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“Good news Pamiris,” writes [ru] Bektour Iskender, President of Kloop Media, a Kyrgyz news portal and blogging platform. “Wikipedia has provided permission to begin a version of the site in Shughni.” Shughni is one of the main languages spoken in Gorno Badakhshan province (GBAO), a remote, eastern part of Tajikistan dominated by the Pamir Mountains. Iskender helped local internet users file the request to create a Shughni section of Wikipedia following a new media training session in Khorog, the province's administrative capital, over two years ago. “Now begins the small matter of realizing [Wikipedia in Shughni]. But I can't help there, since I don't know a word of the language,” he says.
Chris Rickleton
I am a journalist and writer living in Bishkek, capital of the Kyrgyz Republic. I am the English Language Editor and Russian/English translator of the independent media outlets kloop.kg, kloop.tj and kloop.kz as well as a contributor of articles about Kyrgyzstan at eurasianet.org.
A former editor of the Bishkek-based tourism and culture magazine the Spektator, I now coordinate the Global Voices Central Asia Interns project at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek.
I graduated from the faculty of International Relations at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.
Email Chris Rickleton
Latest posts by Chris Rickleton
12 May 2013
7 May 2013
Avoid Mycetism, Mushroom Pickers!
Postage stamps featuring some of Kyrgyzstan's wild mushrooms – edible and non-edible. Images taken from ianbek.kg, used with permission.
“Never eat overripe, clammy, flabby, wormy or spoiled mushrooms,” writes Ian Claytor, translating advice from Kyrgyzstan's Department for Disease Prevention and Expertise in his blog, Postcard from Bishkek. With the mushroom picking season underway in the former Soviet state, the Ministry of Health have come up [ru] with guidelines to help pickers enjoy the pastime safely.
27 August 2012
Kyrgyzstan: ‘Charming’ Prime Minister Falls from High Horse
'Its a shame that the sane, handsome and enterprising premier of #freekg Babanov is on his way out.' The 42-year-old Prime Minister has been accused of accepting an expensive British thoroughbred racehorse as a bribe, from a Turkish company, to secure a controversial US military airbase contract.
24 August 2012
Kyrgyzstan: China Inc. Under Attack
China’s growing economic presence in Kyrgyzstan continues to be a topic for heated discussion in Kyrgyz society. In the country’s regions, this discourse is reflected in acrimonious standoffs between Chinese companies and locals, confrontations the mainstream media often fails to report on.
1 June 2012
Kyrgyzstan: Civic Initiatives Seek to Tackle Bride-Kidnapping
Although bride kidnapping is officially a crime in Kyrgyzstan, it remains a common occurrence in the country's rural areas. With the authorities reluctant to clamp down on the practice, civil society organizations and creative troupes harness the power of performance to educate the population about the harmful effects of bride kidnapping.
15 May 2012
Kyrgyzstan: Can a Blogger be the Fourth Branch of Government?
Ilya Karimdjanov is a pest. Armed with a camera, a question and the most popular blog on Kyrgyzstan's most popular blogging platform, Kloop.kg, he is a one-man citizen media machine,...
13 April 2012
Kazakhstan: Hockey Star's Wife Leaves Her Mark on the Kaznet
Stacy Dallman, wife of former NHL hockey player Kevin Dallman, is likely to be remembered in Kazakhstan for a long time to come. Chris Rickleton explains why.
11 April 2012
Tajikistan: Where Size Matters
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon knows the political capital to be made out of large, ostentatious public works projects. Yet Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries in the world, and one of the least able to afford such lavish displays of architectural excess. Chris Rickleton reports.
2 April 2012
Kyrgyzstan: The Internet on Trial?
The ongoing trial of an ethnic Russian journalist accused of inciting racial hatred in a series of online articles may have profound implications for Kyrgyzstan's regulation of the Internet, as well as testing the neutrality of the country's moribund judicial system.
17 February 2012
Tajikistan: Tajik Voices Muted in Putin Video Debate
A song apparently dedicated to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has surpassed 1,000,000 hits on YouTube, becoming one of several politicized clips to gain 'viral' status on the RuNet ahead of the country's presidential vote in March.
Perchance, immaturity creates distrust.....