Postcards from Stanland

by David H. Mould

OSCE: Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe

  OVIR: Otdel Viz i Registratsii (Department of Visas and Registration)

  Perestroika: Gorbachev-era policy of social and economic transition (literally restructuring or rebuilding)

  Plov: Uzbek dish common throughout Central Asia, a lamb pilaf with carrots, onions, and hot peppers

  Polygon (Semipalatinsk Polygon): region of northeastern Kazakhstan where for 40 years Soviet Union conducted above- and below-ground nuclear tests

  Ru: Kazakh tribe

  Samogon: literally “self-run,” a homemade distilled alcoholic concoction, usually made from sugar, beets, potatoes, bread, or fruit

  Samsa: pastry filled with spicy meat or vegetables

  Shashlyk: marinated mutton or beef kebabs, grilled and served with vinegary onions

  Shirdak: traditional, brightly colored Kyrgyz felt rug

  SSR: Soviet Socialist Republic

  Stalinka: brick or cinder-block apartment blocks built from the 1930s to 1950s, some with neoclassical architectural features

  Subbotnik: community work day (usually for students)

  Trudarmiya: Labor Army, convicts deported to Siberia and the Kazakh SSR during Stalin era to work in industry and agriculture

  Tsum: central department store

  Turksib: Turkestan-Siberia Railway (Tashkent to Novosibirsk)

  Virgin Lands: Soviet scheme launched in the 1960s to convert almost 100,000 square miles of grassland in the Kazakh SSR and Ukraine into arable land to raise wheat and other grains

  Wiedergeburt (Rebirth): social and cultural association of ethnic Germans in Kazakhstan

  Yurt: traditional Kyrgyz nomadic dwelling of sheepskins or canvas stretched over a wooden frame

  Zek: convict in Soviet labor camp

  Zheltoqsan (December): nationalist protests in Alma-Ata in 1986, suppressed by Soviet troops

  Zhuz: horde, or confederation of tribes; Kazakhs identify as members of the Great, Middle, or Little Horde

  Acknowledgments

  In the mid-1990s, when I first worked in Central Asia, the literature on the region was scant. Today, there’s an expanding pool of academic scholarship, think-tank analysis, journalistic reporting, and commentary, in print and online, on almost every topic. There’s no room here to list all the scholarship, so I’ll just mention the works I found particularly insightful. Of the many books on the struggle for power and commerce in the region, I found Peter Hopkirk’s classic, The Great Game, Paul Georg Geiss’s Pre-Tsarist and Tsarist Central Asia, and Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac’s Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia thorough and enjoyable to read. Another book by Karl E. Meyer, The Dust of Empire: The Race for Mastery in the Asian Heartland, offers a more contemporary, but historically grounded, analysis. On the rise of Nazarbayev and the politics of oil, the works of Martha Brill Olcott (particularly Kazakhhstan: Unfulfilled Promise?) are essential reading. Even though it’s uncritical (“mush and slush,” as one reviewer put it), Jonathan Aitken’s biography, Nazarbayev and the Making of Kazakhstan, provides a thorough, well-researched account of the leader’s rise from humble roots. For current events, I relied primarily on online news sites, including EurasiaNet, with Joanna Lillis’s insightful reporting on Kazakhstan, Transitions Online, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Registan. For other takes on controversial issues, I consulted Central Asian government and Russian sources.

