 RFE/RL Central Asia Report 7/28/2009 5:59:54 PM A review of RFE/RL reporting and analysis about the five countries of Central Asia.For more stories on Central Asia, please visit and bookmark our Central Asia page . |
 Turkmenistan Holds Elections For Local Councils Turkmenistan held nationwide elections for local councils on July 26, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports. More  Jailed Kazakh Uranium Chief's Wife Not Cooperating The wife of the jailed former president of Kazakhstan's uranium-producing giant, Kazatomprom, is refusing to cooperate with the National Security Committee (KNB) More  Another Swine Flu Case Reported In Kazakhstan A teenager in Almaty was found to be carrying H1N1 flu, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reports. More  Alleged Insurgent On Tajik TV Says He Is Daghestani A man shown on Tajik television said he is a Daghestani with Russian citizenship and an alleged member of an insurgent group that was fighting against Tajik forces in eastern Tajikistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  G.I. Gurbanguly We reported earlier this month about Turkmenistan's hands-on president performing surgery and attending his own book signing with the same nonchalance that we might pick up Starbucks on the way to work. More  Tajik Leader Urges Nation To Create Food Stocks Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has told his people to stock up on food to protect themselves from starvation in the impoverished state. More  Nabucco's Latest Hitch Turkmenistan is preparing to take Azerbaijan to international court to resolve a long-standing dispute over ownership of three oil and gas fields in the Caspian Sea. A recent bilateral thaw had fueled hopes of a new era of cooperation that could lead to the construction of a pipeline to bring Turkmen gas across the Caspian to Azerbaijan and on to Europe. More  Explosions In Dushanbe Lead To IMU Concerns Two explosions in Dushanbe have raised concerns that members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) may have spread to the Tajik capital, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Kyrgyz Runner-Up Rejects Election Results Kyrgyz opposition leader Almazbek Atambaev has refused to accept the official results of last week's presidential vote giving incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiev the win. He called for nationwide protests before heading for a short trip to Russia to seek Kremlin backing. But few expect Atambaev to gain significant support -- either in Kyrgyzstan or Russia -- in his standoff with Bakiev. More  Kyrgyz Election Fray Continues Opposition leaders in Kyrgyzstan maintain that they won the July 23 presidential election and threaten major street protests in the coming week. But an official announcement was expected to say that incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiev was reelected in a landslide. More  It's Time To Get Serious On The Southern Corridor Looking at media coverage of Nabucco, one would think the strategic project to bring Caspian gas to European markets while bypassing Russia was already under construction. But competing visions are still on track to eclipse EU and U.S.-backed ambitions. More We asked one of our Central Asia experts, Bruce Pannier. More Tajik Water Resources Minister Said Yoqubzod has said that for the first time downstream countries of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan have agreed to share the costs of strengthening riverbanks and managing rivers that originate in the upstream countries of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. More  Video: Is Kyrgyz President A Democrat? RFE/RL correspondent Bruce Pannier explains why critics say Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev has failed to live up to his democratic promises. More  Opposition, Western Observers Blast Kyrgyz Vote OSCE election monitors and the EU express disappointment over a presidential vote in Kyrgyzstan that "fell short of key standards." Meanwhile, authorities call it a runaway victory for incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiev, who was ahead by 80 percent late in the tally. More  Kyrgyz Presidential Candidate Votes In Wrong Polling Station The likely landslide reelection of incumbent Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev is looking more farcical by the minute. More The chief of Tajikistan's Vostokredmet uranium-reprocessing plant has been arrested and accused of spying for Uzbekistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports. More  Turkmen Activist Dies In Exile Turkmen civic activist Aygyl Tajiyeva died on July 22 in Sweden after suffering a stroke, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reports. More Wait, I Thought He Was A Dentist… Turkmen state media report that Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has opened a new cancer hospital in Ashgabat by performing the first operation himself. More  Zoom In: Pedaling To Economic Recovery Begijon Pirov, a retired driver in Tajikistan, has found an innovative way to supplement his pension during lean times. More  A Kyrgyz Election Primer Kyrgyzstan enjoys a reputation as the most democratic state in Central Asia, but that image stands to be tainted by today's early presidential election. The result is essentially a foregone conclusion – the only question being the margin by which current President Kurmanbek Bakiev will win reelection. More  Tajik Wind Turbines Built In Non-Windy Areas Ten wind turbines installed recently in the Baljuvon, Farkhor, and Shuroobod districts of southern Tajikistan are suffering from a lack of wind. More Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election on July 23 is unlikely to unseat President Kurmanbek Bakiev. But for the five candidates still in the running, their campaigns give them a platform to speak out on a wide range of issues, from charges of corruption in government to the role of women in Kyrgyz society. More Takhirzhan Akhmetov has sought desperately to draw attention to the fact that a former partner who he says cut him out of a successful business venture has never compensated him in line with a court verdict handed down years ago. More  Is There Enough Caspian Gas -- And Political Will? On July 13, the EU and Turkey signed what's been hailed as a historic deal to start work on the Nabucco pipeline, which is designed to give Europe an alternative to the unreliable supply of natural gas from Russia's Gazprom by connecting directly to Azerbaijan and other Caspian sources. But even if Azerbaijan does have the gas to fill the initial need, some question if it has the political will. 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