INTERVIEW Sultan Akimovich is a writer, playwright. People’s Writer of the Kyrgyz Republic (2011). Laureate of the CIS Interstate Prize. He’s known as an acclaimed playwright and theater director. Author of more than two dozen plays. Performances based on his plays have repeatedly won victories, incl. Grand Prix, at theater festivals in Germany, Tatarstan, Uzbekistan, […]
Sariya Aga Mamad kyzy, graduated with honors from the institute, full-time postgraduate study. Since 1976, candidate of chemical sciences. Editor of the magazine “Society and Woman”. She is the owner of the “Golden Pen” by the Azerbaijani media, 2013. Member of the Writers’ Union of Azerbaijan 01.16.1913 Member of the Russian Writers Union (RSP) since […]
Sagynbubu was born in Kyrgyzstan. She has been a Member of the Union of Writers of Kyrgyzstan since 2014. She’s very interested in opera classical works, from time to time she’s singing opera. Sagynbubu Berkinalieva also performed on stages and expressively read the poems of Kyrgyz poets. Winner of a diploma for outstanding poetry and […]
Elena is a founder and director of a ‘Premium Group’ company in Kyrgyzstan, a member of the Eurasian Creative Guild, a recent chairman of the Expert Council in the category of “Translation”. Hobbies: literature (writing articles, children’s stories, poems, dubbing texts), foreign languages (individual teaching, drawing up progressive training programs, consulting), painting, travel. OCA: Please […]
Anatoly Skarghin was born in Kyrgyzstan, worked in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1995 went out on pension from the Ministry of Internal Affairs — deputy minister’s position. He is the president of the International Public Association “Generals of the World – for Peace,” the Police Major General. ECG: Tell us […]
In the modern world the idea of “how a wedding should look like” has changed and yet all we want for this day is for it to be perfect and remarkable. It does not matter what your nationality is or where you are from because in any county a bride and groom are extremely excited […]
www.ocamagazine.com oca#35 summer 2020 Since 1999, Utah Valley University (UVU) has partnered with the International University of Kyrgyzstan (IUK). The important feature of their academic exchanges was to study and share experiences of economic development in mountain areas, which are affected not only by traditional challenges from nature such as high altitude, harsh climate, environmental […]
International Extinction Rebellion and the Legacy of the 2003 London Anti-war marches I have been following the discourses and actions by Extinction Rebellion for a while now, pretty much ever since its inception in London. It is an quite an endeavour and a very brave approach of handling current climate issues and the potential for […]
Just hours before former President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, was arrested at his home in Bishkek on charges of corruption, Open Central Asia magazine completed an exclusive interview with the man once heralded as bringing a new dawn to the history of the country. In this frank and open interview, we get an insight into […]
On March 20th, at 8 o, clock in the morning, the huge aircraft landed at Manas airport after the journey of 30 minutes. Kyrgyzstan’s Manas Airline has started its direct flights from Kabul to Bishkek over the last couple of years but this was my first time travelling in a Kyrgyz airline, and I pretty […]
Over the past 27 years of independence, two colour revolutions have taken place in Kyrgyzstan, which as such can hardly be called, because a revolution is determined by a change in the political system but not by the overthrow of some political leaders in order to be replaced by others. Accumulated unsolved problems and mistakes […]
Over the past 5 years, I have edited some 26 works for Hertfordshire Press and the Eurasian Creative Guild, as well as a series of small epics published by the International University of Kyrgyzstan. The latter is the initiative of the indefatigable Professor Zina Karaeva who generously hosted my recent visit to Kyrgyzstan and meetings […]
In March 2018 I was lucky enough to spend six extraordinary weeks in Kyrgyzstan directing the first ever Kyrgyz translation of Macbeth, translated from the Russian into Kyrgyz, at the state theatre in Bishkek. I was working with 30 Kyrgyz actors who spoke no English and I don’t speak Russian or Kyrgyz. To add to […]
The artist, Zhurkabayeva Guldana, is on the threshold of her first mature personal exhibition “WAY TO YOURSELF” that will be held at the Museum of the First President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This sums up the results of what has been done since her first personal exhibition of 2008. Since then the artist has […]
Batya has been living in California since 10 months. At this age she was adopted by the wife of Raisel, so she turned out to be in the USA. Can you tell about your family? My family is very supportive of my decisions to play football in Kazakhstan. I have an older sister who attends […]
INTERVIEW WITH Bolot Shamshiev Few will know much about the cinema in Kyrgyzstan. What currently hampers its development is never aired and never makes the top priority list of state and international organizations. But there is a cinema to note and so Open Central Asia decided to meet one of its prominent players, the People’s […]
