The Eurasian military alliance has presented new guidelines for law enforcement operations to be applied in all member states to prevent ‘terrorist infiltration’. Last year 420 illegal organisations were identified, but there were also many summary actions against Tajiks after the attack on Krokus City Hall. Dushanbe is insisting that its citizens fully legalise their residence status in Russia by the end of April.
In the centre of the Tajikistan capital, the start of the demolition of a historic tea house, a world-famous meeting place for writers and artists, to make way for new modern buildings, is sparking heated discussions. The Lokhuti theatre, itself a masterpiece of Tajik architecture, also seems destined for the same fate.
The lack of children's literature in the Kyrgyz language has prompted two mothers to publish at their own expense a series of books based on local stories and traditions told to their children. These initiatives have quickly met with considerable success. They talk to Current Time: ‘They will make our people's boat stronger’.
Moscow and Astana have formed a joint working group for the ‘custody of historical memory’. The Russians are pointing the finger at the way the imperial policy of the tsars and the Soviet Union is presented in history books. While the Kazakhs remember well the words of Putin who in 2014 declared that their country ‘never had its own statehood’.
While mosques are filling up with large crowds from Kyrgyzstan to Kazakhstan, commercial initiatives related to the Muslim holy month are multiplying. And most telephone operators are also offering electronic almsgiving services, with QR codes approved by religious administrations.
The agreement between Kyrgyz and Tajiks-sealed by the embrace between Žaparov and Rakhmon-affects as much as 1,000 kilometers of border and and comes after discussions and clashes dating back to the twentieth century, when both states were under Moscow's control. As recently as three years ago, armed clashes had occurred with several casualties on both sides.
