OCA MAGAZINE #39 by Hertfordshire press

BUILDING THE LANDBRIDGE WITH EURASIA

[ EURASIA ]

KAZAT AKMATOV: PEOPLE’S WRITER OF KYRGYZSTAN, PUBLIC FIGURE, SCREENWRITER, PLAYWRIGHTER. FUTURE OF CASPIAN SEA: ENVIRONMENT OR ECONOMY FIVE REASONS TO VISIT GAGAUZIA IF YOU’VE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE FIRST EURASIAN FILM FESTIVAL IN LONDON AFTER A LENGTHY LOCKDOWN HOW TO EXPLORE NEW HORIZONS OF CREATIVITY WITH THE FIRST ECG CREATIVE RESIDENCE

ISSN 2053-1036 RRP: £20.00 / $25.00 WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM ESTABLISHED 2009

OCA MAGAZINE

VOICES OF FRIENDS: POETRY & ART

Wish you were here...

ECG

AL TIV

IAN FILM F ES RAS EU

THE WORLD IS CHANGING FOR THE BETTER SO YOU TOO, MUST MAKE CHANGES THAT WILL BETTER YOU Poetry, Visual Arts and Cinema – these are the rays of light in the darkness of the crisis of live communication caused by the pandemic. During times of war, famine, and isolation, mankind has always had a ray of light that has always supported them in times of need, helping them gain willpower and faith in victory. This light is friendship and the support of people. The British non-profit organization – the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) – is initiating a project – the festival and almanac, “Voices of Friends,” established to support creative people and spread the cultural heritage of the Eurasian people. The festival is a diverse event that unites participants of several projects of the Guild at once, such as: the Eurasian ECG Film Festival (ECG Eurasian Film Festival), the Open Eurasian Literary festival (OEBF) and the Creative Residence “Horizons” (ECG Horizons). The combination of these projects together will allow participants from the Eurasian region to gather personally at the site of the Guild Creative Residence, located in one of the most picturesque places in Kazakhstan – Borovoye resort (Shchuchinsk/Burabay), even during the period of COVID restrictions, when trips to London for Guild events have become almost fantastical. The event will include a poetry marathon, personal presentations by participants, film screenings and a feature exhibition. Also, those who wish to will be able to try and create their own short film during the festival (only a mobile phone and a passion for creation), make an artwork and/or capture their voice in verses. The festival will be held from 12th of July to 12th of September, 2021. The culmination of the event will be the period from 7th-12th of September, where the main literary events and the award ceremony of the winners of the competition program “Voices of Friends: Poetry and Art” and the laureates who could not attend the award ceremony of the IX Open Eurasia Literary Festival & Book Forum in London (June 24-28, 2021) and III ECG Eurasian Film Festival, will take place. Scan the QR code to learn more.

BOROVOE, KAZAKHSTAN

ECG BOARD JOHN FARNDON - CHAIRMAN MARAT AKHMEDJANOV - VICE CHAIRMAN

GUEST EDITOR GARETH STAMP EDITOR-IN-CHIEF NICK ROWAN PUBLISHER MARAT AKHMEDJANOV EDITOR ASSISTANT SABINA ABDYBACHAEVA DESIGN ALEXANDRA REY

OPEN CENTRAL ASIA MAGAZINE #39 SUMMER 2021

Cover: KAZAT AKMATOV see p.6 MAGAZINE PUBLISHED FOR EURASIAN CREATIVE GUILD

CONTACT INFORMATION EMAIL: PUBLISHER@OCAMAGAZINE.COM WWW.EURASIANCREATIVEGUILD.UK WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM EDITORIAL OFFICE SILK ROAD MEDIA SUITE 125 43 BEDFORD STREET COVENT GARDEN LONDON WC2E 9HA, UK

EDITORIAL TEAM ESBOL ABENOV TATIANA SHEVCHENKO SANIYA SEILKHANOVA ANHELINA KRASNAHIR CONTRIBUTORS KATERYNA KOVAL ZAREMA AKHMADIYEVA, ISKANDAR ABDULLAEV AKMAL SAIDOV PHILIPP LOTTHOLZ ELDOR TULYAKOV, FARRUKH KHAKIMOV PETER LINDSAY IGOR WEISMAN SVETLANA YEGOROVA-JOHNSTONE, ROBERT MEAD

ADVISORY BOARD MICHAEL ANANOV (GEORGIA) ALDONA GRUPAS (UK) VICTORIA LEVIN (ISRAEL) WARREN WILLS (AUSTRALIA) ELENA BEZRUKOVA (KAZAKHSTAN) YELENA ASLANYAN (ARMENIA) ALINA MOSEYKINA (CYPRUS) AZIM AKMATOV (KYRGYZSTAN) GARETH STAMP (BULGARIA) NATALIE BAYS (UK) ELENA KORNEEVA (RUSSIA) SARIYA MAMMADOVA (AZERBAIJAN) ALBERT TAIPOV (BELARUS) MARINA PODLESNAIA (MOLDOVA) SHAVKAT ISMAILOV (KAZAKHSTAN) OKSANA JUKOVA (CRIMEA)

AJAP BAYRIEVA NATA CHEBOTARI ALEKSANDR DEYNEKA SERGEY MIRZOYEV MARIA BRATAN DISTRIBUTION ANHELINA KRASNAHIR TIMUR AKHMEDJANOV WEB NAIMATT BUTT

Disclaimer : The information contained in this publication is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by OCA Magazine and while we endeavour to ensure the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability or suitability of the information, products, services, or related graphics represented for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. All authors provide their own material and any opinions contained within are solely those of the authors and do not neccessarily represent the views or opinions of OCA Magazine.We publish these views as part of our provision of a forum for discussion and readers should be aware that the views may contrast each other in the pursuit of this aim. In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of material contained within this publication.

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Special gratitude for cooperation and support to Embassy of Azerbaijan to the UK. Embassy of Kazakhstan to the UK. Embassy of Tajikistan to the UK. Embassy of Kyrgyzstan to the UK. Embassy of Belarus to the UK. Embassy of Turkmenistan to the UK

FROM THE EDITOR

The Magazine also takes a glimpse into the future influence of the area and also identifies difficult current affairs in the region that affect us all in this ‘topsy turvey’ world in which we live. However, I am particularly excited about the setting up of a creative OCA center in Borovec Kazakhstan and I can’t wait to get involved in helping to develop the exciting new cultural space.

Dear Reader It is was a great honor to be asked to be the Guest Editor for this edition of OCA magazine. The magazine is now in its twelfth year and has grown in influence over that time. I have been involved with OCA and the Eurasian Creative Guild for nearly nine years – having met Marat Akhmedjanov in a coffee shop in Almaty, Kazakhstan where we talked about writing, creativity and the amazing region that is Central Asia. Since then, we have continued to collaborate and through the Guild I have been fortunate to meet incredibly talented writers, musicians, poets and artists from across the Central Asian region. It has been a privilege to proof read, edit and review numerous works and the members have given me the confidence and encouragement to write and publish my own works! It is testament to the adage that ‘Creativity is a collaborative process’. I love getting my copy of OCA magazine as it transports me back to my own memories of the region and always teaches me something new! This edition is no different and magically looks back to traditions through the fashions of Turkmenistan and the fascinating Gagauzia region of Moldova! - definitely on my future travel plans!

This has been a difficult time for creative people across the globe but I am pleased to say that over the past months, OCA magazine and the Eurasian creative guild have risen to the challenges admirably with regular webinars, online seminars and online gatherings of ECG members across the globe. Online celebrations of Nauryz involved cooking, singing, cultural celebrations and was attended by ambassadors and other dignitaries from the region. It is not only about culture and business organizations, educational establishments and entrepreneurs have all been given a platform and a fantastic networking opportunity. I am sure that many excellent collaborations will develop because of these events. OCA and the Eurasian creative guild aims to connect people and there is no better way that it does this than through the 9th Literary festival OEBF, 3rd ECG Film Festival and 5th Romford Film Festival that all took place in June. These events truly bring Central Asia to a new audience and you can find more about the participants in this edition. I hope you enjoy reading the articles and become excited and enticed by the Eurasian region. I also hope that you will join us for our events and activities wherever you are in the world!!

Yours, Gareth Stamp Guest Editor

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COVER STORY

PEOPLE’S WRITER OF KYRGYZSTAN, PUBLIC FIGURE, SCREENWRITER, PLAYWRIGHTER 80TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE KAZAT AKMATOV’S BIRTH BIOGRAPHY: Kazat Akmatov is a wellknown people’s writer of Kyrgyzstan. He is the author of such wonderful works as “Arhat”, “Munabiya”, “Howl”, “13 steps of Erica Claus”, “Shahidka”, “Sacred Hearth”, etc. The works of K. Akmatov have been translated into dozens of languages and included in the study programme in many countries. They have also been staged in theaters of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Russia. K.Akmatov has been awarded numerous awards, including the Toktogul State Prize for the novel “Arhat”, the Russian Lomonosov Prize for the novel “Munabiya” and many others. The most well-known novel of the writer is “Arhat”, which was recognized as the “Bestseller of the Year” in 2009 and became the winner of the Moscow International Festival “Bibliobraz” in 2009. The novel was published in 2010 and republished in 2011 by the Russian Foundation for the Development of the Russian Language, and in 2013 it was presented at the World Congress of Buddhists with the participation of the Dalai Lama .In 2014, and in 2015 it was published in English by the British publishing house “Hertfordshire Press”.Despite numerous refusals from various titles, K. Akmatov is a State Advisor of the Civil Service of the 3rd class (2002) and a people’s writer of Kyrgyzstan (2011).

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KAZAT AKMATOV’S WIFE, BAKTYGUL SULTANGAZIEVA OCA MAGAZINE: Tell us, please, about yourself and your work? Sultangazieva Baktygul: My name is Sultangazieva Baktygul Bekboevna, I was born in Frunze (now Bishkek) in 1960. I work as a director of the National Cancer Center, doctor of science, teaching oncology to students. I have more than 30 years of experience, during that time I’ve made 20 thousand oncological operations. OCA: What did influence your choice of that pathway? SB: My parents have seven children.There was no doctor in the family, but lawyers, economists, and parents wanted me to become a doctor. I also wanted to be a doctor to treat my parents so that they didn’t get sick, so our wishes coincided. And then I chose the profession of surgeon. Now looking back I feel happy, because I like my job. OCA: Do you have any personal projects that you would like to talk about? SB: Since I work as an oncologist, we also use chemotherapy and radiation research methods for treatment. Many devices for the study and treatment of cancer patients are not available. I had an idea that turned into a project to create and build a clinic equipped with modern equipment for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. Now this project is being implemented. God willing, in the near future there will be a new hightech clinic in Kyrgyzstan. OCA: When and where have you heard about ECG for the first time? SB: Of course, I learned about ECG from my husband, the people’s writer of Kyrgyzstan Kazat Akmatov. He told me in detail about the organisation, its work, and he was very inspired. Then I did not attach much importance, but later I realized what the essence of ECG is and even became a member of this Guild myself. OCA: Tell us, please, about Kazat Akmatov and his creative life? SB: Kazat Akmatov is a People’s Writer of Kyrgyzstan,

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COVER STORY Public figure, screenwriter, playwright. You can talk and write a lot about Kazat Akmatovich. He was born in a village on the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul, grew up and graduated from high school there. He started working as a simple worker at a stud farm. Then he entered the philological faculty of the University. He worked as a Komsomol and party worker and joined the army where he began to write his first works. He was the secretary of the Writers’ Union. In 1990, he organized the Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan (DDC). He was a deputy of the first convocation of the Jogorku Kenesh. His early works are The Young Man, the Holy Fatherhood, the Time of the Earth, Munabia, and others. Later, Arhat, the Thirteen Steps of Erica Claus were published in 2013 in London. He was awarded the Manas-1000 medal and became a laureate of the State Prize named after Toktogul Satylganov and the All-Union Prize named after Nikolai Ostrovsky. He was a wonderful family man, father and friend. In 2012, he lost his beloved daughter Munabia. This has had a very hard impact on his health, he could not bear the loss of his daughter and on September 14, 2015, he passed away. He devoted his entire bright life to the Kyrgyz People. OCA: How was he connected with the ECG and how did the Guild influence his creativity and success? SB: He was closely associated with ECG, joined the Guild, actively collaborated, and used to visit the meetings and events organized by the Guild. After working with the Guild, he began a new round of his work at the international level. His books have been translated into English and four books have been published in London. OCA: As we know, this year Kyrgyzstan is celebrating the 80th Anniversary since Kazat Akmatov’s birth. Could you please tell us what kind of events are planned to be in this year with support of the Guild? SB: Large-scale events dedicated to his anniversary are held throughout the Republic. These are scientific conferences, performances in theaters of his works, a demonstration of the film Munabiya, book exhibitions, the opening of the museum to Kazat Akmatov, speeches on television and the press, publications, republishing of his books and others.

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Within the framework of the Guild, a large international conference is planned in Bishkek, also the film Munabiya based on Kazat Akmatov’s book has taken part in the film festival in London and even became a laureat of Grand-Prix there. In addition, the opening of the memorial plaque of Kazat Akmatov was held in London, and we are organizing competitions for the best publication about the works of K. Akmatov and for the best script for the film “Thirteen Steps of Erica Claus”. OCA:What do you think, what was the Eurasian Creative Guild for Kazat Akmatov and what does it mean for you now? SB: The Guild was very important for Kazat Akmatov in his work. This is the release of his works on the international level, the publication of his books in London, and communication with creative people from all over the world. For me, the Guild is a certain stage of Kazat Akmatov’s creativity, which continues even now. I also joined the Guild and now cooperate with it. We have certain plans for the work of Kazat Akmatov. OCA: What would you wish for the members of the Guild, who are just starting their career? SB: I would like to wish the Guild members who are starting their creative path success in their field, close and tireless cooperation.

A GROUNDBREAKING MEMORIAL TO THE GREAT KYRGYZ WRITER AND RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER KAZAT AKMATOV IS UNVEILED IN LONDON As part of a special four-day long event celebrating Central Asian books and films, the mayor of Havering John Mylod cut the ribbon to open a dedicated reading corner and memorial plaque to Kazat Akmatov in the Mercury centre in Romford on 24th June. Akmatov, who died in 2015, was one of the leading Kyrgyz writers of recent years, and a prominent critic of the Soviet regime and campaigner for human rights in Kyrgyzstan. This is the first such memorial to a Central Asian writer in the UK, and as Mayor Mylod emphasized it helps create a special cultural bridge between London and Kyrgyzstan. The official opening program also included the screening of the new film Munabia by outstanding Kyrgyz director Taalaibek Kulmendeev, based on Akmatov’s celebrated novel of that name. The opening ceremony was attended by more than 40 people, including Lira Sabyrova - Counsellor of the Embassy of the Kyrgyz Republic in Great Britain. Officials highlighted the importance of the project in developing international cultural ties. The guests were also welcomed by the general manager of Mercury Shopping Centre Spencer Hawken, chairman of the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) John Farndon and vice chairman Marat Ahmedjanov. The opening date of the memorial was carefully chosen. Exactly eight years ago, on 24th of June, 2013, Kazat Akmatov himself visited London as part of the Open Eurasian Literary Festival & Book Forum. Kazat Akmatov is one of the contemporaries of Chyngyz Aitmatov, and his writing on rights issues Central Asian challenged the oppression of the Soviet Union. He became a prominent campaigner for democracy in Kyrgyzstan, leading the country’s democratic movement. In 2013, Hertfordshire Press published in English translation the books “Munabiya” and “Thirteen steps towards the fate of Erika Klaus”. Later, two more books were released with the support of Eurasian Creative Guild (London) - “Howl” in 2014 and “Arhat” in 2015.

