THE Spektator №17 May 2011

Your monthly guide to what’s happening in and around Bishkek

After the
Apocalypse:
Life in the Semipalatinsk Polygon

Plus:
Stories from the
Sticks
Mission to the
Mosque
Saving Park
Ata-Turk

. .
Tourist Map What’s On Restaurant Guide
 Focus

ContentsThe Spektator Magazine

Saving Park Ata-Turk
Bishkek was formerly among the top
twenty greenest cities in the USSR. Now,
city officials and business types have un-
scrupulous plans for the city’s parks and
16

trees. When Aftandil Jorobekov found out

Founder: Tom Wellings
Managing Editor: Chris Rickleton
(editor@thespektator.co.uk)
Staff writers: Robert Marks (rmarks@
thespektator.co.uk), Dennis Keen
(denniskeen@thespektator.co.uk),
Holly Myers, Evan Harris,
Patrick Barrow, Pavel Kropotkin, Alice
Janvrin, Sergey Vysotsky
Guest Contributor: Calvin Preece
about one attempt to ‘develop’ a stretch
of Park Ata-Turk on Akhunbaeva st, he
began mobilizing the local community.
After the Apocalypse 18
Tom Wellings interviews documentary-
maker Anthony Butts about a Kazakh
community that lives near the disbanded
Semipalatinsk Polygon - a once notorious
This Month Soviet atomic testing facility.
News and Views
We wanted to be a bit more upbeat with
4
our round-up this month, so we’ve gone
for post-riot renumeration, the bride
kidnapping debate and problems in the
local press.

Guest Artist: Pico Rickleton

Out & About
Design: Aleka Claire
Stories from the Sticks
The Spektator has been Out & About for
6
Advertising Manager: Irina Kasymova over two and-a-half years now. We take
(email: advertise@thespektator.co.uk) a look at some of the interesting folk we
have met along the way.

The Call
Once heard, the Islamic call to prayer is
10
forever ingrained on the memory. Dennis
Keen swaps eagle hunters for muezzins as
he tries to find out more about the azan
and the guys who sing it.
This month’s issue is dedicated to our
good friends H and Elise

Married in Istanbul 23.05.11

The Guide
Restaurants, Bars, Clubs
All the best bars and clubs in town.
22
City Map
Don’t get lost. 25
www.thespektator.co.uk
What’s On
The pick of the entertainment listings. 26
Want to contribute as a freelance
writer? Please contact:
editor@thespektator.co.uk
ON THE COVER: The Semipalatinsk Polygon’s mysteries
are yet to be unlocked (archive)
The Spektator Magazine is available at locations throughout Bishkek, including: (Travel Agencies) Adventure Seller, Ak-Sai Travel, Carlson Wagonlit, Celestial Mountains, Ecotour, Glavtour,Kyrgyz Concept,
Kyrgyz Travel, Muza, NoviNomad (Bars & Restaurants) Cowboy, Hollywood, Metro, New York Pizza, No1, 2x2, Boulevard, Coffeehouse, Doka, Fatboy’s, Four Seasons, Live Bar, Lounge Bar,
Meri, Navigator, Stary Edgar’s Veranda, Adriatico, Cyclone, Dolce Vita, Santa Maria, Golden Bull (Casinos) Europa, Golden Dragon, XO (Hotels) Dostuk, Hyatt, Golden Dragon, Holiday, Alpi-

Spektator
nist (Embassies and Organisations) The UN building, The American base, The German Embassy, The Dutch Consulate, CAMP Ala-too, NCCR, The Bishkek Opera & Ballet Society.
THE

.co.uk
The Spektator is now online at www.thespektator.co.uk
 4 This Month
Bride Kidnapping: a Tradition or a Crime?
FARANGIS NAJIBULLAH

BISHKEK, May 21 (RFE/RL) - Although bride kid-

napping is officially a crime in Kyrgyzstan, few
cases reach the courtroom Kyz Korgon Institute,
an Kyrgyz NGO that campaigns to eliminate the
practice).
Some 200 people took to the streets in a
northern Kyrgyz province earlier this week to
protest the longstanding practice of bride kid-
napping.
The custom -- in which single young men
kidnap their bride of choice and pressure them
to agree to marriage -- is not uncommon in Kyr-
gyzstan.
But bride kidnapping has recently come un-
der sharp criticism in the Central Asian country
after two kidnapped brides committed suicide
in a matter of months.
The site of this week’s rally, the northern Is-
syk-Kul Province, is home to the two suicide vic-
tims -- Venera Kasymalieva and Nurzat Kalykova,
both 20-year-old students.
The rally, dubbed “Spring without Them,”
was organized by local women’s NGOs and other
activists and held in the town of Karakol. During
the protest participants called on authorities
and community leaders to put an end to the old
tradition.
Bride kidnapping is officially a criminal of-
fence in Kyrgyzstan, where the criminal code
stipulates a maximum three-year prison term for
bride-kidnapping.
In reality, however, few cases reach the
courtroom, and those who are tried for bride-
kidnapping usually walk away after paying a
small fine.
“Once bride-kidnapping was character-
istic mostly to rural areas, but it has become
widespread everywhere, including the capital,
Bishkek,” says Gazbubu Babayarova, founder of
Kyz Korgon Institute, a nongovernmental organ-
ization that campaigns to eliminate the tradition
of bride-kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan.
“Our researches indicate that between 68
and 75 percent of marriages in Kyrgyzstan take
place with bride kidnapping.”
Babayarova says economic hardship is one
of many reasons behind the recent rise of bride
kidnapping, as many families try to avoid paying
dowries and wedding expenses. But it is by no
means the only motivation.
“It is encouraged by parents of the boys,” Ba-
bayarova says. “And sometimes, boys are afraid
of asking the girls’ permission. They think it’s
easier just to kidnap her, because they are afraid
maybe she will refuse.
“Another reason is that even if there is a law,
it’s not being implemented. Since the kidnap-
pers go unpunished, bride-kidnapping is hap-
pening again and again.”
How It’s Done
According to the tradition, when a Kyrgyz man,
usually in his twenties, wants to get married for
the first time, he picks a bride and starts to ar-
range her kidnapping.
The man and his friends seize the young
woman in streets, sometimes using violence,
May 2011 The Spektator
Above Bride kidnappings are commonplace in Kyrgyzstan’s regions (Kyz Korgon institute)
and forcibly drive her to the captor’s family
home. The rest is left to female relatives of the
man, who try to persuade the kidnapped wom-
an to marry her captor.
The woman is put under enormous pres-
sure, including physical violence, but in the
majority of cases, the captor refrains from rape,
Babayarova says.
If the woman finally agrees to marriage, the
family of her potential husband puts a white ker-
chief on her head, and asks her to write a letter
to her parents. They take the letter to the bride’s
family to ask their daughter’s hand in marriage
and arrange a quick wedding ceremony.
While the groom’s relatives take part in
“choosing” and arranging the kidnapping of
their future daughter-in-law, the potential bride
and her family do not usually know the captors
or their intentions until after the kidnapping
takes place.
Many brides follow tradition and simply ac-
cept their fate. But some of the marriages born
from bride-kidnapping fall apart and for some
-- like the two young students in Issyk-Kul -- this
can bring a tragic end.
“She Wasn’t Ready for Marriage So I Kid-
napped Her”
Kalykova’s acquaintance, Ulan, once asked
her if she wanted to marry him. Kalykova and
her parents refused the marriage proposal but
they didn’t predict Ulan would not take no for
an answer.
Late one evening in November 2010, Kalyk-
ova ‘s parents came home from a dinner party
to find their daughter had gone missing. Days
later, they found out that Kalykova has been
kidnapped by Ulan, who was now asking their
permission to conduct a marriage ceremony.
The parents brought Kalykova back home.
But under constant pressures from relatives, Ka-
lykova and her parents eventually accepted the
marriage proposal.
The marriage didn’t last long - Kalykova
committed suicide just four months later.
Despite the outcome, Ulan sees nothing
wrong in his approach to marriage.
“We were friends with Nurzat for three years
before our marriage. I wanted to marry her, but
she always postponed it. Perhaps she wasn’t
ready,” Ulan told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service.
Ulan doesn’t hold himself responsible for his
wife’s suicide.
“We lived alright, we were friendly,” he says.
“To this point, I don’t understand what possibly
could have gone wrong.”
Authorities say they have launched a probe
into Kalykova’s case but it is unclear whether
Ulan will be charged with kidnapping.
Organizers of today’s rally in Karakol called
on authorities to enforce existing laws to pun-
ish men who opt for kidnapping as a means of
finding a wife.
In a tearful address to participants, Venera
Kasymalieva’s father, Oken, said his daughter’s
kidnapping ruined his family’s life.
I call on young men to refrain from kidnap-
ping, he said. “I don’t wish any young girl to com-
mit suicide in the future. My wife died suddenly
five years ago, and that’s why my daughter [Ven-
era] was like a mother to my younger kids.”
Abaz Jyrgalbekov, a 20-year-old man who
also joined the rally, says not all Kyrgyz men sup-
port the kidnapping tradition.
It’s a way for insecure men to get girls, Jyr-
galbekov says. “Who usually kidnaps a woman?
Guys with no self-confidence; who are afraid
that a girl doesn’t like him.”
“I want to marry in a normal way,” he adds.
www.thespektator.co.uk

