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March 19th, 2008

Kyrgyzstan: Fed up with protests?

lingua → zhs · zht · es

Kyrgyz bloggers have been actively elaborating on the Kyrgyz government's initiative to make March 24 - the day of popular uprising in 2005 - a national holiday. The amendment was made to the Kyrgyz Labor Code, according to which from now on March 24 will be officially celebrated as a Day of People's Revolution. The reaction of Kyrgyz blogosphere was mainly negative:

Altaidan writes a witty comment, alluding to disorders that had been accompanying the revolution three years ago [ru]:

So, when are we going to celebrate the Day of Marauding? I suggest that the president makes a new law so that we could celebrate this holiday too.

(more…)

1 comment · »»

March 5th, 2008

Kyrgyzstan: From Santamania to “Subbotnik”

Asel · 07:44 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → mk · jp · pt · es · sq

During the last two weeks, the Kyrgyz blogosphere has come up with a bunch of interesting articles, funny and witty comments along with bright photos of Santa Claus First Winter Festival in Kyrgyzstan. The Festival was held from 23 to 25 February and spurred lots of criticism on one side - and light humor on the other - among Kyrgyz bloggers.

For instance, bretelka wonders (ru):

Have they all gone crazy? I can’t believe that it is possible to save gifts for two billion children in Kyrgyzstan. They will be all stolen!

Fancher seriously mulls over the idea (ru):

Guys, don’t you see the potential of this idea? First of all, everyone knows that Santa Claus does not exist. Santa Claus is a famous global brand. If this idea becomes very popular, then it will be a very important step towards tourism development in Kyrgyzstan (by attracting more tourists). I think that this idea is a good and realistic.

Another witty comment by Ataman Rakin (eng):

Iiiiikkk!!! Long beards.
They are certainly Wahhabis.

From such a funny start we can now move on to more real and serious issues that captured attention of bloggers. (more…)

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February 20th, 2008

Kyrgyzstan: Leading University at the Center of Parliamentary Debates

Asel · 06:45 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → zhs · zht

During the last week, one of the most discussed topics among Kyrgyz bloggers was the situation around the American University in Central Asia. As its website says, AUCA has an established reputation for “dedication to democratic values, individual freedoms and the spirit of innovation”, and, indeed, it has played an important role in the region's educational field and grew into one of the academic leaders in Central Asia.

However, on February 15, the Jogorku Kenesh [Parliament] deputy Ishak Masaliev raised [ru] the issue of AUCA’s location and gave a commission to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Education and Culture to address his concerns.

The main argument was that the building of the university has a historical importance as it used to be home for the Kyrgyz government in Soviet times. He also alleged that the majority of AUCA students come from rich and highly-ranked officials’ families, while poor students from regions make up a very small percentage.

This statement spurred a heated discussion in the blogosphere. (more…)

1 comment · »»

February 7th, 2008

Kyrgyzstan: Echos of the Parliamentary Elections

Asel · 08:58 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → es · zht · zhs

The results of the Parliamentary elections of December 2007 and distribution of seats among deputies from each party have spurred lots of discussion and criticism among various human rights activists, heads of international organizations and foreign governments.

According to them, during the elections there were huge violations such as discrepancies in voters’ lists, pressure on chairs, members of local election commissions, bringing university students to polling stations, and wide-scaled palm-greasing especially in rural areas. This allows coming to a conclusion that Kyrgyzstan is far from democracy yet.

However, a positive trend to note is the activeness of the civil society, especially among young people as a result of their dissatisfaction to the government after the elections. Young activists joined in demanding to announce the incumbent parliament and all its decisions illegitimate and to recognize the ruling of Bishkek local council on rules for holding rallies and manifestations unconstitutional.

(more…)

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January 12th, 2008

Kyrgyzstan: Debates over President and Parliament

Asel · 10:00 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → bn · es

Edil Baisalov’s personal blog, one of the most visited blogs in Kyrgyzstan has not been updated since 4 December, 2007. The activeness of his blog went down after he was found guilty for illegally publishing a voting ballot before the elections on his blog as was assumed by the members of the Central Election Committee of Kyrgyz Republic. Baisalov was a member of the Social Democratic Party and a candidate for the deputy. After the scandal over the ballot, he as local media informed fled the country and rumors say that he now resides in Kazakhstan.

