[Olesya] UZ - OSCE on the situation in Andijon

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There have been two important announcements made by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Dr. Dimitrij Rupel, and the Head of the OSCE Centre in Tashkent, Ambassador Miroslav Jenca, regarding the situation in Andijon.
Kyrgyzstan seems to be getting more and more credit and recognition for their tulip revolution which is now turning into a model the rest of Central Asian states should follow. I wonder if our government has got anything to say in response. I guess the resolution of the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis "On the formation of an independent commission of the Oliy Majlis for the investigation of the events in Andijan" of 23 May 2005 (which can be found in Russian on www.uza.uz) is a kind of "attention-getting device" used by our government to show to the rest of the world that they can actually deal with our "internal" problems on their own. As always though, the actual meaning of the word "independent" never gets reflected on the composition of the commission. I can't help but describe the "highly-qualified" members of the Commission as a bunch of narrow-minded, demoralized individuals.
Much still remains to be seen as regards the concerted position of the larger international community on the whole issue but it would still be a lot nicer if the Russian government could express some doubt and concern over the legitimacy of the use of force by the Uzbek government during the said events. Sadly, Russians keep confusing the Andijon situation with the Chechen conflict and the many terrorist threats they confronted in the past. So far I have only seen some very nasty signs of approval being manifested by the Russian Parliament and their ministries.

[Olesya] UZ - The show must go on…

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It seems that the news blockade has been lifted and I can now access Russian websites. The President's latest statements left me absolutely speechless... I would naturally expect the government to continue playing its old game but this time the overacting stands out more vividly than ever before. However, it seems they’ve abused way too many rules over the past few days. I just wonder how much more of this bull we can take.

Certain rumors are being circulated regarding the actual number of casualties during the May 13-14 incidents. Some people say now that there were as many as two thousand and upwards. There are also dreadful details about human bodies being piled in the middle of Andijon’s park and buried somewhere in the vicinity of the park. I don’t know whether it’s true but people have also been saying that if paid 2000 soums taxi-drivers will take anyone interested and show them around the city where the tragic scenes took place. A sick curiosity of some kind.

Most people in Andijon have gone to work today. This basically means that the government wants everyone to forget about what happened and get back to ‘normal’ life. I doubt it can be done so easily though.

[Ben & Olesya] UZ - Some updates

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Wanderlustress received an interesting Email from Andijon today, definitely check this out. It shows that the whole story of what happened in Andijon is not as easy as it seems to some commentators.

Nathan's Registan develops more and more into the specialists' discussion forum. The comments for his posts are full with thought-provoking material, especially David, Matt, Eric and Jonathan are taking over Nathan's work.

openDemocracy has linked people to Olesya's post. Their post has also good links to other newssources.

We've received some reactions from our Uzbek contributors and will publish stuff as it comes in. Also, Thinking-East will publish a slim Issue #3.0 on May 31st. Then, on June 25th, it's time for a Central Asia Special. More on that later.

[Olesya] UZ - Reactions from Thinking-East Contributor

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Olesya Ryzhova, Uzbekistan editor of Thinking-East, has just sent in her first reactions.

"I do not have much to say regarding the issue because we have been blocked from accessing foreign websites and TV channels that are broadcasting news from the ground.

I have been trying to access Ferghana.ru and Lenta.ru (as well as dozens of other Russian sources) for three days now from different places and also asked different people about what they thought about the whole thing but they all would say the same - no information can be obtained from either the internet or even cable/satellite TV.

No CNN, no BBC, no Russian TV, etc. It's good that at least some of the English websites are not under attack yet since I've been able to read accounts from Registan.net and the like.

The situation inside Tashkent is quite normal. Everyone is doing the usual business. No state of public emergency is likely to be declared as the president noted last night in his address to the nation.

The part that made me feel especially creepy is when he said that there were "only 10 soldiers and 100 protesters" killed. This word 'only' sounded like a death sentence to anyone who dared come in the way of government forces.

He is the one who we have to watch closely because everything will end up the way he wishes it to. From what I know nothing similar to the Kyrgyz scenario is likely to happen here, at least not in the near future, for as he said: "Akayev was a weak-willed leader who failed to implant democracy in Kyrgyzstan" and he also asserted that he would never let the situation develop into something as serious as a nationwide revolution.

We will have to wait for another time as usual.

My friend whose parents live in Andijon told me today that the hospitals there were packed up with people in need of medical assistance. I have also noticed from the scarce information I managed to get so far that the media people tend to make up 'facts'.

One of such examples is the killing of an innocent person in front of the Israeli embassy two days ago. The Russian media reported that he was wearing a military uniform and therefore raised certain suspicion whereas I learned from credible sources that the man was just a drunk out-of-his-mind bum who didn't even know what he was doing or where he was going. Still the embassy guards shot him dead although they could've guessed that he was no terrorist from the very beginning.

To be honest though, the whole thing is just sick. The way I understand the situation is that there were two different actions happening at the same time: there were peaceful protesters who only asked for a better life from the gov't and there was also this group of maniacs (be they Islamists or a group of mistreated, distressed peasants, I don't basically care) who wanted their fellow maniacs to be released from prison.

It turned our somehow that the maniacs got their hands on guns and started shooting the policemen around. Well, if my understanding of the situation is correct, why did the government have to blend these two separate issues into one and shoot everyone who would come in their way without any distinction? (A silly question, of course...)

What makes me even more suspicious of the turn the situation took is that there were a couple of peaceful demonstrations and rallies preceding the violent incidents which basically leads me to think that someone (I guess the government or some other evil entity) might have arranged the whole thing to target the largest number of people possible.

At this point, my reasoning may seem illogical and incoherent but I think that the incident was staged to sanction the use of brutal force by the government. This may sound like science fiction but this is the only feasible explanation to what happened - it would be absolutely absurd to think that the SNB in Andijon would be so careless as to allow the maniacs to get to the prison in the first place.

After what happened in Kyrgyzstan the security measures throughout the country have been tightened up and I doubt that the preparation process undertaken by the maniacs would go unnoticed before the watchful eyes of the SNB. Well, my point is absurd but you never know what to expect from our government.

I think the whole thing got so serious simply because the government blew it all to show how forceful and tough they can get on the renegades. They demonstrated their limitless capacity to terrorize the population. I bet they even feel good about themselves now. This is taking it too far, though - just ignore it.

I don't know what to think. I used to believe that nothing like THAT would ever happen in Uzbekistan and now it turns out that the situation can change all of a sudden. I would keep telling myself that it was not the right time for an uprising anyway but the people of Andijon seemed to have proved otherwise.

I wonder whether the right time will ever come."

Up-to-date information at Registan.net