Kyrgyzstan: A Free Press Begets Hate Speech
ALISHER KHAMIDOV
BISHKEK, May 12 (EurasiaNet.org) - Kyrgyz jour-
nalists cover an anti-Bakiyev rally in March 2010.
Following the ouster of former Kyrgyz President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the Otunbayeva govern-
ment claims that the news media is now able to
operate with greater freedom – a freedom some
observers say is spawning chauvinistic and racist
stories in the Kyrgyz-language press.
Recent developments in Kyrgyzstan are
displaying the dark side of a free press. Since
Kyrgyzstan embarked on its experiment in par-
liamentary-style democracy in 2010, a few jour-
nalists have made commendable efforts to fulfill
the traditional watchdog function of a free press.
But such bright spots are being marred by a rise
in chauvinistic and racist rhetoric in the Kyrgyz-
language press, along with recent violent attacks
against journalists.
Addressing journalists at a May 3 celebra-
tion of World Press Freedom Day, President Roza
Otunbayeva praised her government’s media
record: “Freedom of the press is the main achieve-
ment of the republic. No journalist has been
forced to flee the country, no one has been put
to the administrative grindstone, and no one has
been attacked,” Otunbayeva said, referring to the
period following the collapse of Kurmanbek Baki-
yev’s administration in April of 2010.
After assuming power, the new government
lifted most Bakiyev-era controls on broadcast
and print media outlets, launched investigations
into prior abuses, and pledged to introduce pub-
lic control over the main government radio and
television broadcasting company. Last month,
moreover, parliament approved a resolution that
de-criminalized defamation and libel. Although
the measure abolished jail terms for those found
guilty of libel, it did allow for a steep increase in
fines against journalists in civil actions.
Despite such improvements, observers say
there are many reasons to remain concerned
about Kyrgyzstan’s media environment. For one,
journalists are “afraid to write on political issues
and often employ self-censorship,” Аlmas Ysman
Kalet, an Osh-based freelance journalist, told
EurasiaNet.org. Self-censorship became an acute
issue after southern Kyrgyzstan was consumed
by violent ethnic clashes in June 2010, Kalet said.
Hundreds of people, mostly Uzbeks, died in the
violence.
In recent weeks, many Kyrgyz-language news
outlets have explored the extreme limits of edito-
rial freedom, publishing articles expressing chau-
vinistic and xenophobic views. In one instance of
hate-speech, a May 11 commentary published by
the Kyrgyz-language newspaper El Sozy -- trans-
lated into Russian by the gezitter.org website
-- blamed Jews for most of the country’s current
problems.
“Freedom of expression has revealed the
other side of the coin; it turned out that journal-
ists are lacking responsibility and professional
ethics. Due to increased competition for scandal-
ous materials, journalists are publishing unveri-
fied facts. Media outlets are teeming with anti-
Semitic views, especially the Kyrgyz-language
ones,” said Dinara Oshurahunova, the director of
www.thespektator.co.uk
the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, in
comments carried by the 24.kg news agency on
May 3.
“The media can serve evil purposes,” Edil
Baisalov, a Kyrgyz civil society activist and Otun-
bayeva’s former chief of staff, told EurasiaNet.org.
“There are many examples when newspapers are
exacerbating existing political tensions and cast-
ing ethnic minorities as enemies.”
Some of the Kyrgyz-language newspapers
containing chauvinistic and xenophobic content
are being printed at a publishing house oper-
ated by the Media Support Center Foundation
(MSCF). The MSCF is a commercial entity that
was founded in 2003. Initial funding for the MSCF
came from the US State Department. According
to the foundation’s website, the MSCF’s Supervi-
sory Committee is headed by Martin Callanan, a
member of the European Parliament.
On April 29, the Prosecutor General’s office
warned media outlets to stop publishing material
that incites inter-ethnic animosity. But the hate-
filled articles continue to appear. Many observers
suspect that much of the controversial coverage
is being encouraged and funded by politicians
with an eye on this fall’s presidential election.
Kyrgyzstan to Pay Osh Victims’ Families: Can It Be Done Fairly?
NATASHA YEFIMOV
BISHKEK, May 14 (EurasiaNet.org) - Two months
after passing a deficit-plagued budget, Kyr-
gyzstan’s parliament has amended it, reallocat-
ing about $12.9 million to compensate those
who lost relatives in last June’s ethnic violence
in Osh and Jalal-Abad. While the effort seems
commendable on its face, the political pressure
surrounding it and the implementation process
to come both raise doubts about how fair and
transparent the payouts will be.
Under a decree signed by Prime Minister
Almazbek Atambayev, made public May 10,
families of Kyrgyzstani citizens killed in the
clashes will receive a one-time payment of 1
million soms (about $21,500); families of the
missing will also collect a million soms; those
who sustained serious bodily injuries -- as de-
termined by experts in forensic medicine -- will
get 100,000 soms; and those who received “less
grievous bodily harm” - ditto the official diagno-
sis - will get 50,000 soms.
Here are two of the biggest challenges to an
equitable compensation process:
Official record keeping and forensic exper-
tise are notoriously weak. After the street riots of
April 2010, the death toll was about one-fifth the
number killed in June and still one person reg-
istered as dead - by the state’s forensic experts
- turned out to be alive and well and driving a
cab in Russia. The man’s family received 1 mil-
lion soms in compensation, which, by the time
he was found, had already been spent. Who lies
buried under his name remains unknown. As for
those killed in June, a few dozen bodies haven’t
been identified conclusively. Moreover, discrep-
ancies in body counts persist. While the latest
This Month 5
Economics may be a big part of the problem.
The prolonged bout of political instability that
began with Bakiyev’s ouster took a toll on many
media outlets, causing a precipitous drop in ad
revenue. Media outlets in southern Kyrgyzstan
were especially hard hit, with most experienc-
ing approximately a 50-percent loss in income.
As they struggle to recover, newspapers are es-
pecially vulnerable to deep-pocketed politicians
and wealthy entrepreneurs, who can offer finan-
cial relief in return for desired coverage.
“It is no secret that these days most media
outlets represent the interests of powerful politi-
cians. I doubt that journalists will be neutral [dur-
ing the election campaign]. They will defend the
interests of politicians who pay them,” said an Osh
journalist speaking on condition of anonymity.
Beyond the profusion of hate-speech and
calumny in the press, several suspicious attacks
against journalists have occurred in recent weeks.
For instance, On May 1, Jyldyz Bekbaeva, a cor-
respondent for Russia’s Interfax news agency, was
assaulted in Osh. She is convinced she was not
the victim of a random criminal act, but was in-
tentionally targeted because of her professional
activities.
reported government estimate put the death
toll at 427, an international study released May
3 put it at 470.
Will ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks get
equal access to compensation? Atambayev’s ini-
tial agreement to the payouts came after a small
but vociferous protest by ethnic Kyrgyz families
brandishing anti-Uzbek slogans. The group got
high-profile support from his potential political
rival, Ata-Jurt party leader Kamchybek Tashiev, a
parliament deputy known for his Kyrgyz-centric
rhetoric and considerable clout in the country’s
ethnically divided south. With presidential elec-
tions just months away, currying favor among
southerners is key to Atambayev’s political am-
bitions.
More importantly, relations between ethnic
Uzbeks and local officials in the south remain
toxic. Various rights groups have said that, since
June’s violence, Uzbeks have had limited access
to social services and have been chronically
mistreated by the justice system. A stark, recent
example is cited in the international study men-
tioned above, known as the Kyrgyzstan Inquiry
Commission (KIC) report: It found that Uzbeks
made up 74 percent of those killed in June but
79 percent of those charged with crimes related
to the violence. Will the same officials party to the
miscarriage of justice be in charge of handing out
the paperwork needed for compensation?
Ensuring the compensation process is fair
and impartial will be tough. And considering
that the government pushed through the bill to
make payments in time for June’s one-year anni-
versary, there’s reason to worry that this thorny
problem got short shrift
May 2011 The Spektator
 6 Out & About
Stories
from the
Sticks
Living and writing in Kyrgyzstan ensures
you meet a diverse range of thought-
provoking folks. While some of the world’s
more unique characters have already
brightened the Spektator’s two tone pages
with their presence, others just missed the
cut. This month we look some of the peo-
ple that have inspired, touched or scarred
us over the years.
Above How many eyes hath Kyrgyzstan?
(all illustrations by Pico Rickleton)
This page and next Character sketches in order
of appearance. Characters are fictional Any
similarity to real people is purely coincidental
May 2011 The Spektator
CHRIS & PICO RICKLETON
I
HAD FIRST SEEN the General gazing sternly
out of a billboard by a motorway near my
house. Now I was sitting in his office, sipping
tea.
It was autumn and Kyrgyzstan was prepar-
ing for parliamentary elections. Twenty-seven
parties were campaigning for the country’s atten-
tion, plastering themselves shamelessly onto bus
stops, lampposts and, if especially flush, seven-story
apartment blocs. Amidst a host of sound bites, one
stuck in my mind for its sheer simplicity: “Strong au-
thority - peaceful country.”
It was as if this party had missed a PR trick.
Where was the reference to “the people”, the verse
from a bygone bard, the horses, mountains and
waterfalls? Replacing populist imagery were grim-
looking military men, lapels ablaze with medals,
beady eyes scanning passersby.
“Ah yes, the ex-KGB guys,” a journalist friend of
mine briefed me. “No-one knows much about them.
I don’t think they will get votes. They’re far too scary.”
“We made the KGB piss in their pants,” the gen-
eral corrected me, when I turned up at his party HQ
to ask him about his campaign platform. He had
been part of an elite Soviet special forces unit, he
told me, serving in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and fur-
ther afield.
The habits of service died hard. The general
lounged in his office in camos and army boots,
while subordinates sporting bullet proof vests pa-
trolled the corridors outside his inner sanctum.
“I believe in order,” he said, “because the alterna-
tive is chaos.” He had seen whole countries dissolve
before his eyes, he added - it wasn’t a pretty sight.
Now, after a summer of political turmoil which had
left Kyrgyzstan teetering on the brink of dissolution,
he had decided to form a party with other like-
minded individuals; men of arms and honour.
The general had despised the ousted Bakiev
clan, whom he referred to as “politically and mor-
ally corrupt”, but he didn’t care much for meetings
and revolutions either. “We believe in giving people
their dignity back, in making laws mean something
again, in stopping the rule of the mob,” he told me
firmly.
Meeting this former commando made me
realize how radically my own political beliefs had
changed since moving to Bishkek. In adolescence,
my heroes had been revolutionaries; utopians like
Mao Zedong and Robespierre, who plunged their
nations into violent cataclysms, spouting slogans
as they went. But living in a country where violent
cataclysms were regular facts of life, anarchy had
lost all its romance. Kyrgyzstan, it seemed, needed
a firm hand - the general was the man to provide it.
The Jailoo Nationalist
“What are you taking pictures of?”
We were in a park in Byelovodskoye, a small
provincial town two hours from the capital, where
we had arrived to interview local officials. A statue
of Lenin was covered in moss, benches dotting the
park were overgrown with weeds, and a narrow
concrete walkthrough had relented, dissolving into
earth. All over the world human settlements were
reaching out into nature, but in Byelovodskoye, the
wilderness was fighting back. My friend was captur-
ing the moment with his camera.
“I don’t know why you’re taking photos,” the
voice continued. “There’s nothing to see here. The
park is wild, like the people that live near it.”
She was in her sixties, in national dress with
golden teeth. “Who lives by the park?” we asked.
She lowered her voice. “You know. Uzbeks, Uighurs,
Kyrgyz from Osh.” She gestured to a neighbourhood
the other side of a concrete wall. The Osh Kyrgyz
were particularly painful for her.
“They call themselves Kyrgyz,” she hissed bit-
terly, as two veiled women walked past us, chatting
away to one another. “But look at them!”
www.thespektator.co.uk

