New York, October 17, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists presented its 2005 International Press Freedom Awards to three journalists and one media lawyer. One of these journalists is Galima Bukharbaeva, former Uzbekistan correspondent for the Institute for War & Peace Reporting. One of the few journalist witnesses, she covered the events in the city of Andijan this May. Her view of what happened is to be found here.

Bukharbaeva, now in exile in the United States, faces criminal prosecution from the Uzbek side.

(For a detailed overview of what seemed like a very confusing and scattered chain of events see Human Rights Watch’s report)

I have mixed feelings about the events of this May. On one hand there is no way to clearly determine the number of victims; many of my friends in Andijan tell me stories that overstate even the reports of non-governmental organizations. On the other hand, I don’t think it is as important to know the numbers as it is to understand the implications for the people of Uzbekistan, and the rulers of Uzbekistan. Clearly, there is much more attention to the country than there was just 6-7 months ago. It seemed like the international community was waiting for something atrocious to happen before it could condemn the regime and issue direct responses to it.

I thank the people who died on the square in Andijan, for what they did has a significant impact on the historical path of this country. There are more and more people in Uzbekistan who resent the current rule and want a change. There is a new opposition party, which is not [yet] labeled outlaw by the government. This party, “Sunshine Uzbekistan” is vigorously covered by the western media. There is a lot of international attention to the events in Uzbekistan; BBC alone has posted 6 articles related to Uzbekistan in the month of October. Hopefully the western media will continue to scrutinize the situation in the country until the elections. With this kind of dynamics I expect either a new president elected by the people, or another revolt, this time supported by the international community, which will oust whoever the current dictator will attempt to put in power.

According to RIA Novosti Turkmenistan are demanding that Ukraine pay its natural gas debt by the end of the year. The demand came during a meeting between the Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister, the Board Chairman of the Ukrainian national oil and gas company and President Niyazov. The Ukraine government had agreed to pay $484 million worth of goods, but so far it has paid only $8.7 million. Although this could all be considered just posturing and negotiation through the media. The full article is here. Thanks to Oliver for this…

I’d usually post this roundup with the other country ones over on Mental Wanderlust, but until we’ve got a few bloggers posting here it’ll be here. So, a quick look at what’s been going on here in Kyrgyzstan over the last week or so.

The big story, at least from the media’s point of view, was Condoleeza Rice’s flying visit to Bishkek on Tuesday. The international media was already feverish with reports of Rice’s “tough mission”, as the Washington Times put it, even before Rice and her entourage touched down at the Ganci airbase. And it appears her flying visit was a success, at least if the offical US government press release is anything to go by, and the local media reported the visit quite favourably too. General consensus was that the most important result of the visit, beyond support for ever-ephemeral terms like “democracy” and possibly trying to reassert the US’s position in the region, was securing a guarantee from the Kyrgyzstani government that the Ganci airbase’s future was secure, at least until Afghanistan is completely stable (and how long is a piece of string?…)

AlertNet has a report on life in the Kyrgyz Barak enclave in Uzbekistan, looking at the difficulties the enclaves residents face, particularly at times of heightened security in both Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan Development Gateway reports that the International Business Council (IBC) and the Congress of Business Associations (CBA) is to open a regional office in Osh with support from the OSCE.

Stars and Stripes takes a look at life on the US’s Ganci Airbase at Manas from the point of view of the servicemen and women who are deployed there, concluding that if you’ve got to be deployed somewhere, Kyrgyzstan is not a bad place to be.

RFE/RL considers whether more people might come to the same conclusion as those based at the Ganci airbase with an article entitled “Tourism Waits for its Moment to Shine” that discusses what, beyond political stability, needs to be done to help develop tourism in the mountainous republic.

AlertNet has an interview with Edil Baisalov, chair of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, looking at issues such as civil society and the legacy of March 24 for both NGOs and Kyrgyzstan more generally.

