Photo by Timur Rayimkulov of Kloop.kg Bishkek, “Gazprom Neft”

Sadly, it must be admitted that the business sector in Kyrgyzstan is mostly owned by non-Kyrgyz businessmen or foreign companies. Therefore, there is a high outflow of money from the country. The Gazprom Joint Stock Company is a clear example of how huge foreign companies monopolize large scale business in Kyrgyzstan. Gazprom – beloved in Russia and hated in the West – is celebrating its 15-year anniversary. In a concert dedicated to its anniversary that was broadcast on Channel 1, a representative of Gazprom stated that the company is planning to expand its business even more in the coming years. So, don’t be surprised if you see more Gazprom gas stations (staffed solely by women ) and billboards in the coming years.

I have been thinking of a joke that I was told after i came back from Talas where I monitored elections and wanted to share it for two reasons.  First, it will be two months tomorrow since we had parliamentary elections and yet the Central Election Comission has still not published the official election results.  Second, I want to add some fun to this blog, which is stuffed with seriousness so far

So here is the joke: “‘Elections were clear and transparent,’ stated the chiefs of the CIS and the SCO election monitoring missions at their press conferences. Apparently, they were talking about vodka…” (anonymous author)

As a foreigner travelling through former Soviet countries in general – but strolling around in Bishkek in specific – you find yourself facing astonishing cruelties and mistakes of architecture quite often. Many of the buildings seem to have neither function nor form, so that the principle of “Form follows Function” (Louis Sullivan, Chicago School, 1896) seems to have lost any impact on architecture (I will keep myself right now from any remarks about design and art…). And we can not blame these architectural nightmares solely on Soviet heritage, since new houses and office bocks that are being constructed now cling on to this esthetical nonsense.

However, this week in Bishkek I discovered a building that adds a new dimension to the architectural – well, let’s call it odyssey. What is in these buildings that remind me of bunkers? Are they of any use? And if there are any office facilities in there, how do people put up their shelves against the curved walls? Anyhow, I also like the little “cozy-looking” entrance inbetween these atrocities of concrete.

Yestreday, February 7th, Dr. Nur Omarov, a Professor of International Relations at Kyrgyz – Russian Slavic University in Kyrgyzstan gave a lecture titled “Political Transition in Central Asia: Comparative Analysis of Contemporary Development Strategies in Central Asian Countries.” Dr. Omarov made a comparative analysis of the current situation in Central Asian countries and shared his forecast for further political developments in the region.

The late 1980s and early 1990s were the starting points of political transition in Central Asia. It is important to point to the coincidence of key goals that local elite in each Central Asian countries originally formulated. However, they often selected quite opposite methods to reach these goals. As a result, we can categorize several different development models: Kyrgyz, Uzbek and Turkmen. Tajikistan represents a separate paradigm due to its civil war.

While assessing the political transition in Central Asia, the majority of government officials in Central Asian countries talk about its ending phase.  However, the real situation demonstrates that this process is still at its late outset and is just entering its middle developmentmal  stage.  This results from insignificant outcomes achieved from the political transition.

The authoritarian rule prevailing in the region over the last few years may change to a democratic paradigm by the mid-2010s.  The reason is the gradual appearance of new elites oriented towards democratic values.  Only in case of their success,can we state about the start of finalizing phase of political transition in Central Asia. The lecture will highlight major events best illustrating the political transitions in the region.

President Kurmanbek Bakiev has signed an order to proclaim the current year as “The Year of Chingiz Aitmatov,” presidential press service reports. Such decision was promted due to the writers outstanding contribution to the development and strengthening of national and world cultural environment, as well as fruitful multilateral social and political activity. Actually the idea was proposed by the Association of Kyrgyzstan Moviemakers. In addition to his literary work, Chinghiz Aitmatov was the Kyrgyzs ambassador to the European Union, NATO, UNESCO and the Benelux countries. He is also the father of former Kyrgyzstan foreign minister, Askar Aitmatov.

From the email list server: The OSCE Academy in Bishkek invites applications for its Master Program in Political Science (Central Asia). The program starts in September 2008. What follows is more detailed information about the program ( Click “more” to download all required forms).

As first reported by AKIpress (in Russian here), a number of Kyrgyz social organizations have banded together and issued a fairly strongly-worded statement calling on Russian authorities to do more to protect the lives of Kyrgyz citizens living and working in Russia. This comes in the wake of four brutal January murders of Kyrgyz citizens in Russia, all of them apparently racially motivated and conducted either by neo-fascist groups or fascist sympathizers.The four killings occurred between the 12th and the 29th of January in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and were characterized by a common senseless brutality, with victims being stabbed upwards of twenty times. AKIpress reports on the disturbing details of one of the killings:

On the 13^th of January 2008, 23 year old Kyrgyz citizen Kanybek Jusupov was viciously attacked and killed in the city of Pushkin [approximately 25 kilometers from Saint Petersburg]. He was stabbed many times, including being disemboweled, and his throat was cut. Before this happened, according to press clippings, a five-pointed star was carved into his chest.

