Cholpon Orozobekova (Kyrgyz: Чолпон Орозобекова; born November 17, 1975, in At-Bashy District, Naryn Region, Kyrgyz SSR) is a prominent Kyrgyz journalist, mediapreneur, human rights activist and an analyst on Central Asian issues currently based in Geneva.
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 (nowadays the village of Kazybek, named after Kazybek Mambetimin-uulu (1901-1936), the prominent dissident poet murdered by the Stalinist regime for his verses against Bolsheviks.)
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 (its co-owner is her husband, Jengishbek Edigeev). 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 ("Janysh") 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.
She has a diploma in 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.
As an analyst, she published dozens of articles in English on Central Asian issues.
Her pieces have been published by Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The Diplomat, Journal of Turkish Weekly and the Jamestown Foundation.
Her research paper “The US drone policy under International Law” was published by The Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad.
She worked as director of non-governmental 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 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and non-governmental organizations Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, or HURIDOCS and Foundation “Au Coeur des Grottes”.
She is well known as a mediapreneur in Kyrgyzstan, as she had established an independent newspaper, De Facto in Kyrgyzstan in 2008. De-facto became very popular and is 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.
Cholpon Orozobekova is married and has three daughters. Her husband is Kyrgyz journalist Jengishbek Edigeev (in Kyrgyz - Жеңишбек Эдигеев), who also graduated the Faculty of Journalism at the Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He recently,[when?] published a Kyrgyz-French dictionary.