  Many people helped me along the way. Martin Hadlow, head of the UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office for Central Asia, and Bruce McGowan, the US embassy public affairs officer (PAO) in Kyrgyzstan, sponsored my first assignment in 1995. On my Fulbright in 1996–97, I worked closely with public affairs officer Kelly Keiderling, one of the smartest, most honest and direct US foreign service officers I’ve ever met. The United States Information Service staff in Bishkek, particularly Turat Makanbayev, Munara Munduzbayeva, and Larisa Desyatkova, provided outstanding support; I credit Turat with helping me understand how closely media in Kyrgyzstan are related to history and culture. I was privileged to work with Tarja Virtanen who, as UNESCO Central Asia head from 2006 to 2009, made media development and professional standards in journalism a priority. I’ve worked with Sergey Karpov, UNESCO’s regional communication and information officer, on many projects, and count him as one of my dearest friends in the region. I also owe much to university colleagues: to Anisa Borubayeva, my first dean at Kyrgyz State National University; to Galiya Ibrayeva and Karliga Myssayeva at Kazakhh National University; to John Couper and Gulnar Assanbayeva at KIMEP; Yelena Kandalina and Olga Kungarova at Kostanai State University; Togzhan Mukatayeva and Galiya Damenova at Semey State University; Tatyana Golubsova at Karaganda State University; and Zhas Sabitov at Eurasian National University in Astana. And to my media colleagues and friends—Asqat Yerkimbay, Kazakh blogger, journalist, and media educator; Andrey Tsvetkov and Talgat Acirankulov, TV station directors in Bishkek; Renat Khusainov, the first manager of the Osh Media Resource Center; Dariya Tsyrenzhapova in Almaty; and Safo Saforov in Dushanbe. Parts of several chapters were previously published as freelance articles, features, and op-eds; in particular, I’d like to thank Barbara Frye, managing editor of Transitions Online, and Rebecca Attwood, features editor of Times Higher Education, for responding to my often quirky pitches and helping me focus my stories.

  Over the years, my Russian has improved. Two teachers at Ohio University—Karen Evans-Romaine (now Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of Wisconsin–Madison) and Vera Belousova—helped me grasp (if not exactly master) the basics of grammar, writing, and reading. Vera kindly reviewed the manuscript and corrected my transliterations. Credit for my speaking skills goes primarily to two teachers in Central Asia—Galina Shumkina in Bishkek and Galiya Suleimenova in Astana—although both also helped me greatly with grammar, writing, and reading. I could not have survived without excellent interpreters and assistants—Gulkhan Borubayeva at Kyrgyz State National and Aigul Karimshakova with Bishkek media, Irina Velska in Almaty and Astana, Diana Akizhamova at Eurasian National University, Dina Khamitova in Almaty, and Darya Nenakhova in Karaganda.

  Others who offered support and friendship don’t fit easily into categories, so I’ll just mention them in turn: Martha Merrill, a professor of higher education at Kent State University, my fellow Fulbrighter in Kyrgyzstan, who stayed on much longer than I did; Harvey Flad, a geography professor, also a Fulbrighter in 1997, and his wife, Mary; Elizabeth Sammons, my coauthor for a book chapter on journalism ethics in Central Asia; Manil Cooray, deputy director of the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development, based in Kuala Lumpur, who provided logistical support for several workshops in Almaty; Magda Stawkowski, my guide to Kazakhstan’s Polygon region; and Hal Foster, a former Los Angeles Times journalist, my friend (and sometime apartment mate) in Astana in 2011.

  My editor at the Ohio University Press, Gillian Berchowitz, encouraged me to undertake this project, and was both a reliable guide and thoughtful critic through the writing and production process. Brian Balsley used his cartographic skills and creativity to produce maps that matched the narrative tone. My talented graduate assistant at Ohio University, Heather Porter, contributed the illustrations.

  My deepest gratitude is to my wife, Stephanie Hysmith, who shared the joys and challenges of living in Kyrgyzstan for a year in the mid-1990s. Although she hasn’t returned to the region with me since then, she has always supported me in my travels and encouraged me to write about them.

  Index

  Abilov, Shakhimardan, 254–55

  Ablai Khan, 144–45

  Ablyazov, Mukhtar, 274

  Adil Soz (press advocacy group), 286

  Afghanistan, 7, 8, 27, 29, 87, 89, 259, 279, 280, 281

  air travel, 1–2, 19, 43–44, 62, 124–26, 160

  Aitken, Jonathan (Nazarbayev biographer), 226–28

  Ajir (labor camp), 218

&n
bsp; Akayev, Askar, 22, 58, 65, 76–77, 78, 89, 93, 96, 118; and journalism faculty, 69–71, 72; libel legislation, 84–85; overthrow in Tulip Revolution, 88

  Akayeva, Mayram, 86, 87

  Ak Burra (river), 20, 111

  Akizhanova, Diana, 193, 198, 207, 300

  Ak Orda (Kazakhstan White House), 140, 201–2, 202fig.

