Postcard from Bishkek

Back in the UK, if you get faced with an emergency, you pick up the phone and dial 999 in order to summon assistance from the Fire, Police or Ambulance Services – and, if you are in a a coastal region, the Coastguard.

The number 999 was chosen because it was thought that it would be easy to be dial even for those with limited sight, (for example, the blind – or those blinded by smoke), whilst avoiding the problem of the number being “dialed” by accident due to crossed connections. (In the days of push button phones, the repeated sequence is actually a combination that can be “dialed” accidentally, which is one of the reasons why numbers such as 911 and 112 are commonly used these days).

Here in Kyrgyzstan, there are a whole list of emergency numbers: … each of the different emergency services have their own contact number … 101 is for the Fire Service, 102 – the Police, 103 – Emergency Medical Service and 104 – Gas Service, in case there’s a leak.

Today happens to be  another one of those Professional Holidays: the Day of the Fire Service of Kyrgyzstan, (Kyrgyzstandyn ortkokarshy kyzmatkerlerinin kүnү).  Yesterday, I wrote a postcard about the history of the Fire Service from its establishment on 15th June, 1926, (hence the choice of the date).

There are normally kept quite busy attending something like 10 incidents a day on average; over 35,000 in the last ten years.  In that period they have rescued over two thousand people – but, unfortunately, something like 1500 others have also died in such incidents.

 

I am not sure if the fire service have had a particularly busy week this week – although I understand that they are getting to commemorate the day – but it’s been a busy for some people.

The Kumtor dispute drags on … but the government have begun to put their case, that the time since the Parliamentary Commission finished its work and issued and issued its report has not been wasted.  A number of substantial points have been agreed with the Centerra management: the mine will continue working as normal – at least, given the chance and barring disruptions brought about by protests by third parties; those protests a couple of weeks ago are going to cost it some four million dollars in compensation.  This is of particular importance given the domineering position of the company in the Kyrgyz economy … its even led to a loss of dividends to the state owned gold company, KyrgyzAltyn which is one of the shareholders.

The Centerra management have also agreed to restructure the company, on a 50-50 basis representation on the Board of Directors, with the chairmanship of the board rotating basis.  More emphasis will be given to purchasing local goods, (at least 85% of purchases to be domestic produce),  and employing local “specialists”, (at least 98% of the workforce – but that figure apparently already stands at 95%).

What’s more, the company have to underwrite the repair to the 144km of the main road round the Southern shore of Lake Issyk Kul, from Balykchy to Barskoon.  Bearing in mind that the last major repairs to this road took place in the 1990, (again at the expense of the mine), the enormous cost and the constant trouble and strife experienced over the years – not just the last month – it seems a remarkable gesture of goodwill on the part of the company even if it can be considered essential to their operations as they are one of the main users of the road transporting goods and people to and from the mine site.

 

It’s been said that the troubles in Issyk Kul and Djalal Abad have done nothing to help the investment climate – or the tourism season, but more of that later – but there have been other reports that they have had no real effect at all.  It is certainly true that there appears to be some good news on the investment front … for example a Korean company that had been intending to invest in an industrial plant down south, but suspended its plans following the revolution and upheavals of 2010, has now indicated that it is prepared to continue with its plans.

There was an interesting series of news reports about China’s interest in developing investments in the country.  The ambassador pointed out that there were about 80,000 Chinese that have received Kyrgyz citizenship … although many of those are, for example, Dungans that are descended from those that migrated here during the time of the Tsarist Empire.  He also pointed out that there are about 2000 Chinese students studying here in Kyrgyzstan and an equivalent number of Kyrgyz citizens studying in China.  Perhaps more pertinently, that there were about 20,000 Chinese nationals involved in business in the country and that was considerable Chinese interest in a number of projects – including the ill-fated – my words – Jerooy Gold mine.

One of their interests involves the development of hydro electricity power.  Most of the news recently has been about the start of the construction of the Naryn Cascade – a series of dams on the Naryn River in which Russia is the main partner, and has been hailed as a signal to foreign investors that the situation in the country is getting better, as an indication that Kyrgyzstan welcomes such projects and that it is “safe” to invest in Kyrgyzstan.

Meanwhile,  China and Kyrgyzstan are looking at a similar set of proposals for the Sary Djaz river in the remote far East of the country … the Sary Djaz river flows across the border from its source in the Kyrgyz Tien Shan into China, and is popular for the possibilities it offers for extreme White Water rafting … although the rafters, themselves, are not allowed to cross the border.

