Agnieszka Pikulicka
aga-pik.bsky.social
Agnieszka Pikulicka
@aga-pik.bsky.social
Journalist focusing on Eastern Europe & Central Asia | Founder of Turan Tales | Author of "Nowy Uzbekistan" (in PL) | Words: Reuters, AJE, AP, the Guardian, FP
Reposted by Agnieszka Pikulicka
In the latest episode of YurtJurt podcast, I converse with three fascinating feminist/decolonial Central Asian researchers and authors - fellow sociologist Aizada Arystanbek, political historian Kamila Smagulova, and feminist author Aisulu Toyshibek abt VOCABULARY

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/y...
Yurt Jurt
Government Podcast · Yurt Jurt - a podcast about decolonizing Central Asia and Beyond produced by Central Asian activists. Hosted by Dr. Diana Kudaibergen, Yurt Jurt dives deep into the decoloniality ...
podcasts.apple.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Agnieszka Pikulicka
In case you missed it, there is also this podcast
What does it mean to be Kazakhstani? Listen to the new episode of Turan Tales with Diana Kudaibergen -- cultural and political sociologist and Lecturer in Central Asian Politics and Society at University College London turantales.substack.com/p/what-does-...
Episode 16: What does it mean to be Kazakhstani?
TURAN TALK with Diana Kudaibergen, a cultural and political sociologist from University College London
turantales.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 1:19 PM
This week on Turan Tales podcast, we discuss whether Turkmenistan - one of the most isolated states in the world - is moving toward greater openness. Joining us is Ruslan Myatiev: a Turkmen journalist, and the founder of Turkmen news
turantales.substack.com/p/is-turkmen...
Is Turkmenistan finally opening up?
TURAN TALK with Ruslan Myatiev, the founder of Turkmen.news
turantales.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Astana has risen from the steppe as a city of glass, steel, and soaring ambition - a capital built to embody a nation’s dreams. But can a dream live up to its promise? This is the first in a series of audio features by Turan Tales. Hope you will enjoy it! open.substack.com/pub/turantal...
The Capital: In search of Astana's soul
Astana has risen from the steppe as a city of glass, steel, and soaring ambition - a capital built to embody a nation’s dreams. But can a dream live up to its promise?
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Check out a new interview on Turan Tales with one of my favourite authors - Hamid Ismailov - about his new book “We Computers”, literature, language and longing turantales.substack.com/p/episode-17...
Episode 17: The most famous Uzbek writer few in Uzbekistan have heard of
TURAN TALK with Hamid Ismailov, author of "We Computers: A ghazal novel"
turantales.substack.com
October 9, 2025 at 5:26 AM
What does it mean to be Kazakhstani? Listen to the new episode of Turan Tales with Diana Kudaibergen -- cultural and political sociologist and Lecturer in Central Asian Politics and Society at University College London turantales.substack.com/p/what-does-...
Episode 16: What does it mean to be Kazakhstani?
TURAN TALK with Diana Kudaibergen, a cultural and political sociologist from University College London
turantales.substack.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Agnieszka Pikulicka
Fascinating episode of Turan Tales podcast by @aga-pik.bsky.social on the Soviet influence on #CentralAsian music and the evolution of estrada 👏🏼🕺🏼🇺🇿
bit.ly/48xpJJV
Episode 15: Looking back at the 'Estrada' - pop music of Soviet Central Asia
TURAN TALK with Leora Eisenberg, an American historian and PhD student at Harvard
bit.ly
September 25, 2025 at 12:14 PM
This week, Turan Tales podcast revisits Soviet Central Asian estrada with the amazing Leora Eisenberg - a historian and a PhD student at Harvard turantales.substack.com/p/episode-15...
September 25, 2025 at 6:05 AM
Central Asian ‘first daughters’ - heirs, icons, or leaders? Listen to the new TURAN TALK with Galiya Ibragimova turantales.substack.com/p/episode-14...
Episode 14: Central Asian ‘first daughters’ - heirs, icons, or leaders?
TURAN TALK with Galiya Ibragimova, a journalist and political scientist from Uzbekistan
turantales.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:45 AM
The Caspian Sea is shrinking, its shores littered with seal carcasses. For scientist Assel Baimukanova, each one tells the story of an ecosystem on the brink. Read or listen to Turan Tales' new long read from Aktau turantales.substack.com/p/the-girl-w...
