Guest Post from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

This is a guest post by Slava Koshelev who works in Bishkek and Moscow as a director for a tourism company called Advantour. He has been working in tourism in Kyrgyzstan and Moscow for 11 years, and was born in Bishkek.

His post is in two parts. Part One is his first report from Bishkek from mid last week, and Part Two is an update from a few days afterwards. Slava gives us an excellent and detailed look into life in Bishkek in the weeks that followed the unrest earlier this month.

Part One – from April 22, 2010

It has certainly been a long week … an eventful week.

The interim government has set to work with gusto. It’s not been an easy task. There’s been a lot to do.

To matters more complicated, there is no united leadership. Roza Otunbaeva (former Ambassador to both the US and to Britain) was selected as the chairman of the interim government, and she given four deputies and these five people represent five of the parties that made up the opposition.  At the moment they are trying to work as a team and present a united front, but occasionally differences between them do emerge and we have to wait and see how they will handle in the months to come.

One of the biggest problems they have faced is that of “legitimacy”.  Bakiev was the elected President – even if many people felt that he “stole” the election by using unfair means, (a view that I have heard expressed several times in the last week). Even though the international community expressed concerns over the conduct of the election, no-one declared that they considered the results to have been invalid. Bakiev was the President, but he had “run away” to his home village in the South of the country near the regional center of Djalal Abad, where he met with journalists and others. I hear that he had ended one interview, telling the journalist that his voice was going as a result of having given so many interviews.

There he was in the south of the country, away from the capital, and apparently unable to take command of the situation.  Almost all the power structures are based in the capital, Bishkek, in the north.

According to some reports, even he accepted that he had no power to influence events. Some even said that he agreed that he had no “moral right” to be President after so many people died in the protests. Indeed, he said that he was prepared to resign but complained that there had been no negotiations, that no-one was talking to him. He had his conditions for resignation … he wanted guarantees for his safety, and safety for those of his family, and he wanted to stay in Kyrgyzstan.

He continued to maintain that he was innocent of wrong doing and he laid the blame fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the “opposition”, or the “interim government”, depending on which side of the argument you stand.

If, as he seems to have agreed, he was incapable of fulfilling his duties as President, then the Constitution decrees that the authority passes to speaker of the parliament … but she was in St. Petersburg and afraid to return to Bishkek. If the Speaker of the Parliament is incapacitated in anyway, then authority passes to the Prime Minister, but he had resigned and was, apparently in Kazakhstan.

Every decision the interim government made, every document they issued, every appointment they made, every signature and every stamp was open to question and dispute. The international community noted this and no-one recognized them, although offers of help and assistance to Kyrgyzstan and “the people of Kyrgyzstan” came in.

They seemed to treat Bakiev with disdain … and even disinterest.  “Let him be the President of Osh” said one newly appointed official.

Eventually Bakiev attended a rally in his home village and, somewhat emboldened, he decided to travel to Osh, the second city of Kyrgyzstan, often referred to as the southern capital of the republic.  There, he was basically given “short shrift”, and the people he would normally have counted amongst his allies turned on him.  His security guards fired into the air, pushed him into a car and drove him back home where, according to report, he appeared shaken.

Within hours he had left the country and resigned.

As well as having to find new people to take the posts vacated by resignations of the government, the interim government has had to look at virtually all the posts in civil service.   Some people have been replaced, others not. One particular case has caused considerable debate, that of the Mayor of Bishkek. This is a fairly important post in the Republic, but the latest incumbent had proved to be quite popular and was seemingly making a real difference to the city. Despite this, he was removed from office and a criminal investigation started into his affairs … he denies all allegations of wrong doing and claims that it is all a case of politicking.  I suppose that we’ll have to wait and see.

I am told that, apparently all of the staff who were employed at the [Kyrgyz] White House have been dismissed – no matter how lowly or menial their role.