When you travel to new places most of us tend to do some research, ‘the top ten places to visit ‘, ‘must do in Bishkek!’ and in doing so we connect with previous travellers and base our experiences on theirs. If somewhere is so alien then a ‘guide’ is a good idea but I like […]
Kyrgyzstan may be better known for its welcoming people and spectacular nomadic mountain scenery if it is known at all, however there is no shortage of talent emerging from this small Central Asian country. Open Central Asia speaks to a young and upcoming talented musician from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, to follow the story of […]
On the 2nd of September Solvi Fannar arrived in Kyrgyzstan, in the heart of Central Asia, for the Second World Nomad Games. This year athletes from 62 countries in the world came together in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan to compete in 26 different sports. Solvi decided to compete himself in the Mas-Wrestling tournament. He was very impressed […]
Mountains loom on either side of the steep, precarious road, snow-capped peaks towering over the road like silent, immovable titans, dwarfing the car to the size of a child’s toy. The icy waters of a stream rush past below, huge boulders impeding its progress. The air is crisp and pure, and I breathe it into […]
David Parry, the Chairman of Eurasian Creative Guild (London) made his first visit to Kyrgyzstan from 13th till 23rd of September, 2016. On September 18th, famous British poet, playwright and member of the Royal society of Arts, presented his book The Grammar of Witchcraft at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA) in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. […]
There are many common paradoxes and anomalies regarding the position of women in the former Soviet Muslim republics of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. These arise from the Soviet legacy of gender equality on the one hand, and patriarchal traditions on the other. The resurgence of Islam as an identity marker in the new independent era […]
When I first met Andrew Wachtel during an unseasonably warm April day in 2015, what struck me most about him – that is, besides the flash of chrome gray hair, pearly white short sleeves and electric blue plants – was his combination of ambition and realism with a sense of self and mission. Now, sitting […]
Born in 1941 in the Kyrgyz Republic under the Soviet Union, Akmatov has first-hand experience of extreme political reactions to his work which deemed anti-Russian and anti-communist, resulted in censorship. Determined to fight for basic human rights in oppressed countries, he was active in the establishment of the Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan and through his […]
WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM #23 AUTUMN 2016 Imagine an opportunity to turn the clock back and invest in the developing tourism sector in Switzerland 60 years ago. A time when investments were reasonable, and investors were afforded significant returns on investment. Now fast forward to the Kyrgyz Republic. Kyrgyzstan has on numerous occasions been referred to as the […]
WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM #23 AUTUMN 2016 Shamsh Kassim-Lakha is the Executive Chairman of the Board Executive Committee of the University of Central Asia (UCA), leading the planning and building of UCA’s three campuses in Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Kazakhstan. He has a long association with UCA and developed the concept document for the University with His […]
OCA #22 SUMMER 2016 WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM It was a strangely cool July night just beneath the mountains around Karakol, and my insides were grinding with food poisoning. My skin seeped with hot sweat while my arms and legs shivered as though I had been bathed in freezing snow, and my skull thundered. My Kyrgyz compatriots first […]
OCA #22 SUMMER 2016 WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM INTERVIEW: ROBIN ORD-SMITH From the age of just 14, Robin Ord-Smith has known that he wanted to be a diplomat, representing British interests abroad. His love of languages, culture, history and politics combined to serve him well in his ambitions and he joined the Foreign Office in 1989 after studying […]
OCA #21 SPRING 2016 WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM He who drives along the motorway from Russia into Belarus or vice versa will see no control posts either for cargo, vehicles or persons at the border. Further southeast, control posts between Russia and Kazakhstan are at an advanced stage of being dismantled. Together with Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, they make […]
Kyrgyz-born Mikhail Shvydkoy is no ordinary diplomat. Since 2008, he has been the Special Envoy for International Cultural Cooperation to President Dmitry Medvedev, which followed a stint as the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. Before becoming Minister of Culture, however, Shvydkoy held many prestigious positions, including editor-in-chief of Channel 5 and later Chairman […]
