Voices from Kyrgyzstan.Year 2006. Afterthoughts
Kyrgyzstan is celebrating the end of 2006. The year that brought more shocks and upheavals and proved that once being shaken the country can hardly gain stability overnight.
Kyrgyz bloggers and bloggers writing about Kyrgyzstan in the last 2 weeks have been sharing their views about 2006 and were looking ahead into 2007.
Edil Baysalov says that 2006 can be characterized as a year of compromises. He writes:
“The main result of 2006 is the development of our political culture. We are witnessing the turn of Kyrgyz people into a mature and free democratic nation. In 2006 we have reached lots of amazing results and it’s important to proceed with this practice in the future. 2006 was a win-win year. No losers, only triumphants. ”
Mirsulzhan Namazaliev on Russian neweurasia emphasizes that the crisis of 2005 was continued in 2006. He is less optimistic and is slightly ironical about the prospects of 2007 which, according to the Chinese zodiac, will be a year ruled by … a Pig. In his post Mirsulzhan points out :
“We can face another political crisis in 2007 if the president and the government of the country don’t choose to be proactive in terms of defining the future of Kyrgyzstan. Though we can also expect some breakthroughs and positive developments in case new political strategy is implemented.”
Kyrgyzstan has been recently shaken not only literally but figuratively as well. The recent earthquake has triggered the discussion about the connection of political turmoil and instability with natural disasters. Kyrgyz bloggers were also discussing the fact that Kyrgyzstan turns to be absolutely unprepared and unprotected in the face of nature outraging. Tolkun Umaraliev writes on that:
“It is strange that during the last two month this is the fourth sizable earthquake. Epicenters of all four were in northern Kyrgyzstan. They occurred mainly in Yssyk Kul oblast. It should be noted that in all four cases, Kyrgyzstani seismologists neither forecast them, nor carried out prevention activities, like informing people of the possible places where the earthquake could occur. The only thing they did was to record and state the intensity of the quake on the Richter scale in each case. I consider this a serious problem, as if there another serious earthquake occurs, especially in northern Kyrgyzstan, the loss would be catastrophic for Kyrgyzstan.”
Inga, who was awaken by the earthquake at 2 o clock at night, launched her own investigation, trying to find out whether anything at all can be done to get protected. She asked one of the chief seismologists in the country about the probability of destructive earthquakes on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. The reply she got was really discouraging. According to Kanat Abdrahmatov, the most dangerous seismic zones were mapped in Kyrgyzstan. The most troubling ones among them are the areas in Alay district in Osh oblast. The capital city Bishkek is located in the so called waiting zone where the probability of strong earthquakes is also rather high. Inga states that specialists have confirmed the fact that a strong earthquake in Kyrgyzstan will happen sooner or later. The most troubling thing is the fact that no one can really predict anything.
Nathan talking about the very same issue points out at the fact that neighboring Kazakhstan has expressed its readiness to help Kyrgyzstan in handling the consequences. He also emphasizes the political component of this agreement stating:”
Agreements between the two countries aside, this is a smart move for a country that aspires to lead Central Asia. It is not as if Kazakhstan has loads of extra cash to throw around for disaster relief in the region, but playing a prominent role in disaster relief in the region cannot but help it build goodwill in the region while also giving it ammunition to back up its case to the West that it deserves to be treated as “part of the club.”
Except for political and natural “shakes” bloggers in Kyrgyzstan at the end of 2006 were also discussing such issues as the fate of the long suffering Kyrgyz Constitution. It became quite symbolical that in the last 2 days of 2006 after massive brainstorming in parliament Kyrgyz Constitution was amended once again. This new Constitution emerged from the draft that was the forth one for the last 2 months since memorable opposition rallies in Bishkek in November.
Naryn Ayip in his livejournal reflects on the record breaking amount of emerging constitutions. He writes:
“ So many attempts has been done to reduce the power of the president. But after two months of unrest and uncertainty all power branches agreed on the fact that the president of Kyrgyzstan can not be curbed in terms of exercising his duties. ”