Of course, anyone who hasn’t been dismissed is eager to show how they are working and how good they are at their job. Tensions are high and tempers seem to be flaring in many a government office.

However, things here are getting back to normal … well, near to normal:

Shops are opening …  well some shops: those that weren’t totally destroyed … Beta Stores is open working almost normally….

Banks are open for business as normal … well, some banks that is, because five, that have connections with President Bakiev’s family have taken under special administration and a couple of others are subject to “special investigation” by the National Bank;

Offices are working normally … well, some offices, because some were looted and they cannot operate without their computers.

Restaurants, Cafes, Bars are welcoming diners  … well, some restaurants, cafes and bars.  Some are still undergoing renovations and some operate on shorter working hours than before, (which is probably wise because there are fewer clients at the moment)

Schools and Universities are operating as usual …well, as far as I am aware, all the schools are working, although some classes are denuded as some parents have kept their children at home while they see how things develop, and some lessons have been cancelled because teachers are ill.

Public transport is operating … Buses, trams, trains, (what few there are in Kyrgyzstan) and taxis are all running normally … well, there are less busses on the street because nearly thirty were completely destroyed and almost ninety suffered serious damage in the events of April 7th.    There is some disruption at the airport, but after the first night, when it closed temporarily, most flights have arrived and departed according to the timetable.

The police are on duty and patrolling the street … well, most of them.  Two policemen died and six hundred were injured in the upheaval, and according to the fifty or so officers who staged a, (peaceful), protest rally in the main square some of them are facing abuse and attacks when they are in uniform.  They complain about being blamed for the tragic events when they were merely doing their duty.  They lost twenty six police cars in the riots, The GAI, (the traffic police) are manning their roadside positions, controlling the traffic, stopping and fining drivers for whatever infringements that they detect.

Construction is under way, … well, at some sites around the city.  Work on the 24-storey building just over the road seems to have been put “on hold” for a while, which, (at least), less banging and booming disturbing me at all hours of the day and night.

The borders are open … well, almost all of them. Three of our four neighbours, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), closed their borders with Kyrgyzstan pretty sharply when the disturbances started, but now only the one with Kazakhstan remains closed, although they accepted a flight with Kurmanbek Bakiev on it, and there are rumours that even that border will soon be open

The big “clean-up” continues and the detritus remaining after the rioting and looting had been cleared away within days – … well, most of it.  The city still bears signs of the damage incurred.

So, life goes on …

On a more personal note:

As far as we are concerned, then I, personally, have been kept extremely busy … writing, attending meetings and so on … and, of course, following the news.  So much so, that the pile of papers on my desk has been constantly growing as I have been called off here and there to attend this or that meeting. The rest of the team has been working away in sterling fashion.

Those of us working in tourism are worried, of course, about the effect that all of this will have on the up-coming season.

Just as in 2005, (when, unfortunately, we went through a similar experience), we have taken a number of cancellations both in the hotels and from tour groups, but most of those relate to people who were due to arrive in the near future.  Those who were planning to arrive later in the year still seem to be adopting a “wait and see” police … waiting to see how the situation develops.  I can’t help recalling that those who did come later in 2005 encountered no problems but, in light of what I have seen on CNN and BBC, I can’t say that I blame anyone for cancelling; especially those who were planning to come here in April and May.

After all the uncertainty of the last week, Bakiev’s resignation has come somewhat as a relief.  It doesn’t mean that everything will now be a “bed of roses”, there’s a lot to do and a lot of problems that need to be resolved, but it does remove a huge question mark which was hanging over the future like the sword of Damocles.

I am quite looking forward to getting back to dealing with run-of-the-mill everyday matters and making a dent on the pile of papers that has built up on my desk over the last ten days, or dealing more mundane crises, like the ceiling falling in on a family of friends last Monday evening … but that’s another story …

Part Two – from April 25, 2010

Anyway, this week … well, it’s been another busy week … It began with an “incident” in Maevka – a group of people from out of town held a protest rally to demand that land be allocated to them for building homes. They wouldn’t listen to the representatives of the interim government and a large number went to the village of Maevka, on the outskirts of Bishkek to mark out plots of land and “sieze” them. The police were late getting there, for whatever reason, and in the resulting fracas five more people died.