To anyone familiar with the recent history of ethnic minorities in Russia, this recent spate of violence against Kyrgyz citizens, even given its disturbingly vicious character, is no great surprise; what is more newsworthy is that the social infrastructure of the Kyrgyz community is standing up for its rights and demanding action from the Russian authorities. Invoking the ghosts of the thousands upon thousands of Kyrgyz killed fighting for Russia’s freedom during the Second World War, the two-page letter presents a poetic argument for Russian society’s need to confront the neo-fascist demon growing within its midst – a demon that is emerging fewer than 65 years after the Red Army marched triumphantly into Berlin to end the reign of the Third Reich.

Unfortunately, less than a week after this request was made, the body of the year’s fifth Kyrgyz victim of apparent ethnic violence was discovered in southeast Moscow, where he had succumbed to over 30 stab wounds (News report here in Russian|English). The short time frame between these murders, combined with their consistent degree of brutality and sensationalism, tends to indicate that no matter what Russian authorities are saying in public, Russia is failing to take the issue of a resurgent neo-fascist movement seriously.

Also, while the Kyrgyz Prime Minister and Kyrgyz interest groups are vigorously lobbying for vicious murders perpetrated against them to even be investigated, Russian law enforcement authorities seem to have little difficulty finding the resources to round up Moscow street sweepers who are allegedly working illegally (In Russian here). The penalties for those rare people convicted of murders and other hate crimes obviously based on ethnicity seem designed to coddle rather than castigate, even though Article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code specifically forbids “murder motivated by national, racial, or religious hatred.”

To this point, the work of both Kyrgyz social organizations and the Kyrgyz government has done little, if anything, to stem the flow of blood from their brothers and sisters who are living and working in Russia. Perhaps there is little if anything that they can do as long as Russian authorities continue to pursue a schizophrenic policy towards immigrant labor; first pushing regulations to ease restrictions on foreign workers (Russian|English), then trying to legislate them out of one of their main occupations and ignoring blatant, public attacks on foreigners. On the other hand, it is possible that even a semi-united front of CIS nations, particularly those with large populations of labor migrants working in Russia, would be able to take a strong enough position to at least make the Russian authorities do a more credible job of investigating and punishing such vicious and all too prevalent crimes. Certainly, the February 5th arrest of four skinheads alleged to have been involved in the murder of at least 20 foreigners is a small step in the right direction, but a much more concerted and sustained push by Russian law enforcement bodies will be necessary to try and bring the problem of racist violence in Russia under control.

Photo – “Я не верю” (I Do Not Believe) movement members, who were arrested during the demonstration in front of the White House on December 18, 2007. Young activists together with several non-governmental organizations demonstrated against the results of the parliamentary elections held on December 06, 2007.

One of the leaders of I Do Not Believe movement Mirsulzhan Namazaliev (first from the right) told us that the aims and goals of the demonstration was to express their unwillingness to accept the results of the parliamentary elections that were held with severe violations in the favor of the current government, i.e. “Ak Jol” pro-presidential party that was created just about two months prior to the elections.”

The same day, the movement members were arrested by the police and detained for 5 hours until their identities were verified. Later, on December 21, the movement members were tried and sentenced to clean public places from the snow.

Member of the movement I Do Not Believe demonstrated in front of the Jogorku Kenesh (parliament house) on January 28, 2008. It even did not look like a demonstration. Young people just stood talking to each other in front of the Jogorku Kenesh building with I Do Not Believe stickers on their clothes. However, they were again arrested by police. They were tried on January 30. Mirsulzhan Namazaliev, one of the leaders of the movement and who is an originator of the slogan, was fined for 2000 som (55USD).

Newspaper Beliy Parakhod reports that the members of the movement I Do Not Believe will organize a peaceful demonstration on Valentine’s Day (February 14, 2008) named “I Love You, Kyrgyzstan!”. We hope that they wont be arrested this time.

P.S. News Agency 24.kg reports that I Do Not Believe movement members soon will play a football match with the representatives of law enforcement bodies of the country. Is it a sign of friendship or another way of demonstration?

The Osh City branch of the Eurasia Foundation in Central Asia opens a call for resumes to fill the vacancy of Office Assistant. Resumes must be sent to resume@eurasia.org.kg no later than 6 a.m., February 21, 2008.

You can download the original announcement (in Russian) here.

Today in the press conference held in News Agency 24.kg, Nurlan Motuev, aka Coal King, declared about his intentions to run for the position of Ombudsmen of Kyrgyz Republic. As 24.kg reports, Motuev was nominated to the post by the People’s Patriotic Movement Joomart, Human Rights Movement of Kyrgyzstan and some other private entities, whose names were left unknown.

Motuev has become a well known person in the political arena of Kyrgyzstan after the “Coal King” case, when Nurlan Motuev was arrested for illegally seizing and running the coal mine in the South of Kyrgyzstan for almost a year in 2005 not paying any taxes to the government. His case was a symbol of incapacity of Akaev’s government in dealing with illegal institutions in the country, the quantity of which skyrocketed by the year 2005. Ruslan Motuev was believed to be supported by Ryspek Akmatbaev, a famous criminal figure in the North of the country.

Most people associate Nurlan Motuev with Russian scandalous politician Vladimir Zhirinovski, who is running for presidency in Russia this year. They both have ambitious plans and scandalous reputations in the political arena of their countries. They even speak in the same manner.

Today, during the press conference that was also broadcast on local TV channels, Motuev as usual was making everyone laugh with his funny way of speaking and humorous remarks on current politics.