Hosted by Agnieszka Pikulicka · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 54 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Turan Tales is a weekly podcast covering underreported stories of people, politics and social change in Central Asia by journalist and author Agnieszka Pikulicka turantales.substack.com
Agnieszka Pikulicka hosts Turan Tales, a news show with 54 episodes published.
This week, we're joined by Mark Reese - translator of Abdulla Qodiriy's Bygone Days from Uzbek to English, academic and entrepreneur. We talk about the cultural and social significance of Bygone Days, the message it conv
This week, we’re diving into the fascinating history of Central Asian cinema and the ways Central Asia and Central Asians have been portrayed in foreign films. We’ll explore colonial tropes in portrayals of the region du
In the 1940s, Tashkent became an unlikely centre of Yiddish culture as Eastern European Jews were evacuated to Soviet Central Asia during World War II. Yet the story has remained largely forgotten. Get full access to Tur
The word Turan, which appears in the title of this podcast, has Persian linguistic and literary origins -- something we’ll be talking about today. We’ll look at Persian influences in Central Asia, how the language spread
This week, we look at Russian wartime migration into Central Asia: how it unfolded, what motivated Russians to choose the region as their destination, how they rebuilt their lives there, and how this movement has reshape
This week, I would like to ask you a very big favour: please fill in a listeners’ survey about Turan Tales to help us improve. For those of you with a Substack account, here is a Substack survey: https://turantales.subst
In this episode, we look at the fall of Kyrgyzstan’s ruling duo: President Sadyr Japarov and security chief Kamchybek Tashiev. We discuss how they came to power, why their alliance may be breaking down, and what this tel
As Russia’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda law spreads across the region, queer spaces in Kazakhstan’s second-largest city are disappearing – and with them, the city’s creative pulse. Get full access to Turan Tales at turantales.
This week, we focus on Tengrism, the ancient belief system of the Eurasian steppe that has faced centuries of change, from the rise of Islam to Soviet suppression. While its rituals remain part of Central Asian culture a
My guest today was born in 1991, the same year the Soviet Union collapsed. A few years ago, he set out to explore what’s happened to the countries it left behind, and whether life beyond Russia’s shadow has brought the f
Last Sunday, March 8th, Turan Tales celebrated turning one with its first live podcast and a community gathering in Almaty. We sat down with Kazakh podcaster and feminist Aisulu Toyshibek to talk about women’s rights in
This week we look at Kazakhstan’s new draft constitution and what it could mean for the country’s future. Our guest is Dmitriy Mazorenko, journalist and co-founder of the Superstructure research centre. Get full access t
Over the past several years, Dushanbe has been on a path toward modernisation. New buildings, many of them Chinese-funded, have dotted the city’s landscape, dramatically transforming its traditional architecture. What ha
This week, we're looking into the newly released 2026 Human Rights Watch report and how a shifting global order is reshaping human rights across Central Asia. We’re joined by Mihra Rittmann, Senior Central Asia Researche
They promised world-class education to a region shattered by the Soviet collapse. Twenty years later, Hizmet schools fell prey to Turkey’s internal conflicts -- and their own secrecy. Get full access to Turan Tales at tu
This week, we talk about carpets in Central Asia: their history, the differences between various carpet-weaving styles, the roles carpets played in different communities, and how the Soviet Union hijacked the practice of
This week, we’re taking a closer look at the Tajik-Afghan border. In the recent months, the area appeared in the media in the context of shootings and armed clashes that costed the lives of at least ten people, according
This week is about change - and the lack thereof. We will be looking at Uzbekistan: how the country was shaped during the post-Soviet period under the regime of Islam Karimov, and what has changed since Shavkat Mirziyoye
Welcome to the first episode of Turan Tales in 2026! We'll look at the fascinating story of oil and gas in Kazakhstan: the history of the industry, corruption scandals, the environmental damage it likely causes and much
Over the past few months, Central Asia has witnessed a series of significant developments in the art world, from the opening of the Almaty Museum of Arts, the largest modern art museum in the region, to the launch of the
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Turan Tales is hosted by Agnieszka Pikulicka. The show is categorised under news (society) and has published 54 episodes.
Turan Tales has published 54 episodes.
Turan Tales regularly covers news, society, culture. It sits in the news category, with a society focus.
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