GVO Kyrgyzstan

Joshua Foust tells that the Kyrgyzstan’s police detained two Uighur community leaders after they accused China of “state terrorism” at a rally.

Tolkun Umaraliev says the opposition candidates claim the election in Kyrgyzstan to be illegal.

There is a confusion among media, both local and foreign, that candidates Nazaraliev and Atambaev have withdrawn their candidacies. However, both Nazaraliev and Atambaev have several times stated that according to the law on elections, they cant withdraw their candidacies during the election day. They are just considering this election corrupt, and want it to be reheld.

There's video, too:

That's Omurbek Tekebaev, calling the Kyrgyz government criminal and declaring “war” on current president Kurmabnek Bakiev. He has good reason to think so—in 2006 he was basically framed at the Bishkek airport.

There is a lot of internet chatter about supposed fraud.

Blive.kg, one of the video servers in Kyrgyz internet domain, has several videos showing the violations of election norms, including opening of polling stations before arrival of observers, ballot stuffingand carousel voting. As Blive is not accessible outside of Kyrgyzstan, I downloaded ‘norms violations videos’ from there and uploaded in YouTube. But the problem is that one cannot really prove that all these movies were taken during the 2009 presidential elections.

There are also videos of so-called “carousel-voting,” where groups go to different polling stations using different sets of IDs, and election observers arriving on site to find ballots already in the ballot box.

Topchubek Turgunaliev, an opposition politician who has spent a lot of time fighting electoral fraud, has alleged that there are large numbers of dead people on the voter rolls. Even though he no longer wants to be considered for President, former Prime Minister Almazbek Atambaev has lead much of the charge against the elections. A former Prime Minister, he accused officials of election fraud and announced he was quitting the race shortly after learning that one of his local campaign managers had been detained. He's also alleged that an additional 20-30 “opposition members” have been arrested in Issyk-Kul.

Kurmanbek Bakiev, however, seems to have squeaked through, though maybe not with the reported 67% margin. The New York Times ran a depressing story today about how the U.S. goal is to look the other way, as they're too excited about getting Manas back to rock to boat too much on those pesky human rights abuses.

Obviously we don't know for certain that there was specifically voter fraud, in part because most of the observers seemed to have given up and left early (their report will be interesting). We do know, however, there was widespread intimidation beforehand, and there are certainly indications that some forms of voter fraud were widespread and not just limited to somewhere like Bishkek. It's still early, and it's just turning morning in Kyrgyzstan, so there will probably be a lot more news today. A good place to keep up is the #kyrgyzelections tag on Twitter. It doesn't garner the same amount of attention as Iran or Michael Jackson, but it's a good source for news.

This is now the second post-Soviet ally whose abuses the U.S. has remained officially silent about in the last few months (the other, obviously, is Georgia). I'm no bleeding heart, but it is interesting that, as much as the U.S. makes hay about human rights and vote fraud when it suits a simplistic good versus evil narrative, it also prefers to look away when its friends behave even kind of similarly. The U.S. doesn't have to walk on egg shells, it just needs to point out that it's not comfortable or happy with these kinds of things. Baby steps.

Update: The OSCE has officially said the Kyrgyz election “failed to meet key OSCE commitments, despite some positive elements.” Before the elections, OSCE observers saw “instances of obstruction of opposition campaign events as well as pressure and intimidation of opposition supporters.” Then, on election day, there were “many problems and irregularities, including ballot box stuffing, inaccuracies in the voter lists, and multiple voting.” But hey, at least they had multiple candidates!

Elena reports in detail on the outcomes of the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan.

Arawanski reports that the biggest torrent tracking website of free downloads in Kyrgyzstan has been sued by recording and producing companies for breach of copyright.

15, July, the President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev gave interview to the American New York Times.
During the interview, he told [ru] that Kyrgyzstan was going to set up the anti-terrorist centre at the south region of Kyrgyzstan.

The representatives of the Kyrgyz and the Russian Ministries of Defence are exploring the question of the opening of the anti-terrorist centre at one of the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan to reinforce the anti-terrorist activity. We could hold joint anti-terrorist trainings of the Kyrgyz and Russian military, Kurmanbek Bakiev said.

In the beginning of July the delegation of the Russian government with the Russian vice-premier Igor Sechin visited Kyrgyzstan. As it was found out later, the Russian delegation discussed the possibility of the extension of the Russian military forces in Kyrgyzstan and the possible opening of the second Russian military base at the south region of Kyrgyzstan during the private talks.

The President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev neither confirmed nor denied the information that Russia supposedly had the negotiations to Kyrgyzstan to set up the second military base for the CSTO forces.

Such agreement can't be announced in advance. We can't neither confirm nor deny, Medvedev told.

The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Erhzan Ashikbaev announced the position of Kazakhstan. He told, that Kazakhstan considered the possibility of the opening of the Russian military base the business matter between two countries and greeted any steps to improve the stability and safety of the region.

William Burns, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs told that such decision was obviously the sovereign right of the government of Kyrgyzstan.

Our view is that any step that strengthens the sovereignty, independence and security of Kyrgyzstan is a sensible one, Burns said [en] to AP.

But Uzbekistan expressed [ru] the negative opinion about the possible new military bases in the border countries.

Tashkent expresses strong disagreement about the setting up the new foreign military bases in the border countries, the high-ranking Uzbek official told anonymously.

Internet-society of Kyrgyzstan started criticizing of Uzbekistan.

