Answers: The Post-Soviet ‘Stans’ of Central Asia
The first week of 2022 was marked by violent protests in a unusual corner of the world, Kazakhstan. The worst unrest in the Central Asian nation in 30 years of independence began over fuel price increases and expanded to wider socio-economic and political concerns. In the aftermath of the protests, the influence wielded by the only living ex-leader with a capital named after him (Nur-sultan) appears to have waned and his once-powerful relatives and associates removed from senior posts.
September 2022 update: The capital has returned to its old name of Astana.
Nursultan Nazarbayev is among those who transitioned from being the local communist boss to the presidency in Central Asia when Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan gained independence with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The region has a reputation for long-lasting autocratic leaders, some of them helped by an abundance of energy and other natural resources.
Central Asia was a key part of the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that linked China with the West. Now it is crucial to the Belt and Road Initiative as China expands its economic clout. But Russia and the Russian language loom large and a Moscow-led regional security force was deployed to Kazakhstan to help quell the unrest.
While working on this topic, I realised that the five Central Asian leaders were to be invited for India’s Republic Day on January 26. With coronavirus and the Omicron variant coming in the way, the inaugural India-Central Asia summit turned out to be an all-virtual affair. More here and here.
Answers
1) Kazakhstan is the largest producer of which heavy metal, accounting for about 40 percent of global output? Prices of the metal jumped in January during the unrest (the abundance of this metal gives Kazakhstan an important role in the global transition away from fossil fuels)
Uranium. Kazakhstan produces more than 40 percent of the world’s nuclear fuel. More here and here. Kazakhstan played an important role in talks to secure the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Earlier the Soviet Union had detonated its first atomic bomb at the Semipalatinsk site in Kazakhstan in 1949. Hundreds of nuclear tests were conducted there, with massive health consequences for residents. After Kazakhstan closed the site in 1991, Washington and Moscow cooperated to ensure the nuclear weapons stored there were securely transferred to Russia. More here and here. Russia also operates other missile testing ties in Kazakhstan on lease. More here and here.
2) Kazakhstan is due to complete a linguistic transition by 2025, Uzbekistan plans to complete the switch by 2023, Turkmenistan announced the change in 1993 and transitioned over the next few years. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan however haven’t changed course. What are we talking about? (outside of Central Asia, Azerbaijan also initiated a switch in the post-Soviet era)
Shifting from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet. More here and here. Russia has been watching warily, sensitive to the changing status of the Russian language in Central Asia. More here.
3) This place inside Kazakhstan has been leased to Russia. The first big event there was in 1957 and since then it’s been a key site for the USSR and then Russia (Hint: India’s connection to the place began in 1984). Name the place and what is it known for?
Baikonur Cosmodrome. Sputnik 1 was launched from there in 1957 and so was Vostok 1 in 1961, the first spacecraft to carry a human, Yuri Gagarin. It was also the launchpad for NASA astronauts heading for the International Space Station after NASA closed its Space Shuttle programme. More on Baikonur here. In 1984 Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space, joining a Soviet mission. More here.
4) Which capital city in Central Asia was renamed Stalinabad in 1929. It got its old name back in 1962 as part of Nikita Khrushchev’s de-Stalinisation drive which also saw Stalingrad becoming Volgograd and Stalino Donetsk. Which city?
Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The New York Times from 1929 here on the change to Stalinabad. More here, here and here on contemporary Dushanbe.
5) Mikhail Frunze was instrumental in the Bolshevik conquest of Central Asia after the 1917 revolution. He died during surgery in 1925 when Stalin was in charge (questions remain on whether the surgery was needed). A capital city in Central Asia was named after him in 1926. It reverted back to a version of its old name in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union. Which capital city? (Frunze is an increasingly forgotten figure in the country that he once conquered)
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. In the pre-Soviet era Bishkek was known as Pishpek. More on Mikhail Frunze here. The New York Times on Frunze’s death in 1925 here.
6) Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the U.S. and the UK is the only woman to be head of state among the post-Soviet Central Asian republics. She was active as an opposition politician during two revolutions (2005 and 2010) that ousted presidents. She was interim president from 2010 to 2011 and enabled a rare peaceful transfer of power in the region following elections. Which country?
Kyrgyzstan. More about the 2010 revolution here and more about recent unrest here.
7) This biennial sporting competition was launched in Kyrgyzstan in 2014. The main highlight is kok boru, a variant of polo in which riders fight for a goat carcass. Other events include horseback wrestling, horseback archery and hunting involving eagles, falcons and dogs. Name the competition (Turkey is due to host the latest edition this year)
World Nomad Games. More here, here and here.
8) Which country ceded land to China in 2011, settling a century-old border dispute surrounding the remote Pamir Mountains?
Tajikistan. More on the ceding of land to China here and here. Tajikistan is one of Afghanistan’s northern neighbours and has a tense relationship with the Taliban. Russia, China and India all maintain military bases here.
