Postcard from Bishkek

When I was a lad, many, many years ago … at school we had a unit as part of the History syllabus: The Age of Exploration. In it we covered the voyages of such people as Christopher Columbus,  Vasco da Gama, Ferdinand Magellan, John and Sebastian Cabot, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh … but there were some omissions which are, perhaps, more obvious to me now than they were at that time.  Where, for example, were Amerigo Vespucci, Eric the Red and Lief Ericson … James Cook, Lewis and Clark, Livingstone and Stanley, Cortez, Diaz, Juan Ponce de lion, Vasco Numez de Balboa, Fransisco Pizzaro , Roald Amundsen … and so on … and so on.

Of course, the list of explorers was somewhat limited by several different factors: The time available for the unit; how it fit in with the overall course of study and our particular view of the world, (basically reflecting English history, (not even British history), … and apart from the nodding acknowledgement to Columbus, da Gama and Magellan, virtually ignoring European and other explorers.

With my obvious current interest in Asia, The Silk Road and Kyrgyzstan, I note that there were many other notable gaps as well … Marco Polo, ibn Atta, Chang Ch’ien, Fa’hsien, Hsuan Tsang, William of Roebuck, Pyotr Tianshansky Semyenov, Chokan Valikhanov, Sven Hedin, Gottfried Merzbacher, Carl Gustav Mannerheim, Alla Maillart, Nikolai Mikhailovich Prezhevalsk … and so on … and so on.

Prezhevalsk was a fairly remarkable character whose four major expeditions helped to open up the whole of inner Asia, (Central Asia – including Kyrgyzstan – Mongolia, China and Tibet) to Russia.  He is sometimes compared to David Livingstone who opened much of Africa for the British.  Having contracted Typhus during a hunting party, he died in the military hospital at Karakol overlooking Lake Issyk Kul 124 years ago, on 20th October 1888.

The town was renamed in his honour, although it has since reverted to it’s old name: Karakol.  His house was preserved and was turned into a small park and museum, with a grand monument erected in the grounds depicting an eagle landing atop a mountain.  The bird is twice life size – with a wingspan of 2.5m – an olive branch in its beak and in its talons was placed a golden baton, (… but in the uprising of 1916 that disappeared).

 If Prezhervalsk helped to open up this part of the world to a wider audience, I am afraid that many in the West didn’t get to hear much, (if, at all anything), about either him, Central Asia or Kyrgyzstan in particular.   When I first came here I got used to questions like, “Kyrgyzwhere?” and “Whereisizstan?, but I had thought that the world was learning a little bit about us … and that this apparent ignorance was something that could be consigned into the dustbins of history – or at least to the archives.

It seems, however, that I was mistaken.  It seems that it is still a real and present ignorance.  No matter how much exposure Kyrgyzstan gets in the media, there is an awful lot of people that still don’t really know anything about us.

During the week, for example, I happened to meet two Brits – both here on work and both said the same thing … back home, there are very few people that know the name Kyrgyzstan … yet alone anything about the place.  One made reference to the ignorance of geography graduates from Cambridge – which went down well with me … being an Oxford man.  To be honest, that might well have been a little unfair … even as an Oxford man I can’t claim to have heard much about the place either, before I actually came here – but, then again, I didn’t graduate in Geography either.

Another interesting twist in the discussion came I came when I twitched at the description of Kyrgyzstan as an “Undiscovered Country” … “It’s like saying Columbus ‘discovered’ America,” I said, “and ignoring all the other explorers such as Eric the Red and Lief Ericsson … but more to the point – if he discovered the place, then just who were all those people that contracted smallpox after his visit?”

One of my new acquaintances commented that there was a shocking lack of exposure to Kyrgyzstan in the main media outlets back home.  The recent kerfuffle over the suggestion that Kumtor be nationalized – which resulted in an attempt to storm the Parliament, and the arrest of three prominent politicians got virtually no coverage … although that might change now that one has started a hunger strike and been hospitalized.

I pointed out that there had been some coverage – but fortunately it had been fairly limited … after all, who needs the bad publicity.  To be frank, many of the reports had been about the effect on the company’s share price – and, here, how that meant that Kyrgyzstan – the major shareholder in the company – was suffering as a result.

It seems that the suffering is going to get worse.  A court decision in Canada has frozen the Kyrgyz government’s share holding and any dividends from the company.  The decision doesn’t have anything to do with the company, or for that matter Canada – apart from the fact that it was made by a Canadian court.  It is all to do with an international arbitration case that dates back to the original Tulip Revolution in 2005.

As Askar Akaev was fleeing the country and Kurmanbek Bakiev was assuming the mantle of power, a group of armed men walked into a hotel and told the Turkish management to pack its bags and go.  It’s been a running sore in the side of the Kyrgyz economy ever since.  The hotel had been built by a Turkish company under an agreement with the original owners … who were made to hand it over tot he Turkish management having been unable to keep up repayments of the mortgage and being declared bankrupt.  They maintained that the bankruptcy was artificially engineered by the authorities who then proceeded to hand the hotel over to its new owners – and so, they claimed, they were merely recovering what was rightfully theirs.  This has been upheld by court decisions here in Kyrgyzstan but when the case was taken to an international court by the disenfranchised Turkish company, the court didn’t agree with them and decided in favour of the Turks and against the Kyrgyz parties to the agreement – including the Kyrgyz government.   The Kyrgyz have, however – for various reasons, refused to implement the court judgement … and hence the new decision to sequester the assets, in an attempt to finally lance the boil and settle the festering sore.

Oh … if only it was so simple … the assets have anything to do with the hotel … and, technically, they don’t actually have anything to do with the government – well, not directly … as they are the held by another entity … albeit a state owned company.

It seems to me that, far from lancing the boil, the sore is going to continue festering as the affair lingers on … and on … and on.   In the meantime, Kyrgyzstan – which really needs to cash and is currently looking to make cuts of over two billion som in the budget because of a cash shortfall (one report actually referred to cuts of over three billion som) – is going to be deprived of the benefits of the gold mine … which in turn is likely to bring more and more disdain upon the company, foreign courts and foreign investors in general.  This, at a time when a great effort is being made to try and interest potential investors from several countries to consider projects in Kyrgyzstan.

Momentous though this news is in terms of the effect it might have on the Kyrgyz economy, I suspect that it will get limited coverage in the media and do little in terms of introducing Kyrgyzstan to a wider public.  Where it does receive exposure it is likely to be in such outlets that specialize in dry and detailed financial analysis.

Another story that is likely to be prolonged and get the dry and detailed approach is that of last week’s arrest of Maksim Bakiev and his possible extradition to America on charges of financial irregularities and insider trading.  On the other hand, with the background of power struggles and revolution, the fact that Evgeniy Gurevich, his one time friend and ally, seems to have struck a deal with his prosecutors to avoid a lengthy prison sentence for himself, then perhaps the story has more “news appeal” in our celebratory dominated society and will demand more attention from editors and copywriters. Then again, perhaps it is even more likely to attract the scriptwriters from The Sopranos.

One of the big surprises about that story centred on the press statements made by the British embassy here in Bishkek.  Having expressed that the UK “staunchly supports the efforts of the leadership and people of Kyrgyzstan over the last two years to set Kyrgyzstan firmly on a path to a more democratic, stable and prosperous future”,  it went on to express that they were “conscious that, as part of those efforts, the leadership and people of Kyrgyzstan are keen to ensure that those accused of past abuses of power are brought before the courts to answer allegations against them.”  That seems a pretty strong endorsement to me … but it was later followed by another, somewhat less fulsome statement that the “process will now take its course in the normal way, and that it will be handled in strict accordance with established UK judicial processes. It is a matter for the UK courts alone.”

There were some interesting claims that claimed to be revelations that one of the politicians arrested for trying to storm the parliament building had that morning, apparently, called numbers in London and Minsk (… where Maxim, Kurmanbek and Janysh are currently to be found), and just to stir things up a bit more, there was also a claim that he was told “Today’s your day.  There won’t be a better chance!“, by the colourful “zima ne budet” (there’ll be no winter) politician.  To be honest, I haven’t seen any real coverage of these claims in the news … and, or so it seems to me, they appear to be a little too convenient.

I had to smile when I saw the report that five people had been detained in Bishkek on charges of plotting terrorist acts against law enforcement bodies and other government agencies.  Firearms, ammunition, grenades and remote controlled improvised explosive devices were confiscated along with quantities of extremist literature.   That sounds pretty serious – and good news if the authorities really have neutralised a terrorist cell plotting activities which would employ such armaments – so why the smile? … because of the way the report referred to the five as belonging to an “unlawful terrorist group” … as if there is such a thing as a lawful one.

 

Although these all might be counted as newsworthy events … as I said to my new acquaintances, I am not one hundred per cent certain that I want them reported in the world’s media – in fact, I am quite glad that they haven’t exactly commanded the attention of the world’s media.  They cast a fairly negative of the country and, as I work in tourism, I am more anxious about getting people interested in visiting the country.  Such stories are unlikely to present the country in an attractive light and encourage visitors.

 

There is some good news however, and one particular report caught my eye.  In addition to the proposed China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan stretch towards a new transcontinental railway, it now seems that there are plans emerging for another; this one going from China, though Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran.

Now that will help open the continent out and may it possible for more people to explore the country.

That’s still very much on the drawing board, however, and may turn out to be just another pipe dream.  It seems that we still need another Prerzhervalsk to come exploring and sending back, to what I hope will prove to be a fascinated and receptive audience, accounts of what he encounters.  Reports that will capture the imagination of his audience and fill them with the desire to see, hear, feel, taste and smell it all … to experience it all, that is, for themselves.

 

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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:

• Meanwhile … elsewhere … - trying to put history into a wider context … what was going on in Kyrgyzstan whilst the Battle of Hastings was being fought on England’s southern coast on 14th October, 1066.
• Handwashing Day - October 15th was Global Handwashing Day and whilst the BBC was asking, “why are the British so bad at handwashing?“, I took a brief look at the habit here in Kyrgyzstan.
• Syrniki - Tasty little cheesecakes similar to “fat pancakes” brought to Central Asia from Russia or the Ukraine and adopted as a standard dish which is often served up.
• Arslan Bob - One of the small villages often visited by tourists … to see its walnut forests and trek in the nearby mountains.
• Cranes - these majestic birds grace the skies over Kyrgyzstan on their migrations: north in the spring and south again in the autumn.
• Numismatics - coins in the Kyrgyz Republic: when I first came here some seventeen years ago, Kyrgyzstan didn’t have any … but since then there has been a dazzling array of commemorative coins issued as well as those in everyday circulation.. 

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

Tags: Expat, Life_in_Kyrgyzstan, Weekly_Postcards