Okey, should we ask for the written permission of Uzbekistan to set up a new base? But what about the closure of the Uzbek borders recently? They did it without any permission. Now we can make them nervous also. We need to open one more military base in Osh city and set up the American transit center in Batken instead of Bishkek, Diesel Forum user Dizelist said [ru].

Why is Tashkent so nervous? If the problem is in the terrorism it is advisably for Tashkent to defend the Ferghana Valley better. Americans always stressed that the American military base has the special mission and it won't get involved to the regional conflicts. But the CSTO base should do this. So, why is Tashkent so nervous?, Diesel Forum user Baker Street asked [ru].

I think this possible base at the southern region of Kyrgyzstan is to manipulate Uzbekistan. The Russians with Tajikistan will control the half of the Ferghana Valley, Diesel Forum user Zeeke suggested [ru].

Elena informs that the European Commission published the new List of airlines banned within the EU, featuring 17 - i.e. all - Kyrgyz airlines.

Katya Fisher Yoffe reflects on the Kyrgyzstan’s decision to permit US troops to use Manas Air Base in an apparent game to balance interests of Washington and Moscow.

Mirsulzhan informs that the Central Asian Free Market Institute opened the doors in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan. It is aimed at becoming the leading think-tank for the whole region, providing constructive options for economic reforms.

Elena reports that Sulamain-Too, the Sacred Mountain, has become the Kyrgyzstan’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Slon.ru writes [ru] that global financial crisis started in the February, 2007. That month Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) stopped the buying-out the subprime mortgages. A lot of American and European banks take up the lead of Freddie Mac in Summer, 2007. It leaded to the bankruptcy in the financial sector and the global financial crisis started.

Two years passed. Has the global financial crisis affected Kyrgyzstan?

Deputy minister of industry, energetics and fuel life Gulbarchyn Asanova told that there was a significant recession in the production of the building materials had a According to her words, the reason is Kazakhstan's rejection to buy the Kyrgyz production. Global financial crisis also affected food, cloth and chemical industry of Kyrgyzstan.

The overall production decreased 20% first six months of the present year, Gulbarchyn Asanova told [ru].

Head of the committee of directors of the Kyrgyz stock exchange Nurbek Elebaev said [ru], that the stock market of Kyrgyzstan had already suffered from the global financial crisis.

The Kyrgyzs stock exchange doesn't integrate to the global stock exchanges.That's why we hadn't suffered much in 2008. But I can consider that the local stock exchange had begun to experience the influlence of the global financial crisis after 5 months of this year. A lot of companies which have been working actively at the stock market recently, decreased their activity now, Nurbek Elebaev told.

At the same time, the prime-minister of Kyrgyzstan Igor Chudinov told [ru], that the economical situation in Kyrgyzstan is staying stable in spite of some objective difficulties.

We were successful to keep all state financial obligations. I can speak with assurance that we were able to provide the realization of the economical and social reforms in the difficult conditions due to the cooperative efforts, Igor Chudinov told.

Internet-society doesn't have one opinion about the possible influence of the global financial crisis on Kyrgyzstan. Someone is complaining about the business recession, others claim that they have a lot of job.

We have a lot of work. There was small slack period in the beginning of the year, but now we have a stable situation. We didn't decrease the prices, but didn't increase also. I have an impression that people more in panic, than suffer from the real crisis, Diesel Forum user Igrok said [ru].

I am working in the construction business. I've had a lot of work in the previous year, but there is no demand now. The prices decreased greatly, but still no business. I have one fellow, he sells clothing in bulk at the Dordoi market. He earned 5000 USD per day, but now he earns 300 USD hardly, Diesel Forum user Mogul complained [ru].

The global financial crisis affected people who took credits and lived from one credit to another. But the Kyrgyzstanies always worked, are working and will be working. Let's go to the café in the evening? You will see that even expensive restaurants are always overcrowded. People don't care about any crisis and have a rest. If you really want to work, you will find a job easily. Financial crisis is a psychological crisis also, Diesel Forum user Futurist told [ru].

Anyway, the influence of the crisis is still exists. Even it is bias.

A few children told [ru] to BPC reporter that they wish our country couldn't have had the financial crisis.

I want all people to be healthy and the financial crisis passes soon, 13 year old Aleksei Grishchenko told.

I would like to become lawyer and the ambassador in Germany. I want the financial crisis to finish soon, 9 year old Iskander Omurov said.

Also posted on neweurasia.

Elina reports that after intense diplomatic pressure by the United States, the Kyrgyz Republic has decided to allow US troops to use the Manas air base as a transit stop for the mission in Afghanistan.

Samat presents a photo-post on the action to protect the copyright and fight piracy, staged by the Kyrgyzstan's State Patient Service.

Joshua Foust reports that according to the Kyrgyzstan’s regional administration, five armed individuals killed by the Kyrgyz national security troops were members of the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Elena provides a list of candidates for the presidential post in Kyrgyzstan with brief, yet smart, comments to each of them.

Samat reports (with photographs) on the concert of traditional Japanese folk music that has taken place in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan.

According to Elena, military's PR office for the U.S. Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan believes joining to the Twitter social network will help the world to know more about the base’s goings on

Elena says that continuing attacks on journalists in Kyrgyzstan have intensified in recent weeks, while investigation efforts obviously are not sufficient enough.

Elena tells about the research of Internet in Kyrgyzstan and posts some interesting data from the report.

Elena worries about recent bans of the entrance to Kyrgyzstan for the different right defenders and journalists.

Elena has visited the small village near the tailing pit in Kyrgyzstan and presents pictures of the people who live in such dangerous radioactive place.