Development Gateway has posted an article from IWPR (can’t find the original but will post a link when/if I do) on discrimination against lesbians in the republic and the establishment of Labris to support lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals – it is worth noting that Oasis, a similar organisation for gay men, has been working in Bishkek for several years now.

IWPR has also published a report on the way that women are being marginalised by the country’s new government, despite many of them having played a central role in events leading up to the March 24 ousting of Akaev.

Tehran’s Mehrnews follows a theme that is becoming increasingly common, asking whether Tulips are fading in Kyrgyzstan in light of the number of revolutionaries who have left the government and rise in crime since March 24.

Speaking of revolutionaries, both Azimbek Beknazarov, who was sacked a few weeks ago from his post as General Procurator, and former acting Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva will stand in forthcoming parliamentary elections in the Aksy and Bishkek’s Tunduk districts respectively, reports Interfax. ITAR-TASS also notes that former Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev is planning to stand in the Tunduk district.

Eurasia Daily Monitor has an article by Erica Marat on Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations entitled ” Kyrgyz, Uzbek Leader Choose Cold Peace Over Open Confrontation” looking at the tensions that continue to exist between the two republics.

There may also be a bit of a cold peace between Bakiev and Kulov developing following the controversial appointmet of Daniyar Usenov as acting first deputy Prime Minister, according to Russia’s Kommersant:

Usenov is a determined opponent of Prime Minister Felix Kulov and his return to the cabinet is a blow to the president’s pride and a danger to the alliance between Bakiev and Kuov. When Bakiev introduced his list of ministerial candidates in the parliament two weeks ago, it was understood that Kulov had agreed to many of them in exchange for a guarantee that Usenov was not to receive an appointment

Think that about rounds things off here, so over and out for today from Bishkek.

The past couple of days have been a disaster for anyone driving his own car in some parts of Uzbekistan including Tashkent and the provinces up north. The gas stations there all seem to have run out of gasoline. The demand for the little that is left is such that the drivers are willing to line up their cars in rows waiting for their turn to get their tanks refilled for hours. Prices have all naturally gone up, in some places by as much as 50%. What was only 500 sums a week ago is now 1 000 sums (please check me if I am wrong).

I have observed the waiting line principle being applied in various ways and at various times/places before but seeing half a kilometer long queue in front of a gas station is something I would have hardly ventured to imagine happening in our country at this time. Well, of course, occasional shortages would occur in the past but certainly not at a national level as seems to be the case now. I can recall that Turkmen gas used to be “smuggled” across the Turkmen-Uzbek border for half our internal price. That was certainly a relief to have an alternative fuel source but after the “historical” meeting of our presidents last year things changed dramatically and the border has remained sealed off ever since.

One can only speculate as to the reasons why this mess is happening now. People being as they usually are extremely distrustful of government policies see someone’s evil design to this oil crisis plotted with the purpose of generating some extra profit at the expense of the poor people. And guess what? This will necessarily have something to do with cotton!

This in fact reminds me of the Soviet time when the only way you could get something few people had you had to either pay double+ or get it shipped yourself. I wonder if the rationing system should soon be introduced again. That seems like an entirely different lifestyle from the one we’re living now but taking into account the unexpectedly renewed friendship with Russia I should not be terribly surprised to see “food coupons” being distributed to us anytime soon.

Just a quick catch up on events. President Niyazov welcomed in the beginning of Ramadan with a decree pardoning thousands of prisoners on the night from 26 to 27 October – on the Night of Omnipotence. News Central Asia is reporting that as many as 8145 prisoners will released, that is 65% of the total prison population.

The symbiosis of events were also present this week as on the 6th October the president lead the country in commemorating the remembrance of the earthquake of 1948 and those who perished. Famously, the earthquake killed the president’s mother. Of course just a few days later an earthquake struck Pakistan. President Saparmurat Niyazov sent letters to President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, as well as to the president and prime minister of India, expressing his deep condolences in connection with the devastating events. An article on the earthquake in Turkmenistan is featured on Central Asia News here.

