https://www.iess.ir/en/Target-Countries/central-asia Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:24:14 GMT /skins/default/en/normal/ch01_newsfeed_logo.gif https://www.iess.ir/ 100 70 en Copyright (c) Institute for East Strategic Studies, all rights reserved. Fri, 25 Apr 2025 14:24:14 GMT Central Asia 60 https://www.iess.ir/en/note/3975/ During Nowruz (the Persian New Year, literally means New Day), citizens of various regions of Turkmenistan engage in their traditional ceremonies. These include lighting fires (Şam-od) and jumping over them, growing sabzeh (greenery), organizing Nowruz celebrations such as setting up tents and tall swings in the days leading up to the holiday, preparing special sweets and dishes (such as Kachi Nowruz), holding local wrestling matches, horse races, ram fights, and rooster contests. The festivities also feature various musical performances, group dances, and songs, as well as the collective preparation of Samanu (a sweet paste made from germinated wheat) by neighbors. Traditional youth games like Ai Terek – Gun Terek and Monjuq Atdilar are also played during the Nowruz celebrations. Nowruz festivities in Turkmenistan are characterized by their visual splendor, as they involve group activities, colorful traditional attire, and gatherings in open spaces—usually outside cities or in town squares and parks—during the vibrant spring season. ]]> Central Asia Wed, 19 Mar 2025 05:16:43 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/note/3975/ https://www.iess.ir/en/analysis/3966/ The Iran-Tajikistan relationship presents several opportunities and challenges. The opportunities include the presence of a large majority of Persian-speaking and Iranian-origin populations, as well as the predominance of Muslims in Tajikistan, and Tajikistan’s geographical proximity to Afghanistan. This creates the potential for the establishment of a "geocultural axis" based on Persian culture and civilization, which could provide a strategic vision for both Iran and Tajikistan. ]]> Central Asia Wed, 05 Mar 2025 07:37:32 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/analysis/3966/ https://www.iess.ir/en/roundtable/3899/ the Institute of East Strategic Studies (IESS) hold A specialized event, titled "The Implications of the Syrian Crisis for Developments in Afghanistan and Central Asia", with the participation of domestic and international experts and scholars. ]]> Central Asia Mon, 30 Dec 2024 06:55:45 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/roundtable/3899/ https://www.iess.ir/en/analysis/3893/ General orientation of Trump’s foreign policy towards Central Asia reflects levels of both continuity and change in the region. The prominent feature of this strategy is its “pragmatism,” which could yield unfavorable outcomes in Trump’s negative approaches to Iran, Russia, and China in Central Asia. The experience of Trump’s previous presidency has proven that the only way to balance this pragmatic behavior is to respond with a similar pragmatic approach, which, within the framework of Iran-U.S. tensions in Southwest Asia, led to some results. In Central Asia as well, Iran will inevitably need to adopt greater pragmatism in the upcoming period. ]]> Central Asia Sat, 28 Dec 2024 07:44:50 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/analysis/3893/ https://www.iess.ir/en/roundtable/3836/ IESS's specialized meeting on "A look at the latest status of Islamic groups in Central Asia/ Examining emerging religious movements in the region" was held with the presence of domestic and regional experts. ]]> Central Asia Sun, 13 Oct 2024 05:31:30 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/roundtable/3836/ https://www.iess.ir/en/note/3778/ The 14th government is expected to maintain and strengthen the neighborhood policy approach of the 13th government towards Central Asia, while dealing with structural weaknesses, and implement a more pragmatic foreign policy (regardless of the interactions with the West or security developments in Southwest Asia) towards this region. Therefore, as a strategic implication, strengthening Iran’s pivot to Central Asia in order to compensate for the strategic backwardness in the last decade is very important. ]]> Central Asia Mon, 29 Jul 2024 07:23:05 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/note/3778/ https://www.iess.ir/en/analysis/3772/ Reports show that the level of military and defense cooperation of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with the West, especially the United States, has increased. This increase is beyond what is announced in official reports, and is caused by various drivers. First, after the start of the Ukraine war and the increase in the level of threats from Russia, these countries faced an uncertainty in their defense and military fields. Second, by imposing heavy sanctions against Russia and creating strong sensitivities even about economic interactions with Moscow, the development of military and defense cooperation with Russia has had a lot of costs for these countries. In fact, the West has tried to define any level of cooperation between these countries and Russia as an action in support of Russia and against Ukraine, creating a kind of divergence in this context. ]]> Central Asia Sat, 20 Jul 2024 06:41:12 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/analysis/3772/ https://www.iess.ir/en/interview/3755/ Today's international arena is very unstable. If the Zionists commit more heinous crimes in Gaza, or commit aggression against Lebanon, Syria or Iran, the situation may worsen. In this case, the ruling circles of Central Asia must choose which side they want to support: The Zionist regime and its Western allies; Or Iran, China and Russia (forces that are in favor of reforming the current international relations system). In any case, due to the adoption of a multilateral policy, these countries are unlikely to remain on the sidelines. ]]> Central Asia Sun, 16 Jun 2024 11:10:04 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/interview/3755/ https://www.iess.ir/en/interview/3754/ Today's international arena is very unstable. If the Zionists commit more heinous crimes in Gaza, or commit aggression against Lebanon, Syria or Iran, the situation may worsen. In this case, the ruling circles of Central Asia must choose which side they want to support: The Zionist regime and its Western allies; Or Iran, China and Russia (forces that are in favor of reforming the current international relations system). In any case, due to the adoption of a multilateral policy, these countries are unlikely to remain on the sidelines. ]]> Central Asia Sun, 16 Jun 2024 08:47:24 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/interview/3754/ https://www.iess.ir/en/roundtable/3686/ IESS's specialized meeting on "Central Asia's view of interaction with Iran; Tehran's Opportunities and Challenges" was held with the presence of Iranian and non-Iranian experts. ]]> Central Asia Tue, 27 Feb 2024 09:47:32 GMT https://www.iess.ir/en/roundtable/3686/