Postcard from Bishkek

There are some dates that are notorious and go down in history, “in infamy” to quote President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his speech on the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbour on 7th December, 1941.

The phrase “a date that will infamy“, comes from the opening line of Roosevelt’s short address to a Joint session of Congress the next day when he asked for a declaration of War against the Empire of Japan in response to “unprovoked and dastardly attack”.  Like Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg – it was short and proved to be inspiring.

Other candidates for such a title might well include: 11th September, 2001 – the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon; 22nd November, 1963 – the assassination of President Kennedy;  22nd June, 1941 – the German invasion of the Soviet Union; 15th March, 44BC – the ides of March when Julius Caesar was assassinated … and there are, of course, other notable dates commemorating events which don’t carry the same connotations of betrayal.

Here in Kyrgyzstan, that might include 24th March 2005 and 7th April, 2010 … the dates of our two revolutions.  Only time will tell if those dates will prove to be as significant as the others … most dates, fortunately, don’t prove to be so dramatic or carry the same connotations.

 We’ve seen quite a bit of drama this week …

There was, for example, the news that the Head of the main Remand prison, (CIZO), here in Bishkek was arrested as a result of “grave” breaches in the jail’s regime.  It wasn’t connectedm however, with last week’s allegations of torture, as it all seemed to rest of allegations, (supported by video), of inmates being allowed to mingle with each other.  Although that may not sound too dramatic in itself … it might well be an indicator that 1) there is a problem (… hey, we know that – it’s true, even, in high security prisons elsewhere in the world, so why shouldn’t it be true here as well) and 2) the authorities seem determined to do something.  In fact, the prosecutor’s office seem quite determined to do something in a variety of cases.

I think Keldibekov, the former Speaker of the Parliament who was arrested last week on charges related to “abuse of power”, is currently in the holding cells of the National Security Service – the successors of the KGB – and not in CIZO.

He was, also, once accused of mingling with the wrong sort of people – members of Organized Crime Gangs (OPG) – up at a resort on Lake Issyk Kul … His response to the allegation was along the lines of: “Yes … it’s true that we happened to be at the same place, at the same time … but, hey, it’s a holiday resort and there were lots of other people there as well.  We didn’t know that we would be there – and we didn’t arrange a meeting.”   Well, at least one commentator has suggested that he might be in a position to meet some more members of OPG over the next holidays – but in a different type of resort.

His supporters down South have been protesting and demanding that he shouldn’t be in any sort of “resort” – but his detention should be changed to one of house arrest.  The courts didn’t agree and confirmed an order of two months remand in custody.

The protests in Osh began early on … the on/off blocking of the road between Osh and Irkeshtam was holding up a lot of traffic – during daylight hours.  When the sun set, the protesters disappeared into the darkness only to reappear with the dawn.  A rally was called in the main square in Osh … in the shadow of the statue of Lenin, (I wonder what he would have made of it all).

Authorities and protesters rarely on attendance figures and press reports often give conflicting figures – in this case, the crowd of protesters looked impressive in the photographs and numbered 1000 according to some reports, 3000 according to others and 5000 according to others.    They issued their demands and gave the authorities an hour to meet them … which suggests that they were either totally unrealistic – or maybe they had ulterior motives.

 

They marched off and attempted to seize the local administration but the police had ringed the building … and held firm … although it got some of them a stay in hospital.  The next step was to set up yurts in the main square.  That’s almost as traditional a form of protest as blocking roads. Then came the announcement that some of the protesters were starting a “hunger strike” in support of their demands.  It all got rather confused, however, as it later emerged that it was going to be like Ramadan – and the blockade of the Irkeshtam road – a “daylight hunger strike”.

There was an interesting intervention from one of the controversial Southern politicians – who said in what looked at first glance as a conciliatory measure that we, (that is, the Kyrgyz), should not risk our, (that is, their), national unity over the ambitions of certain politicians … (which I took – and I could be wrong here – to be a veiled reference to the possibility of the country being split – on North-South lines?) … but she then went on to make what looked like a veiled attack on the President.  We, (Kyrgyzstan, that is) now have a Parliamentary system of government – so Parliament should take the lead.  The President should intervene and not sit on the sidelines – but if he wasn’t prepared to act then we, (the Kyrgyz?), should set up commissions to resolve the problem.

There was a really interesting piece of “people’s journalism” … in that someone had taken and posted on youtube a clip that seemed to show a group of people moving among the protesters – and seeming to hand out cash to them … another example of traditional “custom and practice”, here … with appeals for anyone with information about them to come forward.  To be honest, however, I haven’t seen any follow up to that story.  Maybe that is yet to come.

Whatever, the State Security Service issued a warning that last week’s threats in  a Press conference to start a new revolution would not be tolerated.  The President went so far as to say that he wasn’t afraid of 300o protesters having been elected, not so long ago, to office by a million voters.   

The controversial Mayor of Osh had turned up to the protest in the main square and made a speech … and that probably got him into a bit of trouble.  Well, it probably got him the sack.  The Prime Minister said something different – that the decision was tied to the new law on the status of Osh – and that meant new elections for the post … so it was all part of the “natural” course of events.   Most of the political commentators, however, didn’t agree – especially as the official signing of the law doesn’t seem to have taken place.  They seem to be of the opinion that it was a “natural” result of his having lent support to the protest.

Whatever, as one pundit put it, the decision looks like a “big gamble” on the part of the authorities here in Bishkek.  There have been attempts to curb the Mayor in the past which have met with little success … even with what looked like a climb down.