“A real Kyrgyz woman rides open-faced, to-
wards the sun.” She imagined herself on a steed as
she spoke. “Look at the way I dress,” she said jubi-
lantly. “I’m from Talas, a pure Kyrgyz!”
She talked sentimentally of the landscapes of
her homeland, where yurts smoked and real Kyrgyz
- the most hospitable nation in the world - always
welcomed outsiders. But soon the tirade cranked
up again.
Modern Kyrgyz girls “dressed like women from
Moscow”, she said, young men from the South
wore “stinky beards”, and Issyk-Kul natives were also
scum, having insulted her during a recent holiday
in the region.
The woman kept rambling, receding into cari-
cature. An indecipherable world was closing in on
her, and she had nothing to fight it off with, except
a vague idea of what a Kyrgyz should look like and
what part of the country they should live in. She
didn’t read the Quran, she confessed, and Lenin was
caked in bryophytes now. She looked towards the
statue with a mixture of longing and resentment.
“Everyone else kicked the Russians out,” she
bleated. “And we let them stay. You’ll never find a
friendlier people than us.” But “us” was getting small-
er all the time.
Kyrgyzstan’s Koreans
There were three Koreans, one from Tajikistan, one
from Uzbekistan and one from Kyrgyzstan. They
had met each other in a state gulag.
Uncle Max and uncle Grigoriy had arrived at
uncle Vanya’s house for a surprise celebration – his
60th birthday party. Vanya’s wife, Maria, had invited
them secretly. Vanya was overwhelmed with vodka
and emotion.
Maria and Vanya had been great friends from
the beginning of my time in Kyrgyzstan. Maria was
a fantastic cook and always had something deli-
cious for me to try when I came over. Vanya chain-
www.thespektator.co.uk
smoked, played solitaire and talked football. Other
Koreans they introduced me to were always lively
and interesting. Grigi and Max were no exceptions.
Each Korean boasted of the glories of the
countries Stalin had deported their parents to. “Uz-
bekistan is a difficult place now, but it was always
the greatest Central Asian republic,” argued Grigoriy.
Max said that Tajiks were a unique people, the best
in the world, bar Koreans of course. “So why did you
both move to Kyrgyzstan in the end?” demanded
Vanya. It was all getting a bit confusing.
As a young night grew old, uncle Vanya was put
to bed, and Grigoriy passed out upright. I was left
talking to Max, the Korean from Tajikistan. He had
left the country when civil war began in the 1990s,
he said, fingering a tattoo on his hand. Compared to
that, even the gulag was easy.
He spoke Russian and Tajik, but no Korean. I
asked him if there was anything bar blood connect-
ing him to his distant homeland.
“I still eat dogs, if that’s what you mean,” he re-
plied gruffly. Through the blur of vodka I saw Maria
wince. Many of Kyrgyzstan’s approximately 70,000
Koreans had long ago severed this culinary link to
their ancestors.
“My best friend, Malik, was Muslim,” Max con-
tinued. “One night he and his wife came round to
my house. I cooked them dog soup - they loved it.
But when Malik found out what it was, he flew into
a rage. We didn’t speak for months.” He paused to
drain his vodka glass.
“Then, one day, his wife phoned me up. She
begged me to make peace, invite them round and
cook up dog soup again. She said we’d all pretend
we didn’t know what it was.”
The explanation, he said, was simple. Malik had
suffered from coughing fits his whole life. They had
tried everything; traditional remedies, prayers, sha-
mans, the works. But the only thing that cured his
cough was Max’s dog soup. “Dog soup is more use-
Out & About 7
ful than religion,” Max concluded. “I’ll eat it until the
day I die.”
The Rights Defender
“I’ve just walked out of a presidential round table,”
she announced as she stormed into the room. “We
told them, if corrupt stooges from the former ad-
ministration are going to be present, then we won’t
be.”
The woman I was interviewing that afternoon
was a veteran of Kyrgyz civil society, the scourge
of national governments from the Akayev era on-
wards. Back when they were members of the oppo-
sition, she had put all her formidable energies into
defending big names such as Rosa Otunbayeva and
Omurbek Tekebayev. Now they were in power, she
was railing against them.
“That’s just how it is in this country,” she contin-
ued. “The outs become the ins and start behaving
like the ones before them.” Stopping to take a rare
breath, she began an invective against the parlia-
ment. “We NGOs had hoped for a more constructive
relationship with lawmakers this time round,” she
said. “But seeing the type of things they’re discuss-
ing in there, we understand it’s going to be five
more years of us telling them: ‘You’re wrong, you’re
wrong, you’re wrong!’”
Government was a bully, and it was her job to
bully back. In fact, she was almost a government in
herself, with interests ranging from education poli-
cy to conditions in mental health institutions, treat-
ment of minorities and prisoners’ rights.
In 2007, during a protest against the Bakiev ad-
ministration, she had chained herself to the gates of
the White House, in horror at the former president’s
clampdown on personal and political freedoms.
“The police didn’t know what to do with me –
I was already in captivity,” she laughed. “Eventually
they found a way of taking one pair of handcuffs off
me and putting another pair on.”
May 2011 The Spektator
 8 Out & About
“I spent twelve hours in a cell, talking to the jail-
er, a good man. He told me he couldn’t understand
why innocent citizens were being thrown in prison
and criminals were sitting in the White House.”
“I asked him if he had ever taken a bribe,” she
continued. “He said he had once, but that he had
been so disgusted with himself, he reported it to
the duty officer - the duty officer didn’t even care!”
“I understood then that the first barrier to
change is indifference,” the activist surmised. “That’s
why I tell my colleagues: Fighting corruption and in-
justice is like fighting a dinosaur. You have to kick it a
few times before it even notices you!”
The Drunken Housemate
“Won’t you have fifty more grams with me?” Turdali
pleaded.
Alcoholism is endemic in many parts of the
former Soviet Union, so I was always likely to try it at
some point. Having a flatmate who literally forced
me to drink vodka at every opportunity didn’t help
me in resisting its insipid lure. “The Russians f****d
everything up,” slurred Turdali in a familiar refrain, as
we lined up vodka shots. It was ten ‘o’ clock in the
morning and I was running late for my language
lesson.
“Before the Russians arrived, we Kyrgyz lived in
harmony together. We drank kymyz and bozo and
were content just being tipsy. But they introduced
us to vodka. Vodka isn’t like those drinks. Vodka is
destructive.”
I had witnessed its destruction first hand. Tur-
dali, a hunter from the mountainous province of
Naryn, was a monster after a few rounds of his fa-
vourite tipple. Recent unemployment had driven
him to the drink. I had less of an excuse, but his
occasional charisma and more frequent tendency
towards physical intimidation was motivation
enough. I liked his drunken stories, too.
“Back when I used to work for Ryspek...” But he
had never known Ryspek, a deceased Kyrgyz crime
May 2011 The Spektator
lord. “I used to **** this French woman...” But he
had never met any French women either. “I used to
be able to score from the corner flag, every time,”
he said. But a footballing skill like this would have
made him worth millions of pounds to a rich club,
and having played with him, I knew he was useless.
Yet he could drink. One day, home alone, Tur-
dali got so wrecked that he bought a sheep’s head
from the bazaar, set it to boil, and promptly passed
out. For the next five days the flat wreaked of burnt
mutton. Silently, we sat eating sheep’s brain on
toast washed back with vodka shots for breakfast.
But the fun had to end somewhere. My liver
was beginning to resent Turdali’s impositions. A
diet consisting mostly of cured fish and smoked
cheese – Soviet drinking accessories – was wreak-
ing havoc on my stomach. My life was beginning
to mirror his.
Luckily, the problem solved itself. One Friday,
Turdali went with a friend to the mosque. He re-
turned a different man. The following week, as if by
divine reward, he found a new job importing scrap
metal from China.
A self-righteous worshipper replaced a war-
bling alcoholic overnight. He threw a sausage I
had bought from the shop out of the window.
“You know, you Westerners have got a nerve,” he
told me, post-rehabilitation. “Coming to our coun-
try and making good Muslims drink vodka and eat
pork. You should be ashamed of yourself.” It was
time to find a new flat again.
The Recyclers
He sat on a makeshift bench with his wife and a
cigarette, atop a plateau of household waste. In a
putrid foreground, a tail protruded from a box con-
taining leftover cake. It belonged to a rat.
“Welcome to the city dump!” joked Elnur. The
rats here got bigger every year, he added. So did
the dump itself. Bishkek’s gorodskaya svalka was
notorious as an environmental hazard – an ex-
panding landfill that was rapidly creeping towards
the city. A local lake had already been destroyed by
ground seep from the site. Layers of plastic bags
and bottles created a mini-greenhouse effect by
trapping heat from the sun, causing the dump’s
chemical bulk to smoke and smoulder. Fumes rose
up into the sky from its mass in toxic columns.
But the dump also fed vermin, birds of prey
and even people. Elnur and his wife Nurjana, eco-
nomic migrants from the South, had been living
and working there as scavengers for ten years, sell-
ing discarded plastic and clothes to the city’s ba-
zaars for roughly $10 a day. They sent the money
back to their family every week, but had missed
out on much of their offspring’s childhood.
“Of course it’s hard being away. But they live
with their grandmother and grandfather. They go
to a nice school, they have money for food and
clothes,” Elnur said. “You get used to it.”
A person could get used to almost anything
working at the dump. It was an unforgiving, stark,
Darwinian world. The young men who collected
metal and electrics there defended territory with
brute force. Scavengers had been known to disap-
pear after violent arguments – there was a trove of
refuse for them to disappear into.
“It’s not safe for young girls,” Elnur said, indicat-
ing a fifteen year-old scavenger they had adopted
for the week. “Her father has problems so we are
looking after her. You see, something strange is
happening at the dump. The people are getting
more aggressive every day.”
Asked about the police, he laughed ruefully.
“They don’t come down here – why would they?
You admitted yourself; you could hardly find a taxi
to take you!”
“No,” the scavenger sighed, shaking his head
as he stubbed out his cigarette on the remnants of
a television. “Where the dump begins, the govern-
ment ends.”
They were living in a state of nature.
www.thespektator.co.uk
 10 Out & About
The
Call
The muezzin’s throaty invitation to prayer
can sometimes sound a tad out of place in
Bishkek, a post-Soviet capital with more ca-
sinos than holy places. For many believers,
however, the city’s central mosque is a veri-
table magnet, and the azan, the song of life
itself. The Spektator’s Dennis Keen heads
towards Bishkek’s noisiest minaret in search
of the man behind the call.
Above A minaret at Bishkek’s central mosque
(Moskovskaya/Gogol). In the era of powerful
speaker systems the azan is sung from the im-
am’s waiting room, but during the blackouts
of the Bakiev era, the minaret saw quite a lot
of action (all photos Dennis Keen)
Above Right Jisan on muezzin duty
Far Right Genjebek the mullah takes azan
calling in his stride. “If you know how to say
a prayer, you know how to sing azan,” he said
Next Page Custom made Italian heels line up
next to fake addidas sneakers. All feet are
equal in the eyes of Allah.
May 2011 The Spektator
DENNIS KEEN
I
COULD HEAR IT from my apartment a few
times a day. It came to me in the darkness
of morning and the darkness of night. When
I heard it, I would open my windows and
the sounds would fill the room. A man was
singing. It was strange and nasal, like a bagpipe,
and the notes would rarely stay in one place for
long, shifting up and down the scale with a plain-
tive restlessness. Every day it was the same, and
I learned its rhythms like a favorite poem. It fol-
lowed me around town, pleading to me at the
bazaar and the corner café. It was in a language I
couldn’t understand, but some words were famil-
iar. “Allahu Akbar,” the man sang, “Allahu Akbar.”
God is great, he wanted me to know. He was call-
ing me to his mosque for prayer.
I didn’t think God was great – I thought he
was a fairytale. The starkness of his theme song,
though, left me captivated, and my curiosity
pushed me to learn more, if not about saving my
soul then about the singer and the song.
The central mosque of Bishkek was down the
street from me, surrounded by sidewalk stalls and
men wearing skullcaps. At their stalls, the men
were hawking a panoply of Islamic paraphernalia:
amulets for rear view mirrors, prayer pamphlets,
holy water from Mecca, and plastic-wrapped
sticks – miswaks - used by some Muslims to clean
their teeth. At the front gates, women held out
their hands in destitution, seeking charity. I of-
fered one a coin and looked at my translator Ert-
abyldy with hesitation. So do we just go in? Won’t
they notice the heathen? Just go, he said, every-
thing will be fine.
From across the courtyard a small man in
robes beckoned us forward. A full-grown beard
was draped across his jaw line and teeth shot out
at funny angles. They were arranged in a smile.
“Assalam Alleikum” he said in greeting. I did as I
had learned and replied backwards – “Alleikum
Assalam!” The man was named Suleiman, and he
was a mullah. Ertabyldy began explaining my visit
to him, but he was stopped abruptly in mid-sen-
tence. Suleiman turned to me and said something.
“He wants you to recite a prayer for him,” my trans-
lator explained. Sure, I said, why not. So Suleiman
said a few words in Arabic and I repeated, feeling
the strange sounds drip over my tongue. We went
through a few lines like this and then my initiation
was complete. The mullah handed me a string of
prayer beads, used for reciting the ninety-nine
names of Allah. “A gift,” he said.
Before I could ask him what I had just recited,
Suleiman launched into a sermon. “God is great!”
he said. “God is everything. The apples, the leaves,
the trees. There is nothing but God.” It seemed
beautiful to me that everything around him held
such divine significance. I wished I felt it too. He
went on, and Ertabyldy did his best to translate.
“Why does your hair grow long, but your eyelash-
es don’t?” I looked at my translator and then the
mullah, the mullah and then my translator. Ertab-
yldy shrugged and the mullah didn’t elaborate -
there would be no answer to the riddle. Man him-
self had mysteries, I suppose he was saying, that
only God could explain. I imagined my eyelashes,
overgrown, cascading down to my toes.
Suleiman directed us across the courtyard to
the imam’s office, where we took off our shoes
and entered. Another man in a beard and skull-
cap sat at a desk, guarding a heavy wooden door.
We would have to wait. Other people flowed in,
asking for appointments, and Ertabyldy whis-
pered their requests to me to me. Mostly, people
www.thespektator.co.uk
 Out & About 11

come here for healing, he said, healing for afflic- Suleiman. “Islam is the religion of brotherhood,”
tions without cures. Alcoholism was the biggest he said, “the religion of Allah. The religion of kind-
problem. Conventional avenues provided little ness. The religion of pureness and harmony.” I
success – rehab clinics here would give you drugs would nod between revelations, and he would
and tie you to a bed. So people came and asked say “Ahhh” with understanding, before moving on
for prayer. A mullah would come to your house to his next point. He was charismatic, and would
seven days in a row and read the Quran to the use my name frequently like I was an old friend.
afflicted, my translator testified. “Islam is the religion of freedom, Dennis. You can
A lot of parents would take their children believe in it or not. It is up to you.”
here, too, if they were sick. There was a belief We asked him to tell us more about the call
amongst the Kyrgyz that a sick child may be af- to prayer. It was sung by a man called a mu’addin,
flicted with a curse - that his “name is too strong or muezzin. Five times a day he would sing out
for him.” Certain names in Arabic, for the first
had power, Ertabyldy
continued in a hushed
‘His voice rang out over blocks. man to make the call
called it this way. God
voice, and some kids Hundreds of ears would hear his is great, he would say,
were too weak to bear call. A true Muslim, he had told us, and I am the witness to
the burden. Few par- his greatness. Muham-
ents, for example, would would stop anything they were mad is the last mes-
name their kid Manas, doing and listen. Then they would senger of God. Come
after the widely-wor- come, and they would pray’ to prayer. Come to wor-
shipped national hero ship. “Why?” the imam
of Kyrgyzstan, because asked rhetorically. “In
it was too likely the kid would get sick and die. the Quran, it says praying keeps you away from
If a kid did get sick, the parents would take him sin. Come to happiness.”
here and ask the mullah for a name-change. He The imam could only lecture for so long. He
would say a prayer and grant him a new name. was a busy man, so he passed us onto another
They still might call the kid Manas, but before the mullah. Genjebek led us into a long hall coated in
eyes of god he was already somebody different. carpets, and we sat down with legs crossed to con-
After ten minutes of waiting-room whisper- tinue our dialogue. The call to prayer, he told us, is
ing, we were ushered in to the office of the imam. called azan. There are five prayers a day, and each
He shook my hand and offered me a seat, genu- one is set to a certain time, determined with preci-
inely pleased to see a foreigner. We told him my sion by a calendrical chart. The first one is before
story – how I lived down the street, how I heard dawn, the second one at midday, when the sun
the call, how I wanted to meet the singer. He reaches its highest point; the third in the evening,
nodded and told us it was possible. Then, with- when your shadow is twice your height, and the
out prompting, he went into a sermon, just like fourth call is at the redness of sunset.

