agree on the one certain topic, on which they all will create animated films during the month before the showing.  In March guys talked about the International Women’s Day, and the whole series of animations by each author were on the topic of women, mothers, patriarchy in society and gender inequality.

 ”We’re trying to talk through cartoons, performances and posts about the power mechanisms of our patriarchal society,” – say the animators.

In April, the topic of the animations was labor migration. Participants of the Creative Group “705″ Marat Raimkulov, Nursultan and Natalia Ni are the authors of animated works for the April’s showing.

 ”I think that labor migration in Kyrgyzstan is a very topical issue, because according to the statistics, up to 20% of Kyrgyzstan’s population is working abroad. According to the news we hear about the difficulties encountered by our fellow citizens: difficulties with the place of residence, employment, etc. And after a long discussion with the group, the theme of the showing in April was picked a labor migration, “- says the coordinator of the April’s showing Nursultan.

The shot from the animation "Cohabitation"

A total of six works were shown that day, and after each animation viewers along with the authors were discussing what they have seen. Labor migration – quite a common thing in today’s society, and mostly the citizens of rural areas are encountering it. The main reasons are the lack of resources to have an education and support the family. The difficulties that appear for migrants abroad became a daily norm because of terrible living conditions, hard work, often lack of language skills, moral and physical violence. And this is not even the whole list of problems which faced by the migrant worker.

Creative Group “705″ tried to show their vision of the phenomenon of labor migration by their best-known way – the animation. And they turned out very well. Here I post to you one of the animated films from the April’s showing made by the artist Marat Raimkulov and titled “Didn’t let go”.