Shirin Akiner (16 June 1943 – 6 April 2019) was a scholar of Central Asia andBelarus. She was a research associate atLondon University'sSchool of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Shirin Akiner was born in 1943 inDacca,British India. She studied atLondon University, gaining her first degree inSlavonicphilology, and Turkish language and literature (Ottoman and modern). She gained her doctorate in 1980 fromUniversity College London as a researcher of the heritage of theBelarusianLipka Tatars, with her dissertation titled "The religious vocabulary of the British Library Tatar-Byelorussian Kitab".^[1]

Her first husband was killed in a car crash just before the birth of their son Metin.^[2][3] In 1973, she remarried.^[2]

Akiner produced many scholarly works, particularly onUzbekistan andKazakhstan. She was a member of the editorial and advisory board of theJournal of Central Asian and Caucasian Studies, published by theU.S.A.K., and a chair of theBritish-Uzbek Society.^[4]

She was also a researcher of modernBelarusian literature, including theliterature of the Belarusian minority in Poland. She published articles in theJournal of Belarusian Studies and maintained active contacts with theBelarusian community in Britain, includingAlexander Nadson.^[5] In 1984, she published a book of English translations of miniature works by the Belarusian writer from PolandSokrat Janowicz.^[5]

In 2005, human rights groups,non-governmental organizations, and the formerBritish ambassador toUzbekistanCraig Murray, accused her of producing a biased and "propagandist" report on theAndijan massacre in Uzbekistan.^[6] Murray called onColin Bundy, the director ofSOAS, to take action against Akiner for allegedly promoting falsehoods, but the latter refused on the grounds that Murray's views were "unsubstantiated".

Akiner died on 6 April 2019.^[7]

• Religious Language of a Belarusian Tatar Kitab: A Cultural Monument of Islam in Europe, 457 pp. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2009
• Violence in Andijan, 13 May 2005: An Independent Assessment, 51pp. Johns Hopkins University, Uppsala University (Sweden), 2005.ISBN 91-85031-08-9.
• The Caspian: Politics, Energy, Security, 405pp. RoutledgeCurzon (UK), 2004.ISBN 0-7007-0501-5.
• Tajikistan: Disintegration or Reconciliation?, 95pp. Royal Institute of International Affairs (London), 2001.ISBN 1-86203-061-8.
• The Formation of Kazakh Identity; from Tribe to Nation-State, 83pp. Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995.ISBN 1-899658-03-3.
• Resistance and Reform in Tibet edited byRobert Barnett and Shirin Akiner : C.Hurst 1994, Indiana University Press.
• Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union, 476pp. Routledge, 1987.ISBN 9781136142741.

• Shirin Akiner at the Journal of Belarusian Studies
• Craig Murray's letter of complaint to Prof. Bundy
• Akiner's report on the Andijan Massacre
• 'A gushing book review of Karimov's works from Shirin Akiner', retrieved from Craig Murray's website
• Nikolay Kuzmin: Interview with Shirin Akiner – KazWorld.info^[usurped]
• Interview with Akiner on Channel 4 News
• The Akiner Controversy at Registan.net
• 'SOAS replies to the allegations against Akiner'
• Shirin Akiner profile
• Obituary, Burzine Waghmar, SOAS Library and Centre for Iranian Studies