Alexander Sodiqov

Latest posts by Alexander Sodiqov

As Twitter Use Rises in Tajikistan, Who Should You Follow?

  15 November 2013

Although Twitter's popularity in Tajikistan still lags far behind that of Odnoklassniki or Facebook, the number of Tajikistani voices on the social network is rising. Nilufar Shukrikhudo observes: It makes me quite happy to see twitter gain momentum in #Tajikistan. I've been waiting for a while for that to happen. —...

Tajik Elections Debate: Either Rahmon or “Cannibalism”

  6 November 2013

Prior to Tajikistan's presidential elections, the website of the opposition Islamic Revival Party (IRPT) published a story titled “Will Emomali Rahmon Remain President or Not?” [tj]. The story drew hundreds of comments, triggering a heated debate between those who thought it was time for the incumbent president to step down and...

Life in Kyrgyz Prisons Through Camera Eyes

  1 November 2013

Photographer Eric Gourlan spent over a month in prisons in Kyrgyzstan, documenting the life of both inmates and guards. Photographs he took there provide a rare “view from the inside” the country's prison system. Kloop.kg publishes some of the remarkable photos that are now displayed at a museum in Bishkek. The documentary...

Young People Revel In Halloween Fun in Kyrgyzstan

  31 October 2013

While debates over the appropriateness of participating in Halloween fun rage in Tajikistan, young people in the neighboring Kyrgyzstan revel in Halloween festivities. The country's most popular blogging platform has published [ru] a map of all venues organizing Halloween festivities in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital. Dozens of people dressed up in zombie...

Kazakhstanis Divided on Whether Home Is Really Best

  31 October 2013

A debate about why some Kazakhstanis stay in their country while others choose to emigrate has unfolded online. It started after Daniyar posted his “What Is Keeping You in Kazakhstan?” [ru] on yvizion.kz. The blogger identified seven main reasons why he preferred to stay in the country: #1. Великая история… #2....

Kazakhstan's Soviet Mosaics: “Ghosts of an Epoch Gone By”

  23 October 2013

In a post titled “The Walls Are Crying”, a blogger reflects [ru] on Kazakhstan's slowly disappearing Soviet artistic mosaics that once adorned housing blocks and industrial facilities across the country: Many of these works of art died along with the buildings which they adorned. Some are being destroyed. But many mosaics...

Tajik Official Plagiarizes Story Extolling President

  23 October 2013

Social media users in Tajikistan have caught an education official-cum-ardent supporter of the incumbent president plagiarizing. In his recent article “Why I Am Voting for [President] Emomali Rahmon” [ru] Ilkhomjon Khamidov extolled the country's veteran president who is seeking to secure a re-election in the November 6 vote. After the article...

“Without Papers You Are Nobody” in Kyrgyzstan

  1 October 2013

Hundreds of people living in Kyrgyzstan do not have the country's identity documents. This makes these people ‘invisible’ to the authorities, as Diana Rahmanova writes [ru]: In essence, you can say, “Here I am. I exist. I live. Here. Here is my body, my face. Look at me. I am not...

“You Can Kick Female Flight Attendants” in Kazakhstan

  27 September 2013

A former government official in Kazakhstan recently kicked a female flight attendant, reportedly because she did not speak Kazakh. The story has caused a stir on social media. Blogger Pivovar offers [ru] the most interesting and most widely shared Twitter posts on this incident, such as the one below: Казахстан-2013: бить...

“Fetishization of Somoni” Continues in Tajikistan

  26 September 2013

As Tajikistan's president unveils yet another statue of national icon Ismoil Somoni, blogger Tomiris criticizes [ru] monument monoculture in the country: Don't we have other historical figures to erect statues to? Was Somoni really the only one of its kind? I understand that this fetishization of Somoni is a political...

Busting Myths about Kazakhstan

  26 September 2013

Kazakhstan is not part of the Middle East; Kazakhs do not have Chinese blood in their veins; and not everything about Kazakhstan is bad. Blogger busts (part 1, part 2) [ru] common myths about the oil-rich Central Asian nation.