With the Turkish government asking countries around the world to shutter schools linked to Fethullah Gülen’s movement, governments on the receiving end of such requests have to measure several interests in responding. How important are the schools, how important are relations with Ankara, and how much leeway does the state have to resist such demands?
Kazakhstan launched a rare exercise in consulting with the general public earlier this year to defuse spreading discontent, but the authorities are now bracing to pull the plug on the experiment and return to its more trusted heavy-handed measures.
In the wake of the deadly Almaty shootings, authorities in Kazakhstan are drawing up measures to step up the fight against extremism and considering the creation of a fingerprint and DNA register.
There were widespread protests against government land-reform plans in late April that culminated in countrywide rallies against government policies on May 21. Hundreds of people were arrested in the days leading up to and on the day of that protest.
Iran, Russia, Venezuela and other authoritarian governments abuse the agency to target critics.
One of Kazakhstan’s last remaining independent newspapers has been ordered to pay heavy damages in a libel case that its editor believes was designed to drive it out of business.
In a disturbing development for Kazakhstan, another supposedly radicalized gunman singled out security forces for an attack — this time in the country’s largest city, Almaty.
