Good to see Shirin and Mirsuljan online this week - hopefully these two posts will be the first of many to give a local view of what’s happening (or not, alas, in the case of youth policy - despite President Bakiev’s warm greetings to Kyrgyzstan’s youth and call to action) here.
It’s been a quieter week for breaking news here, though several matters are still causing much discussion in the local press, not least the future of the US Ganci airbase, Daniyar Usenov’s failure to be approved as First Deputy Prime Minister, and the reform of the Constitution. More details on these issues below, as well as other stories that have been floating around.
The Russian Vzglyad reports that there are demands from certain groups to strip Russian of its official status in the new Constitution and more actively promote Kyrgyz. The group has also come out strongly against the idea of permitting dual citizenship, arguing that it will lead to “speculation” - considering that many people do view holding a second citizenship as a kind of safety net should Kyrgyzstan remain unstable, this is understandable, but rather than simply seeking to restrict people’s rights, freedom of movement and language, would it not be better to try and work towards helping to found a state that people want to stay in? Just an idea.
Sex education - or the lack of it - is the topic of an article posted on Development Gateway site that looks at the results of taking a high moral line about educating young people about aspects of sex. The article notes how efforts to give young people more access to information have been thwarted:
There have been efforts at sex education for young people, including the Healthy Lifestyle book published two years ago for use in Kyrgyz schools. But the book - which contained information on family planning, safe sex, AIDS and rape - caused a storm of controversy and was called depraved by groups including the conservative Committee for the Protection of Honour and Dignity headed by Akin Toktaliev. He was angered by the excessive openness on what he saw as delicate issues and the poor quality of the Kyrgyz translation.
“Our children are being taught depravity: anal, oral and other types of sex. This book goes against the Kyrgyz mentality, traditions and customs,” he said. Kyrgyzstan’s ombudsman and former presidential candidate, Tursunabi Bakir uulu, is another vocal opponent of sex education in schools.
“Children shouldn’t be told about this,” he said. “I am an old-fashioned person. My generation was not as depraved as the present generation. Why talk about sex at school?”
So much for the Ombudsman protecting people’s interests (see also his ongoing dispute with the editors of ResPublica over his apparent views on creating an Islamic state…). The problem does not go away if one doesn’t talk about it, it simply goes underground and people are left with no accurate information, relying instead of rumours and old wive’s tales that will endanger their health and well-being; this is far far more immoral than talking about sex and helps to ensure that women in particular are morally and physically disenfranchised.
The Ganci Airbase has been the subject of much discussion both at home and abroad this week. Vechernii Bishkek has been weighing up the pros and cons in an article asking “Are we going to say goodbye to the Pentagon?” (Russian only), RFE/RL notes that French troops have been withdrawn from the base seeing as they were only stationed there to help ensure security in Afghanistan during the elections, and IWPR take the line that the US needs Kyrgyzstan far more than the other way round (debatable, but more on that in a minute), saying that the message to the US is clear: pay up! Considering the rather gigantic economic benefits of hosting the base and the (worryingly) central role the Kyrgyzstani government appears to see for the base in the economy, as Registan points out, the issue is far from clear cut. On a related note, a report from China’s Xinhua quoting former Kyrgyz foreign minister Askar Aitmatov as saying that the United States and NATO had previously required to deploy AWACS surveillance spy planes in Kyrgyzstan (the request was apparently rejected) will no doubt increase Great Game fever amongst analysts amd journalists…
Airbases, but Russian/CIS this time, are the subject of an Interfax article citing Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Alikbek Dzhekshenkulov’s denial that there are any plans to build a new Russian base in Osh. The reason for this new round of speculation over an airbase in the sounth of the country appears to be largely linked to continued unrest in the republic, not least warnigs that failure to stabilise the country could, in a worst case scenario, lead to civil war. In such a situation, the base could be used for CIS peace keepers:
He also admitted that the current political situation in Kyrgyzstan was serious but expressed confidence there was no need to bring Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeepers into the country.
“I would like to say clearly that Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Prime Minister Felix Kulov and we, as members of the government, will prevent a civil war,” Dzhekshenkulov said.
Moving CIS peacekeepers into Kyrgyzstan “is possible in theory, but this kind of domestic political situation is not anticipated,” he said.
RFE/RL also has a short piece on the matter within the context of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart in Bishkek on Friday.
Reuters AlertNet reports that conditions in prisons are improving. Rioting was finally brought under control in the middle of last week and prisoners have been surrendering weapons - quite a haul in some cases, if some of the photos in some local newspapers are anything to go by. The main task now is to ensure that permanent improvements to prison standards are made.
Finally, RFE/RL has a short report that the brother of murdered deputy Bayaman Erkinbaev, Asan, set fire to himself on Friday outside a regional administration building in southern Jalalabad region in protest at the lack of progress in investigating Erkinbaev’s assassination at the end of September. His condition is described as stable, despite suffering burns to his face and arms. Vechernii Bishkek reports that the identies of the hitmen are known and four of the five have already been found, two of whom have been releases on bail and two are in custody.
Over and out for the time being.
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on February 3rd, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I couldn’t understand some parts of this article , but I guess I just need to check some more resources regarding this, because it sounds interesting.