WWW.1.EURASIANCREATIVEGUILD.UK

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INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW WITH TIM OWEN CHAIRMAN OF THE BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND HEAD OF AHR KAZAKHSTAN

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OCA MAGAZINE: Tell us a little about yourself and about how you came to your present position of chairman of AHR Kazakhstan. Tim Owen: I relocated from the UK to Kazakhstan in 2006 to work on a specific project our company had secured. While here, I secured more work and eventually established an office. The office has since grown and we’ve been responsible for over a hundred projects in Kazakhstan, ranging in both scale and sector. To date, we’ve been responsible for over 15 million square metres of built area making us the largest foreign-owned design practice in the country. As well as owning AHR Kazakhstan, I am a professor of Architecture at KazGASA and a partner and general director of Atomik Architecture KZ. OCA: What were the key objectives in initiating the first British Chamber of Commerce in Central Asia and why did you choose Kazakhstan? TO: The British Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan was the formalisation of the British Business Group in Almaty which was established by British individuals and businesses over twenty years ago. The Chamber has very close links with the British Embassy in Nur-Sultan and the British Council in Almaty. The UK is one of Kazakhstan’s largest investors and trading partners with over 450 British companies active in Kazakhstan at the present time. OCA: What is the most challenging part of your role? TO: I enjoy what I do. I think that is very important in life, if you enjoy your job then the only challenge is the most efficient way that you can manage and organise your time. OCA: How has COVID-19 affected the commercial and economical structure of the Chamber? TO: Following the first lockdown in 2020, the Chamber adapted to hosting online events, seminars and round tables. We held our first online AGM and our first online Trade Mission to Uzbekistan. The Trade Mission, in particular, was a huge success and attended by diplomats, large corporate organisations, and the UK-based British Chamber of Commerce head office. I was especially honored to represent the Chamber as a key speaker and moderator for the first day of the mission. This is something we will expand one in the future.

OCA: What are the current main goals of the British Chamber of Commerce? TO: The main purpose of the British Chamber of Commerce in Kazakhstan is to support British businesses entering the market, and to help our members raise their profile. This is achieved in a number of ways such as networking events, trade missions and publications, all creating opportunities for business development. OCA:What progress have you seen in the economy of Kazakhstan over the past few years? TO: We are seeing a diversification of the economy in Kazakhstan, which is a great thing. In the past, British businesses in Kazakhstan were mainly focused on the oil and gas sectors, this is changing. Last year we set up a creative industries focus group. We are working closely with the British council, universities, KZ government officials as well as local and foreign businesses who are already established in this sector in Kazakhstan. Already we see this sector has huge potential here and has a lot of attention. OCA: How do members of the Chamber build their relationships with local businesses? TO: The three main areas that the chamber helps its members builds relationships with local businesses are through: 1. brand building, where we help build the profiles of our members through press releases, sponsorship, social media and our chamber magazine. 2. networking and events, currently online events and seminars.

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INTERVIEW 3. Our platform to share knowledge and market intelligence through our focus groups and workshops. OCA: As chairman, how do you see the development of the Chamber of Commerce in the coming few years? TO: Following the success of our online trade mission to Uzbekistan last year, this will be a new area of development for us in the future. We are also looking into the possibility of providing an overseas market introduction service, this will focus on: • • • • • • • •

Help with finding overseas contacts Identify overseas customers. Support to find overseas partners. Connect with local experts based overseas. Get market advice, information and introductions. Secure meetings with key business contacts in international markets. Arrange events. Insight into complex regulatory and legislative issues

OCA: What’s required to become a member of the British Chamber of Commerce? TO: We have 4 categories of membership: 1. Large corporateany company incorporated, or whose shares are directly listed on a stock exchange in, the United Kingdom; • any company registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan which is subsidiary or joint venture of a company incorporated in the United Kingdom; • any company or business registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan which represents or sells British goods and/or services or which has a significant representation of British citizens in its senior management; • any other company, business or legal entity registered in the Republic of Kazakhstan which is able to demonstrate its support for the objectives of the Chamber and for the development of business relations between the United Kingdom and Kazakhstan. 2. Small Corporate Small Corporate membership is available to any potential member which (a) meets the criteria for Large Corporate and (b) has an annual turnover in the Republic of Kazakhstan of less than £2,500,000.

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OCA: Which business sector is not yet represented in the British Chamber of Commerce, but has the potential to be represented by the Chamber? TO: We believe that we cover and represent most key sectors in the chamber, if there are sectors that new or existing members want to enter then we will be happy to help explore the potential of this sector. I believe the creative industries sector is a good example of how this has worked. OCA: What words of advice would you give to a young entrepreneur and businessman who’s just heading their careers? TO: think it’s important to focus on something you enjoy and are passionate about. If you do this you will alway have the drive and commitment to keep going through the tough cycles that all businesses experience.

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POLITICS

DEFENCE AND SECURITY IN UKRAINE

The modern situation concerning the defense and security sector in Ukraine is a result of a total disarmament and nuclear disarmament particularly in the 1990’s. For me as a defense and security expert analyzing these vectors in Ukraine it is really hard to recognize that Ukraine has had, in the past, the third nuclear potential in the world.... A Strong Army and reliable security are the basics of every State and I’m very happy to be involved in the process of rebuilding these spheres. Having received recognition from my childhood, considering being raised in a military family, I remember that the older generation have never even thought about the possibility of war involving the territory of our country because Europe has just recovered from the Second

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World War and finally could realize that we are living in a modern humane time of peace. Besides the Soviet public communications policy has influenced most of post-soviet population including the youth for example concerning defense and security questions. Likewise until recently most people in Ukraine have thought that the North-Atlantic Alliance is the real evil and our country should have a non-bloc status... To hear such things could be funny, especially if you are a reserved officer having combat-related skill, but being long accustomed, because during the“Orange revolution” in Autumn 2004 – January 2005 the term of “NATO” has been heard almost from each yard, each house and each school class in Ukraine concerning NATO-friendly political front and the political front provid-

ing orientation to the most of citizens who didn’t even being deep in thought about necessity of the State’s defense and security. I remember having my graduation exams in secondary school when my school-mate told me that she had been against the North-Atlantic Alliance because she didn’t want to see a tank crossing Ukrainian streets… But several years later all of us have seen lots of tanks crossing our streets, towns and cities without our membership in NATO. To illustrate, we could make a resolution of the great influence of the Soviet system on thought patterns of Ukrainians and at the same time on the security level of the whole State of Ukraine. Now in our modern world we can observe the newest paragraph of Ukrainian history. The fifth President of Ukraine Mr Petro Poroshenko had showed the whole world the readiness to reform the Ukrainian Army ‘back on the rails’ our way to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and to build a strong Army by a whole new and modern model, but all of his reforms became not more than a game of a brilliant actor whose aim was only to get wealthier leading a corruption mechanism in our country. Today Ukraine is a “NATO Aspirant Country” and waiting for the Membership Action Plan (MAP) from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Besides the point Ukraine started our way to NATO in 1992 joining the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), executing the agreement “Partnership for Peace” in 1994, getting the “Individual Plan of Partnership with NATO in 2002” and the format of an “Accelerated Dialogue” in 2005… But in 2006 in consideration of the position of the Prime-Minister Mr. Viktor Yanukovich and his declaration in Brussels concerning ill-preparedness of joining NATO, Ukraine has lost its long way to the Treaty Organization… More over we should understand that in those post-soviet years most people didn’t even conceive the idea that we could have had some defense threads and that we should have joined the Organization established in the USA as the US had been the main opponent of the USSR concerning armaments drive etc. I find it funny but we still have jokes about “The American Legion” and could still hear from people of different age brackets as I’ve said above that “NATO is evil”. Being a defense and security expert, I have always observed the situation concerning the response

of Ukrainians to NATO and can say with confidence that after Russian military entrance in 2014 most of the people have been alive to the importance of the matter of defense and security sector dependability and joining NATO. Now in 2021 most people in our country understand the necessity of the defense reform and the significant role of the Armed forces of Ukraine in our present situation concerning military entrance to Donbass, but most of the people don’t even realize what is the real situation in military forces and what kind of significant role still has the former President Petro Poroshenko.

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POLITICS

I’ve already mentioned above that Mr. Poroshenko has headed corruption in Ukraine and one of the main sources of earnings is continuing to be the military sector. To a pity, the election of Mr. Zelensky has changed nothing and corruption schemes administrators are still administering these schemes as it has been during Mr. Poroshenko’s presidency times. For building of such a corruptive system, the fifth President of Ukraine was hiring incompetent staff, nonprofessional and in the main not from the military staff for the most effective manipulating and using in such schemes. For the diversion of the mind from the schemes and advantageous information policy Mr Poroshenko and his team have created a special information office including political technologists, opinion leaders, wellknown military bloggers, anti-terrorist operation participants etc. As for me, I’ve been working in the team of the fifth President of Ukraine for five years, including this “black” information office from the side of political technologists and office leaders, but first I’ve left the information office and then the Office of Mr Poroshenko’s Party generally in 2019 because I don’t support corruption in any of its aspects.

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I could say that still the most part of the informational section of the defense reform fulfilling the leaders of social media who are holding military blogs in Facebook for example. The Fifth President influences most of these people because his political office has created an office of bots and “farms of bots” to make a promotion of the defense reform which he had started in 2014. The team of the new President of Ukraine yet doesn’t have political will to liquidate all this system including corruption schemes and information policy for its maintenance. Besides, the main military posts are still held by people influenced by Mr Poroshenko and that’s why the defense reform is still influenced and guided by the former president. Self-evident that all the military people who don’t support corrupt practices by the former political team are hoping to see the start of real Defense reform in Ukraine. Me as a civil activist and my team will continue making all the efforts into defeat of corruption in Ukraine and towards Armed Forces development. by Kateryna Koval

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ENVIRONMENT

FUTURE OF CASPIAN SEA: ENVIRONMENT OR ECONOMY by Zarema Akhmadiyeva and Iskandar Abdullaev

The Caspian Sea, located in the middle of the Eurasian continent, is a unique landlocked water mass that contains exclusive fisheries and enormous oil and gas resources. However, the Sea’s ecosystem has been degraded due to intensive anthropogenic activities. Barannik et al. (2004) mark out the oil industry, agriculture, fisheries, transportation, and hydropower generation as the sectors for which the Caspian water resources are most important. These activities conducted by contribute directly or indirectly lead to pollution, biodiversity degradation, and changes in the Sea’s water level. The Caspian Sea is dramatically exposed to the threat of pollution from oil and gas extraction, transportation, refining, storage, use of petroleum products, and accidental oil spills. Over two million years old, the Caspian Sea has a unique ecosystem with more than 400 endemic species, including 115 types of fish. Currently, such abundant biodiversity is suffering from water contamination and habitat demolition. For instance, the Caspian seal was listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s list of threatened and endangered species . Thousands of seals have died due to a

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weakened immune system caused by the contaminated water. The number of Caspian seals has declined dramatically since 1950. The drop in seal population was generally caused by severe hunting, reduced biological capacity of the sea, commercial fishing, and water pollution. Changes in Caspian Sea area and in water management are tightly bound with mankind’s relationship to nature and water. The Caspian Sea, with abundant natural and economic resources, plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of the region and neighboring states. Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan, the countries sharing the sea, are faced with difficulties in building effective regional cooperation due to different positions on the legal status of the Sea. Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the entire Caspian Sea was under the formal jurisdiction of only two states: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and Iran. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the increased number of littoral states led to a problem of transboundary cooperation on issues related to the Caspian Sea and its natural resources.

The Caspian Environment Programme , in its analysis of the Caspian Sea, reveals that the number of sturgeons caught in Iran and the former USSR republics declined over the years between 1929 and 1998. The ups and downs of the sturgeon production can be explained by the unstable political situation in the region. The rehabilitation of the industry in the post-war period resulted in a progressive increase in yearly catch that peaked at about 28,900 tons in 1977. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the lack of environmental regulations in the newly independent states led to large-scale organized poaching and became a main reason for the sharp decline in sturgeon catch. With increasing oil extraction followed by pollution, the invasion of alien species, the loss of habitats, and poaching, the total number of fish declined, some species almost disappeared altogether. Determining the international status of the Caspian Sea, providing a legal mechanism for water and resource management as well as the protection of the natural environment, and creating a common regulating institutional body are essential for eradicating environmental problems in the area. The only legally binding agreement on environmental issues, the Tehran Convention was evaluated as a “significant step forward for the region” by former UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, but the practical implementation of the Tehran Convention has been delayed . The five member states were unable to reach consensus in the negotiations of protocols on the conservation of biodiversity, pollution, combating oil incidents, and environmental impact assessment

until recently. Only 3 years ago agreements on Caspian Sea were signed by 5 member states. The analysis of the hydro social cycle of Caspian Sea indicates a key role in the development of the member states, and society, in turn, has an influence on the Caspian’s environment.This confirms that paradigm shifting is a sociopolitical process where the technical dimension plays a secondary role and determines the scale and effectiveness of the use of marine resources. The long overuse of the sea resources has led to environmental degradation and unsustainability., The lack of effective regional cooperation and consensus on environmental issues continue to undermine the efforts of the states and discourage them from protecting the environment. Therefore, the Pre-Caspian states should aspire to promote the regional cooperation giving priority to environmental consequences from anthropogenic activities. The acceptance of the Tehran Convention and the Protocols on Caspian Sea adopted by the member states may be a good step towards environmental sustainability in use of Caspian Sea resources. Developing an integrated technical system and common natural resources management in the form of various platforms and local institutions is an essential stage towards sustainability in the Caspian Sea. The water management activities of the regional platforms and institutions should be implemented in accordance with the regional water management.

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CULTURE

AN ACCELERATION OF IMAGE AND TIME: THE TRAJECTORY OF PAINTING AND FILMMAKING IN THE USSR We live in a time that is destabilised by human impacts; Some technological developments that have contributed to our current climate change issues can be found in the cultural acceleration that took place under the Soviet Union. A period of utopian desires for control over nature and space; artists and filmmakers were also carried by this dream to create their own contributions alongside it.

was a simple person which allowed him to bond with workers who were happy to pose for him, seeing him as an equal. As a result of this he was able to move freely between the industry and the arts.

The revolution of 1917 generated a radical response in the arts which thrived alongside the people’s movement. Artists questioned how their work could respond to this? The revolution would contribute to the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922 which would last until 1991.

Donbass (1947) For example, in his paintings of the station workers in the Donbass region of Ukraine, he shows two strong female figures in the foreground shovelling coal while a Collective Farm Girl on a Bicycle (1935) sleek steam engine sits behind them, ready for action. There is a pronounced sense of primed energy and The positive idealism of the Russian individual was modernity waiting to be released. The trio of figures elegantly captured by Aleksandr Deyneka. A Soviet moving across the gangway above the train are shown artist and a founder of Socialist Realism movement. pushing trolleys of materials and give the sense of reHis works helped shape the image of Moscow in the lentless labour going on in the background and across mid 2oth century, a period of rapid industrialization. the USSR as a whole. Deyneka worked across different mediums including painting, illustration and public murals decorating met- During the cold war period, his attention was turned ro stations. His positivity can be seen in idealised paint- towards the stars, and the space race. ings such as Collective Farm Girl on a Bicycle. Deyneka

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the connections between these images and in doing so becoming a final contributor to the action of the film. The viewer must make associations between separate individual shots, connecting them to make the greater whole.

