BBC - Around the World - Ariel's 'Foreign Bureau' - 12 October 2004

By Kathy McAleer, Chief Sub-Editor, Monitoring, Tashkent,

12 October 2004

I get off the tram and cross the road, enter a lobby and go up to the top floor of a hotel in the outskirts of Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan.

This is the home of BBC Monitoring’s Central Asia Unit which started in two rooms of the hotel and now takes up the whole top floor. This month we are marking the unit’s tenth anniversary with a reception for customers and local personalities.

I’m part of a 40 strong group of monitors, editors and support staff who translate TV and radio, newspaper and website reports from the five former Soviet ‘stans’: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan – and from northern Afghanistan and Iranian regions.

We also have a network of independent contractors in Uzbekistan and its neighbours who provide sources and material that we can’t easily access from Tashkent. Our material goes to BBC newsrooms as well as to government and private customers.

Our role has become increasingly important since 9/11. We have anti-terror coalition bases in our coverage area and Uzbekistan itself became the focus of attacks in March/April and again in July this year.

Before those incidents the most eventful things here were the earth tremors – we are in an earthquake zone – but, since the blasts, security has been stepped up and we have had to learn to be more observant and more selective of the places we visit.

Other issues here are human rights, drugs, human trafficking, organised crime, the transition to a market economy after Soviet rule, relations between Central Asian states, as well as Russian and US rivalry over the region.

One reason BBC Monitoring chose Tashkent was because, as the former fourth largest city in the USSR, it attracted many people from different republics to study and work.

The break-up of the USSR and division into 15 states left ethnic groups split by the new borders.

It means we have been able to recruit multilingual monitors. All have Russian and up to four other languages, not forgetting English. Their linguistic skills never fail to impress as they switch happily between say Uzbek to Tajik to Russian to English.

Tashkent can be a refreshingly low key and relaxed place to live. Mountains are an hour or two away and the ancient cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Khiva are easy weekend trips.

The markets are full of fruit and vegetables and everything is seasonal. Once the aubergine season has gone, that’s it until next year but usually something tasty has arrived instead.

The weather is one of extremes but in summer the plentiful trees and fountains offer shade from temperatures that can reach 50 degrees.

The melon sellers stationed at the end of my road sleep out at night with their produce until all is sold, a new take on 24-hour shopping. A cold snap can come unexpectedly, leaving one in the office in sandals with snow outside.

As our office celebrates its 10th anniversary we can see how far we have come. We have responded to change, both politically and technologically, while retaining the traditional central Asian hospitality and team spirit.