Uzbekistan is one of the major cultural countries in Central Asia. This country has a history of traditional arts, especially in painting, due to the discovery of Afrasiab archaeological drawings in the 7th and 8th century and Bukhara school in the 15th and 16th centuries. Contemporary art is also one of the most prevailing arts in this country. This study seeks to identify different styles of contemporary Uzbekistan paintings. Twentieth-century Russian culture and art of Uzbekistan with regard to the impact on the evolution of traditional and modern painting are also achieved. Ancient art of Uzbekistan is extremely valuable, especially in the field of painting and has had a special place in the history of Islamic art. Bukhara Miniature (Uzbek painting) are formed simultaneously with the late Timurid Herat after school thrived in the 15th and 16th centuries; Central Asia and Transoxiana, miniature painting, and so is the school. The name of the artists that have a significant impact on the Bukhara school of painting, can be “Kamal al-Din Behzad,” noting that the continuation of his paintings and drawings together with local characteristics has made total of Bukhara painting. Another group of contemporary artists, including Uzbekistan, Uzbek and Russian artists influenced by modern art and culture of the Russian Communist regime in the country have developed the tendency of Western painting styles in categories such as Real, impressionism, cubism, abstract and contemporary paintings over other styles that became popular in Uzbekistan. According to the studies of this paper, two approaches to the art of the twentieth century in Uzbekistan are revealed: 1. Contemporary paintings are inspired by the paintings of artistic traditions, especially in Uzbekistan and the symbolic use of traditional elements as well as the identity of these works. 2. Contemporary paintings are inspired by the art and culture of Russia and East Europe and the creation of avant-garde art in the twentieth century paintings in poster design, book illustration and graphic art of Uzbekistan. The paintings inspired by the artistic traditions of Uzbekistan in the twentieth century that are painted in oil on canvas, are introduced in graffiti and painting exhibitions and fashion with an emphasis on traditional clothing for women. In addition, some important aspects of the image reflected in paintings by contemporary artists are influenced by discoveries in archeological Uzbekistan Afrasiab sites, and Panjakent and Varakhsha by many visual motifs of Sassanid art, Hindi, Chinese paintings and Buddhist icons. In another group of paintings, according to the identity-oriented lacquer paintings, it can be grasped that the hypothesis of the present paper is based on the signs of the historic painting to be proved in contemporary Uzbekistan painting. Research method of this paper is descriptive-analytical and in some parts of it, necessary comparative studies have been conducted. Data used in this research are gained through library research and Internet sites and field studies have been conducted as well. Notable books about Uzbekistan painting written in is not available Persian language. Given the history of Uzbekistan painting, identity-oriented discussion in contemporary painting has been is highly considered in this field. Undoubtedly the preservation and conservation of “Igor Savitsky” Museum of avant-garde art in the twentieth century in Uzbekistan has to be taken into consideration where the most important avant-garde artworks of artists of Uzbekistan, Russia and Pakistan have been collected while the government had not considered it for several years. Our researchers need to consider more serious studies in the Central Asian region due to many similarities in culture and art.

The research was conducted in Ustyurt that is one of the arid zones of Central Asia (Uzbekistan). The method of the research was rout-floristic and classical of morphologic-geographical studies. Two new records including Astragalus vulpinus Willd. & Centaurea apiculata Ledeb. are reported for the flora of Ustyurt. These specimens were collected by the author have been entered in the database for the flora of the Ustyurt in TASH.

Following the arrest of women and children by the Syrian Democratic Forces who had joined the ISIS terrorist group, the return of these people to their countries of origin was deemed an important issue in the fight against terrorism. While most European countries refused to accept them, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan began to repatriate them. The current study seeks to address the question “How has the rehabilitation of ISIS women and children in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan affected these people`s identities?” The hypothesis has been studied utilizing the Actor-network theory. This hypothesis has been tested: it has made it feasible to reinvent the identity of these individuals by placing women and children back from ISIS in a network of new social links. According to the findings of the study, the rehabilitation of these people in a network of social relations, as well as the use of the capacities of rehabilitation centers, schools, family, and neighborhood as translation mediators, has caused these individuals to reflect on their identity, rethink their social identity, and, as a result, successfully integrate in the society. Research results show that the rehabilitation of these people in the network of social relationships and the use of the capacity of rehabilitation centers, schools, families and neighborhoods as translation intermediaries has made women ISIS female and child returnees reflect on their identities and identities. Thereby rethinking their social identity and in a process of successful integration. In these countries, homeland adaptation and recovery activities as well as basic measures have been implemented individually with special emphasis on spiritual, psychological, ideological and family support, with government support in cases such as restoration of civil status, periodic financial support, and fight against social exclusion and the psychological distress that accompanies training for new professions such as translation, accounting and tailoring.