www.thespektator.co.uk May 2011 The Spektator

 12 Out & About
The fifth and final prayer, he said, is an hour and
a half later, in the darkness of night. The morning
prayer is most favored by Allah, for only the fully
faithful wake for him from their sleeping. This early
bird azan has a special addendum: “Prayer is better
than sleep.”
The first man ever to shout the azan, Genjebek
told us, was an African man named Bilal, a com-
panion of Muhammad’s. He sang it loudly and
beautifully, but the others in the neighborhood
were jealous. If he could do it, why couldn’t they?
So one man rose early one day for the first azan
and shouted into the blackness of the dawn. He
shouted and shouted, but the sun refused to rise.
Only after Bilal took to the minaret and sang the
call himself would the sun come out of hiding.
Bilal is since remembered as the godfather of all
muezzins, the patron saint of prayer calling.
The mullah continued, racking his brain for
more muezzin mythology. On Judgment Day, he
said, the necks of the world’s muezzins will grow
long, so that they are taller than all the rest. It is
their neck, he seemed to be saying, that symbol-
izes their greatness, for it is from this neck that
comes forth the highest praises of God. And on
this day, he went on, anybody in the vicinity of
their call will be safe from marauding demons.
The circumference of the song would provide a
safe haven, a blessed space in the hands of God.
I asked Genjebek how he learned to sing the
call, but he shrugged off my question like I was
asking how he learned to speak. If you know how
to say a prayer, he said, you know how to sing azan.
The call is melodically complex and the shifting
melisma would seem to make it technically diffi-
cult. Yet our mullah disagreed: “It’s not a difficult
May 2011 The Spektator
thing.” Something was inside him that gave him
the voice of Bilal, some sort of divine inspiration
that leant his voice beauty. There were nine other
mullahs at the mosque who served as muezzins,
and they worked in shift patterns. They had all
learned the call at the madrassah, along with scrip-
ture and so forth. It was part of basic training.
‘Only after Bilal took to the
minaret and sang the call himself
would the sun come out of hiding.
Bilal is since remembered as the
godfather of all muezzins, the pa-
tron saint of prayer calling’
Genjebek told us the azan for the afternoon
prayer would be called in an hour, so we took off
for lunch and came back a bit early, eager to see
it sung up close. While we waited, we watched as
the mullahs did their other duties, seeing visitors
and reading them prayers with a bizarre intensity.
They would chant Arabic in a soulful drone and
split up the verses with forceful whistles, blow-
ing the good grace of the Quran onto the faces of
their clients. It sounded like a Tourette’s tic, or like
they were possessed.
Another soul in the room seemed to be
possessed by something more sinister. A pale-
faced girl ran in circles and screamed, screamed
that she was afraid of her mother. The mom had
brought her here because the girl was sick, and
she wouldn’t get better. It was clear the girl was
mentally ill. She rocked back and forth and cried,
coughing and spitting out the same forceful whis-
tles, while the mullah calmed her softly with prayer.
“Rakhmat,” she said, “Rakhmat.” Thank you. Later,
she ran uncontrollably around the courtyard with a
frightening limp. Her mother was upset; the prayers
hadn’t worked. She grew impatient and whacked
her demon-possessed daughter with a purse.
The time for prayer had come. I had imagined
us climbing the tall minaret and watching our mu-
ezzin sing out over the city, but the age of the man-
powered call was history here. Genjebek had told
me they only did that when there was no electric-
ity, for now they had loudspeakers. In the imams’
waiting room, Jaisan, the muezzin for the day,
opened up a box on the wall and took out a micro-
phone. He turned towards Mecca, which meant he
faced a couch and a wall. Besides us, these unin-
spiring objects would be his immediate audience.
When the azan started up though, his voice rang
out over blocks and blocks. Hundreds of ears would
hear his call. A true Muslim, he had told us, would
stop anything they were doing and listen. Then
they would come, and they would pray.
Jaisan had prison tattoos on his hands and he
sang like a wounded soul. His eyes were closed
and he held a finger in his ear, so he could hear his
throat hum in his head. The call sounded more sin-
cere, more real, without the loudspeakers’ reverb.
This is how it would sound when Bilal sang it. Just
the man, and his voice, and his testament :
Allahu Akbar
Ash-had an la ilaha illa llah/ Ash-hadu anna
Muħammadan rasulullah/ Hayya ‘ala-salahh/ Hayya
‘ala ‘l-falah /Allāhu akbar/ La ilaha illallah...
God is great, he sang, come to prayer. Come
to worship. He sang, and it was beautiful, and
they came.
www.thespektator.co.uk
 16 Focus
Saving
Park
Ata-Turk
In addition to being one of the best
places in Bishkek to lose your lunch on
a Ferris wheel, Park Ata-Turk is home to
a surprisingly broad array of wildlife.
So, when Bishkek locals found out that
the park’s trees were getting chopped
down to make way for dubious concrete
developments, they sprang into action.
Calvin Preece reports on how activism,
social media and the Prosecutor General
saved the day.
Above A subbotnik (Soviet-style clean-up)
organized by Captain Planet-type, Aftandil creatures remain relatively undisturbed. Until
Jorobekov (Calvin Preece)
Below A deer in central Bishkek, apparently that people had been burning and cutting down
(Aftandil Jorobekov)
May 2011 The Spektator
CALVIN PREECE
I
T STARTED WITH A PHONE CALL. A friend
rang Aftandil Jorobekov to brief him on
some unusual activity in a small section of
Park Ata-Turk, located in the South Central
section of Bishkek, just off Akhunbayeva
street. Named after the founder of modern Tur-
key, Kemal Ata-Turk, the park is a large wooded
expanse with shaded walkways, a section of
carnival-style rides, a statue of Ata-Turk, a monu-
ment to the Kyrgyz military who died in the So-
viet war in Afghanistan, and a notably undevel-
oped territory stretching westwards. This slice
of wilderness within the park limits represents a
small zone of wildlife where deer come to graze,
birds sing, and a host of traditionally non-urban
recently.
The phone call alerted Jorobekov to the fact
trees in the western section. Jorobekov had been
successful in challenging an earlier attempt at
illegal building on some parkland set aside for
a children’s sports area elsewhere in Bishkek in
2009. His activism in that instance prevented a
high-rise apartment building from emerging in
a park area used by the neighborhood’s youth,
and earned Jorobekov a reputation as someone
capable of saving green belt from the ruthless
advance of concrete. (Details of that campaign
are on Facebook, contact the Spektator for link).
Two years down the line, a more major park in
Bishkek was being threatened.
Jorobekov began his organizational work.
Using Facebook and other social media, he gath-
ered a group of people who were concerned
about the park and organized a clean-up effort in
the western section that included the replanting
of trees wherever woodland had been destroyed.
He raised money from individuals, foundations,
and other sources to buy saplings to plant. Then,
on March 18, 2011, while there was still snow on
the ground, a group of volunteers gathered to
clean up trash and debris and plant new trees.
All this activity earned the campaign attention
from the local press, who came and took photos,
reporting on the situation at the park.
Every weekend for about a month, Jorobe-
kov and volunteers have been meeting on Sat-
urdays to try and bring attention to planners’ ef-
forts to destroy the untrammeled beauty in the
western section of the park.
According to a March article that appeared
on the website of local news agency, 24.kg,
“Kyrgyz moneybags put their eyes on the parks
[...] in the city. Multi-year conifer and deciduous
trees of Ata-Turk Park were cut. Restaurants,
private residences and multi-story buildings to
appear in their place. Illegal construction issues
were raised many times, but always remained
hanging in the air.”
These land deals in the western section also
turned out to have been done off the record
and under the table. There are estimates that
out of 20,000 trees that existed in 2000, nearly
13,000 trees have been cut down.
On April 14, 2011, local media in Bishkek
reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office of
Kyrgyzstan had launched an investigation into
the illegal assignment of Park Ata-Turk’s west-
ern section to individuals and corporate groups
in violation of existing laws governing parkland
use. The Prosecutor General was reported to
have initiated criminal actions against officials
in the Bishkek Mayor’s Office for violation of two
sections of the criminal code. The press release
from the Prosecutor General’s office indicated
that they had opened a case due to “alarms”
raised in the media about the situation in the
western section of Park Ata-Turk.
By use of Facebook and other sites, and by
alerting the local press and television, it seems
that this 11.3 hectare area of parkland may have
been saved from further damage. Nevertheless,
work on rehabilitating the area continues with
subbotniki (communal work days) announced
via the Save Park Ata-Turk discussion board on
Facebook.
During a recent visit to the area the author
of this piece can confirm signs of new growth
of saplings planted in March. The SPA team’s
division of labour seemed to be effective, too.
Whilst one band of volunteers planted more
trees in the area, others picked up plastic bot-
tles, cups, old sports socks, and plastic bags. It
seems that a combination of a mobile phone,
social media, and an alerted local press and ra-
dio can help mobilize strategic voluntary action
in Bishkek. Not quite an “Arab Spring” then, but
a Bishkek spring with enough community spirit
to preserve key endangered green space.
www.thespektator.co.uk
 18 Focus
After
the
Apocalypse
The Spektator talks to Antony Butts about
his new film, After the Apocalypse, which
investigates life in a former Soviet Nuclear
testing facility - the Semipalatinsk Poly-
gon.
THE
POLYGON
KAZAKHSTAN
Above The largest of the bomb craters. In total
456 nuclear tests were carried out in the Poly-
gon (all photos courtesy of Antony Butts)
Above right Dr. Nurmagambetov’s work deal-
ing with deformed children has led him to pro-
pose the idea of a genetic passport, designed
to prevent those at risk of passing on genetic
conditions from giving birth. After the Apoca-
lypse explores the ethical conflict between a
mother’s right to have children, and a child’s
right to a healthy, happy, fulfilled life
Above far right Bibigul with her husband and
first child
May 2011 The Spektator
TOM WELLINGS
O
N AUGUST 29, 1949, the first nuclear
test by the Soviet Union was conduct-
ed at a facility on the remote north-
eastern steppe of the old Kazakh SSR.
The test site, known as the Semipalat-
insk Polygon, would go on to witness
456 explosions over its forty-year existence, total-
ling an estimated energy equivalent of 20,000 Hiro-
shima bombs. The local people became unwitting
guinea pigs, exposed to radiation so that scientists
could observe its effects on the human body. Now,
twenty-two years after the Polygon fell silent, flocks
of sheep graze in giant radioactive bomb craters
and in the worst effected areas almost one in twen-
ty children are born with birth defects.
The Spektator recently met filmmaker An-
tony Butts, director and producer of After the
Apocalypse, a new documentary on the Semi-
palatinsk test facility, to quiz him about his ex-
periences in the Polygon and the consequences
for those who still live in the fallout zone.
When did you first hear about the Semipal-
atinsk Polygon, and what made you want to
make a film about it?
It was when I was teaching English in Volgograd
back in 2000. I was interested in all the old Sovi-
et disasters - the Aral Sea, Chernobyl and so on. I
had just seen Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker and was
really interested in going to one of these “zones”
which, in my imagination, seemed like parallel
universes. What would life be like there? When
I finally did get to Semipalatinsk (also known as
Semey), I knew nothing about the birth defects.
I expected a lot of radiation and a lot of cancers.
What I found was no radiation and not that
many cancers. Whilst I was there I met Dr. Num-
agambetov who became one of the film’s main
characters. He was talking about genetic pass-
ports and getting very worked up over the idea
that the radiation damage was passing through
the generations. I realised that this was a story
that needed to be told, so I threw myself into it.
Did you have any concerns for your own
health whilst you were working out there?
On my first visit to the Polygon back in 2006, I was
rather nervous. I took with me a supply of surgi-
cal facemasks from England. But, when It came
down to it, I felt rather rude filming in a mask so
I soon got rid of them. My key concern was that
on my first trip the Kazakh customs impounded
my Geiger counter and I had no way of knowing
which places were radioactive and which were
not. It was made worse by the fact that the most
dangerous form of radiation there - the plutoni-
um - cannot be picked up by a standard Geiger
counter at all. Not knowing where the radiation
was and, of course, not being able to smell or
feel it, I started to become increasingly paranoid
about the radiation. The local Kazakhs were keen
to offer me the local cure-all, vodka. Many of the
herders swear it is what has been keeping them
alive and is good for anything from stomach
bugs to radioactive meat.
Kazakhs are a hospitable people so I was
often given the most prestigious (read: least ap-
petising) bits of an animal to eat. I might have
found brain and eyes difficult at the best of
times but knowing they were herded on a ra-
dioactive test-site made it even more tricky to
force down.
Having seen the film, I get the impression it
was often an uncomfortable shoot for you!
Yes, amongst other difficulties, when I went
back in 2009 to continue filming, snow was eve-
rywhere. In one way I was glad because it meant
www.thespektator.co.uk

