Turkey may be seen by many in the Middle East as a democratic role model, but inside the country, government critics assert that improper practices during pre-trial detention reveal a less-than-firm commitment to the rule of law on Ankara’s part.
He might be considered the most famous Uzbek in the former Soviet Union, but comedian Obid Asomov has been made virtually invisible in his native Uzbekistan.
A district court in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Batken Province seems to have had a hard time distinguishing Islam from Christianity. The court recently sentenced two Jehovah’s Witnesses to seven-year prison terms for the possession of banned radical Islamic media materials.
Armenia’s diaspora is renowned for maintaining strong ties to the Motherland. But members of at least one diaspora group who have returned to Armenia – Iranian-Armenians – say they are encountering difficulty in gaining acceptance in Yerevan.
Azim Pasanov’s home on the outer limits of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan’s capital, has no water and no electricity. Eighteen years after he moved there, his life remains unsettled. Doctors won’t see his bedridden wife, Sanabubu, and he can’t send all his grandchildren to school because he and his relatives still lack proper registration documents.
