I thank Ben who has edited this post and published at Global Voices Online and Neweurasia (Originally published at Global Voices and Neweurasia). It was nice to collect opinions of people through the kyrgyz blogs.

The citizens of Kyrgyzstan, a nominally Muslim country, have an interesting history with Islam: While the nomadic Kyrgyz haven’t really been introduced to the religion before the 18th century, Kyrgyzstani Uzbeks from the Ferghana Valley practice a more traditional form of Islam. During the Soviet era, religion was pushed to the sidelines of society, but Islam has seen some revival since Kyrgyzstan’s independence in 1991, again mostly in the southern rural parts of the country. Read the rest of this entry »

Interesting post is written by Neweurasia contributor from Uzbekistan Jamiyat, and points you made we can see in other CA countries, particularly in Tajikistan and the south part of Kyrgyzstan that borders with Uzbekistan and TJ.

I think the one decision of making different the situation is just decreasing the role of the State in business and other spheres of life, excluding citizens security and a little social care. That’s the one only problem-solving mechanism, I think. That’s called as “Laissez Fair”…

Once I had a conversation with an old man in a village near Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He spoke about the Soviet times, about the social welfare system, salaries, and about his years-long money savings in the Soviet Sberbank, which he never got back after the independence, and many other things, which soon got me bored and I did not listen to him anymore.

But there was one thing he told me, which I still remember. He complained that so many people are leaving his village for Russia in spring and summer that there is usually no men in the village to bring the coffin of a deceased person to the cemetery. The elderly can not do that, women are not allowed, so families of the deceased are forced to ask soldiers from a nearby military garrison to help them carry the corpse. “This is a real Hereafter”-he called it then. One can hear similar stories all around the country nowadays…

A lot of Uzbeks (like many other Central Asians) are leaving their homes, families and children for a better payment, opportunity and simply a better life. Some are lucky and successful find a seasonal job with good payment and honest employers. Some are subject to a real slavery, humiliating living and working conditions, bullying of policemen and attacks of neo-fascists….

The first step towards solving a problem is accepting it, but it seems in Uzbekistan it is preferred to close eyes on that or hide it. Instead Uzbeks are promised a great future, just like in the old Soviet times. All know, though, what happened to Communists in the end.

Whole text can be reached at: uzbekistan.neweurasia.net

Asel, my colleague at Neweurasia, wrote an interesting post called as “Prostitution: Legalize or fight it?“:

Some make an argument for legalizing the prostitution, even though it goes against Islamic rules and eastern mentality. With legalization, they believe, the rights of sex-workers will be protected; they will go through regular medical check and receive any essential treatment in case if they get ill. It would also protect them from physical violence and mistreatment both from those who use their service and militia as well. It is said that militia workers use the services for free any time they want.

Other believe that legalizing is not right, what we need to do is to fight against prostitution. However, fighting means different to militia, it means making money on the growth and spread of such dirty places. So, how do we really fight it? Or do we indeed have to fight it? What could and should the government’s role be in it? It would be interesting to hear what you think about this issue.

My comment: Hey Asel, you took a key issue where traditional and modern view of points in Kyrgyzstan fight with each other. Regretfully, Sex-workers (or, so called “Workers of commercial sex”) have a difficult life, and as you mentioned in your post, their service is used by policemen for free, and they suffer from criminal groups too, as they work illegally.

What I think about this issue is legalizing the prostitution. It is really indeed, and you were writing about here “With legalization, they believe, the rights of sex-workers will be protected; they will go through regular medical check and receive any essential treatment in case if they get ill. It would also protect them from physical violence and mistreatment both from those who use their service and militia as well”.

But another problemathic case is will anyone support this idea from MPs, or, politicians? I fear lest that - not, as our traditional society will understand it differently. And noone want to lose their political dividents.

So, regretfully, I think, we will go for legalizing the prostitution not so soon.