Alexander Sodiqov · January, 2013

Latest posts by Alexander Sodiqov from January, 2013

Kazakh Quake Sends Tremors through Twitter

  29 January 2013

After an earthquake hit southeastern Kazakhstan yesterday, hundreds of the country's netizens took to Twitter to tell the rest of the world about what they had experienced. Blogger Olzhas Salmurza has collected [ru] the most interesting tweets from all over Kazakhstan. Ravil Abdulov reports [ru] that Twitter has also helped spread rumors...

An ‘Evolution in Thinking’ in Afghanistan

  28 January 2013

Afghans and some foreign observers claim that Afghanistan is a vastly different country now than it was under the Taliban. Few of these observers can tangibly explain exactly what they mean by this change apart from pointing to the number of students in school, the proliferation of TV channels and the improved road networks... [I]t’s the evolution in thinking and expectations that has made Afghanistan such a different place now than it was a mere 10 years ago.

Debate over Kazakh Script Reform

  27 January 2013

While some analysts remain skeptical about Kazakhstan's Latinization reform, bloggers offer [ru] practical proposals on how to do the reform ‘right’ and analyze [ru] the experience of other former Soviet countries that switched from Cyrillic to Latin script. Yet comments under these blogs show that the reform remains very controversial and, even...

Uzbekistan's Useless Latin Script

  24 January 2013

[Over the almost twenty years since Uzbekistan switched to Latin script] it has become clear that the new script in itself does not create the knowledge of foreign languages... Besides, the Russian language has proven to be more in demand [than Latinized Uzbek].

Turkmenistan: What Do Tourists Want?

  10 January 2013

Tourists coming to Turkmenistan do not seek five-star hotels and casinos; they do not travel to exotic countries for something which they can easily find close to home. They are interested in the local [customs and traditions], antiquities, and the Silk Road.

Celebrating New Year's Eve in Central Asia

  5 January 2013

Since independence, the post-Soviet nations of Central Asia have invented a number of new 'national' holidays. Yet the celebration of the New Year's Eve still remains a cherished tradition among many people in the region. Despite some calls to denounce the holiday as 'foreign' and 'un-Islamic', families in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan celebrated the arrival of the year 2013 in line with the long-established tradition.