The report examines the current situation of young people in Kyrgyzstan. According to the experts, who worked on the report, the analysis covers the main aspects of human development such as education, health, employment, values, social activity and communication, safety and youth policy.

Presentation of the report was held in the State National Russian Drama Theatre after Chingiz Aitmatov. The event started with the presentation of a documentary film about the young volunteers in Kyrgyzstan and their role in the development of the country. The film was quite interesting and of good quality.  The thing I liked a lot about it was it’s the focus on youth in the regions of the country, because, in contrast to the capital, the situation with the youth in the regions is in a bad condition.

The presentation of report also included speeches by Neal Walker, UN Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic, Elmira Ibraimova, coordinator of the Interim Government of the Kyrgyz Republic on the social sector, and famous singer Mirbek Atabekov, who turned out to be a national candidate for a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador (!).

During the banquet, held at the end of the presentation, I was able to make a podcast with Neal Walker, Resident Representative of UNDP in the Kyrgyz Republic, who was also closely involved in preparing the national report.

In podcast, Neal Walker speaks about:

- main goals of the National human development report;

- the challenges youth is facing in Kyrgyzstan;

- the reasons for Kyrgyz youth’s increased political activeness after the recent April events that took away lives of many civilians;

- what kind of projects UNDP is doing in Kyrgyzstan to help youth in achieving their goals.

You can download soft copies of the National human development report by UNDP in Kyrgyzstan here. Photo bywww.photo.kg

“I am a Danish photojournalist born in the countryside outside Copenhagen. Most of my work centers on ‘concerned photography’ and I am constantly drawn to social, political and economic issues throughout the world. I have worked in countries like Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, China, Tibet, DR Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Latvia and India. In 2006 I graduated from the Danish School of Journalism. My passion and interest in photography developed in the late nineties after extensive travels in third world countries, where I realized the urge to document my surroundings. I love to undertake social and humanitarian projects around the world, and like the journey a photographic project can turn into over time, – says Christian Als’ profile. His photos were  TIME, The New Yorker, The Sunday Times Magazine, GEO, Stern, Der Spiegel, The Wall Street Journal

In the podcast, Christian tells about his previous projects and interesting places he had visited. He also tells about the aims of his visit to Kyrgyzstan. He says that so far one thing suprised very much in Kyrgyzstan –  a Soviet presence that is still preserved all over the country. And it is not about Lenin’s statues, but about the whole villages and small cities that stopped developing or died after 1991. Christian tells that he liked these places a lot, as he, as a photographer, is interested in such sites. Christian is planning to make his personal project about Central Asia, where he will use photos from Kyrgyzstan.

It is commonly known  that when there is a conflict happening in a country of strategic importance to several great powers, like Kyrgyzstan, great powers try to use it as much as possible for their own advantage. And this is usually done via mass media. Thinking about this, I became curious to what extent others participants of YouthExchagen 2010, who came from different parts of the world, were informed about the events taking place in Kyrgyzstan. And I decided to make a podcast with them questioning them about the recent developments in Kyrgyzstan, and to tell the truth, I was amazed how well some of them were informed.

An Englishman who marries into a Central Asian family must know how to cook plov. In my case I married an Uzbek, and I can tell you that Uzbek plov is one of the finest.

Plov, for the uninitiated, is a hotpot of rice, meat and vegetables, cooked according to local tastes, throughout Central Asia. Who cooked plov first? Well that’s a tricky one, which I will avoid by going into too much detail. Who invented bread?

Plov is closely related to pilau which may have a Persian origin. But variations exist throughout Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Central Asia.

Done properly it is deliciously sweet, succulent and savoury. The ingredients are basic, the flavours delicate and life-affirming.

With Neweurasia’s Top Chef competition providing the impetus, I hatched my plan:

Every special plov has been taught from father to son. In my case, I picked up the phone and called Aziz Madyarov. Aziz knows how to do it Tashkent-style, and he cooks a splendid dish.