  Aktau (Shevchenko), 268, 271, 272, 273; history of, 270–71

  Ala-Archa (river), 46

  Ala-Bel (mountain pass), 107

  Alamedin (bazaar), Bishkek, 50, 54

  Alamedin (river), 46

  Alash Orda, 146, 149, 151, 246, 260, 285

  Ala Too (formerly Lenin) Square, 15, 46, 47

  alcoholism, 38, 159

  Almaty (formerly Verniy, Alma-Ata), 1, 43, 44, 45, 46, 87, 90, 94, 120, 121, 126, 133, 160, 169, 191, 198; as capital of Kazakhstan, 163, 187–88; climate, 164–65; earthquakes, 163, 187; geography and architecture, 163; growth in World War II, 162–63; history and settlement of, 161–63; location, 164; map, 144; naming of, 161; pollution, 164, 186; street names, 142–43, 144–45; transportation and industrial center, 162; and Zhanaozen protests, 272–73

  alphabet, change of Kazakh, 157, 252, 260

  Altay Mountains, 143, 151

  altitude sickness, 116–18

  Aminov, Akzhanat, 273, 274

  Amnesty International, 84, 134

  Amu Darya (river), 107, 285

  Andijan protests, 280

  animism, 28

  apartments, 46–47, 59–60, 108, 163, 192–93, 217

  Aral Sea, 20, 107, 120, 133, 270

  ArcelorMittal, 230–31

  Ashkhbat, 34

  Asian Winter Games (2011), 182, 197–98

  Astana, 161, 179, 240; as Akmola, 188–90; architecture, 181–85, 198–204; climate, 195–97, 200, 204; construction, 190; Dubai, compared to, 183, 186, 204; and Eurasia, 183, 184, 200, 202; international image, 183, 186, 276; left and right banks, 189–90, 192–93, 202, 204; map, 194; Nazarbayev’s vision of, 182, 183, 184, 185, 198, 201; perceptions and media coverage of, 181–87, 190, 197, 198, 288; population growth, 182; as Potemkin Village, 185, 190; selection as new capital, 187–88; as Tselinograd, 189; and utopian imagery, 183, 185, 204

  Atakhanova, Kaisha, 243–44

  Atambayev, Almazbek, 85

  Atyrau, 265, 266, 268, 271

  Auezov, Mukhtar, 154, 252

  Babur, King Zahiruddin, 27–28, 34

  Baikonur (cosmodrome), 223–25; environmental impact of, 224–25

  Baitursynov, Akhmat, 260–61

  Bakiyev, Kurmanbek, 88–92, 93, 98; authoritarian rule, 88–90; overthrow of, 90–91, 282

  Baku, 266

  Balkash, Lake, 212, 217, 222

  Balykchy, 94, 98, 100

  Bang, Dr. Chen Yang, 173, 174

  banya, 256–57

  Barksoon, 100; chemical spill, 97

  Barth, Jonathan, 106

  basmachi guerrillas, 32, 45

  Battuta, Ibn, 287, 288

  Batyr (Kazakh warrior chief), ii, 143–44, 149, 171

  Baumgartner, Yana, 180

  Baytrerek monument (Astana), 138, 198–200, 199fig.

  bazaars, 39–40, 47, 50–51, 102

  Beria, Lavrentiy, 235, 236

  Bi (Kazakh sage, judge), 143

  Bishkek (Pishpek, Frunze), 15, 17, 18, 19, 40, 42, 44, 57, 63, 77, 79, 87, 98, 99, 103, 104, 163, 188; history of, 44–46; geography, 46; map, 47; travel in, 48–49

