International media forum dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan and the election of our country as Vice-Chairman of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly was held in Ashgabat On September 16, 2020, International media forum dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the permanent Neutrality of Turkmenistan and […]
Category Archives: OCA#35
ARMENIA’S ANCIENT ZORATS KARER STONES
The two provinces in the south of Armenia, Vayots Dzor and Syunik, are a spectacular strip of land at the very bottom of the Caucasus. The highway that runs through them, between the towns of Yeraskh and Meghri, passes over the mountains that separate the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in the east from the Azeri […]
IN WHICH COUNTRY WOULD YOU RATHER GET MARRIED?
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 […]
VASILY KOREN – A NEW NAME OF GLORY FOR BELARUS
www.ocamagazine.com #35 summer 2020 text & photos by Mikhail Rybakov Vasily Koren, is still a little-known name in Belarus, but for the first time this name, significant for the Belarusian historical and cultural heritage, has begun to be heard on the streets and in the media in Belarus. In January 2020 in the State Museum […]
MUSIC WITHOUT BORDERS
The Tariverdiev International Organ Competition is one of the world’s largest organ contests. For organists, it has the same significance in Russia as the Tchaikovsky competition does for pianists and violinists. Outstanding organists from a number of countries have been on the competition’s panel on several occasions, including Martin Haselböck, Michel Chapuis, Jean Guillou, Thierry […]
ART UNITES
www.ocamagazine.com #35 summer 2020 text and photos by Pavel Podzorov pavelspne@tut.by The modern world is complex and diverse, it is full of opposing trends. Never before our earth has been subjected to such political and physical overloads. Never before has man taken from nature so many resources and never been so vulnerable to the power […]
IS IT IN OUR BLOOD? OR SWEAT?
www.ocamagazine #35 summer 2020 text by Tara Pandeya Dance is an integral part of life in Central Asia; it can be seen both in rural settings and on the proscenium stage, from highly developed virtuosic classical styles to nuanced and subtle folk-dance forms. Western audiences might be surprised to learn that Central Asia has an […]
POSTOIEV’S GREAT COMET JOURNEY: TASHKENT TO SÃO PAULO
Arrest, prison, GULag, suffering, and death – all are images that come to mind when we think of the Stalin era Great Purges of the 1930s. Solzhenitsyn’s GULag Archipelago and the memoirs of survivors document this period of a government’s war against its own people in heart-wrenching detail. It was a war fought so successfully […]
FROM MASSACHUSETTS TO TASHKENT: A CAREER IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM OCA#35 SUMMER 2020 Interview with Michael Schena recorded by Saniya Seilkhanova Growing up in Plymouth, Massachusetts and later studying at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he pursued a degree in International Affairs, Michael Schena decided to pursue a career that would allow him travel and work. A regular visitor to […]
WE SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE QUALITY
In 2021 the L.N. Gumilyov ENU celebrates a quarter of a century since its birth. The young and promising university was founded on 23 May 1996 by merging two well-known universities – Akmola Civil Engineering Institute and Akmola Pedagogical Institute. The first intake of students amounted no more than 1000 people. The university was in […]
DEFENDING WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN
I am from Afghanistan. I am Uzbek by ethnicity and Uzbeks are the least privileged and the most marginalised ethnic group in Afghanistan. Educational opportunities are scare for an Afghan Uzbek woman in the male-dominated society. I managed to complete my masters degree in International Public Law with distinction. I am among the very few […]
ADVOCATING FOR MOUNTAIN COMMUNITIES THROUGH EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
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 […]
CENTRAL ASIA 3.0: 2020 AND BEYOND
WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM OCA#35 SUMMER 2020 text by Marc David Miller For several years I have been out of the Central Asian market. Upon my return in 2019, I saw many changes in the region, changes that are not necessarily good or bad but that investors need to be aware of in order to understand the entire […]
THE COVID CRISIS IN CENTRAL ASIA COMPLIANCE, CAUTION AND DENIAL
WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM OCA#35 SUMMER 2020 text by Gareth Stamp As the whole world is coming to terms with what is a ‘new world’ post pandemic, the spotlight is falling on the response of countries to the crisis and as of equal importance how they are dealing with economic recovery. At the time of writing (mid May […]
INTERVIEW: IHOR KYZYM, AMBASSADOR OF UKRAINE TO BELARUS
WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM OCA#35 SUMMER 2020 As Ukraine continues to look towards the EU for its future, OCA Magazine met with the Ukrainian Ambassador to Belarus, in order to find out more about the European geopolitical direction of the country, as well as the development of Ukrainian-Belarusian relations. OCA: What is the regime of work of your embassy during […]
EURASIANIASM — FROM LITHUANIA TO LONDON
OCA #35 SUMMER 2020 WWW.OCAMAGAZINE.COM interview prepared by Saniya Seilkhanova INTERVIEW: ALDONA GRUPAS Born in Riga, Latvia, to Lithuanian parents, Aldona Grupas later moved to Klaipėda in Lithuania, before resettling in the UK, where she embarked on a geriatric-nursing career. She has written books for Lithuanians who move to the UK to help them […]
Azerbaijanis around the world celebrate their National Day on May 28
Establishment of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic on 28 May, 1918 was a glorious page in Azerbaijani history. Committing to principles of democracy and secularity, ADR was the first parliamentary republic in the Muslim East, granting women the right to vote before most western democracies. ADR fell in April 1920 after Bolshevik invasion. Nevertheless, it laid the […]