As CXW has already reported, the Kyrgyz blogosphere is gradually expanding with a new blog called Nomadistan appearing online. Within a short period of its existence, it already attracted bright and open minded authors and guests who leave their comments. The blog sounds quite promising:(About Nomadistan)

Whether you’re a first-time explorer or a seasoned warrior of the steppe, Nomadistan will provide new information and perspectives on issues that will grab your attention.

During the last week, one of the most discussed topics among Kyrgyz bloggers was the situation around the American University in Central Asia. As its website says, AUCA has an established reputation for “dedication to democratic values, individual freedoms and the spirit of innovation”, and, indeed, it has played an important role in the region’s educational field and grew into one of the academic leaders in Central Asia.

However, on February 15, the Jogorku Kenesh [Parliament] deputy Ishak Masaliev raised [ru] the issue of AUCA’s location and gave a commission to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education and Culture to address his concers. The main argument was that the building of the university has a historical importance as it used to be home for the Kyrgyz government in Soviet times. He also alleged that the majority of AUCA students come from rich and highly-ranked officials’ families, while poor students from regions make up a very small percentage.

This statement spurred a heated discussion in the blogosphere. Read the full story »

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Really sad to inform, but during the last month five Kyrgyzstani were murdered in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation. As Jamiyat notes in his post “Uzbeks most attacked in Russia”, Moscow and Saint-Petersburg do remain the major hotspots for hate crime. In the official note of the Kyrgyz Embassy in Russia to Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor General Office, the Embassy suggested Russian law enforcement bodies to undertake preventive measures and tighten its legal penalties for hate crimes.

Kyrgyz El Public Association has also condemned such crimes and appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking him as the guarantor of the Constitution to promptly respond to murders and attacks on Kyrgyz nationals in Russia. It reminded of numerous attacks and murders of Kyrgyzstani in Russia by skinheads during the last years and said that this can lead to certain actions and measures.

As 24.kg informs, the Moscow prosecutor office accuses five students for six criminal assaults motivated by the national hatred. Five Kyrgyz, Tajik, Armenian citizens became victims of the violent youth gang from February till April 2007. These students aged between 16 and 19 are considered they were a part of the skinhead movement and stuck with the Nazi ideology. During the house search the police seized papers and video tapes of extremist nature. The prosecutor office reports:

The members of the gang deliberately sought Asian-looking persons and assaulted them with axes, hammers or knives. The juvenile delinquents wore gloves to leave no finger prints.

The Kyrgyz diaspora in Russia is highly concerned about the recent murders and is initiating a protest action throughout Russia.

Kyrgyzstan has stopped supplying electricity to Tajikistan, said Kyrgyz Minister of Energy and Industry Saparbek Balkibekov. During the meeting in Moscow in January 24, Prime Minister of Tajikistan Akil Akilov asked Kyrgyz Prime Minister Igor Chudinov to increase capacity of electricity supply to Tajikistan, informs CA-News Service.

Currently Tajikistan is in extremely critical situation with electricity supply because of the coldest winter ever. It runs out of Nurek water reservoir. Tajik Prime Minister was really concerned about the situation:

I am aware of the situation at Toktogul water reservoir. You have little water left to the dead storage capacity. However, taking into account the situation in Tajikistan I would ask you to increase the capacity of electricity supply to Tajikistan.

The Tajik Prime Minister also reminded about intergovernmental agreement between two countries that were signed by heads of states.

According to the agreement, Sulukta (town in the west of Kyrgyzstan) is supplied with electricity by our energy system. That is why I ask you to increase electric energy capacity at least up to 50 megawatt.

Kyrgyz PM Igor Chudinov raised questions of electricity and construction of transport communication between the countries.

Igor Chudinov explains the decision to stop supplying electricity by saying that Kyrgyzstan was to supply 11 million kWh of electricity since February 2008. Tajikistan in turn was to supply 55 million kWh of electricity to Kyrgyzstan in April-May. The Minister of Energy and Industry said Tajikistan refused to comply with its commitments, in the result Kyrgyzstan stopped supplying electricity.

I heard from people in Tajikistan that the situation is terrible and children are simply freezing. How come the mutually signed intergovernmental agreements stop working during such a crises?

