Silk Road Media: An Uzbek Entrepreneur in London

Marat Akhmedjanov

One of my best sources for tracking down new and out-of-print publications about Central Asia is the Discovery Bookshop, part of Marat Akhmedjanov's Silk Road Media group.

Taking advantage of a vast warehouse in Uzbekistan, the choice is astounding. Over the last few years Marat has helped me track down old maps, art books and magazines. So it was such a pleasure when I finally met him in Bishkek earlier this year.

Born in 1976 in Jizzakh, an important Silk Road junction north east of Samarkand, Marat is the child of a Christian Ukrainian mother and Muslim Tatar father, both construction engineers. After Uzbekistan's independence in 1991, Marat became the chairman of Jizzakh's Youth Union, the successor to the Soviet Komosol and started learning English. Since then he hasn't looked back.

With various collaborators he started Uzbekistan's first model agency, staged the first Uzbek international fashion week show, set up an advertising agency, published a fashion/lifestyle magazine for young Uzbeks, interned at a US travel magazine, was awarded a Masters degree from London's College of Communications and later a postgraduate diploma in publishing.

Discovery cover, issue #33

Marat is committed to promoting tourism in Central Asia. He launched Silk Road media to provide global audiences new perspectives on contemporary society, art, history, landscape and peoples of the region. Discovery Central Asia magazine, the flagship publication, was launched in 2002. It is published quarterly. As well as regular columns, each edition  focuses on a specific theme, e.g. wildlife, fashion, sacred places, music, cuisine.

Pocket-sized national travel guides to Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan are available in German, French and English. In 2009 the quarterly magazine Open Central Asia, devoted to Central Asian cultural, political and economic events was launched. Its editor-in-chief is Nick Rowan, whose book, The Friendly Steppes, an account of his journey from Venice through Eastern Europe, Iran and the steppes of Central Asia to China is due out late 2012.

Pocket-size country guides

Marat's team organised the first Discovery Central Asia Travel Forum this year in Bishkek. It brought together tour operators, hoteliers, guides, government agency staff and tourism experts from the region and further afield. Next year's forum will be in Dushanbe, Tajikistan's capital, from 27 - 28 April.

Although based in London, Marat returns frequently to Central Asia, where Silk Road has bookshops in Tashkent, Almaty and Bishkek. He has organised film screenings of the award-winning documentary The Desert of Forbidden Art, about the Savitsky collection of Russian modernist art in Nukus: hundreds of people in Central Asia now know about Igor Savitsky and the story of his extraordinary collection thanks to Marat's efforts.

Silk Road Media regularly participates in travel and book fairs, promoting the uniqueness of the region, the hospitality of the people and their cultural heritage. He also gives a voice to contemporary Central Asian writers through his publications.

In a very positive way, Marat Akhmedjanov is a mover and a shaker on the Central Asian tourism and publishing scene. And even for a small-time customer like me, he goes out of his way to find whatever I am after.

Marat & co-publisher Anastacia Lee

Silk Road Media links:
Silk Road Media
Discovery Bookshop
Open Central Asia Magazine (the website is a great way to keep up-to-date with Central Asian related-events in the UK)

Turkmenistan's Carpeted Flag

Turkmenistan's national flag

Turkmenistan became an independent nation on 27 October 1991, and in February the following year proudly adopted a new flag.

It has been slightly tweaked since then, the major change being the addition of the two olive branches at the base of the vertical stripe. This was made after the United Nations accepted Turkmenistan's status of permanent neutrality in 1995.

Green and red have long been venerated by the Turkmen. The vertical red stripe contains five basic carpet gul. A gul is a medallion-like design element typical of traditional hand-woven Turkmen carpets. These guls represent the five houses or tribes of Turkmenistan, which, from top to bottom are Teke, Yomut, Arsary, Chowdur, and Saryk.

It is the only national flag that boasts carpet designs. This is unsurprising when one considers these two Turkmen proverbs: 'Water is a Turkmen's life, a horse is his wings, and a carpet is his soul' and 'Unroll your carpet and I shall see what is written in your heart.'

The crescent signifies the hopes of Turkmens for a bright future, while the five pointed white stars represent the country's five velayat, or regions: Ahal, Balkan, Dashhowuz, Lebap and Mary.

Turkmen SSR flag, adopted 1952

It is interesting to compare the new flag with the former Turkmen SSR flag, adopted in 1952. Like the other Central Asian Soviet Republics, the background is red and  the hammer and sickle represent the peasants' and workers' union, and the red star is the symbol of the proletariat.

It has been suggested that the blue lines represented the  Amu Darya (Oxus) river that runs along the northeastern border of Turkmenistan. The other blue stripe may stand for the river Atrek, which forms the border between Turkmenistan and Iran, or the Caspian Sea, the western border of Turkmenistan.

Related posts:
Uzbek Flag: Colours and Symbols
Kyrgyz Flag - Homage to Nomadic Traditions 
Turkmenistan: Tracking Down Mosaics 
Ernst Neizvestny's Last Soviet Sculpture - Ashgabat, Turkmenistan