  Blair, Tony, 136–37

  Bologna Process, 172

  Boloshak educational program, 205

  Borat effect, 184

  Borubayeva, Anisa, 63–64, 66, 67–68, 72–75, 300

  Borubayeva, Gulkhan, 74–75, 118, 119, 300

  Brezhnev, Leonid, 228; as First Secretary of Kazakh SSR, 152

  brezhnevka (apartment), 163

  Brysac, Shareen Blair, 28–29

  Brzezinski, Zbigniew, 35

  Bukhara: city of, 33, 45, 120, 122, 123; khanate of, 29, 30, 32, 123, 265

  bureaucracy: in government and business, 56–57, 120, 121, 124–25, 170; in universities, 65–66, 75, 169–71, 172, 207–8

  Bush, George W., 5

  caliphate, 32, 281

  Caspian Sea, 7, 8, 143, 265; fishing industry, 266; oil fields, 188, 266–68 (map, 267), 281

  Catherine the Great, 175

  Centerra Gold, 97, 98

  Central Asia: artificial borders, 11, 32–35, 119–20; and China, 280–81; ethnic mix, 8, 21–22, 34–35, 147–49; explorers, Russian, 95–96, 250–51; map, 7; 1916 rebellion, 31–32, 98; perceptions of, 6–11; Russian conquest of, 20–21, 28–32 (map, 30), 44–45, 143–46; regional rivalry over resources, 34, 35, 109; republics in civil war, 9, 31–32, 45, 98, 146, 176, 246; Russian TV on, 78; territorial enclaves, 35; US policy in, 278–80, 281

  Central Tian Shan, 95, 100, 114

  Chelyabinsk, 259, 260

  Chemolgan, 226, 277

  China, 5, 20, 133, 162, 188, 246; investment in Kazakhstan oil industry, 268, 270; policy and interests in Central Asia, 280–81

  Cholpon Ata, 94, 118

  Chuy: river, 44, 46, 96, 98; valley, 18, 36, 44, 45, 79, 94, 98, 99, 103, 104; whitewater rafting, 124

  Civil War, Russian, 9, 31–32, 45, 98, 146, 176, 246

  climate change, 164–67

  Clinton, Hillary, 78, 85–87

  coal mining: in Karaganda region, 213–14; landscape of, 212; symbols of, 214

  Cohen, Sasha Baron, 184

  Colbert, Stephen, 4–5

  collectivization, 110, 147, 213, 221

  Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 84

  Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), 34

  Connolly, Captain Arthur, 29–30, 123

  corruption, 23–24, 57–59, 66–67, 110, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125–27, 134, 173, 209–10

  Cossacks, 33, 265–66

  cotton, cultivation of, 109, 110

  Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (CIES), 42

  dacha, 11, 38, 51, 231–32

  Dederer, Aleksandr, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180

  deportations (of ethnic groups), 33, 147–48, 175–76, 218, 219, 221

  Deutsche allgemeine Zeitung (DAZ), 179

  dezhurnaya (hotel floor lady), 20, 128

  Djalalabad, 18, 35, 81–82, 103, 107; TV stations, 81–82; and 2010 ethnic clashes, 90, 91

  Dmitrevna, Maria, 249

  Dolinka (labor camp), 218, 221

  Dom Babura (Osh), 28

  dombyra, 5, 153, 252, 255

  Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, 247–48, 250, 252; exile in Semipalatinsk, 146, 248–50; museum, 249fig., 250; return to Russia, 249

  Dungan, mosque (Karakol), 100, 101fig.

