Postcard from Bishkek

Every day is a special day for someone … it may be a birthday or anniversary, a festival or national holiday and in some cases it may have been designated as a special day to commemorate some particular cause.   Today, September 3rd, for example, is the birthday of Charlie Sheen, (who’s been in the news quite a bit recently); the Feast of San Marino marking the foundation of that small mountain country surrounded by Italy and the world’s oldest Republic which is still in existence; Independence day in Qatar, (celebrating the country’s second independence from Great Britain in 1971); Armed Forces Day in Taiwan, Flag Day in Australia, Memorial Day in Tunisia, and Merchant Nay Memorial Day in Canada.  The church, of course, has its own calendar of Saint’s days and there are several designated for today – but none of any major significance as far as I can tell.

It is also the anniversary of several momentous events, for example, the Battle of Worcester, (when the Parliamentary forces of Oliver Cromwell defeated those of Charles II – an event which has particular interest for me, as I was born and grew up in Malvern just eight miles away and I can see in my mind’s eye the battle field as I read the descriptions of the battle), and the Battle of Ain Jalut when the Maluks defeated the Mongols, their first decisive defeat and marking the maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.

Well, we’ve also had a number of special days this week here in Kyrgyzstan.  There were two Public Holidays: Orozo Ait and Independence Day.  One commentator actually began his piece: “From the land of public holidays …”

Orozo Ait marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.  It’s a moveable feast as it is based on the Islamic calendar which, being a lunar calendar which is different from the solar based calendar that is used in most of the world.  The date of the festival is determined by the phases of the moon as sighted above Mecca, and although we have a good idea when it is supposed to occur, the actual day can vary depending on when the relevant phase is actually observed.  We knew that it was supposed to fall on Wednesday, August 31st, which presented us with a bit of a problem because that was another, fixed, public holiday, Independence Day.  Last week there were reports that Tuesday would be declared a holiday, a non-working day, instead, so that the people didn’t lose out on one of their public holidays … but there was no official announcement – at least, none that I saw.

In fact, I got a phone call from one of our staff at 10:30 on Monday evening, who wanted to ask if we were working on Tuesday or not.  As it happens, I had fallen asleep in front of the television and didn’t hear the phone ringing.  It was only the next day that I rang back to ask if there was a problem, when he told me what he wanted to know.  By then, however, the matter had been settled. The Mufti had announced that the relevant phase of the moon had been seen so the date was fixed. It was only after one o’clock in the morning, (the morning of the holiday itself), that the news agencies carried the news and it was clear that Tuesday would be a public holiday.  Many practicing Muslims were not happy about the lack of advance warning, so that they could make the necessary preparations for celebrating the feast – after all, they had been fasting during daylight hours for a month, and and missed the early morning prayers (at 7:00 am) to mark the end of the fast.

There were several examples of scathing comments addressed to the indecisiveness of the mufti.  There was even one comment that, by declaring the holiday himself, the mufti had superseded the authority of the state and this could signal the of an Islamic state.

(For the record: In neighbouring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan they had already fixed the dates – one opting for the Tuesday and the other for the Wednesday.)

However, the day went off well with various officials issued messages to the people, congratulating them on the holiday, Crowds gathered for the prayers that were said in the old Central Square.  There was a ceremony unveiling the new statue of the famous twentieth century Kyrgyz Author, Chinghiz Aitmatov … that ceremony had, at least, been planned well in advance.

One newspaper took the occasion as an opportunity to publish an interview with the great man’s wife, accompanied by a photograph of her seated on the bench next to the only other statue dedicated to him in the country.  She made, what I took to be, a very heartfelt plea against lawlessness and, in particular, against the supposedly traditional practice of Ala Kachu; Bride Stealing.  The “supposedly” was her stress – she doesn’t think it was a Kyrgyz custom at all, but one which arrived from the Caucasus, possibly in the time of the Soviet Union.

A small group of residents of one of Bishkek’s suburbs decided that, holiday or no holiday, they were going to picket the parliament in protest against their land and homes being handed over to a local businessman. Their village is referred to as a “semi-informal” settlement; a term which is usually used to refer to places where the residents simply occupied the land and built their houses themselves without the necessary permissions.  In this case, however, they claim that they did register the land, but someone with connections to the former regime used “influence” to stake a rival claim.  Although the protestors say that they won their case in court, there are still “athletic looking young men” who periodically visit them demanding that they vacate their homes.  I am not sure, however, quite what they hoped to be able to achieve by approaching the parliament, holiday or no holiday.  If they simply wanted to publicize their case … well, they succeeded in that.

The next day was Independence Day.  This celebrated the country’s declaration of independence from the former Soviet Union following the abortive Moscow coup in 1991 – twenty years ago.  Being a nice round number, (well, ending in a zero), it was due to be of special significance and duly marked as a “jubilee”.

