Accessibility links

Breaking News

Qishloq Ovozi (Archive)

Residents of Gorno-Badakhshan are distinct from ethnic Tajiks and have lived in the remote mountains of the region for centuries. (file photo)
Residents of Gorno-Badakhshan are distinct from ethnic Tajiks and have lived in the remote mountains of the region for centuries. (file photo)

Tensions have been high in eastern Tajikistan’s Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast since November, when the leader of the region was changed and shortly afterward 28-year-old local resident Gulbiddin Ziyobekov was shot dead by police. Police say they were trying to place Ziyobek under arrest for allegedly assaulting a local official.

Ziyobekov’s killing sparked four days of protests in the regional capital, Khorugh. Internet to the remote area has been cut ever since and the government has sent extra forces there.

Influential local residents, dubbed “informal leaders” by the government and the media, are facing arrest and members of the local population are preventing this from happening.

Natives of the region who are outside the country and have spoken up publicly against the government’s pressure in Gorno-Badakhshan have seemingly been forcibly brought back to face charges in Tajikistan.

Gorno-Badakhshan is a unique region in Tajikistan. People there are distinct from ethnic Tajiks and have lived in the remote mountains of the region for centuries.

There have been conflicts there before, some recently, and now people are wondering if fighting is set to break out again.

On this week's Majlis podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager for South and Central Asia, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion on what has been happening in Gorno-Badakhshan.

This week’s guests are: from Geneva, Subhiya Mastonshoeva, who is originally from Gorno-Badakhshan but is currently a graduate student at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law and the author a recently published report about the region; from the United States, Suzanne Levi-Sanchez, author of the book Bridging State And Civil Society: Informal Organizations In Tajik/Afghan Badakhshan; from Prague, Sirojiddin Tolibov, managing editor of RFE/RL’s Tajik Service, known locally as Ozodi; and Central Asia analyst Bruce Pannier.

What Is Happening In Tajikistan's Gorno-Badakhshan?
please wait

No media source currently available

0:00 0:45:42 0:00

Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

Kyrgyz journalist Bolot Temirov regularly reports on his YouTube program about corruption, often involving powerful figures in the country.
Kyrgyz journalist Bolot Temirov regularly reports on his YouTube program about corruption, often involving powerful figures in the country.

The authorities are putting pressure on journalists in Kyrgyzstan.

On the evening of January 22, Kyrgyz police raided the office of investigative journalist Bolot Temirov, who regularly reports on his YouTube program Temirov LIVE about corruption, often involving powerful figures in the country.

The raid came two days after Temirov reported allegations that relatives of the head of the State Committee for National Security (UKMK), Kamchybek Tashiev, were involved in a scheme to redirect petroleum products, skimming off the profits from the deal.

Police claimed to have found drugs on Temirov, which he said were planted on him during the raid. A subsequent blood test on Temirov showed no traces of illegal substances.

The raid was preceded by a plot to lure a female employee of Temirov's program into an intimate relationship that was filmed, then the video was used to try to blackmail the young woman into informing the UKMK about Temirov's work.

On this week's Majlis Podcast, RFE/RL's media-relations manager, Muhammad Tahir, moderates a discussion on the campaign against Temirov LIVE, and also the problems of Kaktus.media, an independent Kyrgyz news outlet facing charges of spreading propaganda for reposting an article by an independent Tajik news outlet during recent clashes along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.

This week's guests are: from Sarajevo, Ilya Lozovsky, staff writer and editor at the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which worked with RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, known locally as Azattyk, and local Kyrgyz news website Kloop.kg to produce detailed reports about the raid on Temirov LIVE; from Bishkek, Begaim Usenova, media expert and consultant, and formerly the director of the Bishkek-based Media Policy Institute; and Central Asia analyst Bruce Pannier.

What The Temirov Case Says About The Kyrgyz Media
please wait

No media source currently available

0:00 0:41:00 0:00
Listen to the podcast above or subscribe to the Majlis on iTunes or on Google Podcasts.

Load more

About This Blog

Qishloq Ovozi is a blog by RFE/RL Central Asia specialist Bruce Pannier that aims to look at the events that are shaping Central Asia and its respective countries, connect the dots to shed light on why those processes are occurring, and identify the agents of change.​

The name means "Village Voice" in Uzbek. But don't be fooled, Qishloq Ovozi is about all of Central Asia.

Subscribe

Blog Archive
XS
SM
MD
LG