  Dusembayeva, Naila, 240–41

  Dushanbe, 32, 125, 128, 129

  dvor (apartment courtyard), 59–60

  Dzerzhinsky, Felix, 145

  Dzungars, 143–44, 145, 161

  EcoMuseum (Karaganda), 222–25, 234, 244

  economy, informal, 26, 38–39, 110, 214–15

  education, higher, 63–67, 75, 172–73, 204–5, 206, 207–10, 260–61

  elections, 65, 89, 93, 136, 138–39, 207, 256, 276; irregularities, 141–42; monitoring, 140–42;

  English language, 205–6

  environment, 97, 164–67, 222–25; media coverage of, 166–67

  Erkin Ala Too (TV), 81

  Erkindik (Liberty) statue, Bishkek, 15, 16

  ethnic conflict, southern Kyrgyzstan; in 1990, 16, 21–22; in 2010, 91–92, 93

  ethnic mix, 5–6, 8, 20–21, 32–35, 147–49, 150–51, 153, 260

  Eurasian National University (ENU), Astana, 140, 191, 192, 193, 204, 207–10, 256, 283

  European Union, 111

  Explorers, Russian, 95–96, 250–51

  feast, traditional, 118–19, 253–54

  Fergana: mountain range, 14, 17, 18; Russian province, 31; valley, 14, 18 (map, 18), 20, 21, 29, 35, 36, 38, 51, 103, 108, 110, 280

  Flad, Harvey, 67, 113,
114, 301

  Fomina, Lena, 81–82

  foreign aid, 22, 58, 89, 278–80

  Foster, Hal, 140, 193, 301

  Foster, Sir Norman, 200–201, 202

  Frunze, Mikhail Vasilevich, 45–46, 146

  Fulbright Fellowship, xiii, 41–42, 75, 87, 191–92, 195, 210

  Gafurov, Timur, 261, 262

  Gagarin, Yuri, 223, 246

  Genghis Khan, 27, 34, 143

  geography: ignorance of, 4–11; pivot of history theory, 9, 11, 29, 281

  geopolitics, 7–8, 9, 279–82

  Germans: attitudes toward, 175; language, 177, 178; out-migration of, 175, 177, 178–80, 220. See also Volga Germans

  gerrymandering, Soviet, 11, 32–35

  Golden Horde, 143, 265

  Golubsova, Antonietta, 229–30, 231–32, 232fig.

  Gorbachev, Mikhail, 7, 11, 21, 36, 38, 115, 152, 237

  Great Game, 29–30, 42, 280–81

  gulag, 218–19

  heating systems (central), 25, 109–9

  herding and livestock raising, 167–69, 189, 211, 235, 239, 240, 241, 242, 264

  history: revisionism, 11–12, 14–16, 26, 45, 149, 284–86; and Karlag, 221–22

  hordes (zhuz), Kazakh, 28, 31, 33, 143–44, 145–46, 151, 154, 161–62, 285

  hotels, Soviet, 20, 102, 108, 127–30, 216, 269

  houses, Russian traditional, 100, 100fig., 246, 247figs.

  hydroelectric power, 107, 109

  Hysmith, Stephanie, 1, 3, 11, 41, 43, 44, 48, 54, 55, 56, 60–62, 102, 103, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 121, 124, 205, 232, 301

  Ibraghimovna, Ismailova, 22–24

  Ibrayeva, Galiya, 170–71, 171fig., 191, 300

  International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), 141–42

  iron and steel manufacturing, 214, 225–29, 230–31; symbols of, 231

  Irtysh (river), 235, 246, 249, 260

  Ishim (river), 192, 195, 201

  Islam, 32, 110, 120, 123, 149–50, 201, 202

  Issyk Kul, 113, 114, 117, 118, 254; fruit growing, 95, 102, 118; history and geography, 94–97; map, 99; settlement, 95; tourism, 96–97, 118

  Jayma bazaar (Osh), 39–40

  Jeopardy, 131

  Jones, Dr. Kerri-Ann, 133

  Jorobev, 104, 106fig., 107, 108

  journalism and media, 19, 22, 69, 70, 76, 85–87, 92–93, 139; coverage of Astana, 184, 185, 186–87, 190; and environment, 166–67; and language, 77, 155–57; libel, as criminal offense, 83–85; restrictions on, 77–78, 80, 82–83, 89–90, 156–57, 186–87, 261–62, 279, 282, 286–87; scope of coverage, 78–80; self-censorship, 83, 186–87; selling of news, 82; student media, 174