no more radioactive dust, but it also turned out
to be one of the coldest winters in recent years
and the mercury was down to -42ºC at times. I
spent about a month living in the village or on
the farms where the only toilets are outside, so I
have some vivid memories of watching the stars
circle at night while slowly freezing to death!
Also, the outdoor part of the filming was
pretty much a one-man show with no translator
or crew, so this made for some interesting multi-
tasking! When Serik [the shepherd] and I rode
on horseback out to one of the craters, I was
trying to hold the camera with one hand, and
hold the reigns of the horse with the other. I was
also trying to think of questions, and all the time
fighting to keep my hands from going numb.  At
one point I fell off, but thankfully my camera sur-
vived the tumble.
The main narrative that runs throughout the
film is that of Bibigul. Tell us a little about her.
The film follows Bibigul’s pregnancy up until
the birth of her child. Bibigul was born with a
stigma of the eyes, which means that they are
further apart than normal. Dr. Nurmagambetov
called her a “frightful face” and advised her to
terminate her pregnancy. Bibigul, however, was
determined to resist this advice and went on to
give birth anyway.
Did Dr. Nurmagambetov advise her against
giving birth in case she passed on her condi-
tion?
Yes. In his opinion there was a very high chance
the child would be born with Down syndrome,
and also with a similar eye defect. And this is per-
fectly reasonable when you understand that he
sees children with horrific deformities every day.
And he also sees the way they are often rejected
www.thespektator.co.uk
by their parents and end up dumped in state or-
phanages that struggle to cope. His ‘genetic pass-
port’ idea was designed to prevent those likely
to pass on deformities from giving birth. It is this
question of finding a balance between the right
of a child to a healthy happy and fulfilled life, and
the right of a mother to have children which lies
at the heart of the film. Later, however, the doc-
tor began talking about protecting the “health of
the genetic pool of Kazakhs“, which is obviously a
much more sinister attitude.
Was Bibigul’s condition actually affecting her
health?
No, but a lot of people thought she was retarded
because she wouldn’t speak, especially about
the subject of her appearance and her pregnan-
cy. But I later figured out that this was just her
coping mechanism. And it’s perfectly reason-
able that if you are pestered about something
all your life you end up deciding to ignore it. But
her silence had been misinterpreted.
And what happened in the end, was the baby
healthy?
Yes, in this case Dr. Nurmagambetov was proved
wrong. But there were, of course, many other cas-
es where the mother and child were not so lucky.
How did it feel filming the birth?
Actually, I was really worried that Bibigul
wouldn’t let me film the birth! I traveled back to
Semipalatinsk from England especially for that
and got there three weeks early just in case. It
turned out she was a week overdue and I was so
worried that she would just have the baby and
not tell me about it. I was financing the trip largely
on my credit card and a few donors so
Focus 19
The riddle of
Radiation
ANTONY BUTTS
A passenger on a jumbo jet will be exposed to
levels of radiation greater than those found in
the bomb craters of Semipalatinsk, so how can
we say with any conviction that radiation actu-
ally causes genetically inherited birth defects?
The simple answer is that we cannot. In the
following short article I will venture to outline
briefly the three main arguments of this highly
charged debate.
Argument 1: Radiation does not cause inher-
ited genetic damage
An extensive study found no evidence of any
increase in birth defects in Hiroshima and Naga-
saki. Therefore, radiation does not cause inher-
ited birth defects.
How then can we explain the elevated birth de-
fects in Semipalatinsk? Some scientists specu-
late that it could come from low levels of folic
acid in the diet of pregnant women. Folic acid
deficiency is proven to cause elevated birth de-
fects and the Kazakh diet is meat-intensive ow-
ing to vegetables and greens growing poorly on
the dusty steppe in the Semipalatinsk region.
Argument 2: Perhaps radiation causes inher-
ited damage in humans
Can folic acid deficiency really be causing such
high levels of birth defects (up to one in twenty
births)? Are such results reflective of other
May 2011 The Spektator
 20 Focus
From left to right Bibigul’s mother, also af-
flicted with the same condition; Birsenbek
the shepherd downing another dose of ‘anti-
radiation’ vodka; Antony Butts shooting at
the largest crater in the Semipalatinsk Poly-
gon
regions in Kazakhstan? Sadly, this is beyond
the bounds of my research so I cannot say. But
what Is clear is that the presence of ionising
radiation in the villages and their environs is al-
most nil, except for areas around the craters and
certain water sources. This means there is far too
little radiation around to cause birth defects. If
radiation is to blame, then it can’t come from the
present. It would have to come from the past,
with the memory of the blasts being carried
through the generations by genetically inher-
ited DNA damage.
Can we learn anything from Chernobyl?
A recent study in the Lancet has found elevated
rates of birth defects in one area near Cherno-
byl where there had been significant radiation
contamination. Critics say that a single study
highlighting only one region does not consti-
tute proof of a connection between radiation
and birth defects. However, as Ukraine does not
suffer the agricultural privations of Kazakhstan’s
dusty steppe, the results do seem to cast doubt
on the Semipalatinsk folic acid theory.
But how to explain the extensive study in
Hiroshima and Nagasaki which found no link to
birth defects? One answer proposed is that the
Japanese victims were exposed to high levels
of radiation from the bomb flash and immedi-
ate aftermath but for a relatively short period of
time. Semipalatinsk victims, and to a lesser ex-
tent those at Chernobyl, have been exposed to
much lower doses, but for far longer periods of
time. The different manners of irradiation, claim
some scientists, could mean the Hiroshima and
Nagasaki results do not prove anything in the
case of Semipalatinsk.  bizarre phenomenon.”
Also, some people, air stewardesses for ex-
ample, are continually exposed to low doses of
radiation over many years as part of their job.
The radiation on airplanes around the latitude of
Europe (it increases the further you fly towards
the poles) is around 300 microRoentgens which
is around twenty times what you can expect to
May 2011 The Spektator
find while on the ground and actually exceeds
the radiation levels I measured on the big crater
in Semipalatinsk in winter.
Whether this puts you off flying probably de-
pends on where you get your information from.
The  Daily Mail  this April cited two Scandinavian
studies claiming that air stewardesses are statisti-
cally more likely to give birth to babies with Down
syndrome than women in other careers, and also
twice as likely to develop breast cancer. However,
a 2006  BBC Horizons documentary  plays down
the dangers by citing different studies.
While the epidemiological evidence on the
ground and in the sky looks inconclusive, what
about lab tests? Nobody has shown that radia-
tion causes inherited damage in humans under
controlled conditions because of ethical consid-
erations. However, Prof. Yuri Dubrova has no such
qualms with humble mice. At the University of
Leicester where he is head of the genetics depart-
ment, he explained to me that his results show that
the mutation rate does increase in the offspring of
irradiated mice. This suggests that somehow the
memory of parental irradiation travels down to
later generations and makes them unstable. Prof.
Dubrova’s results are mirrored by similar studies
conducted in the US, Canada and Japan.
If, as some suppose, the effects observed
in mice are true in humans, then this inherited
genetic instability caused by radiation could be
behind the birth defects in Semipalatinsk. Prof.
Dubrova was, however, at pains to stress that sci-
ence cannot yet explain these results: “We don’t
know how it works. We’re working hard now try-
ing to analyse the mechanisms underlying this
Argument 3: Radiation definitely causes inher-
ited genetic damage
At the moment only those powered by belief
and not scientific training can say that radia-
tion conclusively causes birth defects down the
generations in humans.
it was super risky. When Bibigul’s sister rang
me at 1am I was really wired. I filmed from behind
Bibigul’s head and when the baby was born, it
came out legs first. There was some real drama with
the doctor telling Bibigul to push urgently as hard
as she could, because the half-born child couldn’t
breathe. When the child came out it was like a grey
doll. They took it to a table and started slapping it
on the back and using oxygen, but nothing was
happening. The nurses were saying that time was
running out for him. Then, amazingly, the child just
burst into life and started screaming.
What happens to the children born with abnor-
malities or deformities?
Sometimes the mothers keep them. Sometimes
they feel that they don’t have the money, or they
feel a sense of shame. Or sometimes children are
just too horrifically deformed to look after. So they
end up in orphanages. One is called the House Of
Children. They stay there until they are a few years
old, then they go off to this other orphanage in Ay-
aguz [a city to the south of Semipalatinsk]..
Did you visit the orphanages?
Yes, I visited both. When I went out to Ayaguz, it
was quite early on in the filming, before my mind
had adjusted to it, and everything was quite
shocking and new. I was breaking down in tears
during one interview with this girl who had Down
syndrome and a heart defect. They said they didn’t
have enough money to get an operation for her. I
later found out that they did get the money for the
operation, but that the girl died anyway. Many of
the kids I interviewed then are now dead, which I
find very upsetting.
Another character the film follows is Birsenbek
the shepherd. Tell us a little about him.
Birsenbek is just a normal Kazakh shepherd, who
happens to live right next to the largest bomb
crater in the Polygon. That’s where his farm is. The
meat is then sold in Semipalatinsk, and nobody
knows it’s been grazed on a radioactive crater!
www.thespektator.co.uk

