Stories about Uzbekistan from January, 2013
Uzbekistan's Useless Latin Script
[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].
Kyrgyzstan: Hostage Crisis in Uzbek Enclave
A hostage crisis developed over the past weekend in Sokh, a little Uzbekistani enclave inside Kyrgyzstan. All hostages have now been released. Central Eurasia Standard blog summarizes media coverage of the crisis.
Celebrating New Year's Eve in Central Asia
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.
