Cholpon Orozobekova


Cholpon Orozobekova is a prominent Kyrgyz journalist, mediapreneur, human rights activist and an analyst on Central Asian issues currently based in Geneva.

Short information on her biography

Cholpon Orozobekova was born on November 17, 1975 in At-Bashy district of the Naryn region of Kyrgyzstan in a teacher's family.
She studied in the formerly Pogranichnik secondary school in the village of Pogranichnik
She graduated at the Faculty of Journalism at the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn.
In 1999-2007, she worked for international media outlets such as RFE/RL Kyrgyz Service, BBC Kyrgyz service and IWPR, while living in Bishkek.
She established and officially registered an independent Kyrgyz-language newspaper entitled "De Facto" in 2006. And she was its editor-in-chief.
In 2008 summer time, she had to leave Kyrgyzstan to Switzerland because of threats by circles close to Janybek Bakiev, a brother of the then President Kurmanbek Bakiev, who was ousted from the authoritarian power by the people's revolution on 7 April 2010.
She currently writes analyses and op-eds for TheDiplomat Magazine.

Education background

She has a Diploma on Journalism from the Kyrgyz National University.
She holds two master's degrees from top-ranking Geneva-based universities: an Executive Master in International Negotiation and Policy Making from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and an MA in International and European Security from the University of Geneva.

Analytical Journalism experience

As an analyst, she published dozens of articles in English on Central Asian issues.
Her pieces have been published by IWPR, The Diplomat, Journal of Turkish Weekly and The Jamestown Foundation.
Her research paper “The US drone policy under International Law” had been published by The Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad.
She worked as Director of NGO Centre “Media-Ordo” in Kyrgyzstan from 2002 to 2007, which implemented projects for professional development of journalists.
Cholpon also has experience in project management within international organizations based in Geneva, such as UN OHCHR, NGO HURIDOCS and Foundation “Au Coeur des Grottes”.

Media organizer and expert

She is well known as a mediapreneur in Kyrgyzstan, as she had established an independent newspaper in Kyrgyzstan in 2008.
The newspaper “De-facto” had become very popular and still in the frontline among Kyrgyz language newspapers in Kyrgyzstan, where Cholpon sold her shares in 2012.
She has almost 20 years of professional experience in journalism and project management. She started her career in 1994 as a correspondent of the Kyrgyz newspaper “Obon” and was a youngest team member.

Family matters

Cholpon Orozobekova is married and has 3 daughters. Her husband is a prominent Kyrgyz journalist Jengishbek Edigeev, who also graduated the Faculty of Journalism at the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn in Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan.
Recently, Jenishbek Edigeev published a Kyrgyz-French dictionary.

A list of some articles by Cholpon Orozobekova

http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/central-asia-and-the-isis-phantom/
The Diplomat Magazine, published on 5 February 2016,
http://thediplomat.com/2016/02/central-asias-presidents-for-life/
http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/trouble-in-tajikistan/
http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/will-kyrgyzstan-go-russian-on-ngos/
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/62119
http://www.rferl.org/content/deep_roots_of_nepotism_in_central_asia/2249061.html