Conquerors of space (1961) Deyneka began to reflect the advances of space technology. As it continued to develop, the soviet space programme became a subject of Deyneka’s paintings, such as Conquerors of Space.The utopian ambitions of the soviet dream are clearly visible in this painting and the imagination of sci-fi illustration becomes reality and science fiction begins to blur with the advances being made. The space race led to major transformation in tools of visualisation. Satellite imagery began which would set a precedent in planning the extraction of energy sources such as oil and uranium and which was integral in the beginning a systematic mapping of the planet for its resources: food, water, minerals, energy. The trajectory leading to the contemporary is set in motion, as this mapping has now become vital in finding ways of visualising the global impact of humans on the planet. Soviet filmmakers were also developing new ways of working which would become highly influential for cinema. One soviet pioneer was Sergei Eisenstein and his montage theory. In montage filmmaking, the sequences are made up of a series of independent moments, ‘A succession of elements arranged in series, in order to expose an idea’. Montage’s multiple shots offer insights into life – for example through the close-up and slowing time and making visible ‘hidden details of familiar objects’. Eisenstein’s fast cutting montage was aimed at shocking any distracted viewer. For Eisenstein, engaging the viewer in this way was vital, the montage is reliant on the spectator making

Battleship Potemkin (1925) The violence of 20th century warfare is present in Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925) where the montage is seen in the conflicting consecutive of shocking images and juxtapositions. A shot of a vulnerable baby in a pram follows the image of bodies from a shocking massacre, stirring a response from the viewer and aiming to bring two distinct events together to suggest a new meaning for both images through their synthesis. Within the acceleration of the soviet project and its technological advances Eisenstein can be seen to make this radical leap in cinema, moving beyond traditional linear storytelling to the fast-action-packed jump cuts of montage and pointing towards the continuation towards abstraction and fragmentation that would follow the second world war. Another pioneer, Andrei Tarkovsky, uses rhythmic shots of images and symbols – creating films that are reflective, focusing on the passage of time and processes of nature. Resistant to the protocols of soviet filmmaking at the time, Tarkovsky followed his own vision - where time flows through the slow paced and symbolic scenes of his films. This is in comparison to Eisenstein’s montage which jumps sharply between movement, emotional or psychological associations and leaps between images. Tarkovsky argued that ‘time lived within his films, within each separate frame.’ This sense of passing time gives an eerie emptiness to Tar-

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CULTURE

kovksy’s 1979 film Stalker, which has become associated strongly with strange zones of environmental disaster and of post-human imaginations. Stalker (1979) Stalker can be seen as a prophetic depiction of the evacuation zones put in place after environmental disasters, in particular the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl in 1986. Shot on location in Estonia, Stalker takes place in a world full of fears of invisible spectres resulting from a mysterious environmental crisis. This can be seen as a parallel with the unseen deadly radiation that was released from Reactor 4 at Chernobyl. The technologies that developed from this time, nuclear, satellite and networks are now key to how humanity operates globally, monitoring and observing changing landscapes and climates from space. Artists continue to respond to technology and the impacts humans have left, where this takes us now is unclear but the post-human landscape of Tarkovsky can be glimpsed in the distance. by Robert Mead

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Robert Mead is an artist and PhD researcher at the Slade School of Fine Art.The aim of his research is to make artworks that form emotive connections between the viewer and our environment and reveal the traces of human ecological impacts. Beginning with a material connection to a visible change to our landscape or wildlife, his research acts as an inquiry, investigating the subject and making paintings and animations which reveal layers of history and time, allowing many interconnecting strands to be made visible to the viewer.

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VIEW

UZBEKISTAN’S COOPERATION WITH THE UN ON HUMAN RIGHTS The protection of human rights is a priority in Uzbekistan’s cooperation with the UN. Today, Uzbekistan has a stable political system which meets the criteria of democracy; the legislative, executive and judicial authorities are working to strengthen respect for human rights and to promote human rights education. Uzbek society respects the rule of law. We appreciate the efforts of the UN Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Uzbekistan has developed national indicators for implementing UN Sustainable Development Goals. The Strategy of Action adopted on five priority areas in 2017-2021 is a “Roadmap” for implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goals. Uzbekistan was the first Central Asian state to establish a system of national human rights institutions, which include a Parliamentary Ombudsman, Children’s Ombudsman, Business Ombudsman and National Human Rights Centre. In June 2020, the National Human Rights Strategy of Uzbekistan was adopted, which provides for implementation of the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies. The strategy considers the views of experts, the general public and international organisations. Uzbekistan maintains a dialogue with the UN Charter and Treaty bodies, and submits reports on implementing international human rights treaties and recommendations of treaty bodies (41 reports). In Uzbekistan, over half of the population are young people. Much is being done to ensure the integration of every youth into society. The concept of “Youth of Uzbekistan – 2025” has been adopted, and a Youth Parliament and Agency for Youth Affairs are functioning. In August 2020, the Samarkand Forum on Youth Rights was held under the auspices of the UN. In his speeches at the 75th session of the General As-

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sembly, the 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, and in the Uzbek Parliament, Mr. Shavkat Mirziyoev, the President of Uzbekistan identified key priorities on human rights: * the right to health; * gender equality; * protection of the rights of persons with disabilities; * protection of youth rights; * human rights education; * strengthening the independence of courts; * the fight against torture; * regional cooperation on human rights. Uzbekistan’s has also announced initiatives to strengthen human rights at home and abroad: 1. Increasing the role of women in political, public and business life; two new laws on gender equality and protecting women from violence and harassment have been adopted. A plan to hold a Women Leader’s Dialogue of Central Asian states and a Regional Women’s Business Forum. 2. A Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities came into force this year. Parliament plans to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Uzbekistan is also proposing a Regional Council for the self-realisation of People with Disabilities. 3. Today, the two billion young people in the world are a driver of sustainable progress. In Uzbekistan, this is the Year of Supporting Youth and Strengthening Public Health. The challenges facing humanity - extremism, racism, climate change, COVID-19, etc. - must be addressed with the participation of young people. An initiative to adopt an International Convention

on the Rights of Youth and a UN Special Rapporteur on Youth Rights proposed by President Mirziyoev has been supported internationally. This year, we plan to hold a World Conference on Youth Rights under the auspices of the UN. A Law on the Children’s Ombudsman will be adopted. 4. Uzbekistan participates in the UN World Program for Human Rights Education. A National Action Plan on the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training is being implemented. Together with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, we will host a Global Forum on Human Rights Education. Uzbekistan also contributes to the UN Voluntary Fund for Human Rights.

Work has begun on a national preventive mechanism. Closure of the penal colony in Zhaslyk was an important humanitarian event. The number of convicts in places of deprivation of liberty has decreased by almost three times. In a short time, we have made significant progress. We intend to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. Uzbekistan invites the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, and sends a standing invitation to all mandate holders to visit. 7. Uzbekistan will promote the establishment of a regional human rights mechanism; a permanent platform has been created - the Samarkand Forum on Human Rights.

5. Uzbekistan is reforming the judicial and legal sphere; measures have been taken to implement international Uzbekistan endorses the role of the UN in peacekeepstandards in judicial independence and the right to a ing, maintaining security, promoting sustainable develfair trial. opment, and human rights. As an active member of the Human Rights Council, Uzbekistan expresses its readiImplementation of the recommendations of the Spe- ness for mutually beneficial cooperation with all councial Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges tries, and practical dialogue with the UN. and Lawyers has begun. President Mirziyoev has proposed the UN Human Rights Council develop universal Akmal Saidov, principles for judicial councils. Director of the National Centre for Human Rights of the Republic of Uzbekistan 6. The fight against torture is a priority in Uzbekistan.

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PETER LINDSAY CELEBRATES 20 YEARS AS CHAIR OF CATBIG THE CENTRAL ASIA & TRANSCAUCASUS BUSINESS INFORMATION GROUP I am a London based International Trade Advisor. My job is promoting and encouraging business links.... primarily between the UK and former Soviet Union, especially the countries of central Asia and the Caucasus. My “love affair” with the region really began when my then employer transferred me from Taiwan (where I had spent 4 years) to Moscow, just in time for my first really cold winter, in 1987. Although a slightly strange time to be living in the Soviet Union, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience! I have also lived, briefly, in Uzbekistan and travelled widely in the region. For the last 20 years, I am proud to have chaired BEI’s Central Asia & Transcaucasus Business Information Group – CATBIG for short. Attendance has grown significantly, as has the level of support and networking that we offer. CATBIG has been operating for over 25 years in the UK, as a forum for stakeholders from across the private and public sectors to forge personal links, whilst learning about routes to market entry. It was originally set up following the first UK trade mission to Kazakhstan, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. British Consultants Bureau, later renamed British Expertise International, originally provided the secretariat for the forum, which was at the time a DTI initiative. BEI took over the overall management of the focus on the

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region about 10 years ago. Our database now includes over 1000 contacts and is constantly being updated. Nowadays, I deliver support to the region in partnership with British Expertise International (BEI) and especially their Director, Alexandra Barnes. BEI is a unique business development organisation dedicated to supporting members to explore, assess and win business opportunities globally in all forms of physical and social infrastructure. Their programme of work continues every year to build awareness of the region, with UK based businesses. CATBIG covers Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. The programme includes a series of regular meetings which provide ‘deep dive’ opportunities to explore specific countries or sectors, in addition to running trade missions. Marat is one of our key speakers, especially when we explore the huge tourism potential of the region. He normally arrives armed with copies of the latest OCA magazine to hand out! During the current COVID pandemic, our events are on line, reaching out to an even wider audience. BEI celebrated Novruz 2 years ago with an amazing exhibition of Kazakh artists. The event ran from Woman’s Day to Novruz and was held at their central Lon-

don base. Later that year, I was delighted to invite Marat Akhmedjanov and his Eurasian Creative Guild artists, to exhibit in Brussels, at a major international development exhibition.We will be running a similar event this November and look forward to welcoming back his members and the vibrancy, passion and enthusiasm that they all bring. During our meetings, Alexandra and I are always stressing the importance of getting out to visit these amazing countries, meet the people and take some time to understand their rich cultures and traditions. I hope the end of the pandemic will see the return of these visits. For further information on BEI and its focus on the region please visit www.britishexpertise.org

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POLICY

COOPERATION WITH CENTRAL ASIAN STATES – A PRIORITY DIRECTION OF UZBEKISTAN’S FOREIGN POLICY

The reforms, openness, transparency and changes in the domestic policy of Uzbekistan in recent years are also evident in the country’s foreign policy. Uzbekistan pursues an active foreign policy at regional and global levels by developing mutually beneficial relations with foreign partners. This consistent and constructive foreign policy is also recognised by international observers. Even in these times of global pandemic, Uzbekistan has paid special attention to ensuring socio-economic stability and maintaining cooperation with the countries of the region and the international community. One of Uzbekistan’s main foreign policy objectives is to create an atmosphere of peace, stability, and security around its territory. President Mirziyoyev has identified the strengthening of friendly and mutually beneficial relations with Central Asian states as a key foreign policy priority. To bring relations between Uzbekistan and the coun-

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tries of Central Asia to a qualitatively new level, throughout 2020, state bodies carried out 35 high-level visits and held events at multiple levels. Tashkent implemented public diplomacy by conducting over 90 different meetings, video conferences, roundtables, and other events with the participation of scientists and artists, cultural and religious figures, businesspeople and youth, tourism and sports organisations, public associations, and NGOs. Due to the initiatives of President Mirziyoyev, political dialogue and personal trust among the presidents has been strengthened. Regular consultative meetings of Central Asian leaders have been established. The level of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the region has also improved. From 2017-2019, trade turnover with Central Asian countries increased by over 50 percent annually and amounted to $5.2 billion. In 2020, despite the global pandemic, trade turnover of

Uzbekistan with Central Asian states reached $5 billion. The share of Central Asian states in the foreign trade turnover of Uzbekistan increased from 12.4% in 2019 to 13.6% in 2020, in which Kazakhstan accounts for 61%, Kyrgyzstan 18.2%,Turkmenistan 10.6%, and Tajikistan 10.2%. This improvement in trade between the Central Asia states has helped increase the investment attractiveness of the entire region. From 2017-2020, over 300 agreements and approximately $75 billion of contracts were signed between Uzbekistan and the countries of the region. As a result of Uzbekistan’s policy, complex problems such as water usage, demarcation of borders, transport communications and border crossings have been addressed. Five years ago, the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border was crossed by 200-300 people a day; on the eve of the pandemic this figure reached 30,000, whilst 20,000 a day crossed the Uzbek-Tajik border. Joint measures have also been taken by the region’s

leaders to help mitigate the impact of coronavirus. There is a constant dialogue between the heads of state. Countries in the region have been providing humanitarian assistance to each other since the pandemic begun. Uzbekistan has repeatedly sent humanitarian aid to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In response, our neighbours provided assistance to restore the Sardoba Reservoir. In December 2020, with the support of Uzbekistan, a fully equipped infectious diseases hospital was commissioned in Kyrgyzstan. During the pandemic, the exchange of information and expertise to fight coronavirus and the uninterrupted movement of goods across state borders has been maintained. In January 2021, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, together with the United States, launched the Central Asia Investment Partnership to attract $1 billion over five years to support projects that advance private-sector-led growth and increase economic connectivity within Central Asia and the broader region. Working through the C5+1 platform, the initiative will seek to increase trade, development and connectivity, making

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POLICY strengthening neighbourly relations.The State Program for 2021 – “The Year of Support for Youth and Public Health Promotion” - includes an action plan for relations between Central Asian states: development of a program of measures to bring Uzbekistan’s regional relations to a qualitatively new level; * effective use of public diplomacy; * joint solution of barriers to strengthening relations; * creation of favourable conditions for the development* of economic relations; * ensuring the effective use of transit potential and the development of transport infrastructure; *i ntensification of cooperation between the regions (including border areas) of Central Asia.

each Central Asian nation more prosperous. The growing importance of Central Asia can be seen in the multilateral cooperation between the region and external actors. Existing multilateral cooperation formats, such as “Central Asia – United States”, “Central Asia – European Union”, “Central Asia – Republic of Korea” and “Central Asia – Japan” have been joined by “Central Asia – India”, “Central Asia – China”, and “Central Asia – Russia”. Positive changes in the region have led foreign countries to focus on developing not just bilateral ties, but a regional, multilateral relationship. The role of Central Asia as a political and diplomatic entity and the increasing mutual understanding between the countries of the region was reflected in the Joint Statement of the Presidents of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan about the riots in Kyrgyzstan in October 2020. In that statement, the presidents expressed their hope that all political parties and groups in Kyrgyzstan would make efforts to ensure peace and resolve problems by adhering to Kyrgyzstan’s constitution. President Mirziyoyev’s address to parliament and the State Program for 2021 pays special attention to

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Uzbekistan will also work to strengthen its relations with Central Asian states through multilateral organisations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Turkic Council, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and other structures by improving economic, inter-parliamentary and diplomatic connections. As the only country in the region that borders all Central Asian nations, changes in Uzbekistan affect neighbouring states. Uzbekistan’s current foreign policy not only enhances its international position but also contributes to the sustainable and consistent development of Central Asia as a whole, turning the region into a space of cooperation and new opportunities. By Eldor Tulyakov and Farrukh Khakimov

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SOCIETY

HOW CAN KAZAKHSTAN SUPPORT US ANTI TERRORISM POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN AFTER AMERICAN TROOPS WITHRAW FROM THAT COUNTRY

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Kazakhstan sits in an unenviable place geographically, developmentally and socially. Its massive landmass, being the ninth biggest country in the world, is in the heart of Central Asia bordered to the North by Russia and the East by China. To the West the Caspian sea creates a buffer to Eastern Europe and in the south a collection of smaller ‘Stans’ create a slight gap between Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. It is however also one of the more stable countries in the region, having until 2019 one President - Nursultan Nazarbayev. He had ruled since the country’s independence in 1991. Indeed, he still holds considerable influence as the chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan which is tasked with aiding and assisting the new President with Military and security matters. With its vast natural resources and a growing population of intellectuals, due to massive financial input into education, Kazakhstan openly courts external investment and some would say it ‘punches above its weight’ on the world stage. For the last twenty years it has been an ally of the US,among others, being one of the first countries to condemn the attacks on the World Trade Centre and offering support and assistance to the then Bush administration. Traditionally it has taken a hard line on terrorism and insurection within its own borders and spends a large proportion of its GDP on military, internal security and intelligence.

fected Kazakhs and therefore to help try to prevent its own domestic terrorism. Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, the other three bordering countries have their own issues and also disputes and rivalries between themselves. All three smaller countries have blurred borders with Afghanistan and are all reliant on exporting their main commodities, mostly energy, to Afghanistan. - Indeed, Turkmenistan exports more than 320 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. Tajikistan itself has had a checkered history with Afghanistan. In the 1990s their border was contested between occupying Russian border patrols, Tajik government forces and the United Tajik Opposition (which was supported by the Islamic State of Afghanistan). During the Tajik civil war, which lasted five years in the 1990’s and was itself started by an internal regional dispute, it is estimated that 80000 Tajiks sought refuge in Afghanistan and then during the Afghan civil war, later in the same decade, the situation was reversed as thousands of Afghans sought refuge in Tajikistan.

