What follows is one part of a cross-blog initiative that commemorates the 1991 Moscow coup and evaluates the years in between.

An Empire Falls

August 19,1991. Soviet people are embraced by music. “Swan Lake” is being played everywhere on radio and TV, replacing all programs and newscasts.

Soviet people know that too much of classical music is a bad sign. My parents recall that every time they hear lots of Tchaikovsky on TV they would expect one more ancient ruler of the country to descend into a new Kremlin tomb. People were trained to read between the lines, or for that matter, even between the keys of a tune.

This time “Swan Lake” was indeed announcing one more death - the political death of Mikhail Gorbachev, the first and the last president of the USSR. August 19, 1991, when the State Committee for the State of Emergency (SCSE) assumed power in Moscow, became the point of no return for one of the most powerful countries on the globe. Driven by political ambitions and being already able to sense the smell of power leaders of some Soviet Republics jumped to announce Gorbachev a lame duck and USSR – a lame state.

The political turmoil in Moscow echoed in Kyrgyzstan almost immediately. Amidst the fight between old communists and new progressive thinkers an attempt was made to depose the first president of Kyrgyzstan- at that time the young and very promising new president of a small country which was about to step into the exciting period of its independence. For the sake of clarify, though, it’s necessary to emphasize that Askar Akaev, since the first day of his presidency ( he got elected in October 1990), proclaimed his adherence to an idea of integrity. Reforms, according to Akaev, were to strengthen the sovereignty of Kyrgyzstan within a renewed USSR.

Akaev the Reformer

In this light, Akaev at that time was the best example of the people’s president thinking in one accord with the majority of population in the country since in a referendum on the preservation of the U.S.S.R. in March 1991, 88.7% of the electorate approved the proposal to retain the U.S.S.R. as a “renewed federation.”

Akaev denounced the Moscow coup and announced his resignations from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the week after the coup was curbed. The Supreme Soviet of the republic declared independence from the USSR on August 31, 1991.

Reform Without Development

15 years after those historical events we still don’t know whether there is a reason for Kyrgyzstan to celebrate. The concept of independence was indeed an important one but mainly as a concept. Practical implications of gaining the status of an independent state were much more complex and not necessarily positive.

In the first years of independence the reformist government of Askar Akaev started implementing economic reforms on a scale never seen before. The first results seemed to be rather promising: in 1992 Kyrgyzstan becomes a member of the World Bank, in 1993 the national currency was introduced, in 1998 the country enters the World Trade Organization. Though, presumably positive reforms in economy during the first years of independence never prevented the process of the continuing impoverishment of the population in Kyrgyzstan. Every year the number of people qualifying as those living under the poverty line was steadily growing. The new government has never been able to really handle the situation making people more than nostalgic about the old good Soviet times.

In 1993 the first corruption scandal shattered the pillars of support of the Kyrgyz government. With some of the key figures being involved into alleged corruption practices the trust of population towards the government started declining.

By the mid-1990s the tide began to turn for independent media as well as for civil society that once was called “vibrant”. What was an “island of democracy” with more than promising prospects turned into a sinking ship of unfulfilled promises, corrupt practices of officials and desperately poor population.

By the beginning of 2000 an official rate for poverty in the country was reported as high as 40 %. Though, according to some NGO’s, conducting alternative economic surveys and research, the number of impoverished people in the country skyrocketed up to 70 %. Huge economic regress was even more obvious in comparison with other ex USSR republics. Ten years after the independence was gained became a faltering state, leaning, according to some analysts, towards becoming a failed one. It’s obvious that the economy of Kyrgyzstan was severely affected by the collapse of the Soviet trading block. In 1990, some 98% of Kyrgyz exports went to other parts of the Soviet Union. Thus, the nation’s economic performance in the early 1990s was worse than any other former Soviet republic except Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan where civil wars were waged at that time.

Not only economic ties were broken after the collapse of the USSR. Thousands of personal lives were affected after the disappearance of the empire that for many ordinary people was an embodiment of stability and guaranteed future. Relatives turned out to be living in different countries not being able to see each other any more. Borders would pop up all around the place making people imprisoned in their countries. It was a new and shocking experience for many people living in Kyrgyzstan as well. The wave of migration of the Russian speaking population caused tremendous problems for the industry in newly independent Kyrgyzstan. Many factories and industrial entities would just die on the spot leaving almost no hope for agonizing economy. The country got trained to survive on foreign grants and donations with no long term planning but with a visible desire of new leaders to benefit from the money aimed at supporting widely advertised economic freedoms and values that in reality hardly ever existed in Kyrgyzstan.

This day marks the 15 anniversary of the coup in 1991. This year Kyrgyzstan is to celebrate the 15 anniversary of its independence on August 31. The question is : do we really have anything to celebrate? According to the latest survey of the World Bank Kyrgyzstan is approaching the 15 anniversary of its independence with evidences of rampant corruption in place. These years have also been featured by political and social instability. As a result, people not seeing any ray of hope, keep leaving Kyrgyzstan for other, more successful, states. According to official statistics about 700 000 Kyrgyz nationals choose to work in Russia to make their living and to provide for their families. As it turned out independent Kyrgyzstan can hardly cater its citizens with decent jobs and salaries. No wonder, that many people in the country would blame the coup of 1991 for all the troubles and miseries Kyrgyzstan never got to experience before the independence descended on the country 15 years ago.