BPC asked Tashboo Jumagulov, the chairman of the National Commission of state language, and the parliamentarian Zainidin Kurmanov to give their comments about the discussions in the parliament about switching the Kyrgyz alphabet from Cyrillic to Roman. The chairman of the national commission says that sooner or later Kyrgyzstan should be using Roman letters, since all of Turkic people except Kyrgyzstan use Roman, and Kazakhstan will complete switching to it by 2010. In addition, continues Jumagulov, about 85% of Kyrgyzstan population speaks Turkic languages, and 80% of the world use Roman, and the most important thing, it is more appropriate to Kyrgyz language than Cyrillic. Kyrgyz people had been using Roman letters for 18 years before using Cyrillic. At the same time, only 10 countries in the world use Cyrillic and 9 of them are Slavic people.

The parliamentarian Kurmanov thinks that it is not the right time for Kyrgyzstan for changing its alphabet because it is quite expensive and there are more important problems to be solved. Though he notes that most Turkic countries are changing to Roman, and it is an inevitable process. Both of them also indicate that it is a matter of economic situation in Kyrgyzstan.

It seems that Kyrgyzstan can learn the experience of neighbor countries, carefully analyzing pros and cons of such a big transformation. Also, changing the alphabet can cause much confusion for Russian speaking people who study Kyrgyz language, and a huge misunderstanding between generations who taught different alphabets.

Happily, it came to my attention that a new blog about Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia more generally, Nomadistan, came online last week.

The Nomads (as I’m christening them) include locals and foreigners, who are united by their aim of providing

insightful, sometimes humorous, sometimes serious commentary on the past, present, and future of this fascinating country and region. [...] Using sources from print, broadcast and online media in multiple languages, as well as our writers’ own firsthand experiences, Nomadistan’s unique voice will serve as the opening line of an open dialogue with our readers – a dialogue we hope will be broadened and transformed by your comments, questions, and criticisms. [Taken from About Nomadistan]

Certainly first impressions are very positive: there have been well-written posts about Nurlan Motuev running for Ombudsman, a Friday’s Photo post (a la neweurasia’s Kazkakhstan blog) featuring our own Kyrgyz-language Bridge Blogger Mirsulzhan, a summary of a recent lecture on political transition at the American University and, most recently, inostranka wondering about some of Bishkek’s more eclectic architecture.

One post that is most undoubtedly worthy of a far wider audience is bryanjon’s in-depth article about responses to the brutal murders of Kyrgyz citizens in Russia. As he explains,

To anyone familiar with the recent history of ethnic minorities in Russia, this recent spate of violence against Kyrgyz citizens, even given its disturbingly vicious character, is no great surprise; what is more newsworthy is that the social infrastructure of the Kyrgyz community is standing up for its rights and demanding action from the Russian authorities. Invoking the ghosts of the thousands upon thousands of Kyrgyz killed fighting for Russia’s freedom during the Second World War, the two-page letter presents a poetic argument for Russian society’s need to confront the neo-fascist demon growing within its midst – a demon that is emerging fewer than 65 years after the Red Army marched triumphantly into Berlin to end the reign of the Third Reich.

neweurasia will be interviewing the Nomads in the reasonably near future to find out more about these new and very welcome entrants to the Central Asian blogosphere. In the mean time, head over to Nomadistan and have a look (and a comment) for yourself.

Though Christmas celebrations ended more than a month ago worldwide, and Christmas themes are off the season, in Osh oblast of Kyrgyz Republic recently there was an event “Santa-Klaus in Aravan”, informs Ferghana.Akipress.KG. This event was organized by municipal authorities and one of local NGOs with entertainment shows and prize competitions.

It seems that Santa-Klaus events are organized in accordance with the program of the Tourism State Committee, which was adopted after publications that the location of Santa-Klaus would be Kyrgyzstan since it is the geographic center of the world. I think that some people can make fun of this program of popularization of Santa-Klaus in Kyrgyzstan. Most adults know that he does not exist but accept him as the symbol of Christmas and that it came from folklore of Scandinavian people, but not from scientific research. It is just odd that the state agency grabs this kind of news for its serious development program.

In general the topic of Santa-Klaus can become more interesting since it can be seen as religious symbol of Christian holiday, especially if it is promoted in a country, where Islam is considered to be the traditional and the main religion. Without going deeply into religious discussions, I think that Kyrgyzstan could have used its unique location as the Earth center in other ways, perhaps in logistics, telecommunications, and in science.

