Latest Articles about Kyrgyzstan
AS WINTER APPROACHES, KYRGYZSTAN FACES TOUGH CHOICES IN ITS ENERGY SECTOR
Following this summer's Andijan refugee crisis, when the Kyrgyz government transferred 440 Uzbek citizens to a third country to satisfy its obligations as a UN member, official Tashkent canceled a bilateral agreement on supplying 350 million cubic meters of natural gas to Kyrgyzstan. Having a... MORE
ANTICLIMACTIC END TO KYRGYZ REVOLUTION
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's August 14 inauguration demonstrated that Western expectations and Russian fears of a democratic revolution in Kyrgyzstan were equally misplaced. By the same token, the inauguration and its immediate aftermath highlighted the daunting cultural distance to democracy that Kyrgyzstan (and some of... MORE
MOSCOW’S CENTRAL ASIAN FRIENDS CAMPAIGN AGAINST U.S. BASES
On August 5 and 10, respectively, the heads of presidential think tanks in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan made statements to local media, calling for the removal of U.S. bases from Central Asia. Their statements largely reflected Moscow's public arguments to that end. In Bishkek, Valentin Bogatyrev,... MORE
KYRGYZSTAN, UN DISAGREE OVER REMAINING ANDIJAN REFUGEES
Uzbek human rights activists officially thanked Kyrgyzstan, the UN, and the OSCE for letting refugees from the May riots in Andijan, Uzbekistan, find asylum in a third country. Last week 439 Andijan refugees were sent to Romania en route to host countries that had agreed... MORE
RUMSFELD VISIT FIRMS UP KYRGYZ, TAJIK COMMITMENTS TO U.S.-LED COALITION
On July 25-27, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to shore up those countries' commitments to support the American-led coalition. Both countries were wavering. Earlier this month, Moscow and Beijing had orchestrated demands in the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization... MORE
BISHKEK RESISTING TASHKENT’S PRESSURE TO RETURN ANDIJAN REFUGEES
On July 27 more than 300 refugees from the May riots in Andijan, Uzbekistan, were transported from Jalalabad oblast to Bishkek Manas International Airport en route to a third country. The head of the Kyrgyzstan mission of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Carlos Zaccagnini,... MORE
RUMSFELD EXPECTED IN KYRGYZSTAN TO SETTLE BASE ISSUE
On July 20, Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Defense announced that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to arrive on July 25. Rumsfeld will discuss the future of the U.S.-led air base Manas with the new Kyrgyz leadership, in the wake of Moscow- and Beijing-inspired demands... MORE
KYRGYZ EXPERTS OPPOSE BISHKEK’S DECISION TO LIMIT U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE
At the July 5 Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Astana member states agreed to request a deadline for ending the U.S. military presence in Central Asia, now that the situation in neighboring Afghanistan has stabilized (see EDM, July 6). This request inevitably concerns Kyrgyzstan not... MORE
BAKIYEV WINS PRESIDENCY IN ONE ROUND — HOW LONG WILL THE HONEYMOON LAST?
With roughly 90% of the vote, Kurmanbek Bakiyev won Kyrgyzstan's July 10 presidential elections in the first round. Bakiyev had served as acting president since the March 25 Tulip Revolution. He was able to unite many former opposition figures, among them Azimbek Beknazarov, Daniyar Usenov,... MORE
TENSIONS RISING AHEAD OF KYRGYZ PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
June 17 marked the peak of Kyrgyzstan's counter-revolutionary movement, which is apparently organized by Urmat Baryktabasov, a politician allied with ex-president Askar Akayev. The three months since Akayev's ouster in the March 24 Tulip Revolution have been very intense for Kyrgyzstan. There were two contract... MORE