“Aziz. I am Uzbek now. I need to make plov, can you teach me?”

Pause. “Meet me at the Green Bazaar at 4pm.”

The scene was set, my guide was with me*, and the guests invited for the evening – my judges, carefully selected as vaguely representative of the region – the Madyarov and Abdurasulov families from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan respectively, not to mention my wife Rayhan of course, my biggest fan, and potentially my greatest critic.

First Aziz and I had our date at Almaty’s Green Bazaar, the truly wonderful downtown market selling Almaty’s finest produce.

This was clearly to be a manly shop, we would set out together and buy stuff, to drag back to the kitchen, a leg of cow perhaps, a sack of rice.

Here’re a couple of audio snippets, to get you in the mood:
Rice n Spice
Choicest lamb
Bulk it out with beef

Aziz’s Tashkent-style plov for eight people:

Ingredients

Aziz knew I didn’t have all the tools, so he brought along his plov essentials. A kazan (thick aluminium cooking pot), ladle, and viciously sharp cooking knives. If you don’t have a kazan, a sturdy, thick-sided large saucepan will do.

Englishman and his Guru

Cooking instructions:

Heat the kazan on high, and pour in 250ml of sunflower oil. Purists might want to use cotton oil, if you can find it.

The oil must be heated to extremes, until it begins to smoke. When you are starting to get concerned about the prospect of burning your kitchen down, throw in the diced sheep rump (danger factor: don’t throw in literally, carefully introduce the fat into the oil).

The pieces sizzle, shrink, and eventually brown. Remove and place on the side. Serve for the kids with sliced onion bread and salt. Delicious.

Next, into the boiling oil cauldron goes the meat. Add the remainder of the fat for good measure. Sizzle and deep fry until browned and crispy on the outside.

Next up the onions, and 250g of the carrot batons. They bubble, pop, and soften. The liquids begin to merge with the oil and fats, and resemble something soupier.

The colour of the onions will give the colour of the plov. So if you like your onions soft and yellow, that should give the final colour of the plov. Cook your onions for longer, and the plov gets a browner look.

The oil fest begins to look a bit more respectable. Now add 1 litre of boiling water. It should cover the meat and vegetables.

Add salt and zeera. The salt level is up to you. For the zeera, I thoroughly enjoyed twisting the seeds between my palms until they crunch. Scatter and savour…

Now, boil the concoction for an hour. You’re not even nearly ready.

It’s at this point that I must interrupt the cooking process to tell you that my guests ,according to my wife, were starting to get a little restless.

Abdul Aziz Abdurasulov needed entertaining. And quite apart from belonging in the kitchen, it was my job, I was informed, to sing to him. So in between plov making I took a short break and sang a few Beatles classics to bemused Abdulaziz.

Abdul Aziz was not impressed by the wait

Back to the kichen. After the hour is up, it’s time to add the remaining carrot batons, and if you’re into the optional extras, the chickpeas and the raisins. (We forgot to add the raisins. They are still sitting on the top shelf of our fridge).

You might want to add a little extra water here, and it’s around this point that you carefully insert your chillies and garlic. Push ‘em in.

Turn down the heat a little and give it another 10-15 minutes.

Finally, it is time to add the rice, the final ingredient. It surprises me how the rice, the king of the dish, is dumped on last. Without it the plov would be nothing but a bubbling mess of meat and carrots…

I say dumped on, which is rather unkind. In fact you must lovingly scoop the rice into the pot with your hands. Use the ladle to even out the pile. If you have enough water it should cover the rice by seven or eight millimetres.

As the rice begins to soften and absorb the water it needs coaxing. Turn the rice over a little, so that the rice at the top works it way toward the inner heat. Once most of the water has been absorbed it’s time for some acoustic sound checking.

Use the ladle to shape the rice pile into a little hillock. Now tap your rice with the ladle. If you hear a PLOPPING sound the water is still being absorbed. If you hear a satisfying THUNK, you’re nearly there.

Now place a bowl on top of the rice hillock to seal in the plov, and turn the heat right down. Slow steam for the final 10-20 minutes.

No plov would be complete without a little salad and bread, and tea. So get your lipioshka bread ready, and your uchkuduk salad (sliced tomatoes and thinly sliced white onion) prepped. Squeeze out the onion under the tap to remove the pungency a little. And have your green tea ready, to wash it all down.

Serve up the plov after cutting the meat into bite sized chunks so everybody gets some.

Post-script. The plov took about 3 hours, but it went down WELL. Please see the photograph of happy smiling supper party. The smiles are genuine.

In the end we even had a little left over to enjoy at a later date. But I subsequently found out that Aziz and family had slipped back to retrieve the kazan and knives while I was away, and ate the remainder. So it must’ve been good.

For people who don’t live in Central Asia

For the vegetarians out there. Forget it.

For those who are slightly concerned about their BMI after this meal, it might be interesting to come up with variations. How about a little fusion? Perhaps slow roast the meat in the oven and then add it to the carrots and onions, before continuing the process. I don’t want hate mail for this, but I think maybe the deep frying of meat is a little excessive. It’s why I’ve put on half a stone since moving to Almaty.

Savour it

* In accordance with the rules, I state that at every stage I was the man in the apron. Aziz was merely my guru in the wings. Honest.

Yesterday, July 29 2009, Almazbek Atambaev, who lost presidential elections and called elections illegal, and his supporters attempted to organize open-ended demonstrations and march towards the center of the city. However, they were stopped on their way by law enforcement bodies, who effectively dispersed the crowd and took into custody dozens of people. Leaders of the United Peoples Movement, where Atambaev is a member, later stated they would march to Balykchy city of Issik Kul oblast on July 30 2009, where many of their supporters are being held in custody.

When I arrived the Social Democratic Party’s headquarters at 9:45 am today, there were about 30-40 people standing  in front of the building waiting the march to begin. Almost half of the small crowd were journalists from local and international media. By 10:15 the crowd enlarged a bit. People waiting for opposition members to come out and tell about the furthers steps.

Suddenly, instead of opposition members, Sumar Nasiza, Deputy Prosecutor General, and a high ranking official from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) appeared in front of SDPK’s HQ. The state officials had a small meeting in public with Bakyt Beshimov, chairman the only opposition party represented in the parliament the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan. During the meeting, the authorities officially warned opposition members that any marches held in Bishkek and outskirts of the city would be stopped by the law enforcement bodies “by legal measures.” They explained that it was due to the security measures on the eve of CSTO‘s summit in Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan.

After meeting, all of them – Sumar Nasiza and official from MIA, Azim Beknazarov, and Bakyt Beshimov – went to the office of Almazbek Atambaev, where they had a meeting behind the closed doors. After 15-20 minutes, they came out of the office of Atambaev. The state officials said that they told Atambaev about the possible results if opposition organized marches. Almazbek Atambaev appeared after officials left, and gave a public speech, where he said that the United People’s Movement had decided to cancel the march as he “did not want to risk people’s freedom and security.” The crowd insisted on marching to Balykchy city and release the arrested supporters of opposition. Atambaev told that he would go to Balykchy himself soon. However, he did not tell the time saying he could also be stopped on the way. There were about 150 people in the crowd during the speech of Atambaev.

Podcast: Atambaev’s speech to the crowd

After Atambaev and other opposition leaders went in the offices, the crowd started dispersing. Journalists were leaving. But it was early to leave. Deputy Prosecutor General and his colleague from MIA appeared again. They went to Bakyt Beshimovs office, where they had a meeting behind the closed doors with the leaders of opposition. Bakyt Beshimov later told that they discussed the release of opposition supporters who are being held in Balykchy and other parts of the country.