The situation in the area is far from stable and many question whether the withdrawal of troops by the US and NATO at this time is prudent - as the British chief of defence staff, General Sir Nick Carter, said recently: “This was not the outcome we had hoped for.” HowBut Kazakhstan has to tread a fine line with whom it ever there is a renewed effort to restart stalled peace supports and how it supports other countries. Russia, talks with the factions within Afghanistan, and Kazakhits former ‘leader’ during Soviet times, still holds a lot stan is already playing a part in this. The Taliban are inof sway economically and culturally. China too has a sisting that sanctions against their leaders be lifted by large economic interest in Kazakhstan and has invest- the US and UN in order for these talks to resume. ed heavily in infrastructure and transport to make the Although China is currently set to host these main country part of the New Silk Road initiative linking talks, Kazakhstan appears to be ready to host lower China with Europe. level key discussions, which is usually where the real decisions are taken. Continued mediation throughout To the South, traditionally there have been issues with the summer of 2021 will only conceivably start the real a more ‘fluid’ border - mainly caused by the difficult negotiations by the September 11th deadline that the terrain and a sparsely spread population in the region. Biden administration has set for the end of the withIn recent years a concerted effort has been made to drawal. There is, even at this late stage in the process, strengthen the border between Kazakhstan and Kyr- worries about the growing strength of the Taliban and gyzstan, with new border fencing, watchtowers and how quickly they have been filling the voids left by US harsher penalties for those entering the country illegal- and NATO forces. It may not be beneficial to extend ly. Much of this was done under the guise of combating the withdrawal deadline but it is probable that some drug smugglers and people trafficking but it was also special forces may need to remain to help shore up the needed to prevent the influence of radicals entering peace process. the country and setting up camps to influence disaf-

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SOCIETY

When you visit the region it is impossible not to be impressed by the breathtaking landscape, the rugged territory of the Hindu Kush Mountains or be in awe of the history of the country’s place on the great silk road and the fortitude of the local people but today at the start of the 21st Century Afghanistan has become epitomised by War and International terrorism!

strained relationships with. There is one key area that Kazakhstan will be able to develop in the fight against international terrorism and that is is the sharing of intelligence. It is much more likely that this will be the key way forward as it is ‘invisible’ and will have more impact on protectings it’s own borders from any threat from the south.

In the midst of this long running conflict and rapidly changing scenario Kazakhstan offers a glimmer of hope. It has been keen to play the peacemaker in the past and has the support of many of the superpowers to do this. But peacemaking is only one aspect. Previously, somewhat controversially, Kazakhstan did allow its military bases to be used for airstrikes in Afghanistan by US forces. Sources suggest that if this was needed in the future such support would be less likely but it has been reported recently in the Kazakh media that the US has approached Kazakhstan with a view to building a strategic airbase in Kazakhstan, which would heighten tensions with neighbours that the US already have

For over thirty years Afghanistan has been torn between different occupiers, liberators and peace keepers. By the early 20th Century an entire generation of Afghans had come to adulthood knowing nothing but War. A peaceful future will not only require careful mediation and financial investment but also a major investment in the hearts and minds of the population - maybe Kazakhstan is in a prime position to assist or maybe even take the lead in this too.

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by Gareth Stamp

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HISTORY

LEO TOLSTOY AND AMERICA “Another culture reveals itself only in the eyes of another culture”, noted M.M.Bakhtin, “we put questions, which it did not put to itself, to another culture, we look for answers to questions in this culture and it answers us revealing its new sides, new senses.At these two cultures’ dialogical meetings they never combine all together and never mix, each of them preserves its unity and open integrity, but they mutually enrich each other”. Leo Tolstoy was never in America, but he was interested in the most important social and political events beyond the ocean, studying American thinkers’ works and even translated the articles which he liked most into Russian. He corresponded intensively with American correspondents. Such a kind of his interest is conditioned by parallels which Tolstoy discovered in the cultural, historical and economical life of two countries. During his young years he took a great interest in the enlightener Benjamin Franklin’s ideas and built his life according to certain moral rules, stated in his “Magazine for weak points” and “Autobiography” paying a heightened attention to self-development and self-mastering.

Yasnaya Polyana. But the only thing in which the future writer succeeded was private diary keeping. This habit of fixing everything in his diary inspired him to write novels and narratives. It also gave him an opportunity to formulate most of his life aims and priorities. It is notable that keeping a diary was the consequence of the imitation of Benjamin Franklin. According to the Russian literature’s honourable professor at Yale University Vladimir Alexandrov, Tolstoy gave high praise to some well-known Americans, “mainly because of his finding in their writing, thoughts, life’s way, those things in which he did believe and those successes which he had achieved by that time”. Leo Tolstoy achieved glory in America in the second half of the 80s’ Although the glory was a bit late, it was rapid and wide. It was a period of his work’s recognition: the novel “War and Peace” published in New York in 1886 and 1889,“Anna Karenina” in 1886,“The Death of Ivan Ilyich” in 1887, “Sebastopol stories” in 1887 and 1888 and other books and treatises by him.

Having become a writer, Tolstoy often used American authors’ thoughts and ideas. Thus, he included fragments from Thomas Jefferson’s compositions in his books “Reading’s circle”, “For every day” and “Life’s way”. In his “Life’s way” he often quoted philosophers being transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Toro.

The 20th century’s first decade became Tolstoy’s true triumph in the United States. Tolstoy attracted American readers’ attention to himself not only as a great realist, a grand master in soul’s secret depths’ investigation’s sphere, but also as the author putting lots of actual questions of modernity. The writer received many letters from America. Some correspondents expressed their admiration, others expected his advice as far as the most plain life situations were concerned. Solid magazines’ editors asked him to send them at least a few manuscript lines. And Tolstoy responded to everybody. Many Americans crossed the ocean to see and listen to the great man. Political figures and public men, writers, journalists, translators and priests were among his guests.

During his young years Leo Tolstoy was pursued by misfortunes. He could not graduate from the Kazan University, he could not manage with his farm activity, in which he tried to be engaged in his estate in

Of the whole world literature there was not such a big author who passed by Leo Tolstoy’s creative work without pondering over his ideas without extracting direct lessons for themselves from them. Tolstoy was

Tolstoy started to read the American literature quite late, often in interpretations into German and French. The most important thing in his perception of American writers’ works did not lie in their artistic dignities, but in the creative work’s religious and moral aspects.

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both a teacher and brother for the West’s writers of the 20th century’s beginning. He was the attraction’s centre for all the democratic and realistic powers and for the hard-fought debates of that time. Thus, Leo Tolstoy’s creative work became a part of cultural richness for a later generation’s writers.

“Tolstoy’s enduring greatness is based not on his social and moral theories but on his novels. His huge humanity is shining in them. And so is his striving for creating a better life for everybody. Leo Tolstoy displayed in his novels what misfortunes the world wallowing in ignorance is being subjected in a clear manner. He displayed the world roaming gropingly”, so wrote Theodore Leo Tolstoy influenced greatly on humanism’s evolution Dreiser in his article written in 1928 on the occasion and realistic traditions’ development in world literature. of Leo Tolstoy’s hundred years anniversary He influenced Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Wolf in the most powerful manner. But first of all, Tolstoy was The most important sides of Tolstoy’s art subjugatvalued for “fundamental values’” elucidation and his lit- ing readers and writers abroad are his psychological erary language of high quality. mastership, human studies and the soul’s dialectics. In Tolstoy’s system of expressive means a special place Tolstoy is by the source of the whole modern liter- is occupied by inaudible monologues of the hero with ature of war: his experience as a person writing of himself, with his inner voice or an imaginary interlocwar turned out to be very important for his younger utor. Dreiser’s Clyde Griffiths, the hero of “American contemporaries. In the 20th century’s last decades im- tragedy”, stifles the last reproaches of his conscience portant literary works of war appeared in the Western before the murder of Roberta through his internal diliterature for the first time.Their main theme was war’s alogues. common participants who were displayed concretely and close-up. Thus, Steven Crane’s work “Badge of the Leo Tolstoy continues to be relevant in our time.There Scarlet Valor” was created under Leo Tolstoy’s huge in- is no doubt that in the future readers will discover new fluence. Tolstoy’s antithesis of vulgar society and spiri- facets of his work, as it happens with high classics. tually healthy man was also reflected in Sinclair Lewis’ novel “Arrowsmith”. And there are still lots of examby Igor Weisman ples of how Tolstoy influenced other writers’ works.

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HERITAGE

KATE MARSDEN – AN ENGLISH HEROINE IN YAKUTIA

In Hillingdon cemetery in London there is a grave, only recently identified after a century of neglect. The neglect is astonishing, for this is the grave of one of the most remarkable and courageous of Victorian women, Kate Marsden. Her tale is one of both extraordinary triumph and tragedy. A highly accomplished nurse, Marsden made an epic solo journey on horseback and sledge deep into remote Yakutia and against all odds established a centre there for the treatment of leprosy, in the midst of the Siberian forest. To the Yakut people, of which I am one, she is deservedly a heroine, dearly loved and deeply honoured. And yet in her native Britain she was persecuted and shamed on her return home, and left in penury.

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One hundred years on, a few English writers have finally begun to rediscover this lost heroine, but I want to tell the story from a Yakutian point of view, and reveal why we treasure her so much, and how acutely we feel the injustice to her. Recently, I have been privileged to be involved with the work of a passionate young team of documentary film makers from Yakutia (ArcticFilm) to restore the memory of Kate Marsden in England. The forgotten Nightingale Marsden was born into illness and tragedy. Her father was a successful lawyer, but tuberculosis scythed through the family and she was the only one of eight siblings to survive far into adulthood. Maybe this is what fuelled her determination to enter the still new nursing profession, despite the obstacles. Stories of the

courage and skill of Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole in battlefield nursing are well-known, but Marsden was their equal. Aged just 18, she went off with another young nurse to the Russo-Turkish War in 1877 to tend to Russian casualties. Marsden worked untiringly to get the wounded off the battlefields and tend to their injuries. But she had an encounter here that was to shape her life. As she later recalled, “…one day at Sistova [in Bulgaria] I saw two lepers for the first time in my life. The sight of the disease was so loathsome, so altogether appalling, and the sufferings of the poor men were so beyond anything that I had ever seen, that there and then I vowed to devote my whole life and strength to lepers, if ever the opportunity were given to me.” Helping lepers became her mission. “God gave me these unfortunate people into my hands,” she said, “and I will do everything to help them, even if it costs my life”. It was her ardent Christian faith that earned her work the crucial support of so many orthodox bishops when she finally travelled to Russia. Summoned by the Empress Her calling was interrupted, though, when she was drawn across the world to New Zealand to look after a sick sibling. But she gained crucial nursing experience there, and in 1889, out of the blue, she was invited to St Petersburg to receive an award from the Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia for her brave and pioneering work in the Russo-Turkish war a decade before. Marsden grasped the chance with both hands. She had not only heard that there were many lepers in need of care in remote Yakutia, but also rumour of a herb to be found there that might be used to treat this dreadful disease. With her habitual forthrightness, she persuaded Empress Maria Feodorovna to let her travel there in search of this herb. Siberian winter It was an incredibly tough journey for the young Englishwoman, with exhausting treks on sledge and horseback, sometimes alone, into the remotest, most inaccessible parts of Siberia.Yet she received an extraordinary welcome from the Yakut people. These people had been neglected by the empire, and the suffering of their lepers was extreme.Yet here was this brave nurse, blessed

by the Empress, come to do what she could to help their sick. As she wrote: “The community…were so grateful and happy that they cleared a road in the forest for 1500 versts1, where, otherwise, it would have been impossible to pass. They also built small bridges over the most dangerous marshes; but to accomplish this they had to put aside all their agricultural work for the summer… Everywhere along the road they showed me every possible kindness, begging me most earnestly to help their lepers”. Amazingly, Marsden found the Kutchukta herb which did indeed have medicinal qualities, even though it was not the hoped for cure. And when she returned home a year later she worked tirelessly to raise funds to create a colony for lepers at Sosnovka, in the forests of Vilyui. These and other initiatives did much to eradicate leprosy in the region. The leprosarium’s buildings are still used as a hospital for neurological patients. 1

A verst is a Russian measure of length, about 1.1 km (0.66 miles)

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HERITAGE Ostracised For a while, she was lionized in Britain. She was even invited to Balmoral to visit Queen Victoria, who was very impressed, while Florence Nightingale wrote: “You cannot be an hour in Miss Kate Marsden’s company without becoming aware of her enthusiasm, her courage, her self-devotion, her fearlessness, and above all her simple child-like faith.” But she soon became the target of vicious slurs. Some believe she was targeted for exposing scandals in New Zealand hospitals. Others focus on her combative personality which could get under some people’s skin. But there were cruel smears too about her sexuality. She never married, and there were rumours she was lesbian. Her most relentless foe was American translator and renowned Russia-expert Isabel Hapgood, who launched an astonishing public and private smear campaign against her. Marsden had champions, including the Queen herself, who issued a statement in her defence: “It is shameful to rake up private personal faults which have nothing whatever to do with charitable work.” Yet the attacks prevailed. She was barred from polite society, barred from all sources of income and prevented from working. Marsden lived her last years in poverty in Hillingdon, with her dear friends the Norris sisters, Emily and Alice, and was eventually received into the Surrey County Lunatic Asylum, Springfield House for the pauper population in Wandsworth. And so, this remarkable woman was buried in 1931 in an unmarked grave, along with the Norris sisters. But it is time her heroism and pioneering spirit is recognized. From Svetlana Yegorova-Johnstone: “Kate Marsden, a young English nurse once endorsed by Queen Victoria and the Empress of Russia for travelling into rural Siberia for a cure for leprosy, was largely rejected by English speaking society and died in poverty. I want to share the inspiring story of this incredible unsung heroine, who continues to be remembered by the people of my homeland Yakutia for her unrelenting efforts to help those in need and for the strength of her Christian faith.”

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Editorial Note: Please use the picture of the grave sent by John Farndon with the note: “The headstone was finally put on the unmarked grave of Kate Marsden in Hillingdon 90 years later. The headstone was commissioned not by the Royal Geographic Society, of which she was one of the first women fellows, or by the nursing profession of which she was such an important pioneer, but by the people of distant Yakutia.” by Svetlana Yegorova-Johnstone with John Farndon

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VIEW

RECURRING CONFLICT IN CENTRAL ASIA: UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATING THE POLITICAL DIMENSIONS The April 2021 conflict at the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan was a genuine shock for most people in these two countries, and regional and global observers alike. Many facts around the fighting with heavy weaponry and a toll of 55 confirmed casualties remain unclear and uncommented, leaving the reasons and wider background up for debate. Yet, most commentaries in the weeks since the events made clear that the procedures of resource and infrastructure management in the Ferghana Valley borderlands were not sufficient to address existing needs and resentments among and between communities.

have occurred. On the other hand, there have been immense investments made into peacebuilding and security by international and also domestic civil society actors especially in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. These have created or strengthened infrastructures, institutions and mechanisms for conflict prevention and mediation, but have rarely tackled the wider political dimensions of peace and security.³ However, as the recent conflict has shown, the experience and effort of civil society and international actors, and of local community workers alike, needs to feed into politics and policy so that progress in peacebuilding is not repeatedly lost.4

The ever-recurring smaller conflicts at border towns between Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan and also Uzbekistan and continuing existence of areas that are not safe from attacks attested to this.¹ At the same time, continuing border tensions could not explain the large-scale attack on Kyrgyzstani villages following an initial altercation at the Golovnoi water distribution facility.² Politicians’ attempts to address the factors underlying the conflict have mostly been focused on advancing the demarcation of contested borders, while the aspect of water management and monitoring has been conspicuously absent from official statements and media reporting. Meanwhile, the lawsuit filed at the International Criminal Court against responsible armed forces and commanders has been accused to strain Tajik-Kyrgyzstani relations and to jeopardise political-diplomatic efforts by Kyrgyzstan’s president Japarov’s office.