9) This poem about a legendary warrior hailed as the unifier of Kyrgyz people is among the longest epic poems in the world, if not the longest. For long it was passed orally from performer to performer. The Kyrgyz government celebrated its 1000th anniversary in 1995 and it’s a cultural rallying point. Name the poem (Hint: it shares its name with a former U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan, which was set up with Russia’s consent after the September 11 attacks)
Manas. More here, here, here and here. The U.S. was allowed to use the Manas base in December 2001 with Russian consent for the Afghanistan invasion. Kyrgyzstan became the only country to host both Russian and U.S. military bases. The U.S. withdrew in 2014. More on the withdrawal here and here.
10) The capital of this country was filled with gold statues of the then president including a revolving one. He renamed the months of the year (January after himself and April after his mother) as well as days of the week. His two-volume book Ruhnama(Book of the Soul) had to be studied in all schools. Demonstrating command over the Ruhnama was obligatory for civil service jobs, university admissions and even getting a driving license. Name the country and president.
Turkmenistan and Saparmurat Niyazov, who called himself ‘Turkmenbashi’ (Father of the Turkmen). More here, here and here. Niyazov’s personal dentist Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov succeeded him. While the months of the year are now aligned with the rest of the world, Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most closed countries. Only North Korea and Eritrea fare worse in Reporters without Borders’ 2021 World Press Freedom Index. More about Berdymukhamedov’s love for horses and his prolific literary output in my earlier quiz on Fictional Pursuits of National Leaders here. Last week he announced plans to step down and his son is widely expected to take over.
11) These two ‘stans’ have a long-running border dispute and stone-throwing civilians often clash over land and water. But 2021 saw the deadliest clash in years also involving the two militaries. Dozens were killed. This January saw another border flare-up. Name the two countries.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. More here, here, and here.
12) What genre inspired by K-pop was initiated by the boy band Ninety One in 2014? Ninety One took its name from 1991, the year of Kazakhstan’s independence. This genre challenged gender norms in a conservative nation and went on to gain fans in neighbouring countries as well.
Q-pop or Qazaq pop. More here, here and here.
13) It is the poorest country among all the post-Soviet states and one of the most remittance-dependent countries in the world (a third of GDP). The construction sector in Russia remains the biggest employer of migrant workers from this country. Which country?
Tajikistan. More here, here and here.
14) Kazakhstan has the largest diaspora of this ethnic group outside China, numbering over 200,000. This includes people who have lived in Kazakhstan for centuries as well as recent arrivals. Which ethnicity?
Uighur. More here and here. China’s Xinjiang province also has an ethnic Kazakh minority and some of them have been detained in ‘re-education’ camps along with Uighurs. More here and here. This has put Kazakhstan’s government in an uncomfortable position as it expands economic ties with China (Xi Jinping initiated what became known as the Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan in 2013). More here and here.
15) Kyrgyzstan’s Barak, Uzbekistan’s Chonkara, Dzhangail, Shakhimardan and Sokh, Tajikistan’s Vorukh, Kayragach and Sarvan are legacies of Soviet map-making and administrative decisions carried on into independence. These areas have seen violence and tensions in the post-Soviet era and their complicated status have soured ties between the nations. Why?
All are exclaves of one country surrounded by the territory of another. Kyrgyzstan’s Barak is surrounded by Uzbekistan, while Uzbekistan’s four exclaves are within Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan’s Vorukh and Kayragach are surrounded by Kyrgyzstan while Sarvan lies within Uzbekistan.
Tajikistan’s Sarvan inside Uzbekistan. Courtesy Google Maps
Tajikistan’s Vorukh surrounded by Kyrgyzstan. Courtesy Google Maps
Uzbekistan’s Sokh surrounded by Kyrgyzstan. Courtesy Google Maps. Sokh as mentioned in the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty video below is an Uzbekistan exclave inside Kyrgyzstan with an ethnic Tajik population.
16) This prince (later emperor) took Balkh and Badakhshan (now in Afghanistan) from Uzbeks in 1647. But his bid to march further into Central Asia was thwarted by the Uzbeks and he had to retreat from the failed (and expensive) campaign. Who?
Aurangzeb. More here. Besides territorial expansion, Central Asia held immense sentimental value for the Mughals. Their founder Babur was born in the Ferghana Valley and his ancestor Timur’s empire was headquartered in Samarkand, part of present-day Uzbekistan.
Postscript
In hindsight I feel a quiz could have been solely devoted to Kazakhstan. Talking points include being the largest land-locked country in the world (ninth largest overall), recent unrest, the waning influence of Nursultan Nazarbayev, its status as the ‘Saudi Arabia of uranium’, diplomatic player in the Iran nuclear talks as well as the host of talks on the Syrian conflict, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Uighur minority, Q-pop, language politics with Russia and Kazakhstan’s key role in the Soviet space and nuclear programmes and now Russia’s missile testing plans.