What does he think about living so close to
such an ominous landmark?
To him it’s just part of the daily view out of the win-
dow. He takes his sheep up there, just once a week
though, because he says he gets a headache if he
goes up there too often. It’s worse in the summer
though. He says the wind whips up the dust and
blows it towards his cottage - and this dust is full of
dangerous radioactive isotopes.
But he stays there?
Yeah. He says he’s perfectly fine. That seems to be
the thing - for us it’s shocking when we go there
and see it. And for the doctors who deal with it and
its effects every day, it’s shocking. But for people
who grow up there, its just a background to their
life. And I asked these questions: “Why do you
stay?“, “Why aren’t you more worried?“ But they just
say “What’s the point in worrying more when we
think the radiation is inside our blood, inside our
genes? We can’t escape from this curse anyway.”
What do the older people remember about the
tests?
It’s generally the same story: They’d see a big flash
of light and they’d all run outside their houses to
watch the big mushroom. Sometimes the Soviet
soldiers would come over and tell them to stand
outside their houses and look at the mushrooms.
I never really got to the bottom of whether this
was because the subsequent earthquakes would
knock their houses down, or, as was suggested in
the film, that it was part of a sinister experiment.
I’m inclined to believe it’s a bit of both.
How much did they know?
Oh, they knew very little. They knew that the gov-
ernment was doing something out there, but they
didn’t know what. And they didn’t know that it had
any implications on their health . One woman who
had a very, very deformed child told me that it was
only when she saw that every other child in the
area was born horrifically deformed, that she kind
of put two and two together.
www.thespektator.co.uk
There is surely a great deal of anger and bitter-
ness amongst the local people?
Local people do feel bitter, yes. It is like they have
been treated as guinea pigs twice now. First with
the nuclear bombs, to see what would happen.
And now people go over there to do their doctor-
ates, or to do little journalistic pieces about their
suffering. Despite all this, precious little money is
spent on the region by the government, and the
foregin aid the journalists promise has never re-
ally materialised.
In the hotel which I stayed in Semipalatinsk
I met a filmmaking group who had decided that
Berik - a local man with huge flap-like tumours
on his face - should star in a short drama. It looks
like the filmmakers have done a remake of Ed-
ward Scissorhands - but with a real person who
is very vulnerable. I met Berik once. He’s a blind
guy who’s so bored that he’d probably do most
things to alleviate the monotony of his life and
earn a bit of cash. Is it exploitation by a group of
film students out to build up their showreel, or
a touching film that will bring real hope to this
person’s life? After the apocalypse, I hope, is not
exploitative as we’re really trying to build up a
presence for it and push things politically. But to
some extent or another it is exploitative.
Will you ever be able to show After the Apoca-
lypse in Kazakhstan?
No. The people I met agreed to be filmed so long
as it wouldn’t be broadcast in Kazakhstan. The
last thing Bibigul wants is other villagers gawp-
ing at her giving birth and the doctor calling her
genetically inferior. For this reason, the film must
never be shown publically in Kazakhstan.
After the Apocalypse has its theatrical premiere at
Leicester Square’s Prince Charles Cinema in London on
11th May 2011. It will then be screened in various cin-
emas around the UK, before being broadcast on UK tel-
evision channel More4 in July. You can pre-order DVDs
and get details of the latest screenings via the website
www.aftertheapocalypsemovie.com
Focus 21
Unfortunately, many journalists and
opinion makers forget the science and quote
whatever fits their beliefs. They see radiation,
then a deformed child, and that’s it. Mind
made up. No science or looking at the nu-
ances. There are people born with Bibigul’s
eye stigma in England, where there has never
been any meaningful radiation exposure, for
instance. The simple fact is that no-one knows
the answer to the inherited genetic damage
question.
Can the riddle be solved?
So, short of irradiating people in controlled
conditions, can we get to the bottom of ra-
diation mystery? Prof. Dubrova walked me
over to a cryogenic freezer and smiled. What
was in there, I asked. He opened it excitedly.
Vapour billowed out to the floor and amid the
mist were revealed row upon row of test tubes,
shining blood-red under the lab’s fluorescent
lighting. These were samples carefully col-
lected and logged from generations of citizens
living (and also now deceased) in the villages
around the Semipalatinsk test-site and trans-
ported here to be frozen until science could
make use of them.
Yuri can barely contain his excitement.
The genetics technology is coming. Already,
you can sequence someone’s DNA in less than
twenty-four hours. Now the professor is wait-
ing for the funding to come through to do a
proper genetic analysis on all this blood. But
sadly, no-one is giving Yuri the money to do
this vital research.
Over in Kazakhstan where a certain multi-
billionaire President and his kleptocratic fam-
ily have plenty of oil money to splash around,
Dr Boris Galich who is deputy head of the
Semipalatinsk Institute of Radiation Medi-
cines is busy booking a second class train tick-
et for a twelve hour journey across the steppe
to go to a conference in “nearby” Karaganda.
Tired of performing the same trick for visiting
journalists, Dr Galich grumpily marched me
outside in the snow to show me his freezer
full of blood samples similar to Yuri’s. But he
had forgotten the keys. The red temperature
LED on the front of the freezer read a steady
minus 140 degrees Celsius - “Nowhere near
cool enough to keep them unspoilt for much
longer,” says Dr Galich. While Prof. Dubrova
wants the money to run his blood through
expensive genetic sequencers, all Dr Galich
wants is a decent freezer.
In that freezer, Dr Galich said, were blood
samples of children, parents, grandparents
and great grandparents. The grandparents
received the big long term dose of radiation
in the decades when the USSR exploded the
worst of the test-site’s 456 separate bombs,
but the children being born now and their
parents had not seen any radiation of signifi-
cance. Has the radiation damage been passed
down? We won’t know until these samples
are sequences and analysed. But if that one
freezer goes, then priceless genetic samples
of long dead Kazakh citizens, in whose blood
lies the key to the mystery, will be lost. If Prof.
Dubrova’s freezer goes as well, we might nev-
er know the answer.
May 2011 The Spektator
 THE GUIDE
22

Bishkek life
Bars
Chuchuara Hoga (117, Chui) International
With this Chinese restaurant, a little out of the way
and and rarely visited by tourists, you really feel you 12 Chimneys (TeplIkluchy village)

restaurants are getting the real deal. Request a хого (your own
personal Chinese boiling-pot) and randomly select
Wooden cabin located by a rushing stream thirty min-
utes out of town. The overpriced food is more than
compensated for by the chilled atmosphere and wild
There’s a fine line between ‘bar’ and ‘restaurant’ in a variety of unusual Chinese delicacies to throw in.
surroundings. Hotel accommodation also available.
Bishkek. Places more suitable for drinking sessions Beware, the ‘spicy’ sauce, although delicious, may
leave delicate stomachs in some distress several Head south on Almatinskaya and keep going. $$$$
are marked with a star *
hours later - consider the ‘not-spicy’ sauce as a suit-
Price Guide (main course and a garnish) able alternative $$ Bacardi* (Togolok Moldo 17/1)
$ - Expect change from 150 som Elite lounge bar affair with separate rooms for din-
$$ - A little over 250 should do the trick Frunze ing, dancing and whiling the night away smoking
$$$ - Expect to pay in the region of 350 (Chui/Pravda) hukkah pipes. Urban grooves played at a reason-
$$$$ - A crisp 500 (or more) needed in this joint Free semechki is one of many reasons to check out able volume and a full menu that includes a range
this lively hangout, rammed with Chinese at lunch of tasty platters. $$$$
and dinner time. The menu is encyclopediac in
American/Mexican terms of scope, but if you’re feeling bewildered, Barcode* (Toktogul/Sovietskaya, inside ‘Moto’)
Hollywood*(Druzhba/Sovietskaya) just point to something tasty-looking on a neigh- A hip, clean interior, fast wi-fi and an affordable
As you would probably guess, decorated with bouring table like we did. $$ business lunch have made Barcode something of
movie posters, photos of cinema icons and a a hotspot since it opened in early 2010. The place
bunch of American kitsch. Hollywood is popu- Peking Duck I & II comes to life at night when 3 DJs compete for your
lar with a younger crowd and is usually packed (Soviet/Druzhba & Chui/Tog. Mol.) affections with an array of banging tunes. $$
from mid-evening onwards. A fun place for a few Huge portions to feed even the biggest of glut-
drinks before heading off to the clubs. $$$ tons and an English language menu that provides Blonder Pub* (Pravda/Kulatova)
plenty of amusing translations. $$ Blonder Pub is the new brewery-restaurant to try
Metro* (133, Chui) out. Cavernous yet cosy inside, there’s decent blues
In the impressive location of a former theatre, Metro Shaolin (Zhibek Zholu/Prospect Mir) every night, live Premiership Football, Eurogrub
remains the première drinking hole for ex-pats. A This tidy looking restaurant sticks out for its sheer and a good selection of ales. In regard to the latter
high ceiling, a long bar and friendly staff compli- range of oriental dishes and its large, round tables we recommend ‘Datski Schnaffer’. $$$$
ment a good Tex-Mex menu and a wide selection that make it ideal for extended gatherings. $$
of drinks. Metro is one of the best bets for catch- Buddha Bar (Sovietskaya/Akhunbayeva)
ing sporting events on TV, although thanks to the Dungan Buddha bar offers a taste of the East inside a tastefully
hideously late kickoff times for Champions League constructed zen log cabin. The sushi is excellent, and
Hui Min (Relocated to the Hotel Dostuk) for those on a budget, the stir-fry noodle dishes make
football matches, don’t count on the staff waiting up
A former favourite, we have been told that Hui Min an excellent lunch. Recommended! $$$$
unless it’s a big one. $$$
has now relocated to the Hotel Dostuk. Apparently
Mexican Canteena (Chui 158, near Beta Stores) the menu has been revamped and the prices in- Captain Nemo’s (14, Togolok Moldo)
At its best in the summer as sombrero classics ser- creased. The Spektator will be checking it out soon. Small nautically themed restaurant with a selection
enade pedestrians down Chui and a mixed crowd We hope they still serve the special Dungan tea, as of evocatively named dishes including ‘Fish from the
sits on the porch washing down tacos with strong it’s rather good. ship’s boy’ and ‘Tongue from the boatswain’s wife’.
marguirita. Burritos and fajitas are mouth-watering Cosy wooden interior and porthole style windows
here, and long-haired gringo types will be glad to create an underwater log cabin experience. Spirits,
have their beer served with a lemon, not a straw. Georgian cocktails and a good business lunch. $$$
$$$ Mimino (27, Kievskaya)
Mimino is nice, cosy and serves up bowl-fulls of steam- Coffee House (9, Manas & Togolok Moldo/Ryskulova)
Smokie’s (Donetskaya/Jukeeva Pudovkina) Treat yourself to some of the finest coffee and cakes
ing, hearty Georgian fare with pomegranate seeds
Bishkek’s first and only traditional American Bishkek has to offer at one of three ‘Coffee Houses’;
a-plenty. We recommend the kjadjapuri, khinkali and
barbecue restaurant serves pit-smoked spicy cosy boutique cafés with a European flavour. Curl
anything that’s served in a pot. Watch out for Uncle Joe
beef brisket, ribs, pork shoulder, lamb legs and up and read a book, or just drop in for a caffeine hit
at the door. $$$$
chicken quarters. Well worth the trek out to Or- and a chocolate fix. $$$
to-Sai market in the cooler half of the city. Enjoy German Cosmo Bar* (Sovietska/Moskovskaya)
a range of cocktails and spirits, too. $$$
Steinbrau* (5, Gerzena) Board the sweet smelling elevator, ascend to the
Armenian Don your beer drinking trousers and head down top-floor Cosmo Bar and splash the cash with your
Landau (Manas/Gorky) to Bishkek’s take on a Bavarian-style beer hall. They fellow free-spending cosmonauts. Elegant interior,
Fancy something a little different? If you can tol- brew their own stuff - such a relief from the insipid plush sofas, fancy drinks and pretty waitresses.
erate the arthritic service, Landau isn’t a bad spot bilge that’s normally sold as lager. Compliment your Huzzah! $$$$
for a pork steak or some other Armenian culinary pint with a plate of German sausage with sauerkraut. Crostini (191, Abdrahmanova)
goodies. Also, treat yourself to some decent Arme- $$$ Situated inside the Hyatt, this is a joint to be re-
nian conjac whilst your here, you’ll never go near served for a business lunch or marriage proposal
Bishkek conjac again. Ever. $$$ Vienna (Moscow/Soviet) only. Chef Taner Erdemir serves up mouth-water-
Actually an Austrian, but subsumed into our German ing international cusine, but at a price. $$$$$
Chinese section in the name of Anschluss. Vena is a cracking lit-
Ak-Bata (108, Ibraimova) tle place to people-watch over some great European Dillinger* (Gorky/Tynystanova)
This place must serve up pretty authentic dishes dishes and a glass of fine Austrian wine. If you didn’t Glamorous VIP complex including a restaurant, bar
as it’s always full of Chinese playing mah-jong and know Austria had fine wines, you can check into the and casino. A decedantly decorated and perculiar-
waving their chopsticks about. Smoky and stuffy, adjoining shop to begin your viticultural education. ly endearing homage to the notorious bank robber
but in a nice way. $ Vienna is spelled ВЕНА in Russian. Free Wi-Fi. $$$ - we’re sure he would appreciate it. $$$$