Bishkek city authorities have decided to install GPS navigation systems on refuse trucks in one of the districts of the capital. As 24.kg informs, this pilot project is being implemented for controlling the routes of refuse trucks and their schedules, and preventing the theft of gasoline by drivers. A representative of the city administration says the costs will be recovered in six months period. However, drivers got very upset with these new navigation systems and named them “bugs” and started turning them off, continues 24.kg. Now drivers agree to work using new systems and that all their road movements will be tracked and stored in database.

This seems to be a smart decision at first glance, using hi-tech for optimization of city costs. But I think these measures can bring results only for short-term period. In long-term, city employers should think more of motivation and retention of their personnel rather than being smart on controlling measures. GPS systems will not resolve the reasons of fuel theft and other issues. At the same time drivers will be looking for other ways of making extra money and/or they will be leaving their jobs.

Kyrgyz state authorities have decided to set and apply quota for foreign people wishing to apply for residence permit, informs 24.kg. 2000 foreigners may exercise their rights this year, reported the Parliament’s press-office. First of all, the quota will include ethnic Kyrgyz, their relatives, children and spouses. The quota will also include scientific and cultural workers along with qualified economic experts.

Some were really worried about the number of Chinese wishing to apply for residence permit. However, for the past 5 years only 125 Chinese citizens applied for residence. According to numbers given by AKIpress, in 2007 75,000 Chinese citizens visited Kyrgyzstan and 120 of them were deported. This information was disclosed by the chair of Border Service Zamir Moldoshev during the session of parliamentary committee on labor, social and migrants’ policy and public health.

Surely, Chinese citizens need not to apply for residence as most of them have no long-term commitment and interest in living in Kyrgyzstan. They are just making money by setting up and owning restaurants, casinos, supermarkets, shops and trade businesses.

The results of the Parliamentary elections of December 2007 and distribution of seats among deputies from each party have spurred lots of discussion and criticism among various human rights activists, heads of international organizations and foreign governments. According to them, during the elections there were huge violations such as discrepancies in voters’ lists, pressure on chairs, members of local election commissions, bringing university students to polling stations, and wide-scaled palm-greasing especially in rural areas. This allows coming to a conclusion that Kyrgyzstan is far from democracy yet.

However, a positive trend to note is the activeness of the civil society, especially among young people as a result of their dissatisfaction to the government after the elections. Young activists joined in demanding to announce the incumbent parliament and all its decisions illegitimate and to recognize the ruling of Bishkek local council on rules for holding rallies and manifestations unconstitutional.

The campaign by the young people “I don’t believe” was launched to hold a wide-scaled campaign and create a powerful nation-wide youth movement. It involves about 70 university students, ex-Foreign Minister Alikbek Jekshenkulov, ex-MP Temir Sariev, and human rights activists. Read the full story »

According to 24.kg, Kyrgyzstan gets paid $17.5mln a year by the U.S. government for hosting the Manas airbase on its territory. This information was disclosed by Tajikan Kalimbetova, the Kyrgyz Minister of Finance during the extended session of the economy, budget and finance Committee in the Parliament. The US Gansi airbase is located at Manas airport where about 1,000 U.S. troops support antiterrorism operations in Afghanistan.

In summer 2007, there had emerged a movement in the country demanding the withdrawal of American base and troops due to scandal over the death by a local man caused by one of the soldiers. On the other hand, some believe that the existence of the airbase partially solved the problem of unemployment by generating jobs and contributing to the national economy.

Kyrgyzstan has been a historically important within Russia’s sphere of influence and Russia’s presence in the country is of key strategic importance. In 2003, Russian Federation had established its airbase in a small city not far from Bishkek called Kant sending about 400 troops. The establishment of the airbase was under an agreement in the frame of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. CSTO is a regional security bloc that includes Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Belarus.

This is why the Kyrgyz government does not charge Russian Federation for the Kant airbase’s usage, said Tajikan Kalimbetova during government meeting on the state budget, informs AKIpress. She said:

In addition, Kyrgyzstan’s debt to Russia totals $184 million, and in these circumstances, to demand rent [for the airbase] would be rather inappropriate.