 

There have been other instances of “troubles” in recent times … a “riot” protesting the appointment of a new police chief in Naryn in which the police headquarters was stormed by protesters and he apparently fled the scene …  apparently not to return even though he is still considered to be the person that the government want to see in post.  During the week allegations were made that the protest was, in fact, organized by former, together with serving, police officers.

One of the interesting comments made during the week was that former Prime Minister, Daniyar Usenov – the last in Kurmanbek Bakiev’s regime who fled the country in 2010, had a hand in financing the recent troubles.  Well, that may or may not be the case but one thing we can be certain of, is that he almost certainly won’t be returning to Kyrgyzstan any time soon … he’s just been sentenced, in absentia, to 15 years in prison for his role in the illegal sale of land in one of Bishkek’s parks.

There has also been an allegation that when the 2009 Kumtor deal was reached, Maxim Bakiev went to a Casino in Moscow to celebrate “his first billion”.  Maxim, of course, is currently residing in Brition where he is seeking political asylum.  He was facing an extradition attempt from America but the case fell apart when the American prosecutors failed to file some papers for the case to proceed.

There also seems to be on going problems “down South” especially surrounding the enclaves and border demarcation.  This has been brewing for some some time and we’ve seen mass brawls  breaking out … well, we saw another this week which started when a car refused to stop at a border checkpoint and ran down some of the border guards, fortunately they are all right – but no doubt shaken up.  The driver made it across the border but was then detained by the Tajik authorities who have promised that he will be “held accountable” and compensate for any damage done.  It just goes to show that it only really takes one man to create “a situation”.

 

One big story that refuses to go away is the future of the Manas Trasit base, which has just got a new commanding officer as part of the normal rotation.  He went to great pains to say how the base cooperates fully with the  Kyrgyz authorities.  Although many people want the base to close, it was reported that there were 1000 that probably didn’t because they were employed directly as a result of the base.  The airport’s managing company has also started to become more vocal, pointing out that the closure of the base in 2014 is likely to cost it 200 million dollars and will cause it considerable difficulties.

The base is used to transport goods and personnel to Afghanistan.  The planned closure is because of the wind down and eventual withdraw from Afghanistan.  Arrangements are already under way for the extraction of personnel and equipment, but one of the deputies has now said that Britain which is planning to withdraw its equipment over land, should pay Kyrgyzstan for the use of its roads.

 

The politicians have been particularly busy this week.

The President has refused to sign the draft law on measures to promote the use of the state language, Kyrgyz, which would have extended the list of officials who would need to be proficient in it in order to hold their post, require official documents to be in Kyrgyz, (albeit with translations being permitted where necessary) and imposing fines for not complying with the measures.  He has sent the bill back to parliament for reworking.    He’s said that the bill, as it stands, has fundamental problems, (for example, it appears to be vague in places which will lead to arbitrary decisions which will lead to uncertainty and controversy; to contradict some of the provisions in the constitution to freedom of expression and the right to access official information), but that he is not opposed to the aim of the bill in strengthening and supporting the development of the language … so we’re bound to hear more about this in the future.

There’s been a proposal to bad the import of right hand drive vehicles following the President’s refusal to sign the draft law enacting a ban on such vehicles for use as taxis and marshroutki, (minibuses) … implying a tactic of “if we can’t win the argument one way then we’ll try another one instead”.

Another example of this is the ban on Casinos … some deputies are apparently proposing that a zone be created in Cholpon Ata where they will be allowed to operate, even though they were only banned last year and there have been comments from other about the desirability of extending the ban to cover bookmakers and other forms of gambling such as slot machine gaming and on-line betting.

It seems that there is speculation that the Respublica Party is about to rejoin the governing coalition … even though they only recently left it … which means that everything is up for negotiation once again.  The failure of the previous coalitions and antics of some of the politicians involving fisticuffs and slanging matches between deputies has brought the institution under the spotlight – at least, in the international media if less so amongst the local media.

Their comments seem to center on “mob rule” v “democracy”, a theme which the President and Prime Minister seem to have warmed to, and a lack of public confidence – but, hey, aren’t politicians held in low regard all around the world.  Its true that the Kyrgyz “party list” system means that deputies don’t really have any ties with constituents but rather to their party leadership.