Peacebuilding and community security: More than just practices The beginning of the fourth decade of Central Asia’s independence has been accompanied by several sombre anniversaries of the conflicts in Osh, Kyrgyzstan (1990, 2010), Zhanaozen, Kazakhstan (2011) or the Tajik Civil War (1991-1997), to name just a few. One can observe a gradual evolution in how domestic civil society actors and their international partners conduct peacebuilding and community security in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, for example, following the 2010 ‘Osh events’ which left almost 500 dead and made more than 100,000 flee their homes, international peacebuilding and security programming amounted to investments of at least 70 mn EUR to date.5 Here, immediate post-conflict measures aimed at prevention of new conflicts, recovery and at fostering reconciliation and cooperation between affected communities and authorities. With these basic tasks addressed, longer-term peacebuilding projects run from roughly 2014 onwards shifted their focus to making peace sustainable and maintaining security.They worked with local communities and the national government to bring about policy and legislative changes. International actors and domestic NGOs piloted new community policing and community security practices to be carried out by local working groups or Crime Prevention Centres. The government and security apparatus, in the meantime, maintained oversight

These divergences in approaches to solving the conflict and between actors working with affected communities and national politicians point towards the need to understand conflicts in their political dimension. What appeared most obvious in this cross-border, resource-related dispute is, as I argue, a feature of conflicts in Central Asia at large. Conflict most often emanates from unsuitable policies, misconceived political conduct and neglect, which political actors rush to amend only once large-scale and deadly incidents

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and control over all actions, but did very little to ensure good working conditions and effective operation of these local-level bodies in the long run. Therefore, although priority security problems and conflicts could be effectively addressed, it turned out that sustainable peace and security also requires a political approach that ensures the necessary legal and material framework. The importance of changing the wider politics of security also emerges from more recent efforts to build peaceful and secure communities with a more multidimensional approach. A capacity-building project led by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and more long-standing efforts of the Centre for Protection of Children or Women Support Centre, among many other NGOs, has aimed to ensure a basic level of social and governmental service and infrastructure provision as well as political participation in ‘new settlements’ (novostroiki) at the margin of Bishkek. The latter concentrate almost a fourth of the Kyrgyzstani capital’s population, ca. 250,000 mostly urban poor who often

lack basic things like paved roads and utilities, let alone childcare, education and administrative provisions. Given the high levels of ill-health, gender-based violence and alleged potential of the destitute population to resort to criminal and conflictive behaviour or participate in mass unrest, the novostroiki have come into the purview of UN Agencies and the UN Peacebuilding Fund. In its effort of “Promoting Social and Gender Equality for Strengthening Peace and Stability”, the UNFPA-led project prioritised small-scale interventions with achievable progress, such as the refurbishing or building playgrounds, sports pitches, street lighting or gravel surfacing of roads. These improvements were received positively, but also served to highlight the long way towards these communities’ ‘infrastructural integration’ from their currently very limited and unequal access to basic urban infrastructure. Once more, achieving sustainable peace and security seems only possible through negotiating better living conditions in the political arena, which had initially welcomed the help offered by the international project only to realise the deeper implications.

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VIEW Philipp Lottholz is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Collaborative Research Centre/Transregio 138 “Dynamics of Security” and the Institute of Sociology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. This text is a short version of the argument presented at a public lecture “Peacebuilding and community security in Central Asia: from practice to politics” at the Saint-Petersburg School of Social Sciences and Area Studies (HSE Campus in St. Petersburg).

A striking comparison with a more concrete political outcome can be seen in the protests of economically destitute mothers in Kazakhstan after a major fire in an Astana ‘novostroika’ had killed five children. In light of the protests, then-president Nazarbaev approved an increase in welfare payments and other support.Wider societal concerns about livelihoods are equally urgent in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where they are said to have fed into societal pressure which were channelled into the April 2021 military campaign.6 Unless political systems are able to take into account people’s needs and demands, peacebuilding and security are unlikely to achieve their long-term goals.

1. Asena Karakalti, “Everlasting or ever-changing? Violence Peace is always political along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border”, ACLED (June 9, In consequence, it can be stated that peace, as well as 2021) security, when seen in the long run and in the multi- 2. Shairbek Dzhuraev, “Peace on the brink in Central Asia”, plicity of factors it depends on, is always political. This Crossroads Central Asia (May 5, 2021) contradicts the discourse of most peace and security 3. See for instance Saferworld, “Community policing in Cenprojects which are usually approved only on the condi- tral Asia Lessons and experiences from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikition that they do not interfere in politics. However, this stan and Uzbekistan”, June 2021 logic merely downplays the fact that sooner or later, 4. Philipp Lottholz and Arzuu Sheranova, “Governing, but not peace and security in any given place depend on the Producing Security? Internationalised Community Security conditions created by wider legal, policy and political Practices in Kyrgyzstan”, International Quarterly for Asian frameworks. In this sense, a key lesson to be drawn Studies 52, no. 1-2 (2021): 55-77 from the tragic conflict of 2021 is that political author- 5. Id. in appendix 1. ities need to listen to peacebuilding and security actors 6. The Third Pole, “What drove the worst Kyrgyz-Tajik conin order to shape constructive societal relations across flict in years?” (May 28, 2021) and within borders. by Philipp Lottholz

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FASHION

text by Ajap BAYRIEVA, Art critic, ethnologist, Ph.D. photos by the author and S.Mirzoyev

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TRADITIONAL CLOTHING OF TURKMEN IN MODERN FASHION

The study of the Turkmen national dress is one of undoubted interest today. Indeed, over time, it absorbs more and more elements of the changes that have occurred in recent years. Aesthetic tastes of the Turkmen people are reflected in the colorful design of national clothes. The main goal of the Turkmen costume is to create a kind of microclimate that makes customers feel comfortable in hot climates and an abundance of sunny days. Bright, rich colors, loose fit and unique, various embroideries testify to the high taste of the masters and the originality of the execution of clothes. Due to the persistence of old traditions among the female population, as well as religious beliefs, it is Turkmen women who have preserved a variety of local clothing options. The age and social characteristics of the Turkmen folk costume are reflected more in women’s clothing than in men’s. Turkmen clothing was a protection from heat and cold, was distinguished by convenience, had a protective and prestigious value, and played an important ritual role in ceremonies and holidays. The ideological and aesthetic ideas of the people, utilitarianism and decorativeness intersected in the traditional costume. The traditional red color was the favorite color of Turkmen. The color of fire and blood, wealth, energy, love and passion, and today, red is especially popular with girls and young women.

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FASHION Traditional dresses keteni koinek, long pants balak, garments kurte, chyrpy, robes chabyt , knitted socks gulli zhorap and silver jewelry shai sep have survived as common elements of the national costume of Turkmen women. Till today hand-made keteni fabrics of various colors, made on traditional tara looms, have survived. The cut of folk clothing is still alive - it is economical, due to the width of the homespun cloth and the desire to create clothing that is comfortable for a person and does not hinder movement. Today, despite the changes, the silhouette of the Turkmen dress remains one of the most ancient forms of the peoples of Central Asia. Ancient shirt-dresses (straight, wide and long) were the only type of clothing in Turkmenistan until the middle of the 20th century. Then, new cuts began to appear here, having a completely different constructive basis: the shoulders are slightly beveled from neck to arm, they are sewn, armholes are cut for the sleeves, and the sleeve is cut out in the shape of the hand. Even elderly women began to wear this cut of dresses today, only if the adolescents are narrow, tight-fitting figures, the elderly prefer wide, modest colors.

existence, it was ritual clothing.To a certain extent, this meaning of capes has not been eliminated to this day. A robe or a cape is used at moments of great importance in the life of Turkmen - weddings, religious holidays, commemoration. In the Turkmen folk costume a special attention was paid to the women’s headdress. By their headdress it was possible to find out not only from what locality the owner, but also what her age, marital status and social belonging. At present, the headdress of girls and young married women in the capital has a tendency that reflects their marital status everywhere, the sign of a married woman - a headscarf, girls - an embroidered hat takhya. The Turkmen headscarf was a symbol of morality, purity and modesty. The headscarf not only carries the protective function of a talisman, like a rudiment of ancient headdresses, but also protects from the hot sun, a cold and, undoubtedly, is an adornment of a woman of any age and generation.

Note that in recent years, embroidery and patterned weaving have spread more and more widely. Craftswomen achieve artistic expressiveness, showing the highest sense of color, rhythm, and New dresses made of velvet, silk, cotton, chiffon, composition. The color scheme is traditional and brocade, which young people choose for them- corresponds to the colorful structure of the naselves, have an accentuated shoulder line and tional dress. a slender silhouette. The technique of making Modern clothes, which have retained many traclothes is also being improved; replacing manual ditional elements, but have undergone evolution, work with machine work simplifies its manufacemphasize the slenderness, mobility of a woman, ture. If in the past embroidery had the meaning create a feeling of lightness, soaring and some kind of a talisman, today, as an ornament, embroidery of amazing purity.Turkmen women, in order to emmade on a device using a computer program has phasize their national pride, their Turkmen identity, become very popular among the female populaprefer a traditional outfit to the richest Europetion. an style costume: for example, a long velvet dress decorated with an old Turkmen ornament. In such The style of clothes of the Turkmen women a dress, you can meet a woman both on the street spread not only to dresses, but also to some types and at the highest, sophisticated receptions. of dressing gowns. The original outerwear for women was varied in cut and shape - straight or Since the beginning of the 21st century Turkmen slightly fitted. Throughout the entire period of its 48 OCA MAGAZINE

have an increased interest in traditional clothes and fabrics, and a lot of new styles have appeared, in which modern trends and traditional elements are harmoniously combined: sophistication, lightness, beauty and unique flavor. As we know, every nation first realizes and values its national identity. Turkmen dress is worn everywhere: schoolgirls and students have a strict dress code - green and red dresses, two braids in front with a traditional hat on their heads, and young women go to work in modern-cut dresses, tied with a silk scarf. The new collections are presented by bright dresses in the national style. Fashion designers experiment with fabrics, textures, styles and details are thought out. The combination of national silhouettes and embroidery along with modern natural fabrics and bright colors on the models looks stylish and harmonious. The traditions and customs of the Turkmen people have been formed over the centuries and have come into modern life, preserving their originality and diversity. A Turkmen woman’s outfit is simply unthinkable without bright finishes, colored patterns and external wealth. Today, the women’s wardrobe of Turkmen women, designed in the Turkmen style, includes clothes of a straight or semi-adjacent silhouette made of solid quality fabrics with a minimum number of decorative elements. Modern images are distinguished by pronounced features of femininity, wealth and lightness. Reproduction and transmission of the traditional virtues of folk clothing are inseparable from their rethinking and renewal.The Turkmen ethnos keeps its original, national historical “costume” with its unique, inimitable features that have passed through the centuries of history. WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM

TRAVEL

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FIVE REASONS TO VISIT GAGAUZIA IF YOU’VE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE Gagauzia is a small autonomous territory in the south of modern Moldova. There are at least twenty hypotheses about the origin of the Gagauz, many of them are still under debate and scientific discussions. According to one version, Gagauzians are descendants of Turkish-speaking peoples who moved from Altai to the Balkans. About 200 years ago, they began to move massively to the territory of modern Moldova, settling in the arid Budzhak steppe. The historical information Before the adoption of Orthodoxy, Gagauzians were pagans and worshipped the god of the sky – Tengri, so they were called Tengrians. In the Balkans, during the Byzantine period, they converted to Orthodoxy, still keeping in their minds many pagan ideas that closely connect humans with nature.

Author of the text: Nata Chebotari Photos: General Directorate of Culture of Gagauzia, Maria Bratan WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM 51

TRAVEL It is believed that the Gagauzian people received their name ‘Gagauzians’ during the reign of the Ottoman Empire: for refusing to convert to Islam, the Turks called them «stubborn» in literal translation, the word ‘Gagauz’ means ‘straight beak’ Having preserved Orthodoxy, the Gagauzians retained in their culture and traditions a lot of superstitions, magical actions, and pagan rituals. Reason 1: Distinctive culture and unique traditions The culture and traditions of the Gagauzians have pagan roots which is evidenced by the holidays that have survived to this day, which are still revered - Hederlez, Kasym, Wolf holidays, Pipiruda, Lazari, and Rusali. The most revered and large-scale in the territory of Gagauz are two folk holidays - Hederlez and Kasym, which are celebrated on May 6 and November 8. These two holidays belong to the calendar rite of Gagauzia since they conditionally divide the agricultural year into two large periods. It is believed that from Hederlez to Kasym (from May to November) - it is summer in Gagauzia, and from Kasym to Hederlez (from November to May) – it is winter. This is how the ancestors of the Gagauzians carried out field and pastoralist work. And since the traditional occupation of the Gagauzians has always been cattle breeding, Hederlez is the official opening of the pasture season and Kasym is the official closure of the season. Even in the 21-st century, modern Gagauzians still farm based on the natural calendar of their ancient ancestors. Hederlez and Kasym are official day-off holidays in Gagauzia, and these two holidays are celebrated by large-scale folk festivities, a special program is being prepared, there are concerts, exhibitions, and sales of craftsmen’s products. Reason 2: National festivals and horse racing In addition to the widely celebrated national holidays in Gagauzia, there are festivals that also contribute to the popularization and promotion of the Gagauzians’ image, not only among foreign but also internal tourists. The wine festival ‘Gagauz şarap yortusu’ is held early in November. On this day, Gagauzian owners and professional winemakers provide guests the opportunity of tasting young wine, which is famous in this southern region.

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The national costume festival ‘Gagauz Gergefi’ where guests of Gagauzia have the opportunity to get acquainted with traditional Gagauzian clothes. A separate pride and treasure of this festival are the unique wedding outfits of the Gagauzs of past centuries, carefully stored in a museum and private collections. The carpet festival ‘Gagauz kilimneri’ is a largescale event the purpose of which is to preserve and popularize carpet weaving, as well as introduce everyone to old and modern carpets and tapestries, plunge into the history of craft and learn about old superstitions and prohibitions associated with this type of folk crafts. Traditional horse competitions at the At-Prolin breeding farm are held annually on Hederlez Day. The stud farm in Ceadir-Lunga is the only state enterprise in Moldova for breeding horses of the Oryol trotting breed. This large-scale event in the spectacle and intensity of passions annually gathers an innumerable number of guests and tourists in Ceadir-Lunga. Reason 3: Ethnic cuisine The traditional cuisine of the ancestors of the Gagauzians is famous for its identity and uniqueness of taste. To this day the basis of Gagauzian cuisine is mainly meat, flour, and milk products. Among the most popular meat dishes is young lamb ‘kaurma’ which can be cold and hot; ‘shurpa’ is a traditional barbarous lamb soup cooked on an open fire; ‘kuzu borju’ is a traditional spring soup made of a young goat, prepared with

a large number of fresh greens and sour homemade kvass. The most popular flour dishes are ‘gözlemya’ filled with sheep cheese or cow’s cottage cheese, fried in oil; ‘kyvyrma’, ‘plachinta’ is a variety of dough filled with curd, poured with sour cream-egg mixture on top and baked in an oven; ‘kabakly’ - a traditional Gagauzian autumn or winter dish, is prepared in the same way as ‘kyvyrma’, but instead of cottage cheese it is filled with the grated pumpkin. Reason 4: Sightseeings and Nature Reserves On the territory of modern Gagauzia, there are two unique objects of historical significance ‘Trayanov val’ in Vulkanesti and Chishmikioi ravines. ‘Trayanov val’ in Gagauzia is the remains of ancient defensive structures. According to one version, the rampart is named after the Roman emperor Mark Ulpius Trayan, who ruled in the Roman Empire and built these ramparts to protect the conquered territories. However, archaeological experts believe that the Trayan’s ramparts were built much later. According to another version, the Trayan’s ramparts were built during the reign of the lords Trayan and Decebal to mark the boundaries of their possessions in two parts of Moldova: along the course of the Prut River, the second - diagonally from the Prut to the Dniester. The remains of such structures were also discovered in Romania and Ukraine. Chishmikioi ravines are one of the most beautiful places in Gagauzia; it is a unique natural object of study for paleontologists from different countries. In 1982 during excavations scientists discovered fragments of the remains of an ancient mammoth here and at different times remains of a wild horse and an ancient monkey were found there and presented in different museums in Chisinau.

Local Lore.