Finally, there have been more inevitable dismissals of public officials due to the poor results in the cotton harvest. According to News Central Asia the slow cotton harvest has been the source of concern for the last several weeks and led on Thursday to a mass dismissal of provincial and district governors in Turkmenistan. The governor of Labap province has been sacked and reappointed as governor of a district in Ahal province. While, the governor of Mary has been dismissed and he has been offered a job as teacher in an institute.
Governors of 11 districts – Farab, Koitendag, Tagtabazar, Oguzkhan, Mary (district), Sarakhs, Tejen, Kakhka, Altyn Asyr, Baharly, Goekdepe – and deputy governor of Ahal province were dismissed and their successors appointed.

Sven forwarded an Email from the AP newswire. I can’t find it online yet, though.

(…)Kazakh Police Break Up Almaty Protest, Hold 67 Activists 2005-10-06 03:21 (New York) — Kazakh police Thursday forcibly broke up a protest against housing problems in the commercial capital Almaty and detained 67 activists, an opposition alliance and rights groups said. The protest, involving more than 1,000 people, was the latest in a series of demonstrations against city authorities’ alleged failure to address housing problems.

My friends in Almaty were all very interested in housing issues. Many planned developments in and around the southern capital require thousands of residents to move houses. As in Moscow, though, these relocations often coincide with massive intimidation campaigns, even murder is no rarity.

Ashgabad is the best example of where this all can potentially lead to. The city’s massive parks were home to thousands of people once before all buildings got torn down and made space for gigantic water fountains and monuments. Lonely residential areas in the middle of the capital look increasingly vulnerable to Turkmenbashi’s megalomaniac city development plans and might not be there anymore during my next visit.

In Almaty, however, it’s the private sector driving all this change. That does not say this is less brutal. Relocations often take place without appropriate compensation. Under false promises, even old and vulnerable people have to leave their homes, which they often inhabited for decades before. As paying rent is a less common practice in the FSU and people tend to own their houses/flats, they often loose their only security.

The violent protest break-up today is a deja-vu of a similar events last month and the month before.

UN World Youth Report 2005 has been released. There is little information on individual countries but there are some terrible indicators for the whole of Central Asian region:

… in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, it is estimated that up to 25 per cent of those who inject drugs are below the age of 20 (UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Young People, 2004).

In some Central Asian countries, the proportion of the population engaged in injecting drug use is estimated to be up to ten times that in many Western European countries.

There is also a related article over at Vzglyad (in Russian) citing recent statistics by the Russian Academy of Sciences on youth and education in fSU countries:

In the year 2002, 10 secondary schools were closed in Azerbaijan, 55 in Belarus, 26 in Georgia, 230 in Russia, and 11 in Ukraine. On average, the number of schools in these countries has decreased by 0,1-1,2%. But in Armenia, for example, the number of daily schools has gone up by 21, in Kazakhstan – by 99, in Kyrgyzstan – by 43, in Moldova – by 11, and in Tajikistan – by 92.

Not a single word about Uzbekistan though. I guess compiling accurate statistics is something virtually impossible to accomplish in this country.

On the same note: I wonder if the Uzbek government ever reviews its commitments under the Convention on the Rights of the Child and related rights instruments especially when it comes to sending poor students to pick cotton in the fields. This year’s harvesting has been particularly hard for those who have neither money nor connections necessary to get around the sacred obligation “to contribute to the development of our Motherland”. I heard that a bribe to a ministry of education official was at around $ 100 while a special medical certificate of disability cost $ 50 on average. (For comparison, the official minimal wage in Uzbekistan is only $ 45). Entire university departments would suspend classes for up to two months because most of the students and teachers were gone for cotton-picking.

