BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan has called for respect for its “historical and cultural heritage” after a Russian clothing brand used traditional Kyrgyz designs and claimed copyright over them, prompting accusations of “cultural appropriation.”
The Central Asian country is closely allied with Moscow, but has taken steps to reinforce its national identity in recent years after many decades of dependence on former ruler Russia.
“Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols, which are an integral part of the historical and cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan,” its culture ministry said on Facebook Wednesday.
“The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
The furor began earlier this month after social media users accused Russian fashion label Yaka, founded in 2023, of ripping off traditional Kyrgyz patterns and including a legal warning against “copying” its designs on its website.
Yaka sells a range of clothes and accessories featuring colorful Kyrgyz patterns, describing them as “modern ethno-chic.”
It also sells “shyrdaks,” traditional felt rugs native to Kyrgyzstan that are sometimes used as a dowry at weddings and have been included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
Some social media users accused the brand of “cultural appropriation” — when a tradition is taken from another culture and used in a way that was not intended.
Kyrgyzstan has a relatively freer media and looser controls on social networks than its authoritarian Central Asian neighbors, but open anger against Russia is rare.
Yaka’s founder Anna Obydenova reacted to the criticism by calling on Kyrgyz people to “learn Russian better” in an Instagram video.
She later deleted the video and apologized.
In an Instagram post Tuesday, she denied accusations of disrespect toward Kyrgyz culture, saying she had worked with local craftswomen.
“I never said I came up with these patterns, nor did I call myself a designer or author of the motifs,” she said.
“I am simply a person who saw incredible beauty and wanted to share it with the world.”
Russian remains an official language in Kyrgyzstan, with a segment of the population expressing pro-Russian attitudes.
But others, especially among the younger generation, have turned away from Moscow, partly due to the invasion of Ukraine and Russian authorities’ often harsh treatment of Kyrgyz migrants.
Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
https://arab.news/ckstb
Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
- “Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols,” its culture ministry said
- “The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic“
Bangladesh begins exhuming mass grave from 2024 uprising
- The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police began exhuming on Sunday a mass grave believed to contain around 114 unidentified victims of a mass uprising that toppled autocratic former prime minister Sheikh Hasina last year.
The UN-supported effort is being advised by Argentine forensic anthropologist Luis Fondebrider, who has led recovery and identification missions at mass graves worldwide for decades.
The bodies were buried at the Rayerbazar Graveyard in Dhaka by the volunteer group Anjuman Mufidul Islam, which said it handled 80 unclaimed bodies in July and another 34 in August 2024 — all people reported to have been killed during weeks of deadly protests.
The United Nations says up to 1,400 people were killed in crackdowns as Hasina attempted to cling to power — deaths that formed part of her conviction last month for crimes against humanity.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Md Sibgat Ullah said investigators believed the mass grave held roughly 114 bodies, but the exact number would only be known once exhumations were complete.
“We can only confirm once we dig the graves and exhume the bodies,” Ullah told reporters.
- ‘Searched for him’ -
Among those hoping for answers is Mohammed Nabil, who is searching for the remains of his brother Sohel Rana, 28, who vanished in July 2024.
“We searched for him everywhere,” Nabil told AFP.
He said his family first suspected Rana’s death after seeing a Facebook video, then recognized his clothing — a blue T-shirt and black trousers — in a photograph taken by burial volunteers.
Exhumed bodies will be given post-mortem examinations and DNA testing. The process is expected to take several weeks to complete.
“It’s been more than a year, so it won’t be possible to extract DNA from the soft tissues,” senior police officer Abu Taleb told AFP. “Working with bones would be more time-consuming.”
Forensic experts from four Dhaka medical colleges are part of the team, with Fondebrider brought in to offer support as part of an agreement with the UN rights body the OHCHR.
“The process is complex and unique,” Fondebrider told reporters. “We will guarantee that international standards will be followed.”
Fondebrider previously headed the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, founded in 1984 to investigate the tens of thousands who disappeared during Argentina’s former military dictatorship.
Authorities say the exhumed bodies will be reburied in accordance with religious rites and their families’ wishes.
Hasina, convicted in absentia last month and sentenced to death, remains in self-imposed exile in India.
