News from Kyrgyzstan (German media)

Just two seconds ago, the Kyrgyz protests were the top story on German Google News. Even my bread and butter (despite all its shortcomings) Spiegel Online reprinted an AP story, for the first time offering their readers (it's the biggest German online news source) an analysis of the events.

The title of the story is fairly accurate: "Revolution Without A Figurehead" (what follows is my clumsy translation):

Initially, Akayev seemed to be ready to make concessions towards the opposition movement and ordered a probe into the elections results. Today, his spokesman Abdil Segisbaev said that the opposition movement is nothing more than a bunch of criminals attempting a coup d'etat. These are in close connection with the drug mafia and want to seize power in Osh and Jalalabad. To make the movement face facts, the newly-elected representatives of the parliament should start their work as soon as possible. "That would stabilise the situation in Kyrgyzstan", head of of the Central Election Commission Sulaiman Imanbaev said.

The article was written by AP writer Bagila Bukharbayeva, does anyone out there know whether she writes in English, and this is just a translation?

The story also refers to the furious mob:

The situation is explosive, but most anti-Akayev demonstrators seem to be moderate. A group of 50 young men from the opposition camp has reinforced Osh police. (...) "Our common goal is security in the city", says the group's leader Basarbai Soltuev.

German news show 'Tagesschau' has a short report, summing up events. It mentions that Javier Solana, EU foreign representative has joined the choir of world statesmen calling for moderacy.

The Austrian 'Wiener Zeitung' reports on the opposition's appeal to Moscow. It seems as if Bakiev is positioning himself ever more to become the opposition's 'figurehead':

One of the opposition's leaders, Kurmanbek Bakiev, has called upon the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to ease the 'explosive' tensions [in Kyrgyzstan]. "The situation is a threat towards peace and stability in all Central Asia", the letter said.

Kurmanbek Bakiev is a former Prime Minister, you can read a (fairly predictable) criticism of his person in 'Vecherniy Bishkek' (via Gateway.kg), the pro-government broadsheet:

Even using modern optical devices, it is impossible to compare Bakiev and Yuschenko, for example and Otunbaeva with Timoshenko. It is unclear why ‘opposition parties’ are so happy that 40-year old ‘orange’ managers in the Ukraine ousted 60-year old directors? Are they happy because both in Georgia and Ukraine industrialists were ousted by lawyers-economists? What are Bakiev and Otonbaeva going to celebrate and with whom do they compare themselves? Baliev represents the same generation of people as Kuchma and Yanukovich in Ukraine. By the way, he was born in 1949.

Umm, that's a, well, interesting account. The story deserves attention, though - it has some (some!) valid points. Does this man have a vision for Kyrgyzstan? VB says no:

Bakiev keeps his know-how in a secret: “I am working hard on this Programme right now. I have a vision. You will get to know about it soon.”

It is interesting to see when and why Bakiev lost his job as Prime Minister - as it is directly related to events now: In the aftermath of the Aksy incident, where five of Bekhnazarov's (a prominent opposition figure) followers were shot dead, Akaev fired the entire government, including Prime Minister Bakiev. Akaev might have smelled that Bakiev could develop into an 'enemy from within'. A report from 2002 deserves attention:

Parliament deputy Bektur Asanov told RFE/RL that the resignation came "too late," and that Akaev should apologize to the residents of Aksy, while fellow deputy Adaham Madumarov said Akaev was mistaken in thinking that dismissing the government would resolve the situation, insofar as "the matter is not about the government but the president himself."

Russian responses to the unfolding crisis can be read at the Registan, also here.

There has been an official statement yesterday:

Russia's Foreign Ministry condemned the protests, blaming "extremists".

"Extremist forces must not be allowed to use political instability to create a threat to the democratic foundations of the Kyrgyz statehood," it said in a statement.

Hat tip: Nathan

As noted in yesterday's post, the state secretary called for a rally for stability in Bishkek. My friend from Bishkek was right in assuming that there'll be protests. 'Der Standard' (Austria) says:

The capital Bishkek saw first demonstrations on Tuesday, during which the pro- and anti-Akaev camp only rallied some hundred meters away from each other.

Unfortunately, the source does not tell anything about numbers. But, probably, we're talking about less than 1,000 protesters on each side.
The same report has something on other uneasy developments:

According to an opposition spokesman, the police arrested a prominent human rights advocate, the leader of the Kyrgyz Institute for Rights and Freedom Topschubek Turgunaliev. On Monday, Shipar Schekshiev, another famous opposition figure, got arrested, too. The charges brought forward remain unknown.

Posted by Ben at March 22, 2005 08:19 PM