There has been some suggestion that the violence had an element of ethnic conflict, but that is not clear. Virtually all of the official statements, (for example, from the government here in Kyrgyzstan, from Russian and Turkish leaders), deny this, but the region does have a long history of ethnic tension. The unrest has led to appeals to the government form various sectors of Kyrgyz society, and from abroad, to ensure safety and security.

The government make statements that the situation is under control, but they have authorised the police to shoot at demonstrators “with the intent to kill” in the event of a repeat of such violent outbursts. This seems a little odd when it is remembered that they came to power and claim part of their legitimacy from the fact that the previous authorities shot at demonstrators, resulting in so many deaths.

Bakiev has now left Kazakhstan and arrived in Minsk, Belarus, where he was welcomed by President Lukashenko. There he astounded everyone by stating that he did not recognise his resignation as valid, that he was still the legitimate elected President of Kyrgyzstan, calling the interim government bandits and gangsters, and asked world leaders not to recognise them. A press spokesman for his one time ally, Russians, promptly told the media that they considered his resignation as effective and the interim government as the new authority in Kyrgyzstan.

Other organizations have also come out offering support, recognition and aid for the new authorities … so it looks as if his appeal has fallen on deaf ears. The reason for renouncing his resignation was that he felt the interim government had reneged on their part of the deal which he understood to be to guarantee the safety of him and his family, but some of his family still in Kyrgyzstan are “being persecuted”, (one of Bakiev’s brothers has disappeared … some say kidnapped and shots were reported by the person he was talking to on the phone at the time), and so he felt that the deal was off. Despite the renunciation, he has also said that he doesn’t “intend to return to Kyrgyzstan as president,” Oddly enough, the Mufti, (an Islamic religious leader), who is said to have had close ties with Bakiev, has also disappeared.

The affairs of the Bakievs have been undergoing scrutiny here in Bishkek. Banks have been put under special administration, companies have been put on notice that an investigation is ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the “Bakiev empire” and influence. Some of the more unpopular measures of his government, especially the increased tariffs for energy and heating have been reversed; some companies have been put on notice that they are likely to be renationalized; … and so on.

An inquiry into the events of April 7th is underway, and the interim government have said that they will seek Bakiev’s extradition following it. Other arrest warrants and extradition requests for some members of his family and associates have apparently been issued. Apart from the Maevka incident, which was widely reported here and in Russia, but received only limited coverage in the West as far as I can tell – presumably because there was so much else going on in the world: elections, volcanic eruptions, sports matches and the like – everything is fairly quiet here. The streets are quiet and people seem to be enjoying the sunshine.

That is not to say that everything is hunky dory. Fortunately the “pro Bakiev” demonstrations in the south have been more or less peaceful, even if the protestors have seized and conducted a sit-in in some government buildings. The police, themselves, have also been protesting and are threatening to go on strike if their demands aren’t met. Although they were late getting to Maevka, they have otherwise done a reasonable task in keeping order, and have been assisted by volunteers who have formed a sort of “civil guard” to help patrol the streets at night.

There is still uncertainty and a certain amount of tension in the air … but, as I said last week, life is returning to normal. There have, for example, been incidents down in the south, demonstrations in support of the “deposed president”, but they have passed. I am told that the resident in another part of the country are “feeling empowered” … which sounds pretty euphemistic for something unpleasant, but, so far, everyday life on the streets is showing signs of “returning to normality”.

photo of Slava Koshelev by Shanny Hill in the Tian Shan mountains near the Kyrgyz border with China

Watch for next week’s post where I talk about when I first met Slava and my personal experiences in his country.