Kyrgyz revolution
Demonstrators gather in Central Square, "Ala-Too", Bishkek
Preface
It all started when the opposition leaders lost the elections and claimed that the government had supported their opponents and had used its administrative resources to render them the necessary support. The opposition leaders organised meetings of protest in all southern towns, principally Djalal-Abad, Osh and Talas, and demanded an urgent meeting with President Akaev. He ignored this demand and continued to behave as if nothing was happening. In response, the opposition demanded that the President should step down; and they called for new parliamentary elections. The public was not fully informed of what was going on: the mass media was silent, especially the National TV channels. The opposition acted promptly and soon seized power in half of the country and was ready to march on Bishkek. The opposition supporters entered Bishkek in small groups and by early morning on Monday, 24th March 2005 had gathered at two spots located in the western and eastern ends of Bishkek, forming two flanks. Both groups, consisting of a few thousands people, began to march towards the central square, 'Ala-Too', near the White House, where the President?s and Prime-Minister's administrations were housed. On the way to the square those in the two groups were joined by others, mostly inhabitants of other regions and many migrants from the south, who were living and working in Bishkek. The opposition leaders claimed that the meeting they had planned was going to be peaceful. However, when the protesters arrived to the square they were provoked by an unidentified group of young people who started violence; that ended in the storming and seizure of the White House and the departure, in panic, of President Akaev and most of his staff.
Revolution outcomes
What happened afterwards was terrible. Things went out of control and looting began. Almost every shop in the centre of Bishkek was completely looted. It was terrifying and shameful. We were angry that our people were behaving in front of the whole world like barbarians and nomads. One could only feel sorrow for those businessmen who lost their hard-earned money and sources of income. These events were later followed by numerous, sporadic occupations of land by the landless people and that led to further escalation of the confrontation between native citizens and migrants temporarily residing in Bishkek. The instability resulted in a growing number of people leaving Kyrgyzstan, including businessmen. What is even more worrying that the ethnic Russians, the third largest ethnic group in Kyrgyzstan, are being forced by the provocateurs to leave Kyrgyzstan; unfortunately the queue at the Russian embassy is getting longer.
The revolution has set our country years back; and we will need a long time to rehabilitate our image, restore our reputation as a truly democratic country and, most importantly, improve our economy. Most external donors have suspended the preparation and commencement of investment and technical assistance projects until the results of the Presidential elections are known. These have now been set by parliament to be held on 10th July 2005. The opposition alone is to blame for such negative outcomes.
Some people ask what positive changes we can expect to see after the revolution? What the revolution has given us is a chance to change our political system in such a way so that it will be strong and stable and will acquire a real degree of independence from the particular individuals who acquire office as President, as members of parliament or as senior government officials. We should make sure that those who take up public office will not be able, unchecked, to change the system in their own interests, as happened before. We should strive to achieve a real balance of power between the separate branches of government and administration; they should balance each other to provide checks and balances so as to avoid any sharp turns in the developing history of our country.
The opposition was not ready to take power. It is now desperately trying to form a cabinet and to find professionals to run the ministries and revive the economy, which was heavily hit by the crisis. Also one of the main demands of the opposition was to cancel the results of the last parliamentary elections and call for new elections. However, the opposition declared the newly elected parliament to be legitimate, as a matter of priority. What is even more disturbing and frustrating is that the opposition leaders are now fighting each other for positions and portfolios, whereas what they need is to remain united and think about what the country needs. The political battle for power started even before the revolution ended. This is a fact. The revolution also revealed the weaknesses of our law enforcement agencies, which failed to protect the majority of our citizens from the looters and disorder. Our police have been totally demoralised; they were unable to stop the orgy and many of the Kyrgyz people have lost their faith in these agencies.
If we are to call our country a civilised country, a democratic country, we should be able to defend our principles and values and the will of the majority of people. 20,000 people cannot be allowed to overthrow the government and take over the country. Our society should not allow this to happen again. Yet we should put in place, and strictly follow, constitutional, enforceable and peaceful ways to change our society: only then will it become truly open, transparent, predictable, democratic and united.
What is next?
There can be little doubt that Akaev's era was coming to an end and that he was not going to extend his term and stay in power. Akaev had full and absolute power to run our country and implement reforms; but he misused that power to build an authoritarian regime. He ended up fleeing the country. Perhaps it is time for Kyrgyzstan to opt for drastic constitutional changes that will enable us to develop and put in place basic principles and system of good governance, such as independent courts, freedom of speech and others. These principles will be the foundations and pillars of our society and should not be changed every time we change our President. Maybe the power should not be focused in hand of one person (the President): should it be shared, say, with the parliament? We are hearing calls for constitutional changes from among the opposition leaders (Kulov, Atambaev and Madumarov). The constitutional assembly is likely to be convened after the presidential elections. That assembly will determine the political structure and the distribution of powers so as clearly to demonstrate to the rest of the world where Kyrgyzstan will be going and, most importantly, to show to the Kyrgyz people what kind of society we will be building. If nothing changes, and the presidency remains the absolute power, our country may face a threat of having another totalitarian regime in future. Only then we will finally get an answer to the main question of all: What happened on March 24th, 2005 was a revolution or a coup?
Of course, further steps of the new government in advancing reforms will also demonstrate how committed it is to building a market economy in our country. For example, the government is already talking about postponing further privatisation of some of the main state-owned corporations in the energy sector. The State is unable to maintain such costly sectors yet it is crucial that services are provided to the population. The whole idea of privatisation was to attract private investors to contribute and gradually take the burden off the government's shoulders. Of course, it would result in higher charges; but this is better than nothing, as assets in the energy sector have been seriously worn out and have not been upgraded since the Soviet period. Hopefully when the next President is elected, the cabinet is formed and a program of economic and social development of Kyrgyzstan is announced we will be able to see what the future of our economy will be.
Conclusion
It would be premature to draw any conclusions at the moment, as our country and the new leadership of Kyrgyzstan are only a month or so into the post-revolution period. It will take the next 6 months before we begin to get a better idea of what our future will be.
(This article has been submitted by a senior John smith Fellow: it contains his own views, not those of the Trust)