A cold drizzle fell on Istanbul on the morning of Dec. 10, 2014, as Abdullah Bukhari made his way to teach his students at a madrasa nestled amid apartment blocks and hardware stores in the Zeytinburnu neighborhood. A white prayer cap on his head, Bukhari made two crucial departures from his daily routine, according to one of his students: He told his bodyguard to stay at home and he didn't wear a bulletproof vest beneath his white ankle-length thobe.

Ever since communist bosses morphed into democrats after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, they have polished a veneer of democracy. It means staging elections from time to time. It does not mean that votes are fair or that power changes hands.

Uzbekistan, a Central Asian state of 30 million people with vast natural resources, has recently witnessed two major back-to-back events – the Navruz holiday and the 4th presidential elections since the demise of the Soviet Union.

As expected, Nursultan Nazarbayev has been confirmed as the ruling party's candidate for the presidential elections that will be held next April in Kazakhstan. At the Nur Otan convention in Astana, Nazarbayev received countless endorsements from his party colleagues, maintaining a solid consensus. Nazarbayev even interrupted some of the speakers at the convention, regarding them as too flattering. Two among the delegates referred to him as "kissed by God."

An ex-adviser to the French presidency was indicted on corruption charges linked to a trade agreement between Paris and Astana during Nicolas Sarkozy's term, a source close to the probe told AFP Thursday.

Russia is disappointed in the unwillingness of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to cooperate with its collective security bloc, and considers Iran to be a model those countries could follow, a senior Russian security official has said.