The girl with the seals: A fight for the Caspian’s last mammals
The Caspian Sea is shrinking, its shores littered with seal carcasses. For scientist Assel Baimukanova, each one tells the story of an ecosystem on the brink.
turantales.substack.com
September 12, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Listen to the new episode of Turan Tales, where Selbi Durdiyeva and I look at Central Asia’s postcolonial legacy and how Russia’s centuries-long influence has shaped ways of thinking, institutions, and everyday life in the region turantales.substack.com/p/episode-13...
Episode 13: Post-Soviet nostalgia and colonial legacy in Central Asia
TURAN TALK with Selbi Durdiyeva, a decolonial scholar from Turkmenistan, and a teaching fellow at the College of Law, Anthropology and Politics at SOAS, University of London
turantales.substack.com
August 8, 2025 at 9:13 AM
Over the past few weeks, Poland has been immersed in a violent anti-migrant hysteria. Read my story for @aljazeera.com on how it started and what it's all about www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
‘We are scapegoats’: The rise of anti-migrant anger in Poland
Immigrants are being blamed for crime in Poland, but statistics do not show they are disproportionately responsible.
www.aljazeera.com
August 1, 2025 at 8:41 AM
In the new episode of Turan Tales, @joannalillis.bsky.social and I delve into the mixed legacy of Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan's first president, who ruled the country for almost 30 years. turantales.substack.com/p/episode-12...
Episode 12: From Elbasy to pensioner. The legacy of Nursultan Nazarbayev
TURAN TALK with Joanna Lillis, journalist and author of “Dark shadows: Inside the secret world of Kazakhstan”
turantales.substack.com
July 31, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Agnieszka Pikulicka
Tune in to Turan Tales, where I talked to @aga-pik.bsky.social about the long shadow Nazarbayev casts over #Kazakhstan even six years after he stepped down as president after 30 years in power substack.com/@turantales/no…
https://substack.com/@turantales/no…
July 31, 2025 at 9:40 AM
In the latest episode of Turan Tales, Shahida Tulaganova talks about her upcoming film "Spirit Untamed" on Bahrom Hamroev - a human rights defender who spent years supporting Central Asian migrants in Russia. He was jailed in 2022 for alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir links
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Episode 11: Who’s left to defend Central Asian migrants in Russia?
TURAN TALK with Shahida Tulaganova on “Spirit Untamed,” her documentary about Bahrom Hamroev
substack.com
July 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Agnieszka Pikulicka
Caspian Sea level decline is a rapidly developing crisis for biodiversity and people, with global implications. This satellite image timeline 2001-24 is encapsulated by the media headlines. A recent publication from our international team gives the full story 🌍🧪🦑
www.nature.com/articles/s43...
July 11, 2025 at 11:05 AM
‘The Caspian Sea is shrinking. It is visible with the naked eye’. Read my latest story for @aljazeeraenglish.bsky.social www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/...
‘The Caspian Sea is shrinking. It is visible with the naked eye’
Kazakh ecologists and environmental activists worry that the Caspian Sea’s levels are set to decline further.
www.aljazeera.com
June 27, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Whatever happened to Central Asia's "island of democracy"? In the new episode of Turan Tales podcast I speak with Rinat Tuhvatshin, the co-founder of Kloop, Kyrgyzstan's leading investigative media turantales.substack.com/p/episode-8-...
Episode 8: Whatever happened to Central Asia's "Island of Democracy"?
TURAN TALK with Rinat Tuhvatshin, founder of Kloop, Kyrgyzstan's leading investigative media.
turantales.substack.com
June 13, 2025 at 7:42 AM
“Meerim remembers the price her husband paid for luring her to his house. It was 1964 and her freedom was worth 80 roubles – equivalent to a Sputnik bicycle or, with luck, a pair of black-market jeans.”

Read or listen to my new long read on Turan Tales. open.substack.com/pub/turantal...
“Families should be built on love.” The story of a Kyrgyz stolen bride.
Meerim remembers the price her husband paid for luring her to his house. It was 1964 and her freedom was worth 80 roubles – equivalent to a Sputnik bicycle or, with luck, a pair of black-market jeans.
open.substack.com
June 10, 2025 at 12:49 PM