It’s been a busy few days in Turkmenistan, in particular for President Niyazov. Last Friday Turkmenbashy attended the opening of a new ‘anti-terrorist’ centre near Ashgabat. The Ministry of National Security runs the centre. According to the state news website Turkmenistan.ru:

the head of state cut a green ribbon at the training centre entrance, inspected a training compound, a specialized shooting gallery where he watched practice shooting of the officers of the National Security Ministry and attended an exercise on capturing a group of terrorists. According to a simulated scenario, a small group of terrorists, having taken hostages, escaped into a typical office building leaving a bomb in a car at the building entrance. After that, a composite hostage freeing operation started. A special force group in the camouflage cloak approached the building from sides. The anti-terror commandos reacted swiftly. In a matter of seconds, they blew up a lock, descended from the roof of the building and entered it through the windows, freeing hostages and neutralizing the terrorists.

The president was pleased with the professionalism of the exercise but stated that he hoped they would never have to be called into action proper and that “that even a shade of misfortune would never touch a single inch of the Turkmen soil”.

On Tuesday, the president continued his ongoing reshuffle of public officials by promoting Kakamyrat Mommadov as director of the State Statistics and Information Institute of Turkmenistan for a six-month probation period. Also on Tuesday Saparmurat Niyazov met with Pavel Borodin the State Secretary of Russia–Belarus Union. During the meeting prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia-Belarus Union and Turkmenistan were discussed. At the same time, both sides highlighted economic partnership in the oil and gas sector. Speaking of oil and gas, further to my post last Friday, the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, has come out in clear support of the proposed pipeline project. According to Reuters, during a visit in Paris, the Afghan president stated that the gas pipeline, which is due to go from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan, is “a very real and feasible project”. This was in response to reports that the Asian Development Bank, who are placing considerable finance into the project were having doubts about their involvement.

Today, the president has also decreed to convene the 16th session of the Khalk Maslahaty for October 24-25th. The Khalk Maslahaty, according to the constitution is the “highest representative organ of popular power” in Turkmenistan. It is known as the People’s Council and it is based on a pre-Soviet tribal institution. The Khalk Maslahaty consists of the president, the 50 members of the Mejlis (parliament), 60 directly elected members, the chairman of the supreme court, the prosecutor-general, members of the cabinet of ministers, the Hyakims (local governors) of the Welayats (local regions). Highlights of items on the agenda for the session are:

The law of Turkmenistan “On village heads”;

The law of Turkmenistan “On local councils”;

The law of Turkmenistan “On district and town peoples’ councils”;

The law of Turkmenistan “On election to district and town peoples’ councils”;

The law of Turkmenistan “On regional Peoples’ Councils”;

The law of Turkmenistan “On election to regional Peoples’ Councils”;

The draft law of Turkmenistan “On election of the president of Turkmenistan”;

Members will be addressing these important constitutional issues, among others, during the two-day session in which the President presides over as chair.

Welcome to New Eurasia’s Kyrgyzstan Blog!

I’m in the process of recruiting bloggers here in Kyrgyzstan to contribute to this blog at the moment, so with a bit of luck there should be some interesting and diverse posts coming up soon, as well as the more routine stuff like news round ups.

If you have come across this page and would like to contribute, please email me at cxw@yandex.ru, or call/SMS me here in Bishkek on 0502 109851.

Articles and posts on virtually any theme related to Kyrgyzstan will be very welcome, so if you have an opinion and want to share it, get involved! The only real requirement at the moment is that posts be in English.

More soon and hope you enjoy the blog as it develops.

Claire, editor, New Eurasia Kyrgyzstan Blog.

The Kazakh Central Election Commission issued a ruling on 30 September certifying the eligibility of 11 presidential candidates. The most prominent of these candidates include incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbaev; Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, the leader of the opposition “For a Just Kazakhstan” bloc; parliamentarians Ualikhan Kaisarov and Erasyl Abylkasymov; businessman Salim Oten; lawyer Mekemtas Tleulesov; and Alikhan Baimenov, the leader of the Ak Zhol party (RFE-RL 10/3).

Despite the host of approved candidates, incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev seems perfectly positioned to secure a third, seven-year term in December. Kazakhstan, like other nations in Central Asia, has a history of rigged elections, but some observers say that Nazarbayev’s popularity seems sufficiently strong at this stage and he could easily win a free-and-fair vote (Eurasianet).