Apparently, the news that he had been fired came as a big surprise … he was in Bishkek at the time on a visit, and read the news in reports on the internet … now that’s a sign of the times.  His deputy who was appointed Acting Mayor had no inkling either … he was on holiday and had to rush back to the office.  (According to one report he was told by his, now, predecessor – “You’ve got an order from the Prime Minister – Get on with it”.)  Another news report said that the oblast administration was in a state of confusion and panic … no-one knew what to do or think.  It also seems to have caught the protesters by surprise as well … as it took them a while to rally and organize a protest.  On Friday, about a thousand protesters met to demand the reinstatement of the Mayor … but, this time, I didn’t see anything about time limits – realistic or otherwise.

Events may not have caught the police by surprise … it may have helped to keep order that they organized a mass parade as a show of strength on the main square.

The Mayor issued a statement expressing his regret at the decision of the Prime Minister – emphasizing that he had taken office at a difficult period … and had worked to turn the situation around … that he had not been involved in criminal activities and that he was prepared to continue working for the good of the people.  If and when the new law on the status of Osh was signed, he was willing, if the people wanted him to, to continue working for the common good.

At the rally held in his support, it was announced from the podium that the now former Mayor had been detained by the authorities.  That caused some confusion and an outright denial from Bishkek.  Perhaps most interesting in that denial was the assertion that the Mayor had NOT been involved in any criminal activity.  So, both sides seem to agree on at least that point … well, for now at least.

In the meantime … something interesting was happening back here in Bishkek … Criminal investigations into several decisions made by the Mayor of Bishkek last week … (all to do with “abuse of power” and land allocations – if it goes to court and he is convicted then he could face a ten year sentence of imprisonment) … but nothing seemed to happen for several days.  Indeed it looked as if the incumbent was trying to go about his daily routine as usual.

Then, out of the blue, came the news that he had tended his resignation.  It took the Prime Minister’s office a day to respond and say that it had been accepted and an Acting Mayor appointed to control the city until a new election could be arranged.  (That’s am election among the council members – not a general plebiscite).

The now former Mayor issued a statement expressing his regret at – and even apologizing for – the way things had turned out, asserting that he had always worked for the good of the city and citing some of his achievements … and saying that his decision had been coming for some and was totally unrelated to the criminal investigation.  I am not sure that many commentators accepted the logic behind that statement any more than they did that the dismissal of the Mayor of Osh was part of the natural course of events.

 

Almost in order to cap it all, came the news that the son of the controversial politician, (yes, another one), who was convicted of trying to seize power by climbing over the fence surrounding the White House last year, had been arrested.  It seems that some of his friends were stealing wheels from vehicles whilst he was driving their car.

Various commentators have made much of this with phrases such as “like father, like son”.

 

It’s interesting to see how combating corruption and “abuse of power” has recently come to the fore … and it’s not just in these cases.

In a report from the Ombudsman’s office, for example, we learned that they receive about 15000 applications a year – that 1250 a month or over 40 a day!  None of them apparently submitted by children – which made me wonder what it could be if they felt they would get support in protecting their constitutional rights.

Anyway, the cynical part of me wonders if the fact that next week sees the International Day against Corruption might not be playing a role in the way events are unrolling – after all Kyrgyzstan was raked in 150th place (out of 177 countries and territories) in the latest Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index – the same as last year … which led one politician to claim that “nothing has changed”.  It does, however, seem a little too cynical to suggest that this is all simply an attempt to show that the authorities are trying to tackle the problem.

 

The other big controversy in the “netosphere” has been over a travel programme from Ukraine, “Heads or Tails”.  The idea is quite simple … two travelers explore a destination and at the start of the programme they toss a coin to decide which gets two days, all expenses paid, (courtesy of a platinum credit card), whilst the other has to survive on just USD200 – that’s a hundred dollars a day.    The current season is exploring places “Back in the USSR” – and it was now Bishkek’s turn in the limelight.  Normally, such a programme is welcomed with open arms but this time, unfortunately, many people felt that the programme had not presented a particularly accurate or attractive picture of the country – and so it drew a considerable amount of adverse comment.

 

It would have been nice if there had been more coverage of the decision to submit Kyrgyz feltwork to UNESCO for inclusion in the list of intangible heritage … and the decision to include the Manas Epic in the list.

 

As I said … we’ve seen quite a bit of drama this week … but although it’s too early to see what the consequences of all these various events will be, it’s unlikely that any particular day will be singled out as sufficiently significant to count as “a date that will live in infamy”.

 

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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:

• One month to go … S’Novym Godom - in a month’s time it will be New Year … how will you meet it? … and what are the options here in Kyrgyzstan?  - 01/12/13
• The Bactrian Argali - Stories of mythical monsters abound … and sometimes they turn out to be true … – 02/12/13
• Organic Kyrgyzstan - On the International Day against Pesticides … a look at organic farming here Kyrgyzstan – 03/12/13
• Kydyr Ake – the Kyrgyz Solomon - Alexander, Alfred, Catherine, Peter, Vladimir … and how about Kydyr the Great? – 04/12/13
• Abdynasyra Elebesova - Elebesova was a powerful force in shaping Soviet Kyrgyzstan – 05/12/13
• Encyclopaedia Kyrgyzstana - on the anniversary of the publication of the first part in what was to become the Encyclopaedia Britannica, a look at the Kyrgyz equivalent … – 06/12/13

It is possible to follow me on Facebook, (where we also have specific pages for Celestial Mountains, the Silk Road Lodge, The Celestial Mountains Guesthouse in Naryn  and also links.kg, Kyrgyz Diary and Kyrgyzstan Visitki … and not forgetting ianbek), and also on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

 

Tags: In_the_News, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards