“Moving Central Asian Studies ever further: Orthodox vs Unorthodox approaches”

5-8 June 2025: Tashkent and Samarkand (Uzbekistan)

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We are pleased to announce the International Conference: «Geopolitics, Migrations and Identities in Central Eurasia», a Joint Meeting of the CESS (Central Eurasian Studies Society) and the ESCAS (European Society for Central Asian Studies) – an in-person conference scheduled to take place from January 8 to January 10, 2025 (Wednesday to Friday), at the University of Lisbon, Portugal.

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ESCAS 2023 Regional Conference: “Power, people and cultural change in an ever-evolving Central Asia”

21 – 24 September 2023, Almaty, Kazakhstan

Further information about the conference

ESCAS is teaming up with an Erasmus+ Strategic partnership for higher education called “Eurasian Insights” (co-funded by the European Union).

The “Eurasian Insights” conference will be held in Ghent (Belgium) from Wednesday 10 to Friday 12 March 2021. The purposes of the event are threefold:

• Firstly, to bring together scholars, students, interested members of the public and policymakers working on (or interested in!) the Central Asian region. The prupose is to interact and strengthen a network of Central Asia-related research and education in Europe.

• Secondly, to show, by examining its identities and historical roots, societal and political dynamics, external interactions, economy and environment, that the Central Asian region is not merely a passive object in abstract geopolitics, but that it also has histories, societies, identities and aspirations of its own.

• Thirdly, examine what (potential) effects and impacts of developments in Central Asia, a region situated right beyond Europe’s eastern rim, have on the EU / Europe in general (and vice-versa).

The call for applications closes on 20 October 2020 (click here to visit the website, discover the draft program and apply)

Please find the final programme of the XVI ESCAS conference online at the conference website (click here for the PDF).

[Russian translation here.]

Statement of concern over the indictment and imprisonment of Professor Andrei V. Kubatin, Institute of Oriental Studies, Tashkent

10 June, 2019

The European Society for Central Asian Studies expresses its deep concern over the indictment and continued imprisonment, and alleged torture of our colleague Andrei V. Kubatin in Uzbekistan. Andrei Kubatin is a well-known scholar, who worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Tashkent, and who has made a significant contribution to the study of the early history of Uzbekistan.

In December 2017 Andrei Kubatin was convicted of treason and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment (later reduced to six years on appeal).^[1] The prosecution alleged that he provided scanned copies of rare books to a foreign scholar. Kubatin maintains that none of the materials involved classified documents, but were copies of publicly available scholarly works from his own library. He maintains his innocence of all charges. International human rights groups and scholarly associations have repeatedly highlighted his case and urged his release.^[2] They have also pointed to credible evidence that he was tortured during the initial phase of detention.[3]

The continued imprisonment of Andrei Kubatin threatens to undermine recent important advances made by the Government of Uzbekistan in expanding academic freedom and promoting international academic cooperation. We understand that Andrei Kubatin has been granted an appeal hearing which will take place once again on Wednesday, June 12.

We join others in the scholarly community in calling for Andrei Kubatin’s release.

The ESCAS Board.

[1] http://enews.fergananews.com/news.php?id=3801&mode=snews

[2] See the statement by the Central Eurasian Studies Society, at https://www.centraleurasia.org/2019/kubatin  Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/08/beyond-samarkand

[3] Human Rights Watch World Report 2019, ‘Uzbekistan’,  https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/uzbekistan

Заявление о обеспокоенности по поводу обвинительного заключения и заключения в тюрьму профессора Андрея Кубатина, Институт востоковедения, Ташкент

10 июня 2019 г.

Европейское общество по изучению Центральной Азии выражает глубокую обеспокоенность по поводу обвинительного заключения и продолжающегося тюремного заключения, а также по поводу предполагаемых пыток нашего коллеги Андрея Кубатина в Узбекистане. Андрей Кубатин – известный ученый, который работал в Институте востоковедения в Ташкенте и внес значительный вклад в изучение ранней истории Узбекистана.

В декабре 2017 года Андрей Кубатин был признан виновным в государственной измене и приговорен к 11 годам лишения свободы (после апелляции срок был сокращен до шести лет). [1] Согласно обвинению, Андрей Кубатин пeредал отсканированные копии редких книг иностранному ученому. Кубатин утверждает, что ни один из указанных материалов не содержал секретных документов, все материалы были копиями общедоступных научных работ из его личной библиотеки. Он настаивает на своей невиновности в отношении всех выдвинутых против него обвинений. Международные правозащитные группы и научные ассоциации неоднократно освещали его дело и требовали его освобождения. [2] Они также указывают на наличие достоверных доказательств того, что находясь под стражей во время предварительного заключения ученый подвергался пыткам.[3]

Продолжающееся лишение свободы Андрея Кубатина ставит под сомнение важные шаги, предпринятые правительством Узбекистана в последнее время, направленные на расширение академической свободы и развитие международного академического сотрудничества.

Новое слушание по апелляции поданной Андреем Кубатиным назначено на среду, 12 июня.

Мы присоединяемся к призывам научного сообщества освободить Андрея Кубатина.

…

[1] http://enews.fergananews.com/news.php?id=3801&mode=snews

[2] See the statement by the Central Eurasian Studies Society, at https://www.centraleurasia.org/2019/kubatin  Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/03/08/beyond-samarkand

[3] Human Rights Watch World Report 2019, ‘Uzbekistan’,  https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/uzbekistan