Two centuries ago, there were more than 2,600 windmills in Bessarabia. Today some of the surviving can be seen only in a few settlements of the country. One of them, an old windmill located in the village of Gaidar, was included in the list of cultural heritage sites in 2020 and will be restored at the expense of European funds. Reason 5: Ethnographic museums, farmsteads, Other tourist attractions include St. Iversky and St. Dimitrievsky convents, the ‘Tatar spring’ in Avdarma, windmills, and handicraft workshops the wine compound ‘Kara Gani’ in Vulcanesti, and the Among the most famous Gagauzian museums, sever- oldest wine enterprise located in the south of Moldova al can be distinguished: the historical and local history – ‘Vinuri de Comrat’, included in the tourist route of museum of the village of Avdarma, the ethno-estate of Moldova. Pyotr Petkovich in Joltai, the Chadyr-Lunga’s historical and ethnographic museum, the ethno-tourist complex According to the reviews of foreign tourists who vis‘Gagauz Sofrası’ in Kongaz, the Gagauz national his- ited Gagauzia at different times, they loved this sunny torical and tourism complex named after Dmitry Ka- region so much that they will certainly return here. ra-Choban, Komrat Regional Museum of History and Welcome to Gagauzia!

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EVENTS

F ASIAN ILM FE R S EU

AL TIV

ECG

FIRST EURASIAN FILM FESTIVAL IN LONDON AFTER A LENGTHY LOCKDOWN

ROMFORD FILM FESTIVAL

From June 24th to June 28th 2021, a large festival was held in London, combining three major events - IX Literary festival OEBF, III ECG Film Festival and V Romford Film Festival. The Eurasian Creative Guild (London) established the ECG Film Festival in 2019. The main aim of the festival is to acquaint the English-speaking audience with the works of talented authors and directors from Eurasian countries. It contributes to new acquaintances and the cooperation of professionals.

conjunction with the Romford Film Festival, the cinema has attracted a large number of interested professional audiences and the independent press. Among the guests of honor were the mayor of Romford - John Mylod, representatives of local authorities, the embassies of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, as well as journalists from Kazakhstan, Russia and the UK. The awards ceremony was held on 28th June in the very heart of London, at the Premier Cinema. Here are the winners of the ECG Film Festival 2021:

The members of the jury are as follows:The Belarusian producer, cultural activist and expert in the field of musical art, Sergei Titov; The English actor and writer, Tim Bentinck; The British director, screenwriter, producer and film critic, Spencer Hawken; The researcher, composer and filmmaker from England, Michael Sagatis;The English director, animator and theater designer, Tim Wilson as well as the director, film critic, entrepreneur and cultural activist, Parminder Veer.

Best Feature film (Grand Prix) - “Munabiya” Director Taalaibek Kulmendeev (Kyrgyzstan), the premiere of the film coincided with the opening of the Kazat Akmatov Memorial in London. Jury comment: Michael Daniel Sagatis: A sweetly shot and sincerely produced film that shows the natural beauty of Kyrgyzstan.

In total, 46 films were shown at the festival. Among the films of the Eurasian Film Festival were films from countries such as Russia, Belarus, the Republic of Crimea, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, France, Portugal, China and Turkey. Due to the fact that the ECG Film Festival is being held in

Best Documentary film - “The Road to the Peak “ Directors Oksana Zhukova, Oleg Drevnitsky (The Republic of Crimea) Jury comment: Parminder Vir : Love the film, incredible woman! Best Short film - “Duel” Director Anastasia Baulina

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(Russia) Jury comment: Spencer Hawken: Interesting story, beautifully shot, interestingly dystopian, or was it. I couldn’t tell. 4. Best music video - “None” Nevrida (Belarus). Award from Belbrand «Vector. Musical Story» Jury comment: A strong and vibrant music video 5. Best screenplay “Hacked Future” - Maxud Sarsembayev, Mansur Sarsembayev (Kazakhstan). Zaure Tourekhanova: Original script, high-quality, professionally painted structure, competent design. 6. Best Animated film “A Gray Goose ‘Despair’” Director Dilshat Rakhmatullin (Kazakhstan) Jury comment: Spencer Hawken. “Colourful and clear animation that tells a story, without a language barrier” 7. Best Mobile video THE BALCONY Director Sergei Tymchenko (Ukraine) Jury comment: : Michael Daniel Sagatis: Superbly filmed, great pace and tension amongst the characters and rounded off with a thumping tune! ADDITIONAL DIPLOMAS WERE AWARDED TO: Audience Choice Award: Best feature film - “Grand Cancan”. Director Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov (Russia) Audience Choice Award: Best Documentary film - “Suicidal Alentejo”. Directors Nuno Martini, David André (Portugal) Audience Choice Award: Best Short film - “I RAN AWAY”. Director Luba Balagova (United Kingdom) Audience Choice Award: Music video - “The Memory of the Victims of the Coronavirus”. Director Leyda Kazımova (Azerbaijan) Audience Choice Award: Best Animated film - “A Steppe Tale”, Director Galina Vinogradova (Uzbekistan) Audience Choice Award: Best Mobile video “The Lost Pen” by Beraat GOKKUS The surprise of the festival was the first anti-premiere in the field of cinema “Dynamo-Award” The first winner of the award was: BelarusFilm, headed by Vladimir Krachevskiy.

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EVENTS Belarusfilm made every effort to ensure that the film “Kupala” was not released for three years, but lost the opportunity to participate in an international festival, thereby depriving the audience and the creators of the film to enjoy really high-quality Belarusian cinema. The film was highly appreciated by the jury (Michael Daniel Sagatis: “Enchanting and captivating film about the national poet of Belarus. Beautifully shot and scripted in deference to the multiple nations and languages that are integral to these regions”). The film was withdrawn from the festival at the last moment and most of the videos online were blocked or deleted. Experts attribute this both to the lack of professionalism and cowardice of the Belarusfilm leadership, and to the political situation in Belarus. The 2021 Jury consists of: Tim Bentinck; director, screenwriter, producer and film critic, (England) Spencer Hawken; Founder and Director of the Romford Film Festival (England) Michael Sagatis, researcher, composer and cinematographer (Wales) Tim Wilson; director, animator and theater designer (England) Parminder Vir; Director, film critic and cultural figure (United Kingdom) Zaure Turekhanova. children’s writer, screenwriter, (Kazakhstan) Sergey Titov, producer, cultural figure. (Belarus) Sadyk Sher-Niyaz, director, public figure (Kyrgyzstan) For three years now, the ECG Film Festival has been contributing to the development and promotion of the culture of the Eurasian countries. Now the submission period for the IV ECG Film Festival is open, so everyone can contribute to the development of the culture of their native country or find new acquaintances and inspiration to accomplish new feats. Reference: The Romford film festival was held for the fifth time. It shows films by both beginners and professionals for 5 days. Its founders are British filmmakers Joe Sultana and Spencer Hawken, and since 2019 the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) joined them under the leadership of John Farndon and Marat Akhmedjanov.

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Eurasian Creative Guild (London) is a public association that promotes filmmakers, artists, poets, writers and designers. The main mission of the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) is to instill a love for art, give people the opportunity to learn and touch the beautiful, and perhaps somewhere to reveal a new facet of their creative nature. festival@ocamagazine.com +44 7490 576010 Eurasian Creative Guild (London)

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EVENTS

RESULTS OF THE IX OPEN EURASIAN LITERARY FESTIVAL & BOOK FORUM (OEBF-2020) The Open Eurasian Literature Festival & Book Forum (OEBF), organized by the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) together with the British publishing house Hertfordshire Press, has become a meeting place for writers, poets, artists and other representatives of art for the ninth time, but this year cinema and literature have united. The third Eurasian ECG Film Festival was held jointly with the OEBF. The festival turned out to be rich. On June 24, 2021, the program of events began with the presentation of the finalists of the 2020 contest, Nina Yagolnitzer and Aldona Grupas, who heroically came personally to the festival and other online participants who presented their creativity through video presentations. An important event was the presentation and acquaintance with the new books of the Hertfordshire Press publishing house and the works of the winners of the 8th international competition “Open Eurasia-2019”. The following books were presented on the opening day: Zhanna Golubitskaya - “ TEHRAN-1360 “(Russia) Ion Zhani - “And Longer life lasts” (Russia) Ekaterina Khlebnikova - “I think we should just live” (Russia) Sagyn Berkinalieva - “Girl dancing in the sky” (Kyrgyzstan) Nadezhda Serebrennikova - “ Diary of a Hedgehog traveler, or Where does happiness live? “(USA) Khosiyat Rustamova - “Colorful tears” (Uzbekistan) Farhat Tamendarov - “ Hunting Dogs “(Kazakhstan) Eurasian Literary Collection.Volume 4 - “ Thread-4” Bayangali Alimzhanov - “A hundred years on the step” (Kazakhstan) Nick Rowan - “The Silk Road: Revisited” (UK) Gareth Stamp - “The Egret and the Cow “and” The Goat That Wanted to Travel “ (UK) Timur Akhmedzhanov - “Elish and the wicker tale” (Great Britain) Christopher Jones - “Meet The’ Stans “(New Zealand) Viktor Kozlov - “ The Russian Mentality “(Russia) Dulat Isabekov - “BRANNANDE SOL, ISANDE VIND, LEVANDE STAPP” (Kazakhstan) Ali Panter - “Soar above Life” (Switzerland) Gulsifat Shahidi - “FARKHOD FROM NAVGHILEM” (Tajikistan) Mikhail Kunitsky - “Journey on Four paws” (Belarus) Poetry Almanah 2021 - “Voices of Friends” Sergey Belyi - “Maestro and Muse” (Ukraine) Aldona Groupas - “IT’S HARD TO BE AN ANGEL” and “It’s Not Easy TO BE AN Angel” (UK)

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During the festival, an exhibition of paintings by Margarita Yagudayeva (Uzbekistan), Olesya Shibayeva (Moldova) and the winners of the competition from the Scientific and Medical Society was held: Sevarakhon Yashimuratova, Olzhas Hamidolla, Arailym Kurmanulova, Veronika Zhir, Asem Kudaibergenova-children (Kazakhstan) The festival also included presentations from Olga Monakhova, who presented the book “ The Future of Charity in Russia: the experience of the International Shodiev Foundation”. A separate event was presented by a new project of the guild’s Ambassador in the Republic of Belarus Yuri Redkov - a series of film and video proclamations “The Heartbeat of Heaven”, the works of Alla Shikovich “Sonata about Love”, Natalia Radkova “A Cup of Love”were shown.

On June 24, 2021, the opening of the first memorial in the UK to a representative of Central Asia - the Kyrgyz writer Kazat Akmatov-took place. On June 26, 2021, the festival participants took part in the prestigious TEDx Lambeth conference organized by guild members Daniele Irandust and David Perry. On June 27, a tour of the sights of London was held for the guests of the festival, which coincided with demonstrations on the abolition of COVID-19 restrictions and in support of freedom of speech. Every year, within the framework of the Open Eurasian Literature Festival & Book Forum, the winners of the Open Eurasia international literary competition are awarded, the total prize fund of which in 2020 was $40,000. In 2020, more than 1,000 applications were

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EVENTS submitted by participants from 48 countries of the world. In 2020, many interesting works were submitted and the organizing committee announced the top 10 works in some categories (the Golden Ten) according to the jury before the award ceremony. WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA 2020 COMPETITION IN THE CATEGORY “PROSE”: 1st place: Nina Yagolnitzer (Israel) $ 7000 grant from Hertfordshire Press 2nd place: Inana (Armenia) 3rd place: Cathie Cayros (France) 3rd place: Aldona Groupas (Great Britain) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE CATEGORY “ SMALL PROSE”: 1st place: Zebuniso Rasulzade (Tajikistan) Aya Maksutova Award ($1,000) 2nd place: Zhanna Shvydkaya (Russia) 3rd place: Natella Lalabekyan (USA) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 COMPETITION IN THE “POETRY”CATEGORY: 1st place: Sara Anum Hussain (Great Britain) Moth Song Award from the creative studio of Yermek Amanshayev ($2,000) 2nd place: Igor Yakovlev (Russia) 3rd place: Kendja Navoiy (Uzbekistan) 3rd place: Anna Podgornaya (Israel) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE “TRANSLATION “ CATEGORY: 1st place: Alisa Alta (Belarus) BelRoss Award from Oleg Nesterkov ($1,000) 2nd place: Anna Solnova (Ukraine) 3rd place: Shakhrizat (Kazakhstan)

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WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE “ILLUSTRATION”CATEGORY: 1st place: Lyudmila Doroginina (Cyprus) “Vector. Poetry of strokes “from the association “BelBrand” ($1,000) 2nd place: Elena Shilova (Republic of Crimea) 2nd place: Liudmila Ménager (France) 3rd place: Lyudmila Blokhina (Russia) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE “JOURNALISM”CATEGORY: 1st place: Nargisa Karasartova (Kyrgyzstan) Award from OCA magazine ($5,000) 2nd place:Victoria Levina (Israel) 3rd place: Khalida Akhmedzhanova (Republic of Crimea) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE “REVIEW”CATEGORY: 1st place Vera Sytnik (China) 2nd place: Nargisa Karasartova (Kyrgyzstan) 3rd place: Dilmurad Tillakhodjaev (Kyrgyzstan) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE CATEGORY “CHILDREN’S LITERATURE”: 1st place: Nelly Kopeikina (Russia) Maria Shevel Award ($5,000) 2nd place: Tatiana Edel (USA) 3rd place: Svetlana Hovhannisyan (Armenia) WINNERS OF THE OPEN EURASIA-2020 CONTEST IN THE NOMINATION “BEST FEMALE WORK”: 1st place: Adolina Gordon (Germany) Marzia Zakiryanova Prize ($5,000) 2nd place: Gulsifat Shahidi (Tajikistan) 2nd place: Tatyana Zolochevskaya (Russia) 3rd place: Lara Prodan (USA)

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EVENTS THE WINNER OF THE AWARD NAMED AFTER ARKADY BEZRUKOV, together with Aksai Travel, became a representative of the Crimea - Oksana Zhukova. Nina Kolneva (Russia)received the medal from the Assembly of Peoples of Eurasia “For the best literary work dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Great Victory” The highest award of the Association – the Dove of Peace Medal for the best work dedicated to the topic of strengthening, peace, friendship and mutual understanding between peoples was received by Gumer Karimov (Russia) The following laureates were awarded certificates from the international Association “Generals of the World for Peace”: Alex Nixen (Russia) Alla Kretchmer (Israel) Andrey Grodzinsky (Uzbekistan) Galina Verd (Ukraine) Yuriy Parfenov (Russia) The audience Award was received by Zhanna Shvydkaya (Russia), which makes it possible to publish in the collection “ Thread” The award ceremony was held on June 28, 2021 at the famous Premier Cinema in London. The honorary guests of the festival were the mayor of Romford-John Maylod, representatives of local authorities, embassies of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as journalists from Kazakhstan, Russia and the UK. For those who could not personally attend the award ceremony in London, the opportunity is given to receive awards at the opening ceremony of the first Festival of Poetry and Art “Voices of Friends”, which will be held on September 8-12, 2021 in Shchuchinsk (Borovoe Resort), Kazakhstan. OEBF is the only literary festival in the world that has been promoting the literature of the Eurasian region at the international level since 2012. The festival provides an opportunity for authors to talk about their work, exchange experience and find like-minded people from around the world to implement joint projects.

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Applications for the 10th Anniversary literary contest “Open Eurasia -2021”are being accepted. Contacts: festival@ocamagazine.com +44 7490 576010

YOU ARE CREATIVE PERSON, and you have something to share with the creative elite of England, then THIS IS A UNIQUE CHANCE for you!

EURASIAN CULTURE WEEK OCTOBER 2021 LONDON UK

For detailed information, please contact the following email: lari@ocamagazine.com

EURASIAN DIALOGUE ECG CREATIVE FORUM

IAN FILM F ES RAS EU

AL TIV

ECG

IX - OPEN EURASIAN BOOK FORUM & LITERATURE FESTIVAL

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ECG

NATURE, CULTURE AND FREEDOM. HOW TO EXPLORE NEW HORIZONS OF CREATIVITY WITH THE FIRST ECG CREATIVE RESIDENCE All creative people dream about a very special place to live and work. While we are still locked down with COVID restrictions it’s like a dream we will never reach. Pandemic changed the world for good. Most of us couldn’t travel for so long and almostly lost our traveling fit. Now it seems so simple to stay home and let the creative block run us… But what if there is some place where freedom of creativity can come from nature and culture and spark some new project to make this life more beautiful and let the new world become a better place to live? The phenomenon of different art residences is well known around the globe. Anyone can find different types and options to be pleased. That’s why the Eurasian Creative Guild (London) runs its own creative residence “Horizons” in Borovoe recreation zone in Kazakhstan. But this is more than a residence. It’s a space for the huge community life aimed to help creative people to get back their life full of amazing facets, exciting experiences and face-to-face communication (within all current pandemic medical recommendations). Before It was a house in the city of Shchuchinsk (Burabay district, Kazakhstan) near the Barmashino lake right by the woods. A beautiful place in a lake dis-

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trict came from the idea of healing people with the water, air, kumys and other natural things. For many years it was just a private house to live in until… Now The ECG (London) is creating a unique space for writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and other creative people. It includes a showroom and coworking zone, library, music corner and indoor art gallery. So anyone who wants to share his works with colleagues and the audience can use this space as a venue. The general partner of it is the five-stars hotel Rixos Borovoe, which is one of the most impressive and popular hotels in Kazakhstan where even presidents take a rest. So participants of our events have a chance to visit this beautiful place and enjoy it. Tourists and travellers can discover breathtaking views around Shchuchinsk in mountains, woods, lakes and rivers. What can inspire more than nature? Only amazing cultural heritage of the region. Nur-Sultan and Kokshetau museums, theaters and art galleries on the service of anyone who is looking for the Muse. Numbers of cultural and historical memorials dedicated to Central Asian famous

kings and philosophers tells a long and colorful history of the Burabay district and Kazakhstan. On 7-12 of September, 2021 poets, writers, artists and filmmakers will join together in a framework of the first international festival “Voices of Friends” which is aimed to combine the poetry and visual arts in one. Film screening, author talks, autograph sessions, workshops, antique books auction, award ceremonies and other events will be available as parts of the festival. In a future Of course it’s only the first step to something bigger. The ECG (London) plans to get more opportunities for creative people such as indoor and outdoor activities. On the residence territory an art studio will be constructed as a venue for creating paintings, sculptures and installations as well as masterpieces of arts and crafts. To exhibit all this creative stuff the ECG (London) is dreaming about building the Loft Art Gallery on a territory of thу residence. Need more opportunities for sculptors? So here it is. The residence backyard will be transformed into the Park of Sculptures. It will also be the stage on a territory to make a show. It will make it possible to bring theaters, musicians and dancers to Shchuchinsk and create an impressive artistic space. All objects will be available not only for the ECG members but also for the creative community of Burabay. In a current time the ECG (London) is open for partnership and support to bring this outstanding project to life. WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM

book of the year HERTFORDSHIRE PRESS

CATALOGUE

BLUE RIVER by Zinaida Longortova (2016) ENG / KHANTY HARDBACK ISBN:978-1-910886-34-2 RRP: £17.50

CRANES IN SPRING by Tolibshohi Davlat (2015) ENG / RUS HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-06-9 RRP: £14.50

MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS by Abudlla Isa (2014) ( OCABF 2013 Winner) ENGLISH PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0-9930444-5-8 RRP: £14.95

KASHMIR SONG by Sharaf Rashidov (translation by Alexey Ulko, OCABF 2014 Winner). 2017 ENGLISH RRP: £24.95 ISBN: 978-0-9930444-2-7

AND LONGER IFE LASTS by Ion Jani ISBN: 978-1913356163 RRP: £9.99

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THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR THE DAY THAT DAD RETURNED Maral Hydyrova (2017) ENGLISH PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-65-6 RRP: £12.50

KAРА Автор Султан Раев (2015) РУССКИЙ / RUSSIAN ISBN: 978-1910886137 RRP: £24.50

WIND ISBN: 978-1910886915 RRP: £17.50

best female AUTHOR

ALDONA GRUPAS NURSE, GIVE ME A PILL FOR DEATH true stories ISBN: 978-1910886922 RRP: £9.95 PB / £14.95 HB

FOREMOTHER ASIA by Natalia Kharlampieva (2016) ENG / SAKHA HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-22-9 RRP: £17.50

LIFE OVER PAIN AND DESPERATION by Marziya Zakiryanova (2014) ENGLISH HARD BACK ISBN: 978-0-99278733-2 RRP: £14.95

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME S.S. NAZAROVA (2017) ENGLISH ISBN: 978-1-910886-60-1 HARD BACK RRP:£17.50

THE LAND DRENCHED IN TEARS by Söyüngül Chanisheff ENGLISH PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1910886380 RRP:£24.50

RECYCLED by Anna Komar HARDBACK ENGLISH ISBN: 978-1910886816 RRP:£17.50

MY NEIGHBOURHOOD SISTERS by Gulsifat Shakhidi (2016) ENG / RUS HARDBACK ISBN:978-1-910886-35-9 RRP: £19.95

Тегеран-1360 Жанна Голубицкая ISBN: 9781913356118 Paperback RU |2020 £19.95

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POETRY

HERTFORDSHIRE PRESS

COLORFUL TEARS by Khosiyat Rustam ISBN: 978-1-913356-12-5 RRP: £12.95

MY HOMELAND, OH MY CRIMEA by Lenifer Mambetova (2015) ENG / RUS HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-04-5 RRP: £17.50

“THE WORLD DISSOLVES LIKE A DREAM” by Leyla Aliyeva, 2018 ENG HARDBACK 978-1-910886-76-2 RRP: £14.95

The “LIRA” award for the best poetry in the literary competition “Open Eurasian Book Forum and Literary Festival - 2019”

In this jewellike collection of poems from Kyrgyz poet Sagyn Berkinalieva, the poet explores her own personal destiny and her memorable insights into love, plumbing the raw feelings that cut through her heart in the course of one memorable encounter. Berkinalieva’s own unique and genuine voice shines through poignantly on every page.

SAGYN BERKINALIEVA

Published works: 1) «Sheet covered with the dust» (Publishing house «Biyiktik» – 2014). 2) «Girl dancing in the sky» (Publishing house «Great mountains» – 2019). In 2016 she took part in the competition for young poets and won the Audience Award. Diploma winner for active participation in the competition of young poets «Mekenge taazim» and «Besh Akin» in 2017. Diploma winner of the Festival of Eurasian Week of Culture, which was held in Great Britain (London). In 2019 she had participated in an International Competition of Eurasian Creative Guild in Belgium (Brussels). She won the first place in the nomination of poetry and was awarded the «Lyre» medal for the best female lyrics. In 2019 she was awarded «The Best Poet of the Year» in Kyrgyzstan.

SAGYN BERKINALIEVA

Member of the National Writers’ Union of Kyrgyzstan, member of Eurasian Creative Guild, member of the Writers’ Union of North America (German department).

GIRL DANCING IN THE SKY

Poetess – Berkinalieva Sagynbubu Abdusamatovna (Kyrgyz Republic)

edited by John Farndon

GIRL DANCING IN THE SKY

RRP: £12.95

I THINK WE SHOULD JUST LIVE by Ekaterina Khlebnikova ISBN: 9781913356217 Paperback ENG \RU | 2020 £9.99

GIRL DANCING IN THE SKY by Sagyn Berkinalieva ISBN: 9781913356217 Paperback ENG | 2020 £12.95

ONE OF YOU by Lenar Shaehov ISBN: 9781910886472 Paperback ENG | 2017 £9.50

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BELARUSIAN WHALES by Anastasiya Kuzmicheva ISBN: 9781910886458 Hardcover EN |2017 £14.50

МАЭСТРО И МУЗА Сергей Белый ISBN: 978-1-913356-28-6 Hardcover RU |2021 £17.50

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history

HERTFORDSHIRE PRESS

VANISHED KHANS AND EMPTY STEPPES by Robert Wight (2014) The book opens with an outline of the history of Almaty, from its nineteenth-century origins as a remote outpost of the Russian empire, up to its present status as the thriving second city of modern-day Kazakhstan. The story then goes back to the Neolithic and early Bronze Ages, and the sensational discovery of the famous Golden Man of the Scythian empire. The transition has been difficult and tumultuous for millions of people, but Vanished Khans and Empty Steppes illustrates how Kazakhstan has emerged as one of the world’s most successful post-communist countries. HARD BACK

ISBN: 978-0-9930444-0-3

RRP: £24.95

PAPERBACK ISBSN: 978-1-910886-05-2 RRP: £14.50 KANYBEK IMANALIEV THE KAGANATE Overall, The Kaganate is a remarkably skilful and fabulously imaginative prose poetry collection, which explores the overwhelming need for young men to be destructive, the overtly pagan sensibilities of the authors native Kyrgyzstan, along with those disciplines required by adolescent boys to channel instinctive animosities away from their parents into the rigours necessary to become worthy young warriors in such a way that his volume proves virtually obsessive. After all, each one of these observations evokes a subtle type of “second puberty” occurring between older men assaying values above mere materialism, sexuality, and having children - in order to focus on shared spiritual concerns. ISBN: 978-1910886960 HB RRP:£19.95

VLADIMIR TULINOV THE GUARDSMEN OF HIPPOCRATES No people suffered more during the Second World War than the people of the Soviet Union and the soldiers of the Red Army. Tens of millions perished and further millions were wounded – horrific numbers, which would have been even higher if it weren’t for the efforts of the army of doctors, nurses, and medics who treated the wounded and the suffering. V.M. Tulinov’s The Guardsmen of Hippocrates brings the reader up close to the men and women who fought to save the lives of those struggling to resist the Nazi invasion. ISBN: 978-1910886946 HB, RRP: £19.95 WEST MIDLANDS HO! by Aldona Grupas West Midlands Ho! is a compelling work of local history, focused on a particular corner of England but set against a background of tumultuous international events.In the book, Lithuanian author Aldona Grupas reveals the personal tales of Lithuanian migrants who moved to Britain in the wake of World War II. Unable to return to their homeland due to the Soviet occupation, from 1947 onwards, several thousand refugees swapped the refugee camps of Allied-occupied Germany for basic accommodation in Britain, along with jobs in manufacturing and agriculture. In the following decades, they put down roots in Britain, all the while keeping their Lithuanian identity alive. In a series of interviews, Grupas teases out the personal experiences of five members of this migrant community in the West Midlands of England. PAPERBACK

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ISBN: 978-1913356231 RRP:£19.95

classicS

THE PLIGHT OF A POSTMODERN HUNTER Chlngiz Aitmatov Mukhtar Shakhanov (2015) ENG HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-11-3 RRP: £24.95

THE GREAT MELODY KINDLE EDITION by Tabyldy Aktan RRP: 2.40 ENGLISH

“SHORT STORIES FROM AZERBAIJAN” 2018 ISBN: 978-1-910886-72-4 RRP: £19.95 ENG HARDBACK

I AM LOOKING TOWARDS THE EAST by Gulsifat Shakhidi, 2017 ISBN: 978-1910886663 RRP: £19.95 HARDBACK ENGLISH

BRÄNNANDE SOL, ISANDE VIND, LEVANDE STÄPP by Dulat Isabekov ISBN: 9789198244977 Hardcover Swedish |2020

A POETIC TREASURY FROM BELARUS: A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE AND WORK OF VERA RICH by David ParryJim Dingley SBN: 9781913356040 Hardcover EN \ BY|2019 £14.95

GOETHE AND ABAI by Herold Belger ISBN: 9781910886168 Hardcover EN|2015 £19.95

WHEN EDELWEISS FLOWERS FLOURISH by Begenas Saratov and (Shahsanem Murray) ISBN: 9780955754951 Paperback ENG 2012 £12.95

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SERIES

HOWL novel by Kazat Akmatov (2014) PAPERBACK ENGLISH –RUSSIAN ISBN: 978-0993044410 RRP: £12.50

shahsanem murray

SHAHIDKA/ MUNABIA by KazatAkmatov (2013) PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0957480759 RRP: £12.95

THE NOVEL “ARHAT” by Kazat Akmatov (2015) LANGUAGE ENG PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1910886106 RRP: £17.50

THE TURKIK SAGA Kairat Zariyanov (2016) LANGUAGE ENG HARD BACK RRP:14.95 ISBN: 978-0-9927873-7-0

UNDER THE WOLFS NEST Kairat Zariyanov (2012 LANGUAGE ENG /KAZAKH HARD BACK RRP:14.95 ISBN: 978-0-9927873-7-0

kairat zakyryanov

13 STEPS OF ERIKA KLAUS by Kazat Akmatov (2013) PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0957480766 RRP: £12.95

Raushan

Burkitbayeva - Nukenova

KAZAT AKHMATOV

HERTFORDSHIRE PRESS

SHADOWS OF THE RAIN Raushan Burkitbayeva - Nukenova (2016)LANGUAGE ENG HARD BACK RRP:19.95 ISBN: 978-1-910886-31-1

THE WORMWOOD WIND Raushan Burkitbayeva - Nukenova (2015) LANGUAGE ENG HARD BACK RRP:14.95 ISBN: 978-1-910886-09-0

COLD SHADOWS Shahsanem Murray (2016) LANGUAGE ENG PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-27-4 RRP: £12.50

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FINDING THE HOLY PATH by Shahsanem Murray (2014) RUS ISBN: 978-0-9930444-8-9 ENGL ISBN: 978-0992787394 PAPERBACK RRP: £12.50

TRAVELOGUES FRIENDLY STEPPES. A SILK ROAD JOURNEY by Nick Rowan (2012)

THE SILK ROAD REVISITED by Nick Rowan (2020)

This is the chronicle of an extraordinary adventure that led Nick Rowan to some of the world’s most incredible and hidden places.

Take a trip along this remarkable historic trading route that once ran from Venice, through the Mediterranean, across Turkey and Iran, through the Caucasus and Caspian Sea, onwards via Central Asia and finally to China.