The celebrations actually began the several days earlier with 500 lanterns being lit and sent into the sky from one of the parks on the outskirts of the city watched by a 1000 bystanders.

On the day itself, the weather turned out quite nice.  The rain that had been threatened in the forecast held off and the skies were blue with just wisps of cloud.  The sun shone and it was really quite warm.  The main square was crowded … really crowded.  There were probably more people than I have ever seen before at any other gathering.  The street vendors were doing a roaring trade.  On the other hand, an awful lot of shops and kiosks were closed – something which rarely ever happens!

At the ceremony to unveil the new monument to Manas in the main Ala Too square, there was a slight problem – when the rope attached to the cloth covering the statue was pulled to remove, it got caught on the statue.  The ceremony continued with further speeches, and a gust of wind blew it free during the speech of the Speaker of the parliament.   At one point, the police reported that “everyone is on the square.”

There was a military parade with 2000 soldiers and 80 or so vehicles, including jeeps, armoured personnel carriers, tanks, anti aircraft systems and even rocket launchers.  Helicopters flew past with Kyrgyz flags deployed beneath them and flares firing from their sides.  It was apparently the largest military parade in Kyrgyzstan’s history.

As it happens they were more or less the only vehicles in the city center, which had been closed to normal traffic, causing a certain amount of chaos on the surrounding roads.  The horses in the parade, however, left a deposit which it was important to watch out for, unless you wanted to spend cleaning your shoes.

Roza Otunbaeva took a certain amount of criticism for her speeches, partly for some of the details of the content, but mainly for the length.  When I heard that, I was glad that I had decided to stay and work in my office during the main event and only venture out and about when the formalities were over.

Incidentally, there are some nice photos of the day on the website of the San Fransisico Chronicle: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/g/a/2011/08/31/kyrgyzipad0831.DTL.

Celebrations also took place around the country; in Osh and Naryn, for example.  The police made a point of saying that they were on high alert with personnel deployed at strategic points in case they were needed, but fortunately they weren’t.

One of the local politicians, a candidate in the forthcoming Presidential election, obviously took the concept of independence to heart.  He came to prominence following the 2005 revolution when he seized the Kara Keche coal mine, Kyrgyzstan’s largest coal mine.  He seems to have been relatively quiet in the intervening period but has chosen the election to stress a nationalist campaign.  Whereas most of the politicians are pro-Russian, he chose the occasion to declare that the Russians owe the Kyrgyz “billions” in reparations for the depravations and the “genocide” exacted on the local population over 95 years ago.  He seems to be referring to the events of 1916 when the people all over Central Asia rose in revolt against decrees of the Tsarist Empire.  By all accounts it was a pretty ferocious conflict and the revolt which was put down pretty ruthlessly with huge numbers fleeing over the mountains to China … many dying en route in atrocious weather conditions in the high mountain passes.

Another controversial nationalist politician has also been in the news this week.  It was announced that Urmat Baryktabasov has been released from prison after serving just four months of a four year sentence, as part of a general amnesty to mark the 20th anniversary of independence.  Barytabasov once tried to stand for election as President following the 2005 Tulip Revolution, but his candidature was rejected because, it was claimed, he was a Kazakh citizen.  He then left the country only to resurface once more following last year’s revolution and led what he called a peaceful rally and march from the Issyk Kul region to Bishkek.  The authorities, however, claimed that it was an attempt to seize power and overthrow the government.

Independence?  Kyrgyzstan’s apparent continued dependence on Russia has led to a number of interesting comments in the press and social media.  One asked: “What independence? We are more reliant on Russia and our neighbours than before.  Who is more independent, us, or Tartarstan?”.  (For the record: Tartarstan is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation … there are limits on their autonomy and independence of policy and action, and what is the responsibility and remit of the central Moscow government.)

Then, Thursday was Dehn Znaniye – the Day of Knowledge – the first day of school.  Some 93,000 seven year olds throughout the country left home to attend their first day at at one of the country’s 2100 schools, (including some 25 boarding schools), joined by many more in the years above – even up into University, and added to the usual rush hour congestion.  Five new schools were opened on September 1st and another 25 are due to open their doors before the end of the year.

We seem to have a number of staff with seven year old children who are about to start school and asked for a couple of days holiday to that they can take them.  It’s a fairly big deal here.  The streets were full of kids dressed in their new finery, and the flower shop did a roaring trade.  Maxim and Andrei asked me if they could have some money to buy confetti, (sweets), for their teachers … when I was a teacher no-one brought me flowers or sweets, (do you detect a hint of jealousy in that?).  Despite my initial suspicions, I was assured that it’s not a bribe, just part of the tradition.  I have no idea what the teachers do with all the flowers and chocolates they must get.

I suppose that today was also the first day for the newly established European School, http://europeanschool.kg/, who had an open day – on Friday, a day later.