May 2011 The Spektator www.thespektator.co.uk

 Bars, Restaurants & Clubs 23
Fatboy’s* (Chui/Tynystanova) getting you down. $$$$ Bella Italia (Kievskaya/K.Akiev)
Civilized, friendly cafe bang in the middle of town Adriatico’s former Italian chef, Walter, has moved
and a popular ex-pat meeting point. Sensible spot Stary Edgar’s* (15, Panfilova) homes and is now serving a practically identical
for conversation, but if you’re alone there’s a mini- The concrete monstrosity of the Russian Theatre con- range of dishes at this spot just behind October cin-
library to peruse (although literary classics are thinceals one of Bishkek’s finest attempts at a cosy base- ema. Enjoy the best pizza in town, gnocci and other
on the ground). Check out the American pancakes ment bar. Friendly staff, a decent menu and a collection typical Italian numbers, tasty business lunches from
for breakfast, top marks. $$$ of old bits and bobs decorating the walls make Edgar’s 200 soms. $$$$
an attractive alternative to the city’s mainstream cafés. Cyclone (136, Chui)
Four Seasons (116a, Tynystanova)
One of the poshest places to eat out in Bishkek. El- A blues band plays most nights and a pianist adds a ro- Smart Italian restaurant with plush interior, efficient,
egant, yet modern interior and polite service. Great mantic ambience on some Sunday evenings. $$$ polite serving staff and a warm atmosphere to al-
place to splash out on a special occasion or just for leviate Bishkek’s winter chills. Pasta dishes stand out
the hell of it. $$$$ Pinta Pub* (133, Chui) among a menu of traditional Italian favourites. $$$
Brought to you by the same folks that own the best
Foyer (27, Erkindik ) draught beer shops in the city, Pinta Pub is a bright Dolce Vita (116a, Akhunbaeva)
Foyer is an excellent place to enjoy an evening green signed lighthouse for the Spektator on a hot Cosy Italian restaurant with smiling waitresses serv-
cocktail or check your inbox with a cup of coffee. day. With a host of well-kept ales on tap, food-wise ing excellent pizza. Also serves salads and European
Free Wi-Fi, good deserts and blues on Tuesdays. $$$ we recommend complementing a nice ‘Greek’ salad cuisine. Small terrace outside for summertime din-
with any of the dishes from the pork page on the ing. $$
Griffon (Microregion 7) menu, all of which are excellent. Recommended! $$$
A cosy log-cabin affair with a large meat-roasting Japanese
central fireplace. On one disturbing occasion the U Mazaya (Behind ‘Zaks’ on Sovietskaya) Aoyama (93, Toktogula)
waiting staff were about as plesant as a bunch Possibly Central Asia’s only rabbit themed restaurant. Elegant sushi joint frequented by serious looking
of chavs, but hopefully that was a passing phase. Descend into this underground warren and tuck in. suited-types concluding their latest dodgy deals.
Minibuses 195 and 110 take you right past it as you Also check out the fairy-light adorned flagship sister- The food’s excellent though - if you can scrape to-
head out to the mountains. $$$ rabbit-restaurant in Asenbai micro region. $$$ gether enough soms. $$$$
GlavPivTrest* (Asenbai region, next to City Club) Vavilon (Microregion 7) Fusion (Vefa Centre, Sovietskaya/Gorkova)
We watched a band called Liquid Cactus play here Finely presented dishes, reasonably priced beer (60 Takeout is free on orders over 450 soms (0312 510
and admired the old Soviet paraphenalia hanging som) genuinely friendly and attentive service and live 707). Teriaki chicken, Miso soup, sushi rolls and pork
on the walls. Lenin makes an appearance outside
music from 8-ish on most evenings. Definitely worth in ginger sauce are all well worth a phone call. $$$
the bogs and you can get Spektator favourite Ven-
the trek out to the suburbs ( tell your taxi driver to turn
skoye on tap. Good beer snacks and the burgers
left at the yuzhniy vorota and head towards Asenbai Korean
aren’t bad either. Nice for a ‘theme’ night out. $$$
for about 1.5km) $$$ Santa Maria (217, Chui)
Jam* (179, Toktogula) Vis-a-Vis (26, Logvinenko) Plush Korean restaurant offering Eastern favourites,
An underground oasis of cool. Jam is a cafe with a including exciting Korean barbecues where you get
This place is a new free wi-fi honey pot for ex pats.
full menu, kalians (shisha pipes) and a lounge bar to cook your own dinner, plus an extensive Euro-
Steak is always advisable when eating at an appendix
atmosphere, open till 3am . $$$$ pean menu. $$$
to a butcher’s, and the sirloin here is exceptional. Also,
Jumanji (Behind the circus) enjoy English breakfasts, chips that aren’t cold and lo-
It’s strange. This place is decorated with fake jungle cal dark ale Chuiski on tap. Recommended! $$$
Lebanese
foliage and is based on a crap kids’ film yet still sort Beirut (Shevchenko/Frunze)
of works. You also get to roll a pair of Jumanji dice Indian Now in a new location, Beirut continues to serve en-
before you order for the chance to win a special se- The Host (Sovietskaya, opposite the Hyatt) ticing Lebanese goodies including falaffle, humus,
cret prize - we like this. $$$ A varied and interesting menu including fine Indian and tasty little meat pie things. $$$
food make this place a real treat. On midweek days
Live Bar* (Kulatova/Pravda) there are also several excellent business lunch deals
Twenty-four hour sports bar with live music at offering a soup, salad, main course and dessert for Moldovan
weekends. Plenty of leather couches provide the 250-350 som. A real stand out and a Spektator fa-
ideal place to sip cocktails whilst watching the vourite! $$$$ Moldova Restaurant (Kievskaya/Turusbekova)
Champions league at three in the morning. $$$$ If it’s been a while since you last went out for a
Indian Village (Vefa Centre, Sovietskaya/Gorkova) Moldovan, this wooden paneled, sturdy-tabled ea-
Lounge Bar* (338a, Frunze) tery may be the answer to your prayers. Also, the
It’s on the third floor (if you count ground floor as
One of our favourite places to drink in the Summer- Moldovan Embassy is next door should you care
the first). A cheaper version of The Host, if you can
time, when we can afford it. Outdoor balcony-cum- to learn more about the world’s favourite budget-
bear the fake-fontaine, soul sucking environs of this
terrace high above the street with slouch-couches wine exporting country. $$$
Turkish-built mall. The vegetable biryani is good for
and fine views of the circus - which you can some-
days when you are feeling off meat, while the milky
times smell in hot weather. Nice. $$$ chai tea is authentic, if a little sweet. $$ Regional/Central Asian
Navigator (103, Moskovskaya)
A pricy, but pleasant place to while away an after-
Italian Arabica* (Mederova/Tynastanova)
This formerly sophisticated laid back shisha pipe)
noon. Sit in the bar area over a beer or lounge in the Adriatico (219, Chui) bar has moved to a new location and, by the looks
airy non-smoking conservatory. Attentive service Reportedly suffering following the departure of of the bath in the toilets, may still be under devel-
and a refreshing selection of salads, a good place its Italian chef, Walter, although we have been told opment. Three floors, VIP rooms, kaliyans aplenty.
for a light, healthy lunch when fat and grease are that the soup is still excellent. $$$$ $$$

Spektator
THE

.co.uk
Find the best bars in town with the Spektator and thespektator.co.uk

www.thespektator.co.uk May 2011 The Spektator

 24 Bars, Restaurants & Clubs
Arzu-II (Sovietskaya/Lev Tolstoy bridge) Zaporyzhia (9, Prospect Mira) Apple (28, Manas)
Twenty-four hour joint that’s a godsend for those Recently opened, Zaporyzhia is a cossack fla- Fat, old, lecherous foreigners not welcome, this
who get cravings for lagman or manti at four in voured restauraunt in a varnish-scented log cab- place is for a younger cooler crowd. Multiple bars,
the morning. Sometimes smoking isn’t allowed, in. Hearty rustic dishes and a homely atmosphere. large dance floor, friendly atmosphere. Thursday
sometimes it is, however the food and prices are The medovukha is recommended! $$$ usually a big night. (Entrance charge 100-300 som)
constantly pretty good. Comfy booth style seats to
dig yourself into after a heavy night. $$ Turkish Arbat (9, Karl Marks)
Carlson (166, Sovietskaya) Tel. 512094; 512087
Arzu-I (Togolok Moldo, next to the stadium) Smart ‘elite’ club popular with a slightly older
Offers a hearty selection of Kyrgyz and European A good outdoor terrace and some hearty food, but
crowd. Strip bar and restaurant in same building.
dishes and a homely atmosphere. There’s also a the Karaoke style crooners who provide evening (Entrance charge 200/350 som midweek, 350/450
great outdoor terrace and national favorouit Arpa entertainment are an acquired taste. $$ som Fri/Sat. Strip bar 700 som)
on draught. $$ Huzur (Kievskaya/Togoluk Moldo,)
Convivial proprietor Ali claims to have Steven Ger- City Club (85/1, Zhukeyeva-Pudovkina)
Derevyashka* (Ryskulova, behind Dvorets Sporta) Tel. 511513; 510581
Atmospheric drinking cabin that serves a range of rard’s 2005 Champion’s League winning Liverpool So exclusive it makes the Spektator crowd feel like
Central Asian and Russian cuisine, as well as an im- shirt. If you don’t believe that, belive in free lepyosh- cheap scum bags, City Club is one of the posh-
pressive array of pivo. Well worth it on football nights, ka and good, affordable Turkish cuisine. $$ est clubs in town. Get past the ‘face control’ (ugly
when the locals are rather rowdy. $ Konak (Sovietskaya/Gorkova) people beware) and spend your evening with gang-
Faiza I (Jibek Jolu/Prospect Mira) This Turkish joint used to be ‘Restaurant Camelot’ ster types, lecherous diplomats, Kazakh business-
Possibly the best place to munch traditional grub in hence the incongruous suits of armour in the back men and a posse of young rich kids who all seem to
town. Their fried pelmeni and manti are so good that room, and the rather crappy castle facade. However, have studied in London. (Entrance charge: girls 200/
they have often run out by supper-time. Save an the food is often great, the salads are large and fresh, boys 300, Fri/Sat girls 300/boys 500
appetite and go early. Slightly more upmarket sister and the staff are always pleasant. Recommended!
(And now open 24 hours a day) $$ Golden Bull (Chui/Togolok Moldo)
restauraunt on Mederova/Tynastanova. $ Tel. 620131
Forel (Vorentsovka village) Ojak (On Erkindik between Moskovskaya, Toktogula) A Bishkek institution. Full of ex-pats and tourists liter-
Twenty minutes outside of Bishkek, Forel is a fish- Technically an ‘Azerbaijanian’, but don’t let this fact ally every night of the week. Long bar, friendly staff,
based ‘relaxation centre’ set amongst babbling ruin the best value kebabs in town. The menu is cheapish beer, everyone’s happy. (Entrance charge
streams and offering fine veiws of the mountains. Fish limited and if your Russian is too, just say ‘kebab’ and [girls/boys] free/400 midweek, 150/400 Fri/Sat. ‘For-
your own trout out of a pool and have it deep fat fried something cheap and tasty will arrive. $ eigners’ free.)
for your pleasure. Only salads, bread, tea and juice are
Retro Metro (24, Mira)
sold on site but you are welcome to bring any booze
or garnish you desire, it’s also possible to rent a BBQ. Night www.retrometro.kg