Perhaps the strangest story this week in this respect was that of the proposed “ban” on females under 22 travelling abroad which has attracted a lot of attention, criticism, when a decision of the parliament seemed to support the measure.  In the end, however, it led to a form of retraction and back tracking from one of the more highly regarded international journalists based here.  The measure wouldn’t have been a complete ban … the proposal required that females under 23 should only be allowed to travel out of the country with their parents consent … in other words, they could still go and work or study abroad if they had the right sort of documentation.  The trouble was that the decision of the parliament contained no reference to such a measure … it had simply been included in comments and speeches made by supporters of the bill.  In fact the wording of the bill called on the authorities to draw up measures for recording and protecting the interests of Kyrgyz citizens travelling abroad, for example, for work or study.

 

Despite all the problems … life goes on as normal for most of us.

As I said before,  there is some disagreement about whether the “interesting times” through which we are living is having that much effect on those of us working in tourism.  It i true that we have seen some cancellations or where someone making inquiries suddenly decided to pursue other options – but that always happens and as far as I can tell, we haven’t seen as many as I might have expected.  The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Information tells us that there is still growth in the industry – which has risen to 4.8% of GDP – up about one percent on last year … and, xomething that always seems more important to the civil servants, tax revenues from the sector are growing.

When, however, the Ministry was criticized for its lack of effectiveness in a Parliamentary debate, the Ministry was quick to respond with a spirited defence pointing out that the Parliament should sort out the finances for the Department of Tourism, (which lost more than half of its – already rather limited budget last year), and the border problems that we are facing.  He even had the temerity to suggest that with all that is happening in Turkey – it may lead to even more visitors from Kazakhstan – but I suppose that this would imply that they either knew nothing bout what has been happening here in Kyrgyzstan, or that they take a fairly sanguine approach to the new.

Amongst the problems associated with the border are the new regulations that require children to have a passport or an entry in their parent’s passport.  Another group of people not being allowed out of Kazakhstan, and cross the border into Kyrgyzstan, are debtors – people with an outstanding court order or case against them – who are having their passports for International travel confiscated or withdrawn and travel bans imposed.

As it happens, the border with Kazakhstan is getting a little easier in some other ways – the Karkara border postm fir example is now open – albeit for limited working hours.  Something that has affected us is the sudden closure of the border with China to mark the Dragon Boat festival.  Whereas we were well aware of the festival itself, it seems off that the Chinese close the border for additional days – AND the fact that they didn’t tell us that it was on the cards.

Another area where the authorities seen to making progress is the question of the the renovations at Tamchi airport up at the lake … it is hoped that in 2014 the airport will be able to support all types of aircraft.  The airport is already catering to a number of “charter flights” and it is hoped to see this increasing over the course of time.  Once that project is completed, then the next priority, we are being told, will be work on the airport at Karakol.

More worrying, however, was the news that, if inbound tourism – that is people from abroad visiting Kyrgyzdtsn is growing – so is the number of people leaving Kyrgyzstan to take their holiday abroad, mainly to the countries of the CIS, Russia, Turkey, China, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates.  It seems that there were over 2.5 million outbound tourists last year,  spending 1.24 billion dollars, (more than doubling the equivalent figure for the  figure last year) … The increase in business level for inbound tourism, however, (mainly from other countries of the former Soviet Union), saw a growth of only 20% over the previous year meaning that the trade is narrowing and it won’t be long before Kyrgyzstan spends more abroad on tourism than it earns at home.

 

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Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there has been the following postcards:

• Christmas all year round - Is it too early to start thinking about this? – 09/06/13
• The Great Silk Road - The Great Silk Road just happens to be one of a number of similar routes that have been given names after the event – 12/06/13
• Chak Chak - A traditional Tatar dessert that is also popular in other parts of Russia and in nearby countries – 11/06/13
• Duan Wu Jie – Dragon Boat Festival - The Festival that closed the border – 12/06/13
• A long and tiring day - A long and tiring day  on Wednesday came to a quixotic conclusion – 13/06/13
• Fire, FIRE! - a note about the Kyrgyz Fire Service to mark Fireman’s Day today – 14/06/13

It is possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg, Kyrgyz Diary and Kyrgyzstan Visitki), and also on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

Tags: Expat, In_the_News, Weekly_Postcards