Message – Monday March 28th, 2005
After a quiet weekend – perhaps the turn in the weather had something to do with that – I sat down on the Sunday morning and wrote:
I hoping that this will be the last of the “emergency” postcards … We seem to have dropped off the radar as far as international news coverage is concerned … and that is a sign that everything here seems to be calmer … the sun has been shining, but it was still quite cool, and then overnight there was snow – not a lot, but after the rain dampening the situation down, the snow has helped to cool things off – for the time being. It’s not exactly the weather for troublemakers to be out on the streets rioting and looting.
I did say that they had turned off the central heating. We should have known that was a signal for the weather to turn. Anyway, it’s a case of multiple layers of sweaters.
Anyway, things are very relatively quiet here, the streets were practically deserted Sunday. I even felt safe enough to sit in the office until about 8:00 pm Saturday and 10:00 pm on Sunday.
Another of the reasons that things may have quietened down may be that they have arrested quite a lot of looters … the figures vary from source to source, but they all agree on thing – the prisons are full. Felix Kulov, who is now in charge of “security” is reported to have said that the looting was down 50% – my impression is different, … better …, but that could just be the view I get from the city center. Maybe things are happening outside.
Apparently, there is still some unrest. Tatiana, my accountant, lives about a kilometer from the centre in a quiet suburb. She tells me that on Saturday there were attempts by protesters to seize the local police station. The police, however, fought back and fired shots into the air. She also tells me of a few more looting raids … in one a shop selling electrical goods was raided … all the other local shops were left untouched, so these people obviously wanted something in particular. Apparently the owner was cowering behind the counter all through the raid.
The situation with Kulov is interesting. Technically, of course, he should still be in prison. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for various offences, which he denies … and was only released because a crowd of protestors appeared at the prison gates demanding his release. He is now going to put an appeal before the courts – and if he loses the case, he’s going to go back to prison! “It’s the law”, he says.
Incidentally, he’s taking a very strict legal view of the question about which parliament is valid – the “old” or the “new” – and it is at variance with the “new” president, Bakiyev. Bakiyev says that the old parliament is still valid, whereas Kulov supports the new one – except for the constituencies where the results are subject to complaints and disputed. I confess that I am confused – the Constitutional court annulled the results, so it seems to me that there is no parliament. The chaos gives some credence to Akaev who kept saying was that the opposition was chaotic with different views and different demands.
He appeared on television last night and said that there were reports of people going around saying that they were from him and wanting this, that or the other … but it wasn’t true – he knew nothing about them, he was too busy with other things than to bother with “economic” affairs … they were “bandits”.
There are also rumours of some people, former owners, walking in to businesses with their own “security” and evicting the new owners, taking control.
So the chaos takes many forms. It’s not just violence on the streets – and this latter form of chaos that is far more worrying in many respects than the rioting and looting, especially because it is so unpredictable.
Some firms have moved all their paperwork out of their offices – I bet the tax authorities will be glad about that, it will be difficult enough getting the tax out of people anyway, but the checks are going to be impossible, One of the mobile phone companies has placed adverts on the local TV asking for their computers to be returned. I wonder how much information they have lost. Fortunately, with my background, we have backups … but I can’t helping feeling nervous on this front.
So far we have been lucky in terms of business … in terms of tours. we have received only two cancellations to date as most people seem to be waiting to see what will develop … the prospects for the hotels don’t look too bad, BUT, a lot a lot of our business doesn’t depend upon us alone … if other companies receive cancellations then we will also suffer as a consequence … I have been trying to find out what the situation from other companies, and one tells me that they have had so many cancellations that they think they may go bankrupt. That does not look good.
I am beginning to question my original thoughts about the whole thing being disorganized chaos – an example of the “cock-up” theory (generally, I am a great believer in the “cock-up” theory as opposed to “conspiracies”) and resulting from an opportunistic moves in response to events AS They unfolded. I Came across a Couple of Reports in the Russian Newspaper ‘Commersant’ Which Raise Some interesting questions (http://www.kommersant.com/). Although They Are in English , They Are a bit Difficult to Get your Head around if you do not all the Characters … SO you Might find the Following site helpful, if you Want to do a Little research … http://www.rferl.org/specials/ kyrgyzelections / default.asp.
I was speaking to one person who says that from her flat, which overlooks a number of shops, she saw very definite signs of the looting that take place on Thursday being organized by people in cars with mobile phones.
Richard Spenser of the Daily Telegraph has written some interesting articles … the first few, when he was still in Peking, were very fair, the later ones seem to reverting to type for the Telegraph, but are still quite good. One thing that made me smile was when he referred to the snowfall as “heavy” – you can tell he’s British … anyway he should come here in the winter. He also quotes a British businessman, who asked to remain anonymous – it wasn’t me, but I understand what he means.
The Guardian accounts are also quite interesting – especially on the questions and answers page.
It has been difficult to plan a schedule … I have had many meetings arranged and then cancelled … and at the moment it is almost impossible to find anyone in their offices. Slava has had to go to a funeral – nothing to do with the troubles, so life goes on in some respects as normal.
Another example of that: Following the cat fight, which resulted in my shedding a fair amount of blood after I tried to break it up, the two cats in question have become very subdued, curling up against my legs as if trying to say “I ‘m sorry “- and” will you still feed me? “. My hand is still a bit bruised, but recovering. I have a slight pain in my chest … I think it is a result of lying awkwardly in bed … but apart from that – I am fine.
Anyway, that’s all for now … as I said at the outset, I hope it’s the last of the “emergency” postcards … but who can tell.
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Note:
As an ex-pat living in Bishkek during the “Tulip Revolution” and witnessing the events of 24th March, 2005, Iwrote a series of messages to friends and relatives to reassure them that he was safe … and describe some of his experiences and reactions.
This is one of them.
I haven’t edited them … they are “as sent”. They are not a comprehensive or accurate historical account of the events – but a series of observations of one person who witnessed the events unfolding and tell part of his story. As such, they reflect the ambiguity and lack of certainty of the times, as well as the mass of rumours which circulated and the changing opinions as more and more information became available.
Bishkek