Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

On the video from [his son's] wedding, Emomali Rahmon shows himself as a real, normal man – he has fun, dances with joy, and encourages everyone else to do the same. Don’t all our men behave the same way at their sons’ weddings?

After lengthy debates, the parliament in Kyrgyzstan has adopted legislation banning young women from travelling abroad without parental consent. On Registan.net, Alisher Abdug'oforov suggests that the new legislation not only violates the country's constitution, but is also unlikely to solve any problems it is designed to address.

Mardikornoma blog comments [tj] on the constitution of Tajikistan, suggesting that it has become more of a fairy tales book than the country's supreme law:

As I skim through the pages of Tajikistan's Constitution, I cannot help thinking that this document must be from some other country.

As Turkmenistan celebrates a recent Guinness World Record award for the highest density of white marble buildings, Caravanistan writes about the “weird, sad, and revealing” world records held by other countries of Central Asia.

Turkmenistan already has a record-breaking president and ever-rising wheat harvests. But this is not enough for the oil-rich country. Don Croner reports that Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat, has recently been awarded a Guinness World Record for the world's highest density of white marble buildings.

Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, is very active in social media, and her provocative Twitter posts and photos shared on Instagram often raise eyebrows among the mostly conservative audiences in Uzbekistan and other countries in the region. Blogger Ayana Seidimbek presents a collection of the most controversial posts and images the ‘Uzbek princess’ has shared in social media.

The Turkmen leader has recently fell off his horse after winning a race. The footage of the embarrassing incident had been made public by international media, and Turkmen dissidents are using the video as an opportunity to ridicule the president.

A father had a bad dream which now troubles him. So, he decides that his daughter will not travel anywhere. He takes away her passport and air tickets while she is sleeping, but the daughter takes the documents back. Finally, the father decides to lock his daughter at home to prevent her from leaving.

This was a real wedding. With limousines. With friends and guests. With champagne. With congratulatory speeches. You might ask, “but what about the law?” You see, love does not recognize the law. This is why the wedding took place. However, it was not [registered by the state]. Same-sex marriage are not allowed [in Kazakhstan].

Caravanistan presents a collection of images of the “awe-inspiriting fortresses” in the eastern Tajik region of Badakhshan (or GBAO). The ruins of these fortresses, some of which are still used by Tajik border guards, suggest that “life was once very different here”.