Message – July 17th , 2005
Kyrgyzstan had dropped off the “news radar”to be replaced by events in London (the bombings) and elsewhere.
Three weeks have gone by since the last postcard … as usual I have been very busy, and events have been unfolding but, generally, things here are very quiet and it is sometimes hard to imagine what turmoil we have been through.
All this is nothing, however, like the turmoil in other parts of the world.
The news from London of the bombings on the tube and the bus came as a big shock. I suppose it shouldn’t have, because everyone knew that something was bound to happen at some time – especially after the Madrid bombings a year ago – we just didn’t know when … and when it came it was still a shock.
From what I can gather, London came off quite lightly … I know that sounds hard, but each of those trains would have had something like 700 passengers crammed in them at that time of day. The emergency services, unfortunately, have had a lot of experience of dealing with terrorist acts over the years and a lot of training … which seems to have paid off. What seems most surprising to me, so far away from the scene is how quickly they have managed to put together a portrait of the bombers and a history of what happened. Now I suppose we will have enquiries into how it came about that the security services apparently had no warning. I also suppose there will be some sort of anti-Muslim backlash … fortunately, at the moment it seems to have limited to a few attacks on mosques … let’s hope that is all that happens.
Many people have stopped me – even strangers on the street – to express their shock and condolences. Others have written to do so – Thank you for that, it is appreciated.
Suicide Bombs also in Palestine, Turkey, Iraq … where next?
Locally, the big story, of course, has been the Presidential election.
There was the run up to the election, the event itself and now the aftermath.
The run-up was almost a non-event. There appeared to be just one candidate … the others seemed to there just in there to make up the numbers. There were huge posters for Bakiev on the billboards, TV ads, much comment in the papers, and various events. One of the local parks, Gorky Park, was taken over by a youth movement supporting Bakiev. The erected a yurt and two large “military style” tents, flags, notice boards, a large screen for a projector, and every evening seemed to hold a party. There were a few (smaller) posters placed around town for some of the other, but nothing that seemed to imply a serious contender. Some people say that sensed tension in the air – but I can’t say that I noticed anything in particular. The biggest worry, as far as I was concerned, was that there would be some sort of voter apathy as the result seemed to be a foregone conclusion. If less than 50% of the electorate voted, then the result would have been invalid – and we would have had to go through the whole thing again later in the year.
As it happens, that wasn’t an issue. The day of the election was unbearably hot. But all was very quiet. About 10% had voted in the first few hours of polling. Apparently there were some questions about the conduct of officials at some of the polling stations, and the turnout figure jumped rather dramatically fairly late on … but well over 50% voted – and Bakiev achieved a considerable landslide … with over 80% of the vote, he was the only candidate to get into double figures. The observers all seemed to think that it went quite well … not 10 out of 10 … but certainly a lot better than many other elections around the world. (I remember there were several interesting questions raised even at the last UK election, which also would not have received 10 out of 10! – and what about the problems in the US in 2000 and even 2004?) As it happens, I am not too surprised that the election went so well … I could see no reason at all for the candidates to try and adopt questionable tactics. It just wasn’t worth it – and would only lead to further trouble in the future.
So, Bakiev is the new President. Apart from raising the question of the future of the Ganci Air Force Base in his first press conference, everything has been more or less quiet. The parliament have to approve the new government – and new programmes have to be adopted and implemented. At the moment all is peaceful and quiet. I feel sorry for all those journalists who came and found it to be, almost, a non-event.
There are still a lot of unanswered questions – e.g. about Akaev and his family, the empire of enterprises that they are supposed to have amassed, corruption, etc. – and hopes are riding quite high. The Kyrgyz are, traditionally, a very optimistic people, and they have been promised a better life before … if Bakiev can’t deliver, then who knows what the reaction might be.
I keep getting asked, (as President of the Kyrgyz Association of Tour Operators), about the prospects for tourism this year. My answer is usually, “ask me at the end of the season” … before March, the situation looked very promising. Most of the tour operators have faced cancellations, but they have managed to hold onto quite a few tours. At the moment the prognosis is mixed … I am told that Issyk Kul is going to be full in August, but several of the sanatoria, etc. have issued special deals – so who knows. We have managed to preserve some of our bigger tours and have a number of small ones – enquiries are still coming in, but it is not like last year. Three of them are more or less complete, but some of the other groups are considerably smaller than we originally anticipated.
The hotels are still quite busy. The Silk Road Lodge, in Bishkek, is doing quite well … but the Naryn guesthouse is in a bit more difficult position because it relies so heavily on groups traveling along the Silk Road.
Still, it looks as if it will do reasonably well during the year as whole.
We’ve had quite a few journalists visit … not all of them connected with election … and we hope to see some good coverage in the next few months.
If anyone sees any articles about Kyrgyzstan, I would be grateful to hear about them – and, if possible, copies.
Last year was the “Year of the last minute tourist” … quite a few people requesting tours seemed to want to start “tomorrow”, or even “today”. That was quite a challenge. This year, however, we have gone one better – we had one couple that wanted to start “yesterday”. Basically, they traveled with us last year – giving me a week’s notice to put together a fairly difficult itinerary. At first they had planned to do everything themselves, but ran into problems and so turned to us. I had to tell them that I thought it was not going to be possible … but, somehow, we managed to fulfill the whole tour with all its complications. I have to admit that I was impressed with how it turned out. This year, however, they rang me from the hotel on a Saturday morning … they had booked a tour through Uzbekistan and Tajikistan with another agent. They were sorry they hadn’t booked with us – but originally their plans hadn’t included Kyrgyzstan. Then they had a problem with Uzbek visas … and so had to change their itinerary, replacing Uzbekistan with Kyrgyzstan. No problem, so far, but then their agent had faxed them to say there was a problem with the vehicle … and they were stranded. They had already lost one day. Could we help? “You mean you want to leave yesterday?” I asked. “Yes”, came the reply. Well, we don’t normally work in Tajikistan … but with the help of some Tajik colleagues, in four hours we had put together a plan which they approved … and which was remarkably close to the original. They are due back tomorrow … I hope that I am going to be as impressed this year with the way things have turned out as I was last year. They have promised me that if they come again next year – they’ll give me a bit more notice!
On a more personal note:
On the 25th I’ll have been in Kyrgyzstan for ten years – not bad since I originally came for just one. I was planning a party but I think with all the upheaval we’ve had I’ll give it a miss. The Guest house in Naryn has seen its eight anniversary and the Silk Road Lodge sees its fifth anniversary in August.
Thanks Leon for all the emails – the humour is much appreciated and they have helped to lighten the atmosphere quite a bit.
Larissa – happy, belated, birthday!
Ursula – thanks for the articles … it’s always interesting to see how things are reported in the outside world.
Tim – Thanks for the Marmite … I think that should last me for a couple of months!
And to all those who wrote, especially following the incident in London, once again, Thanks for your thoughts.
_______________________________________________________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