· November, 2012

Stories about Central Asia & Caucasus from November, 2012

Virtual Game Leads to Real Job as Football Manager in Azerbaijan

  30 November 2012

A 21-year old university graduate who's favourite past-time is playing the computer game Football Manager was confirmed as the new manager for Azerbaijan side FC Baku's reserve team earlier this month. In an unprecedented move this gamer pipped former footballers including Frenchman Jean Pierre Papin to secure the job.

Tajikistan Blocks Popular News Website

  30 November 2012

The higher the walls they are building, cutting people off from the outside world, the more willing people are to destroy the walls and bury those who build them under the bricks.

Tajik Official Blocks Facebook and Summons its CEO

  29 November 2012

The chief of the state-run telecommunications service in Tajikistan has ordered Facebook blocked and asked the social network's CEO to travel to the Central Asian country and meet with him. Tajik internet users now ridicule the official.

Time to Change Tajikistan's Flag?

  24 November 2012

Thousands of flags are flown across Tajikistan today as the Central Asian republic celebrates the Flag Day. Meanwhile, some bloggers suggest that it might be time to change the country's flag.

Kazakhstan as Seen by Camera Phone Users

  22 November 2012

Sometimes you don't need to be a professional photographer or have fancy cameras and lenses to take great pictures. Vox Populi is now featuring pictures of Kazakhstan taken by camera phone users and uploaded on Instagram photo-sharing network.

Turkmenistan's Omnipresent Leader

  19 November 2012

Imagine if every poster on the wall, every advertisement on the side of a bus, hanging in the center of every wall in an office, and even overlooking little children playing in kindergarten, was the face of one man.

Renaming Villages, Streets in Tajikistan

  19 November 2012

This is just another attempt to rewrite history and build a myth that since the ancient period, the territory of contemporary Tajikistan has been settled by ethnic Tajiks and there were no other ethnic groups here. Blogger Harsavor shares [ru] his thoughts on why the authorities in Tajikistan have been...

Bridge Blog for Afghanistan and Pakistan: ‘Understanding the Neighbor’

  14 November 2012

In a fellowship program 22 journalists from Afghanistan and Pakistan gathered together twice, once in Islamabad and once in Kabul to understand each others, share value and make cultural exchanges. The documented their experiences in a blog titled ‘Understanding the neighbor' and are ready to challenge the decades old established narratives about their neighbors.

Lenin in Tajikistan: ‘Better Hitler’ or ‘Real Hero'?

  14 November 2012

Since independence, Tajikistan's authorities have taken down almost all Soviet-erected statues of Vladimir Lenin across the country. The removal of these monuments is quite controversial in Tajikistan, where some bloggers call Lenin a 'better Hitler' while others consider him a 'real hero'.

Tajik Police Explained

  12 November 2012

We can criticize the law-enforcement agencies as much as we want and argue that police is not doing its job properly and that police officers are not to be trusted... But problems with the police are just a reflection of problems in our society as a whole.

Being Pregnant in Kyrgyzstan

  9 November 2012

On Ivory Pomegranate, an expat blogger shares her experience of being pregnant in Kyrgyzstan. She writes that seven months of prenatal care in a good clinic in Bishkek costs about 10 times less than a single check-up in US. But in Kyrgyzstan, one needs to understand that many medications prescribed by...

About our Central Asia & Caucasus coverage

Nurbek Bekmurzaev
Nurbek Bekmurzaev is the Central Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Arzu Geybullayeva
Arzu Geybullayeva is the South Caucasus editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.