Bakyt Beshimov tells what they have discussed with officials

I left the SDPK’s HQ after that feeling nothing news worthy was going to happen.

PS. The other day I heard local journalists betting on how long opposition can march before they get stopped. Many of them were saying they would not leave the SDPK’s HQ…

Law enforcement bodies talking to Bakyt Beshimov

Deputy Prosecutor General warning Bakyt Beshimov that march will be stopped

The state officials and opposition leaders are going to Atambaevs office

The state officials telling that they warned Atambaev about marchs

Almazbek Atambaev coming out from his office

Almazbek Atambaev saying the march is cancelled

Atambaev: I will go to Balykchy mylelf. I don't want to risk peoples freedom and security.

Crowd listening to Atambaed

State officials coming out from Bakyt Beshimovs office

Bakyt Beshimov telling what they discussed with state officials befind the closed doors

One of the peak of the Sulaiman-Too. Photo by Elena Skochilo.

Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain of Kyrgyzstan has become [en] the country’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

On 26 June, during the 33-rd session of UNESCO in Spain the members of the Committee passed by a solid vote to include the Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain of Kyrgyzstan in UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

100 countries and 1400 culture-historical objects were also participated in the “Sacred Mountain” nomination.

Culture minister of Kyrgyzstan Sultan Raev told that it wasn’t easy to receive the approval of all members of the Committee from different countries. Kyrgyzstan tried to nominate Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain 10 years ago, but only this year became successful.

So, what next?

Osh city mayor Melisbek Myrzakmatov considers that the Sulaiman-Too will become “worldwide famous”.

Tourists from all the world will come to see Sulaiman-Too and the investigation will increase. Moreover, UNESCO will assign means to support and save the cultural and historical treasures of Sulaiman-Too, Melisbek Myrzakmatov told [ru].

Culture specialist of the National Commission Sabira Soltongeldieva said [ru] BPC, that Kyrgyzstan is going to nominate the Issyk-Kul Lake and Shakh Vasil mausoleum in Jalal-Abad region to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in future.

The Internet-society of Kyrgyzstan were also shared the gladness of the bureaucracy. But a lot of users of Diesel Forum asked [ru] the same question while discussing this news:

Are you sure that the UNESCO means will be received and will be spent only to save the treasures of the Sulaiman-Too?

Building mosque near the Sulaiman-Too. Photo by Elena Skochilo.

I have another question. Aссording UNESCO criteria for selection [en], authenticity and integrity of properties are also important considerations. So, what about the big mosque that has been building near Sulaiman-Too more one year? Last year I saw the start of the construction work. I think this year the building of the mosque will be finished. Where is the authenticity?

By the way, The World Heritage Committee decided [en] to remove Germany’s Dresden Elbe Valley from UNESCO’s World Heritage List due to the building of a four-lane bridge in the heart of the cultural landscape which meant that the property failed to keep its “outstanding universal value as inscribed.”

Dresden was inscribed as a cultural landscape in 2004. The Committee said that Germany could present a new nomination relating to Dresden in the future. In doing so, the Committee recognized that parts of the site might be considered to be of outstanding universal value, but that it would have to be presented under different criteria and boundaries.

Our government should understand the importance of saving our Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain in it’s primeval status.

Also, I found small video from the Sulaiman-Too. There is one sacred stone. People believe if you make a secret wish and roll down from the stome several times, you wish will come true :)

Small video

The World Heritage List includes 890 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.

These include 689 cultural, 176 natural and 25 mixed properties in 148 States Parties. As of April 2009, 186 States Parties have ratified the World Heritage Convention.

[inspic=117,left,fullscreen,215][inspic=111,right,fullscreen,215]

[inspic=112,left,fullscreen,215][inspic=113,right,fullscreen,215]

[inspic=114,left,fullscreen,215][inspic=115,right,fullscreen,215]

[inspic=116,left,fullscreen,215]

Click to zoom.