Author: Asankhan Isanov

Her parents live in Margun, a village in the Leilek district of the Batken region, where tens of thousands of people have fled their homes since border-straddling settlements started coming under fire last week. “With my family in that situation, I decided to help somehow,” Boronova, who is in the second year of an architecture degree, told Eurasianet. “I am worried about my family. But my concerns here will not be of any use to them.” Boronova is part of a large, volunteer army that emerged almost overnight in Bishkek and in other parts of Kyrgyzstan with the goal of easing the humanitarian…

Traditionally predominantly livestock farmers in Kyrgyzstan have discovered good opportunities in recent years to improve their standard of living by growing fruits and vegetables. Compared to such Central Asian countries as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, or Kazakhstan, the production of fruits and vegetables in Kyrgyzstan is not yet well developed. Therefore, investment opportunities in this country are now relatively good – after all, domestic prices for many types of fruits and berries are higher than prices in neighboring countries. Interestingly, the choice of many novice investors falls on the easiest crops to grow, such as blackcurrant and sea buckthorn. Their prices in…

A senior energy official in Kyrgyzstan has said that the government is poised to reach an agreement with Russia to import 875 million kilowatt hours of power in 2023-24, an amount equivalent to more than 5 percent of annual national consumption. Deputy Energy Minister Sabyrbek Sultanbekov said the deal was due to be signed on March 30, but he did not offer specifics on the terms. This agreement with Russia is part of a broader stated plan by Kyrgyzstan to import up to 2.2 billion kWh of electricity this year. In 2021, the most recent year for which there is…

A court in Bishkek on April 12 ruled that Gulnara Jurabaeva, Klara Sooronkulova, Asia Sasykbaeva, Ulukbek Mamataev, and Taalaibek Mademinov should be transferred to house arrest until at least June 20. The Birinchi Mai district court also ruled that Chyngyz Kaparov, who was rushed to a hospital a day earlier with acute gallbladder issues, should also be transferred to house arrest after completing treatment. The activists were among 26 rights defenders, journalists, and politicians — members of the so-called Kempir-Abad Defense Committee — who were arrested in late October 2022 after they protested against the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border demarcation deal. Under the accord,…

A trained agronomist, Rahmatullah earned the money by working in Moscow as a bricklayer, delivery man and cab driver. He moved to the Russian capital from Kyrgyzstan as a guest worker in 2016, saved what he could, sent home the rest to his wife, father and family — and fled in November when he was ordered to serve in the Russian army. “One of my friends has already died at the front,” he told a visitor as he sat on a mattress in his living room, his legs crossed and his back against the wall. “They promised him Russian citizenship if he served six months…

For the first time in the history of the country, blind girls from Kyrgyzstan won medals at the Paratriathlon World Cup in Abu Dhabi (UAE). Sport.gov.kg reported on Instagram. Gulnaz Zhuzbayeva and her athlete-leader Yulia Fernas won a gold medal. Aitunuk Joomart kyzy and her athlete-leader Alina Merimyanina won a silver medal. In addition, Dastan Kamchybekov and his athlete-leader Artem Shapilov took the fourth place, Zhalaldin Abduvaliev and his athlete-leader Andrey Khanadeyev – the fifth.    24 KG

Hundreds of families displaced by the violence that broke out in the remote Kyrgyz-Tajik border areas of Batken and Osh last September are facing the coldest winter to hit the region in over a decade, as fuel prices and air pollution add to their daily challenges. Countries in Central Asia are currently facing the extremely cold winters with temperatures plummeting to an all-time low in 15 years with those internally displaced especially from the clashes bearing the brunt. Although a ceasefire currently holds in the border area, a lasting solution to the border disputes remains beyond the parties’ grasp, complicating the…

Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov signed a declaration on strategic partnership, Trend experiences citing the supply within the authorities. The declaration was signed throughout the state go to of Mirziyoyev to Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. Furthermore, within the presence of the presidents, greater than 20 bilateral paperwork have been exchanged. In specific, the perimeters exchanged an settlement on ratification of sure sections of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz State Border, an settlement on cooperation between the Energy Ministries of each international locations, the cooperation settlement between Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce…

Kyrgyzstan’s months-long campaign to pressure RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Radio Azattyk, into removing a September 16, 2022, video report produced by Current Time about the Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflict has entered a new phase. The Kyrgyz Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports, and Youth Policy petitioned a court in Bishkek to halt Azattyk’s operations; a court hearing is scheduled for February 9. In late October 2022, the ministry sent RFE/RL a letter threatening to block Azattyk if the September 16 video, in fact a republishing of a Current Time report, about the Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflict was not removed from Azattyk’s…

After twenty years of war, there are thousands upon thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who have spent Christmas in a combat zone. Many have spent multiple Christmas Days overseas over numerous deployments; still, fewer have had the poor fortune of missing two Christmases back-to-back in the days of eighteen to fifteen-month deployments, unexpected extensions, and rapid turnarounds (let us not forget the record-setting 22-month deployment by the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Brigade, 34th Infantry).  When I tell people this, the reactions are usually the same: “Oh man, that is so sad!“ ”That had to suck!” and “What’s an Afghanistan?” But…