Whereas the British government has agreed to help reform the Kyrgyz military, the Americas have agreed to help reform education.  I think the Brits have probably chosen the easier option, (at least in one way – it more clear cut and decisive).  The Americans have to cope with a myriad of problems.  One of the television current affairs discussion programmes has posed the question, “What does it cost to enroll in school?”, and they weren’t simply asking about flowers and chocolates.  The answers offered by many of the specialists working in the field are not encouraging.   The Minister of Education, however, said that this year the pupils will all be provided with textbooks, (mind you, he admits that some of them are old and out of date), but parents won’t have to buy anything.  We’ll see.

However, a new TV channel has been launched – or at least announced – which will broadcast lessons which, it is hoped, will help to extend the provision of educational opportunities far wider, especially in the villages far away from Bishkek.

The election, of course, is still the main topic in the news.  There are both worries and hopes and hopes being expressed.  Most analysts seem to think that all will go off smoothly, including the head of the Russian Presidential Administration, although one at least admits that there is a possibility of someone trying to use “non-legal technologies” in order to further their cause – for “non-legal technologies”, read “violence”.  Apparently a large proportion of the voters in the south of the country, (which has a high Uzbek population), have indicated in a survey that they intend to vote.  Atambaev has spoken addressing the fears that the election will divide the country, saying how important it was to avoid such a situation. Roza Otunbaeva has given a speech basically saying that she is sure it won’t happen.  One analyst, however, says that it is impossible to say what will happen during the campaign … he wasn’t talking about possible disruptions but the lack of clear charismatic leader or any decisive policies.  He was convinced that some sort of coalition will have to be agreed.  Indeed, as one commentator put it: : “Many of these 83 (candidates in the election) will run in the elections with the sole objective of bargaining for a position within the future government.”

Several of the candidates have been warned about premature campaigning – which is only supposed to start after the registration is complete, and there are several steps to complete before that happens.  For example, until they have to pass the proficiency test in the Kyrgyz language – and the dates for that still haven’t been set.

China has also featured in the other news quite a bit.  Rosa Otunbaeva is in China on an official visit at the moment.

There was the news that there are some 10,000 Chinese citizens, including students, resident in Kyrgyzstan.  On one hand that seems like a large figure, but when you consider that they are our neighbours, one of our biggest trading partners, and are involved in a number of major infrastructure projects, such as building roads, it doesn’t seem that many.  On the other hand, if they continue with plans for the Silk Road Railway linking China with Uzbekistan, the various proposed power and mining projects and a newly announced plan to buils a six hundred million dollar oil refinery in Kara Balta, and we are likely to see a lot more in the future.

One Chinese project, a mine in the Naryn region, has run into trouble over its license. Apparently some locals had applied for the license to develop a site and been turned down and it was then handed to a Chinese firm.  The locals didn’t take kindly to this and took to the streets in protest.  Just another example of people power?  I hope the project to build fares better.

Indeed “people power” is a feature that we are having to cope with.  I’m no stranger to protest meetings, marches and so forth.  This week we have seen protests not just against the Chinese mining company being granted a license instead of a local company, or about people using “influence” to obtain property rights that they claim is theirs, but also for example by the residents of one of Bishkek’s suburb, (described as a semi informal settlement – that is, the home owners built their properties on land that they didn’t own, without the necessary permissions and authorizations), who were demanding that the be connected to the city’s basic utilities, (water, sewerage and electricity, it is unlike that the gas and heating distribution systems would extend as far as their “village”).  There was also a protest calling for all gambling establishments to be closed.  At first I thought this was probably to do with Islam prohibitions against gambling and it not being part of traditional Kyrgyz culture, (both aguments having been advanced before), but on closer reading it seems that the protesters were relatives of compulsive gamblers … and there is no such thing as “Gamblers’ Anonymous” in Kyrgyzstan.  Then, there was yet another protest about a gold mining exploration in Talas.

One good thing – all the the protests have been peacefull.  Long may that last!

Several officials may soon find themselves on an enforced holiday, of sorts.  Some have accused of involvement in the smuggling of fuel into Tajikistan, indeed some have been arrested.  One parliamentary deputy has found it necessary to issue a statement to the effect that his company is not involved.

One interesting piece of news was that China has said that it is not worried about Kyrgyzstan joining the Customs Union …  they have their own rules … by which, I take it, they are referring to the fact that both they and Kyrgyzstan are members of the World Trade Organization … but who knows?

Atambaeva, meanwhile, is adamant that Kyrgyzstan is ready and willing to join the Customs Union … tomorrow even.  I wonder if the day of Kyrgyzstan’s accession to it will be declared a public holiday … after all, we only have 12 … (it’s an eclectic mix of Traditional, Patriotic, Soviet, Christian, Islamic, and even Zoroastrian festivities) … so, there is room for another 353 on the calendar.

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards