The popular revolution in Kyrgyzstan in late March has brought a new wave of unstable political events and a rise in crime that the people were not prepared for in this small, poverty-stricken, mountainous state in what used to be known as Soviet Central Asia.
The uprising was called the 'Tulip' Revolution by yesterday's opposition and today's authorities -- prominent figures such as Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Roza Otunbayeva, and other politicians who have been major political actors in Kyrgyzstan since its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
After the recent events, different strata of the population adopted various stances based on their political aspirations. The banned religious party Hizb-ut-Tahrir advocates reestablishing the caliphate and setting up an Islamic state in Central Asia and is pursuing their goal through their main activity -- an ideological jihad aimed at 'reforming people's minds'. The party is mainly active in the country's south, which borders eastern Uzbekistan. It has about 2000 members.
According to Dilyor Jumaboyev, a spokesman for a Hizb-ut-Tahrir branch in the southern Kyrgyz town of Kara-Suu, it has become harder to work under the new government than under ousted former president Askar Akayev. 'The recently adopted law on combating extremism is aimed specifically against Hizb-ut-Tahrir,' says Jumaboyev. He cites the same law to describe the incumbent government that came to power after deposing the Akayev administration as 'extremists'. According to Jumaboyev, 'Any man-made law harms the man himself alone.' However, experts and analysts say the law was drafted during Askar Akayev's term in office but was not signed and does not necessarily target Hizb-ut-Tahrir. Political scientist Ikbol Mirsaitov says Hizb-ut-Tahrir is trying to boost its prestige if it claims that the law is solely aimed against it.
The crime world has also gotten out of control since the fall of the Akayev administration. Numerous looting incidents on the very first night after the Tulip Revolution and robberies in different parts of Bishkek and Osh suggest that police had no control throughout the country. Violence and assassinations in Bishkek and Osh shocked the population in the period between the fall of Akayev's regime and the official establishment of Bakiyev's office as such. Local newspapers reported a rise in the trafficking of illegal weapons and drugs during this period.
The so-called Tulip Revolution was mainly caused by economic hardships that the common people face on a day-to-day basis. According to the World Bank, the Kyrgyz Republic had a gross national income of U.S. $400 per capita in 2004. The country is landlocked and mostly mountainous. This fact means there is little space for development of agriculture and industrial production, which makes Kyrgyzstan vulnerable to natural disasters and external shocks. These and other factors were masterfully used in concert by the then opposition to encourage people to take to the streets in protests against the Akayev administration. The main allegations against Askar Akayev were based on information that 'the Family' had owned a number of large enterprises in the country: a cellular communications company, a chain of convenience stores in Bishkek, and the Kyrgyzaltyn gold mining company, to name a few.
The revolution against Askar Akayev was also fueled by rumors and allegations that the ex-president was under the direct influence of his wife, then First Lady Mayram Akayeva, even for appointments of officials in the higher echelons of power. The allegations claimed that 'financial gratitude' was received from would-be officials and stayed in the Akayev family coffers, which rested in off-shore bank accounts.
'We have all heard about the well-known rumors that Akayev's wife had led him to this state. I think that people do not talk rubbish,' State Secretary Dastan Sarygulov said in an interview in early August. 'Akayev himself got carried away with power and wealth. He was flying in the skies instead walking on earth, he became deaf and his heart turned blind. And in the end he reached this state. He let his people slip away, reduced the country, and led his people to bribery, drug addiction, and flattery.'
The revolution's coinciding with this year's parliamentary elections is not accidental. The fact that Askar Akayev's daughter Bermet Akayeva and son Aydar Akayev have become members of parliament has enraged the poverty-stricken citizens, especially in rural areas of southern Kyrgyzstan -- the home of the Tulip Revolution that put an end to the 15-year rule of the first president of independent Kyrgyzstan.
The role of superpowers remains as intense as before for this small mountainous state in southeastern Central Asia. The U.S.-led anti-terror coalition's Ganci airbase will remain at Manas international airport near Bishkek 'as long as it meets Kyrgyz national interests', as Acting Kyrgyz Minister of Exterior Roza Otunbayeva recently said. The U.S. also renewed the mission of its envoy to Bishkek in June. The eastern superpower, China, is seen as increasing its role in the region via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an ally in combating the Eastern Turkestan Islamic Movement, an allegedly Al-Qaeda-linked organization.
Russia, the third and long-term regional superpower, remains as involved as before. Incumbent President Bakiyev paid his first official visit to the Kremlin after his inauguration on August 14. Intending to increase its influence, already realized to a certain degree by the presence of a Russian airbase in northern Kyrgyzstan, official Moscow intends to implement a plan drawn up specifically for this purpose, Moscow newspaper Kommersant recently wrote. According to the newspaper, the presidential staff, in concert with the government, has put together a so-called comprehensive plan of action aimed at strengthening Russia's influence in Kyrgyzstan from 2005 to 2007.
The first Kyrgyz president, Askar Akayev, was ousted on March 24 when a mob of mostly rural residents took over the “White House” in Bishkek; the second president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was sworn in on August 14 on the very square that witnessed Akayev's ouster.
The Kyrgyz nation is now pinning its hopes on the new government taking decisive action to combat corruption, alleviate poverty, and improve the overall standard of living in the country.
President Bakiyev and Prime Minister Feliks Kulov have now been given a term to prove their commitment to democratic ideals and to make every effort to extricate the country from the abyss that the previous administration has put Kyrgyzstan in, as they have promised themselves.