HARD BACK ISBN: 978-0-9927873-4-9 PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0-9557549-4-4

HARDBACK RRP: £34.99 ISBN: 978-1-913356-07-1

ALPHABET GAME by Paul Wilson (2014) Travelling around the world may appear as easy as ABC, but looks can be deceptive: there is no ‘X’ for a start. Not since Xidakistan was struck from the map. Yet post 9/11, with the War on Terror going global, could ‘The Valley’ be about to regain its place on the political stage? Xidakistan’s fate is inextricably linked with that of Graham Ruff, founder of Ruff Guides. Setting sail where Around the World in Eighty Days and Lost Horizon weighed anchor, our not-quite-a-hero suffers all in pursuit of his golden triangle: The Game, The Guidebook, The Girl. With the future of printed Guidebooks increasingly in question, As Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop did for Foreign Correspondents the world over, so this novel lifts the lid on Travel Writers for good. PAPREBACK ENG ISBN: 978-0-992787325

RRP: £14.50

MEET THE ‘STANS by Christopher Jones “If you want to travel in peace, you must howl like the wolves among whom you find yourself,” a 19th century French explorer advised on entering Central Asia. Which was simply the Central Asian version of raising your negroni and slurring ‘When in Rome’. Thankfully, the author discovered, the negroni’s had since made their way to Central Asia, or at least Almaty, as part of the somewhat inconsiderable encroachment made by the modern world. HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-913356-15-6 RRP: £17.50 DOES IT YURT? by Stephen M. Bland (2016) Conjuring images of nomadic horsemen, spectacular monuments, breathtaking scenery and crippling poverty, Central Asia remains an enigma. Home to the descendants of Jenghiz Khan’s Great Horde, in the nineteenth century the once powerful Silk Road states became a pawn in the ‘Great Game’ of expansion and espionage between Britain and Russia, disappearing behind what would become known as the ‘Iron Curtain’. With the collapse of the USSR, the nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were born. Since independence, Central Asia has seen one civil war, two revolutions and seven dictators. LANGUAGE ENG PAPER BACK RRP:14.95 ISBN: 978-1-910886-29-8

WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM

children award winning HERTFORDSHIRE PRESS

RHYMES ABOUT BOYS by Lyudmila Dubkovetcaia (2019) HARD BACK ENGLISH ISBN: 978-1-913356-03-3 RRP: £17.50

MENIK THE MAMMOUTH by OGDO (2017) PAPERBACK ENG ISBN: 978-1-910886-62-5 RRP: £12.50

СОФЬИНЫ НЕБЕСА, ИЛИ ВОЛШЕБНЫЙ ДАР ГНОМОВ Оксана Гордийко (2019) ISBN: 978-1-910886-97-7 RRP: £14.50

LEIA THE LITTLE MOUSE by Arina Chunaeva (2019)

TALES OF GRANDMA GULSIFAT by Gulsifat Shakhidi

ELISH AND THE WICKER TALES by Kamran Salayev PAPERBACK SQUARE ENG ISBN: 978-1-910886-88-5 RRP:£12.50

HARD BACK ENGLISH ISBN:978-1-910886-90-8 RRP: £22.50

Дневник Ёжика - путешественника, или Где живёт счастье? by Надежда Серебренникова ISBN: 9781913356095 Paperback RU| 2020 £19.50 ELISH AND THE WICKER TALE by Timur Akhmedjanov ISBN: 9781913356194 Paperback ENG | 2020 £9.99

74 OCA MAGAZINE

HARDBACK ENGLISH ISBN: 978-1-913356-01-9 RRP: £22.50

JUNIOR

THE GOAT THAT WANTED TO TRAVEL ISBN: 978-1913356170 RRP: £9.99

THE EGRET AND THE COW by Gareth Stamp ISBN: 978-1913356149 RRP: £9.99

РАИМ ФАРХАДИ ОСТРОВ СТИХОВ стихи ISBN: 978-1-910886-56-4 RRP: £14.50

The door to a fairy tale by Denis Kuvaev ISBN: 9781910886632 Hardcover EN| 2017 £22.50

AYSU AND THE MAGIC BAG by Maide Akan (2016) CARDBOARD ISBN: 978-1-910886-24-3 RRP: £10.00

ЭТО ЗАВИСИТ ОТ МЕНЯ 7 СПОСОБОВ ИЗМЕНИТЬ ЖИНЬ К ЛУЧШЕМУ Автор Меган Вернер (2017) PAPERBACK RUSSIAN ISBN: 9781910886397 RRP:£9.95

Crane by Abu-Sufyan ISBN: 9781910886236 Paperback EN| 2016 £12.50

POOL OF STARS by Olesya Petrova (2007) PAPERBACK ENG / RUS ISBN: 978-0955754906 RRP: £4.95

WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM

DISCOVERY GUIDES & TRAVEL COMPANIONS

HERTFORDSHIRE PRESS

100 EXPERIENCES OF KYRGYZSTAN by Ian Claytor ENG ISBN: 978-0957480742 RRP: £9.50

101 Zážitok Z Kazachstanu Editori: Nick Rowan a Roman Vassilenko ISBN: 9781913356255 RRP: £9.50

100 EXPERIENCES OF MODERN KAZAKHSTAN by Vitaly Shuptar, Nick Rowan and Dagmar Schreiber ENG ISBN: 978-1-910886-15-1 RRP: £9.50

THE TASTE OF CENTRAL ASIA COOK BOOK by Danny Gordon ENG ISBN:978-1-910886-09-0 RRP: £9.50

DISCOVERY KYRGYZSTAN travel guide by Ian Claytor ENG, DE, FR, RUS, JAP ISBN: 9780955754920 RRP: £5.95

76 OCA MAGAZINE

DISCOVERY UZBEKISTAN travel guide by Andrea Leuenberger ENG, DE, FR, RUS, JAP ISBN: 9780957480704 RRP: £5.95

DISCOVERY KAZAKHSTAN travel guide by Vitaly Shuptar and Dagmar Schreiber ENG, DE ISBN: 9780955754937 RRP: £5.95

DISCOVERY TAJIKISTAN Travel Guide by Vitaly Shuptar ENG ISBN: 978-09557549-6-8 RRP: £5.95

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The scientific and theoretical platform and methodology of the “cognitive-communicative concept of translation studies” are presented on the basis of the “cognitive-linguacultural methodology and the theory of intercultural communication”. The professional and functional model of a modern translator has been proposed and the competence-based educational paradigm has been developed on the conceptually-grounded platform.

SALIMA KUNANBAYEVA

E IDG BR

INTERNATIONA LP R

S ES

CA M

The work can be applied to the theory and practice of training as well as to the process of upgrading translators, philologists and specialists in the fields of intercultural communication, foreign language education and in other spheres of international correlation.

2016

KUNANBAYEVA S.S.

CONCEPTUALLY-GROUNDED COGNITIVE-LINGUAL BASICS OF FORMING A MULTILINGUAL

KUNANBAYEVA S.S.

The manual is focused on the conceptual basics of cognitive linguistics in the theory and practice of intercultural communication and the formation of a multilingual personality. It describes the patterns of the formation of a global intercultural space; dwells on the conceptual and theoretical foundations of “intercultural communication” as an independent scientific branch; the ways and cognitive-process components of the formation of the “language personality”; the methodological grounds of translation studies and foreign language education.

CONCEPTUALLY-GROUNDED COGNITIVE-LINGUAL BASICS OF FORMING A MULTILINGUAL

CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

RRP: £14.95 CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

ISBN: 978-0957480780 RRP: £19.95

ISBN: 978-1-910886-67-0 RRP: £19.50

ISBN: 978-1-910886-99-1 RRP: £14.95

PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1910886267 RRP: £18.50

ORAZALY SABDEN

PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1910886267 RRP: £17.50

LOOKING WEST: A KAZAKH’S VIEW OF GREAT BRITAIN by Kanat Auyesbay (2016) This new book by the Kazakh broadcaster and journalist Kanat Auyesbay is a fascinating and charming view of Britain. Kanat studied here for a year, living in Norwich with his wife and young son. Here he recounts his impressions of British life and compares aspects of it with life in Kazakhstan. He deals with subjects as diverse as school, charity, public transport, swimming, language and eating horse meat! PAPERBACK

ISBN:978-1910886373 RRP: £14.50

НУРЫМ ТАЙБЕК ЛЮБОВЬ КО ВСЕМ, НЕНАВИСТЬ НИ К КОМУ! — СМЫСЛ ЖИЗНИ МУСУЛЬМАН-АХМАДИ послание Ахмадийское движение – единственное в исламе, объявившее, в соответствии с предписанием Мухаммада, военный джихад отмененным (с 1891 г.) в связи с появлением мессии-махди (и началом эры прав человека). Ахмад боролся против политизации ислама и восстановил первоначальную – мирную интерпретацию понятий “джихад”. ISBN: 978-1-910886-73-1 RRP: £14.95

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PROJECTIVE GRAPHICS by Yelena Bezrukova, Valentina Tikhomirova (2015) This album contains images of an aspiring new art movement known in Kazakhstan as “Projective Graphics”. The images presented in the publication, called “graphelvas” are accompanied by conceptual and explanatory texts, as well as an appendix of works associated with the small, but up and coming movement. This album is intended for a broad audience. HARDBACK

ENGLISH

ISBN: ISBN: 978 – 0993044434

AZERBAIJAN:BRIDGE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST by Yury Sigov, 2015

ISBN: 9781913356255

Azerbaijan: Bridge between East and West, Yury Sigov narrates a comprehensive and compelling story about Azerbaijan. He balances the country’s rich cultural heritage, wonderful people and vibrant environment with its modern political and economic strategies. Readers will get the chance to thoroughly explore Azerbaijan from many different perspectives and discover a plethora of innovations and idea, including the recipe for Azerbaijan’s success as a nation and its strategies for the future. The book also explores the history of relationships between United Kingdom and Azerbaijan. HARD BACK ISBN: 978-0-9930444-9-6 RRP: £24.50 I AM LOOKING TOWARDS THE EAST by Gulsifat Shakhidi, 2017 ISBN: 978-1910886663 RRP: £19.95 HARDBACK ENGLISH LOST PARADISE - TRUE PARADISE by Gulsifat Shakhidi, 2019 ISBN: 978-1-913356-02-6 ENGLISH HARDBACK RRP: £19.95

IGOR SAVITSKY: ARTIST, COLLECTOR, MUSEUM FOUNDER by Marinika Babanazarova (2011) LANGUAGE: ENG, RUS, FR ISBN: 978-0955754999 RRP: £10.00 SAVITSKY COLLECTION SELECTED MASTERPIECES. Poster set of 8 posters (2014) ISBN: 9780992787387 RRP: £25.00

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Dr. Gerald Mako , Cambridge University

THE RUSSIAN MENTALITY

red among them those d the initial impetus for ty’. on on a different scale y goal of his book is to he peculiarities of the ple, but also to what exvironment where busicommendable, and one nclusions of this book those at the country’s shape its economy,and

V. V. KOZLOV

ussian mentality set in draws on the works of ts and authors in his reanged over the course the Russian mentality society, including the ilism, various types of ures, personnel policy, world. With interesting ssible avenues for the Russian Mentality is at er dull.

CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL PRESS

THE RUSSIAN MENTALITY AS A FUNDAMENTAL FACTOR IN RUSSIAN MANAGEMENT METHODS

THE RUSSIAN MENTALITY by V. V. Kozlov An exploration into the birth processes of the Russian mentality set in juxtaposition to Western mentalities, V. V. Kozlov draws on the works of many eminent philosophers, historians, sociologists and authors in his research. In analysing how the Russian state has changed over the course of millennia, the author focuses on the influence the Russian mentality has had on the development of modern Russian society, including the issues of management and governance, legal nihilism, various types of rights and freedoms, corruption in power structures, personnel policy, and Russia’s place an increasingly contradictory world. With interesting arguments on the roots of ‘Russophobia’ and possible avenues for the future development of civil society, Kozlov’s The Russian Mentality is at times illuminating, at others controversial, but never dull. ISBN: 9781913356262 Hardcover ENG | 2021 £17.50

COLD WAR II: CRIES IN THE DESERT OR HOW TO COUNTERBALANCE NATO’S PROPAGANDA FROM UKRAINE TO CENTRAL ASIA by Charles Van Der Leeuw (2015) Cold War II” is the result of almost two years of intensive monitoring and collecting information and comments from various angles concerning US-led campaigns to surround the Russian Federation with enemies. The book offers a rich anthology of samples how media play into the hands of the US-led “war party” as well as those who try to expose such manipulations. Special attention is given to the civil war in Ukraine and the way it is exploited by the west for its own geopolitical goals, and to Kyrgyzstan which remains at risk of attempts to topple Central Asia’s sole parliamentary democracy and replace it by a US “client regime”. HARDBACK

ISBN: 978-1910886076 RRP: £24.95

THE EARTH IS OUR COMMON HOME by Bakhyt Rustemov This book from the famous Kazakh international publicist reflects the international reality in which the Kazakh people lived and live for the last twenty-seven years after gaining their independence. The reader is given the opportunity to understand how difficult the transition was from socialism to capitalism. The new life caught by surprise the majority of people of the country, that is the simple person. For all these years the author was in the midst of the people and has survived with them all the hardships and privations that usually fall on the shoulders of ordinary citizens. For many years he studied the relationship of people in society, the relationship of peoples and States. HARDBACK

ENG

ISBN: 978-1910886878

RRP:£14.95

PEACEMAKER THE SYRIAN CONUNDRUM by Nurlan Onzhanov (2017) The Republic of Kazakhstan’s balanced foreign policy is one of our country’s main priorities and is recognised and understood by many. The aim of Kazakhstan, located in the centre of the Eurasian continent, is to maintain friendly relations with its neighbours and partners, and to develop and strengthen these ties, in line with the policy determined by the Republic of Kazakhstan’s president, our nation’s leader: Nursultan Abishuliy Nazarbayev. This book has been written from the perspective of an author who has personally witnessed the Head of State’s multifaceted work in the international arena. Following the earlier publication of ‘Peacemaker’ it encompasses events connected with the Syrian crisis from 2011 to June 2017. LANGUAGES ENG HARDBACK ISBN: 978-1-910886-52-6 RRP: £24.95

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LAND OF FORTY TRIBES by Farideh Heyat, 2015 Sima Omid, a British-Iranian anthropologist in search of her Turkic roots, takes on a university teaching post in Kyrgyzstan. It is the year following 9/11, when the US is asserting its influence in the region. Disillusioned with her long-standing relationship, Sima is looking for a new man in her life. But the foreign men she meets are mostly involved in relationships with local women half their age, and the Central Asian men she finds highly male chauvinist and aggressive towards women. PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-0-9930444-4-1 RRP: £14.95

BIRDS OF UZBEKSITAN by Nedosekov (2012) FIRST AND ONLY PHOTOALBUM OF UZBEKISTAN BIRDS! This book, which provides an introduction to the birdlife of Uzbekistan, is a welcome addition to the tools available to those working to conserve the natural heritage of the country. In addition to being the first photographic guide to the birds of Uzbekistan, the book is unique in only using photographs taken within the country. The compilers are to be congratulated on preparing an attractive and accessible work which hopefully will encourage more people to discover the rich birdlife of the country and want to protect it for future generations HARDBACK ISBN: 978-0-955754913

RRP: £25.00

WANTED MAN by Gary Cartwright (2019) “Gripping... an expose of how money talks in the EU and in individual member states. Corruption is a growing problem and as always, as this book shows, the guilty remain at large, and the taxpayer foots the bill.” — Colin Stevens, Publisher, EU Reporter www.eureporter.co ISBN: 978-1-910886-95-3 PAPERBACK RRP: £9.95 PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY PROBLEMS by Fakhraddin Veysalli (2016) In this manual, the phonetic structure of the Azerbaijani language and its phonological systems have been (systematically) explained by focusing on comparative materials from a number of different languages. Thus, the author defends his theoretical position, as well as persues common principles, through the topics raised. Additionally, he demonstrates his thoughts and considerations, while basing his own investigations upon existing perceptions in literature. As such, this book is primarily intended for philologists. However, these materials can be used by teachers of language or literature, along with postgraduates, dissertants, and students of philological faculties: including everyone interested in linguistics. PAPERBACK ISBN: 978-1910886182 RRP: £19.95 ENG

WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM

CONTENTS 30

HOW CAN KAZAKHSTAN SUPPORT US ANTI TERRORISM POLICY IN AFGHANISTAN AFTER AMERICAN TROOPS WITHRAW FROM THAT COUNTRY

PETER LINDSAY CELEBRATES 20 YEARS AS CHAIR OF CATBIG LEO TOLSTOY AND AMERICA

INTRODUCTORY WORD

PEOPLE’S WRITER OF KYRGYZSTAN, PUBLIC FIGURE, SCREENWRITER, PLAYWRIGHT. 80TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE KAZAT AKMATOV’S BIRTH. BIOGRAPHY

INTERVIEW WITH KAZAT AKMATOV’S WIFE, BAKTYGUL SULTAN- 38 GAZIEVA 42 INTERVIEW WITH TIM OWEN. CHAIRMAN OF THE BRITISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 46 DEFENSE AND SECURITY IN UKRAINE 50 FUTURE OF CASPIAN SEA: ENVIRONMENT OR ECONOMY

14 18

KATE MARSDEN - AN ENGLISH HEROINE IN YAKUTIA AN ACCELERATION OF IMAGE AND TIME: THE TRAJECTORY OF PAINTING AND FILMMAKING IN THE USSR TRADITIONAL CLOTHING OF TURKMEN IN MODERN FASHION FIVE REASONS TO VISIT GAGAUZIA IF YOU’VE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE

UZBEKISTAN’S COOPERATION WITH THE UN IN HUMAN RIGHTS

FIRST EURASIAN FILM FESTIVAL IN LONDON AFTER A LENGTHY LOCKDOWN

RECURRING CONFLICT IN CENTRAL ASIA: UNDERSTANDING AND APPRECIATING THE POLITICAL DIMENSIONS

RESULTS OF THE IX LITERARY FESTIVAL 58 NATURE, CULTURE AND FREEDOM. HOW TO EXPLORE NEW

COOPERATION WITH CENTRAL ASIAN STATES – A PRIORITY DIRECTION OF UZBEKISTAN’S FOREIGN POLICY

HORIZONS OF CREATIVITY WITH THE FIRST ECG CREATIVE RESIDENCE. 64

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