KYRGYZSTAN- KTK TV channel (Kazakhstan) reports today that Kyrgyz secret services are involved in the murder of Kyrgyz journalist.
Pavlyuk, 40, died in a hospital in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on December 22, six days after being thrown from an upper-story window of an apartment building. His hands and legs were bound with tape.
Pavlyuk, an ethnic Russian, was described by colleagues as one of Kyrgyzstan’s most prominent journalists. He had traveled from Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, to Almaty on December 16 for business, according to colleagues, although the exact purpose remains unclear. Some local news reports said Pavlyuk intended to start a pro-opposition online publication and had traveled to Almaty to meet with potential partners.

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By Mikhail Bushuyev, edited by Galina Toktalieva
The head of Swiss publishing house Unionsverlag, Lucien Leitess, gave an interview to Deutsche Welle about perception of Kyrgyz writer Chingiz Aitmatov in the West.
Aitmatov is a very popular in Europe, especially in German-speaking countries. His story Jamila is one of the most affecting love stories narrated in the XX century. One of the major publishers of his creative work is a Swiss publishing house Unionsverlag.
How many books by Chingiz Aitmatov were published in German? How many are published now?
Lucien Leitess: Books by Chingiz Aitmatov had been published during last ten years – hundreds of thousands of copies. Millions were bought and read by German-speaking readers. It is difficult to overestimate popularity of Aitmatov in the West, especially in Germany. Many books were published there, but even more books were demanded. There was always shortage of books. Half a million of Jamila story’s copies were published in various publishing houses. Some copies were printed in addition. No other writer from the former Soviet Union had so many German-speaking fans as Kyrgyz author Aitmatov.
Chingiz Aitmatov is likely to be the most famous Kyrgyz in the world. Is everything done to preserve Aitmatov’s heritage in Kyrgyzstan?
I know that nothing has been done one year after author’s death. There is no grave stone, the authorities promised to rename the street in honor of Aitmatov but have not done it yet. (more…)

Radio Free Europe
After president elections in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan’s Central Election Commission has announced the final results of July 23 elections, officially confirming that Kurmanbek Bakiev has been reelected to a second term in office with more than 76 percent of the vote. Bakiev, who turns 60 on August 1, was a city and regional Communist Party official when Kyrgyzstan was a Soviet republic, and after independence was a district head in southern Kyrgyzstan. In 1997, he became governor of Chu Province, where Bishkek is located. In 2000 he was named prime minister.
He resigned in May 2002 amid popular unrest and widespread protests at his government’s failure to address the shooting of protesters by police during a demonstration two months earlier. (more…)

By Alex Kirby, BBC
Edited by Galina Toktalieva

Twenty years after independence, this small Central Asian state remains one of the poorest among former Soviet Union respublics, struggling to make its way in a complex and sometimes hostile world.
There is something of Arcadia about Kyrgyzstan in the spring. Heading out of the southern city of Osh, you pass apple and apricot orchards, with the road climbing every now and then to cross a spur of the mountains.There are not as many sheep as there were in Soviet times, when Kyrgyzstan was expected to provide winter overcoats for the world’s largest army but there are still plenty. We were heading for the small town of Khaidarkan, home to the only mercury mine in the world which is still exporting its output. (more…)

The snow leopard is a beautiful and charismatic animal, found in the remote mountainous regions of Central Asia. Protected by thick, smoky-grey fur, and capable of leaping thirty feet and taking prey three times its own weight, it is well adapted to the cold, harsh landscape. Solitary, shy and well camouflaged, the snow leopard is very rarely seen. Although not at all aggressive to humans, it continues to suffer at their hands
24.kg –Population of snow leopards rises on the territory of Sarychat-Ertash nature reserve, Kyrgyzstan, National Academy of Science informed. There are reportedly seven animals listed in Kyrgyz Red Data Book of endangered species, two of them are leopardesses with cubs. “Growth of snow leopard population should continue up to restoration of it initial number on the territory- 17-20 animals,” the National Academy of Science said.
Sarychat-Ertash nature reserve is situated at junction of Internal and Central Tien Shan, in valleys of Sarychat, Ertash, Uchkul rivers. Its total area is 135 thousand hectares.

By Aizada Kutueva – 24.kg, edited by Galina Toktalieva
Publishing and authoring are in pit
Books are not so popular nowadays as they were before. People, especially young prefer TV and Internet, which to their opinion are easier to comprehend than taking trouble to read books. Such tendency surely affects writers. I am quite sure that the main part of the Kyrgyz population can hardly remember any best-seller, except for Chingiz Aitmatov’s works. I decided to find out why nobody writes best-sellers in Kyrgyzstan and addressed this question to different people in Bishkek.
Elena Voronina, director of organization on children rights protection: – There is no real literature in Kyrgyzstan nowadays, as we have lost true artists, such as Chingiz Aitmatov and Tugelbai Sydykbekov who essentially contributed to the culture of Kyrgyz people before.The world has changed and former values lost their relevance. (more…)

Mailuusuu ist eine Industriestadt im Süden Kirgisistans. Seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden hier Radiobaryt-Vorkommen entdeckt. Zwischen 1946 und 1968 wurde in der Umgebung der Stadt Uran abgebaut.

Seit dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion und dem Ende des Uranabbaus und der Uranweiterverarbeitung dort hat die Stadt schwere Zeiten erlebt: seit dem Ende der Uranindustrie gibt es für den Großteil der örtlichen Bevölkerung nicht mehr viel Arbeit. Das schlimmste Erbe aus der Sowjetzeit sind jedoch die vielen (insgesamt 36) nicht gesicherten Lager von Uranabfällen an den steilen und tektonisch instabilen Berghängen oberhalb der Stadt. Nach einer im Oktober 2006 veröffentlichten Studie des Blacksmith Instituts aus New York ist Mailuusuu damit eine der zehn am schlimmsten verseuchten Gegenden der Welt.

For a generation, Toko and his extended family have grown tomatoes, apples and strawberries along the Mailuu Suu River in southern Kyrgyzstan. Their little plot was a form of insurance, looked upon as a reliable food source that could help feed the family and produce some income amid the post-Soviet era’s economic uncertainty. But for the past year a new sign across the muddy lane displays the fearsome international trefoil symbol for radioactivity: “Keep Out!” Former bounty turned into a wellspring of misery for Toko’s family. He and his children now suffer headaches and nausea, maladies caused by what they suspect to be contaminated products.
In March 2008, officials from Kyrgyzstan’s Emergencies Ministry began moving radioactive uranium waste from Soviet-era dumps – into the hills just above his home. “It gives us headaches; our eyes itch,” Toko says as he gestures across the road. Now he grows his fruits and vegetables in water potentially contaminated by the radioactive materials.
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Three Chinese tourists have bought a 274-kg piece of depleted uranium and brought it home from Kyrgyzstan as a souvenir, the China Daily newspaper reported.
The three tourists bought “the glittering treasure” for $2,000 at a flea market in Kyrgyzstan, hoping to make money by reselling it in China.
Not knowing what they had actually bought, the tourists sliced off a piece of the stone and took it to experts from Beijing’s University. After identifying the souvenir as a piece of depleted uranium, the scientists called the police.
Kyrgyzstan has a number of uranium disposal sites left from Soviet-era uranium mining.

Soviet-Era Uranium Waste in Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, May 7 – Radioactive dust, contaminated groundwater and toxic landslides and floods threaten more than a million people in Central Asia. (more…)