The republic of Uzbekistan is the only country in Central Asia and the Caucasus that has pursued a changing approach in its foreign policy. Uzbekistan’s foreign policy has always oscillated between accompaniment and opposition towards both the US and Russia. This raises the question that what is the main reason of this lack of consistency in Uzbekistan’s foreign policy and what are the regional and international consequences? To answer this question, this article tries to study the reasons of this changing policy at both domestic and international levels of analysis in the framework of James Rosenau’s consistency theory. Accordingly, the article argues that Uzbekistan as economically undeveloped society and politically closed society as well as being a small power (in the international system), two variables of personality (authoritarian character and approach of Islam Karimov) and international environment (differences in the Central Asia and the US-Russia rivalry) are more influential than other variables of role, government and society in shaping a changing foreign policy. Adopting this kind of foreign policy by Tashkent, may cause important consequences including undermining Uzbekistan’s prestige as a reliable ally, aggravating differences between Uzbekistan and Central Asia countries, weakening the Collective Security Treaty Organization, divergence in Shanghai Cooperation Organization and intensifying competition between China and Russia on the one hand and the US on the other hand in the Central Asia which in turn has played an important role in the unstable conditions in the Central Asia.

In the era of globalization, which has been accompanied by evident changes in international system, the importance of non-governmental players has been increasing and public diplomacy has turned into one of the most important types of diplomacy which has been the implications of the increasing importance of the role of public opinion in international affairs. Japan has been one of the countries which have been using public diplomacy as a means for creating a positive image for the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of Central Asian countries, the expansion of Japan’s relations with mentioned countries has become more important due to the region’s strategic position and rich oil, gas, rare metal, and uranium resources. Through soft power and presenting a positive image of the country, Japan has become a successful model for the development of Central Asian countries and has penetrated into the heart and mind of the Central Asian people and politicians. In the present research, we have analyzed the elements of Japan’s public diplomacy in Central Asian countries. The main question of the research states: why Japan’s approach in Central Asia has been based on enhancing public diplomacy and maximum exploitation of soft power geocultural competition with China and Russia? Answering this question, we can say that while China has been focused on economic dimension and Russia has been focused on security dimension, Japan has tried to enter this strategic region by relying on its soft power attractions and has been seeking to become a cultural power. Japan influenced the public opinion of these countries through three key components of cultural diplomacy, scientific and educational diplomacy, and providing developmental helps. The research method of this research is descriptive-analytical.

The noticeable evolutions and changes, in Uzbekistan’ s foreign policy particularly towards Tajikistan that occurred after the sudden death of Islam Karimov on September 2016, arouses the following questions: a) What are the causes for dé tente and de-securitization in Tajikistan-Uzbekistan relations? b) What ramifications does the mentioned issue bring along? In order to answer the mentioned questions, the author argues that the change in Uzbekistan’ s leadership and Mirziyoyev’ s effort for domestic growth and development, developing and extending energy pipelines and corridors in the region, besides leaving Karimov’ scult of personality have all led to transforming Uzbekistan’ s foreign policy and strengthening regional cooperation with the participation of five Central Asian states. In order to assess the literature’ s hypothesis, the author addresses Tajikistan and Uzbekistan’ s relations in two specific eras of securitization (1991-2016) and de-securitization (since September 2016), based on descriptive-analytical method and applying theoretical concepts and factors of (de)securitization within the Copenhagen School of security. During the first decade that encompasses a long period of Karimov’ s leadership in Uzbekistan (1991-2016), many social (ethnicity, language and culture) and economic (water resources and environment) issues between the both nations were deviated from their natural and normal direction and became politicized and securitized. However, during the letter era, Uzbekistan was experiencing an evolution that was derived of two main reasons; a) a change of elites and actors in Uzbekistan, particularly Karimov and Inoyatov; b) Mirziyoyev’ s taking the power. The mentioned factors changed Uzbekistan’ s dominant discourse towards Tajikistan. This discourse change led to a better cooperation among the five Central Asian states in diverse areas without an involvement of external powers especially the Russian Federation and China.