Civil Society in Central AsiaCentral Asia, known as the home of Tamerlane and the Silk Road, is a crossroads of great cultures and civilizations. In 1991 five nations at the heart of the regionKazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan suddenly became independent. Today they sit strategically between Russia, China, and Iran and hold some of the worlds largest deposits of oil and natural gas. Long suppressed ethnic identities are finding new expression in