To get there take a taxi to Vorentsovka village and, if
your taxi driver doesn’t know the exact location, ask a
friendly villager. Trout is 800som/kilo $$$
Karavan (Almatinkskoya/Chui)
Excellent little stolyva (canteen) full of the timeless
regional favourites. Being an Uighur restaurant its gero
lagman or lagman pa Uighurski particularly stand out.
No smoking, sit, eat and leave. $
Jalalabad (Togolok Moldo/Kievskaya)
Basically the cheapest food (that won’t give you gut
rot) in the centre of town. While it should stand out for
its fresh lagman, Jalalabad is sometimes overlooked.
Probably at its best in summer, when the shashlyk
masters flanking the entrance offer their creations
straight to guests sitting at Eastern-style tables – cross
your legs and see how long before cramp sets in. $
Tubeiteika (Moskovskaya/Turusbekova)
Hard to spell but great to eat at. The menu is well
beyond the traditional Central Asian scope, with nods
to China, Japan and Europe, too. We liked the Chinese
chicken, the sushi and the shashlyk. $$$
Russian/Ukrainian
Pirogoff-Vodkin (Kievskaya/Togolok Moldo)
Classy restaurant with a turn of the 20th century
atmosphere serving Russian specialities. Have your
tea in a giant samovar. $$$
Khutoryanka (Bokonbaeva/Isanova)
Unassuming, to put it mildly, on the outside, this
place is a revelation on the inside. Delicious food,
reasonable service, Ukrainian brass band music
on the cd player. We love it! $$$
Platinum (East side of the Philharmonia)
Taras Bulba (Near the Yuzhniy Vorota on Sovietskaya)
Like all the Ukrainian restaurants we’ve tried in Take a seat at the snazzy 360 degree bar and do (Entrance charge 100-150 som)
Bishkek, Taras Bulba serves great food. We liked the battle with some of Kyrgyzstan’s most convivial
potato pancakes with caviar, the delicious soups ‘elite’ for gold-digging temptresses. (Entrance Live music also common at Stary Edgar’s, Beatles
and fresh salads. $$$ charge 400-500 som)
Clubs
Bright, happy, 80’s kitsch bar, the DJ spins his rec-
ords from inside the front of a VW camper van. One
of the most popular places for post-2am partying.
(Entrance charge: 200/300 som midweek, 350/450
There are some Bishkek old-hands who say that som Fri/Sat. Reserve for 200 som)
things aren’t what they used to be when it comes to
nightlife in Bishkek. They talk of legendary nights of Live Music
carnage, vomit, and debauchery - delights that con-
temporary Bishkek struggles to offer. Promzona (16, Cholpon-Atinskaya)
Not so, we say. Take your pick from the list below and www.promzona.kg
we’re sure there’s still enough carnage, vomit and Promzona’s far-flung location sadly means a taxi
debauchery in town to keep everyone happy. ride or a long walk home are in order at the end
of a night. Nevertheless, this trendy live music
Diskoklubs venue has a lot going for it: good bands, an exten-
sive menu, and a hip industrial interior featuring,
Heaven (Frunze/Pravda - in the Hotel Dostuk) strangely, a wind tunnel fan, make this one of the
As Heaven is found inside a hotel it is surprisingly best nights out in Bishkek. Tuesday is Jazz night.
unseedy. In fact it stands out for being a bastion of Rock or blues bands normally play at the week-
the well-dressed (if one is generous). Turn up in tatty ends. (Music charge 200-350 som)
jeans and a t-shirt and you may feel a little out of
place; then again, you may not give a shit. Tables by Esco-bar (Gorkova, 200 m East of Tash Rabat)
the dancefloor cost 1000 som but include drinks up Named after the infamous Colombian cocaine
to this value. (Entrance charge 200-400 som) baron, staff are unlikely to bash a line out for you
on arrival. What you will get is decent tunes most
Fire & Ice (Tynystanova/Erkindik) nights in a ‘pre-party’ spot brought to you by the
A slightly grittier version of Golden Bull. Again, for- creators of the Vefa centre’s Veranda. $$$
eigners can often get in for free. Popular throughout
Sweet Sixties (Molodaya Gvardia/Kievskaya)
the week. (Entrance ‘foreigners’ free)
Live cover bands most nights. Full menu, popular
with a younger crowd. $$
Gvozd (Western side of the Philharmonia)
Foreigners for free, urban grooves and acceptable
Zeppelin (43, Chui)
prices at the bar. ‘Gvozd’ means ‘nail’ in Russian, but
Zeppelin is in the same vein as the old Tequila
you’ve probably got a better chance at the Golden
Blues but not quite so spit and sawdust. On the
Bull. Its almost like the crowd from Pharaoh have mi-
nights we’ve visited, there’s been a line up of young
grated. (Entrance ‘foreigners’ free)
rock or punk bands strutting their stuff, heavier
beats seem to go down best with the young Rus-
sian crowd. Full restaurant menu.
Bar, Foyer and Blonder Pub (see ‘restaurants’)

May 2011 The Spektator www.thespektator.co.uk

 Map 25
vardia a Gvardia
Molo d aya G Moloday
1

Ji be k
Jolu
Kievskaya
THE MOUNTAINS

Chui
Engelsa
Lva Tolstogo

Toktogula
2
23 ve.
Manas a
15
ve.
Manas a

Ryskulova

Jumabe
ve. 4 5
Manas a
3

Kievskaya
Moskovskaya

Isanova

k
T. Abdymom
Isanova 11 8 Koenkozo
va
Isanova 7
12 Dvorets
Sporta
9 10

unov stadium
13
oldo
Togolok M

Jibe
Michael Frunze
Spartak
14

k Jo
Chui
Toktogula

6
k o
Logvinen
Moskovskaya

va
Orozbeko

Juma
16

Baeto
Lva Tolstog

va
Orozbeko a
Razzakov
Bokonbaeva

bek
18

va
a
Razzakov
17 Erkind
Abdym

Erkindik
Tugolbay

Michae
omuno
o

21
l Frunze

a 19 ova
Fatianov Tynystan
va

ova 20
Tynystan
AYA
SOVETSK
AYA 22
Circus

27 SOVETSK
Chui

AYA
Kievskaya

SOVETSK aeva
24 Shopoko
va
A. Usenb
Toktogula
Lva

25 Shopoko
va
Pravda
a
Elebaev
Tol

26
Pravda
s

lya
Gogo
tog

Ogonbae
Moskov
o

North
Bokonb

lya
Gogo
va

www.thespektator.co.uk May 2011 The Spektator

 26 What’s On
May 18th - 31st
May 18th
Education fair
Sports Palace (Frunze/Togoluk Moldo)
Buy pencils, rulers and school uniforms at
discount prices
May 21st
Live Music Festival ‘Pulse’
Apple Club (Manas/Toktogula)
Part of the Augusta initiative at the Apple club
whuch has already brought top DJs from the
Ukraine and Russia. Bishkek’s trendsetters bump
and grind to the funkiest grooves in town.
Entrance: 200 soms
May 22nd
The Longest Dance in Life
Russian Drama Theatre
International dance festival with a caucasus
(Armenian/Georgian) flavour peformed by
the Kazakh-Kyrgyz Creative Collective. Sounds
unusual, at any rate.
Tel: 62-15-58
May 25
Knees up for Graduates
On the square outside Kinoteatr Rossiya
Join Bishkek’s school graduation class of 2011 as
they jive the evening away to live music on Chui
promenade. Starts at 19.00.
Dates for Summer
June 5th
Dance Festival
Bishkek Humanities University (Manas 27)
Programme will feature popdancing, belly
dancing and street dancing in the faux-Roman
colosseum environs of the BHU. Begins at 11.00,
rounds off at 14.00.
email Leri_a@rambler.ru for details
June 11th
The Great Hot Water Switch on!
A repeat of last year’s event which got rave
reviews. Annually, Bishkek authorities cut hot
water in the city to repair the ageing CHP
infrastructure, reducing non-boiler owners
to showers with woks, saucepans, kettles and
other kitchenware items. This year they cut it on
May 11th, and promised repairs would last no
longer than a month. Lets see.
TUK Dates for May Entertainment Directory
May 20th-27th The Puppet Theatre
Trip to the lakes Kara-Suu and Kel-Bashy Sovietskaya/Michurina
Info: Performances on Sundays at 11:00am.
The Kara-Suu lake is situated at the zone of Takta-
lyk range, about 2000 m above sea level, in the lower Russian Drama Theatre
reaches of the Kapka-Tash river. The length of the lake Tynystanova, 122 (Situated in Oak Park)
is about 6.5 km, the width is 1.5-2 km, average depth Tel.: 662032, 621571
about 90 m. The shores are densely overgrown by tien- Hours: Mon-Sun, 10:00-18:00
shan spruce, archa, rowan, barberry and other different Tickets 30-100 som
bushes. The lake’s climate is warm, dry & temperate. Local and international plays in Russian.
The summer’s temperature is 22-24 degree above zero,
in night is 8-14 degrees above zero. Wind conditions are
The Conservatory
moderate.
Jantosheva, 115
Tel: 479542
Program:
Concerts by students and professors.
1st day – Bishkek – Chichkan valley, overnight stay
at it; 2nd day – Kara-Suu lake, overnight stay; 3rd day
- Kara-Suu lake, a climb to the panoramic summit Kyrgyz State Philharmonic
Alampasy 3752 m; 4th day – Kara-Suu lake transfer Chui Prospect, 253
to Kel-Bashy lake (Kapka-Tash), overnight stay; 5th Tel: 212262, 212235
day – Trekking around the lake, overnight stay; 6th Hours: 17:00-19:00 in summer
day – Return to Kara-Suu lake, overnight stay; 7th Tickets: 70-100 som (sometimes much more for
day – Departure to Bishkek. special performances)
There are two concert halls featuring classical,
May 21st-22nd traditional Kyrgyz, and pop concerts and a variety
Kek-Moynuk Gorge hiking expedition of shows.
Two days hike around the Kek-Moynok gorge. Over-
night stay next by the spruce forest. Trek to Kek- Opera Ballet Theatre
Moynok lake. The length of the hike is about 20 km. Sovietskaya/Abdymununova
Tel: 66 15 48
May 28th Hours: 17:00-19:00
Day trip to Sokuluk gorge (Belagoka) Tickets: 150-600 som
Visit a local waterfall and return to Bishkek. Non cat- Tickets for performances sell out very quickly and
egorical trip suitable to all ages and abilities. it is necessary to book a seat in advance.
May 29th
Day trip to the Alamedin gorge
Walk in the panorama of the Black Finger and Aman- Live updates
Too Peaks. Hike to local waterfall and open air pic-
nic. Visit local spring.Trip for walkers of all ages and For all the Bishkek opera, ballet and concert listings,
check our frequently updated What’s On listings at:
abilities. Distance 12 km. Transport and organization
including consultation and guide for a group of 15 www.thespektator.co.uk
costs 280 som (TUK members 220 som).
May 29th Spektral Travel
Rafting on the Chu river
Rafting at the Boom gorge (category 2-3) along the With the recent release of the International Commission’s
investigation into last year’s June violence, city breaks in
Chu river, duration 2 – 2,5 hours, 25 km. 1400 soms
Osh and Jalal-Abad are not advisable. However, taking a
per person.
detour off the Osh road and heading towards the verdant
Groups meet the Thursday before the weekend of Lake Sary Chelek certainly is. This gem of Kyrgyzstan takes
departure. Call (0312) 906 115 or email us at trek@ an age to get to but is certainly worth the haul. Contact
elcat.kg. Web site: http://www.trek-kyrgyzstan.com local travel agency Novi Nomad for details (0559 554 558).

Trekking Union of Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, Chui av. 4A, Office A4
Tel.: +996 (312) 90 61 15, 90 61 39
e-mail: trek@elcat.kg,
website: www.trek-kyrgyzstan.com, www.tuk.kg
.
Map: Location guide 7. Beta Stores Supermarket 14. New York Pizza 21. Stary Edgars
1. Bella Italia 8. Derevyashka 15. Pinta Pub 22. TSUM Department Store
2. Metro Bar (American Pub) 9. Cyclone 16. National Museum 23. Jam
3. Mexican Canteena 10. Coffee House (II) 17. Navigator 24. Mimino
4. Zaporyzhian Nights 11. Adriatico 18. Sky Bar 25. Arabica
5. Coffe House (I) 12. Santa Maria 19. Foyer 26. Blonder Pub
6. Vis-a-Vis 13. Faiza 20. Fatboy’s 27. VEFA shopping Centre

May 2011 The Spektator www.thespektator.co.uk