Anyways, Elena Skochilo’s personal blog has become lately very popular as well, as her posts spur lots of interesting discussion on topics in politics, economy and society among bloggers of Kyrgyzstan. Last discussion on her blog was about the lady who several years ago foresaw that Kurmanbek Bakiev becomes a president of the country and also said that the next president after Bakiev would be a young man, who lives now in another country. Elena says:

Edil, come back, maybe you will become our next president!

(more…)

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December 3rd, 2007

Kyrgyzstan: Political season gets hot

Asel · 10:00 · Central Asia & Caucasus

Bloggers in Kyrgyzstan discuss the changes that the government is undergoing after the President Bakiev’s sudden dismissals and appointments of a whole bunch of key state figures. Newly appointed and recently dismissed officials have always attracted attention of bloggers, who constantly express and share their opinions and forecast who is gong to do what and what is going to be next.

Bakiev’s recent decision to dismiss the prime-minister Almazbek Atambaev, who after being a strong opposition member, became a prime-minister and served 8 months only, was unexpected. It has spurred quite an extensive discussion and elaboration among bloggers as to what caused the head of state to do so. The long discussion took place on Edil Baisalov’s blog, who is the member of the Social Democratic Party. The chairman of the party is Atambaev. Baisalov believes that the president wanted to dismiss the prime-minister because for him Atambaev is a real threat in the upcoming elections as he is not letting manipulation of officials happen. Atambaev was criticizing the policy of the president towards elections, and obviously president did not like it and wanted to get rid of him, said Baisalov [ru]. (more…)

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November 12th, 2007

Kyrgyzstan: Parties Struggle for Power

Asel · 05:20 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → es · zhs · zht

Political events in Kyrgyzstan for the past several weeks have spurred a lot of discussions, assumptions and dispute among Kyrgyz bloggers. Following president Bakiev's decree on dissolution of the Kyrgyz Parliament and resignation of the government, new parliamentary elections will be held on December 16 this year, and about fifty political parties applied for participation in these elections.

Edil Baisalov informs that the Social Democratic Party, led by Almazbek Atambaev, had its VIII conference on 10th November in the Ballet and Opera Theatre and announced the party list. Atambaev, acting Prime-Minister of Kyrgyzstan, declared that he will do his best to ensure that the parliamentarian election is fair and transparent (AKIpress):

As a chairman of the party I will try to make sure that the election is held fairly and freely, since any gerrymander during and after the election will lead to disunity in the country. One revolution was enough for us.

On AKIpress forum, Aibek1961 leaves a witty reply to Atambaev’s statement:

Free election is something new in our practice. If it is going to be free and fair, then the Social Democratic Party would lose out.

(more…)

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August 1st, 2007

Kyrgyzstan: Bread prices up, people's mood down

Asel · 13:49 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → jp · zht · zhs · es

The unexpected price increases for bread have sparked hot discussions among Kyrgyzstani bloggers. Along with the prices for gas, electricity and transportation, the cost of bread is the most important economic issue for each normal citizen. Bread is a traditional and essential food in our daily lives. If a loaf used to cost 6 soms (15 cents), now the price went up to 7 soms.

Advocat expresses his opinion regarding the issue on Diesel forum (RU):

During [former President] Akaev’s tenure, the price for bread never increased, but now when everyone says that the lives of the people improve, the prices are going up. Perhaps a price increase is a sign of life improvement for our new government?

Mantank does not think that the government has something to do with the price:

The government cannot regulate market prices, so it is not really its fault.

Yesterday XnifgRon felt the price difference from his own experience:

Everyday I go for lunch to the same café. Today the waitress has brought us unbelievably thin slices of bread (3 times thinner than usual) and explained that it is due to price increase. I felt really sorry that from now we have to order three times as much bread.

On neweurasia Mirsulzhan gives (KYR) some reasons why bread is more expensive now.

People are also concerned very much about the new restriction the government is likely to set on entering the capital Bishkek during SCO summit from 4 till 19 August.

Asel posts an article (ENG) which says that the authorities are going to control the movement to Bishkek by checking all cars and probably limiting the flow of people coming to Bishkek. Unfortunately, no one from the authority can really address this issue and give concrete information on how the process is going to actually work.

This causes so much uncertainty and inconvenience among ordinary people who have no access to reliable information. For example, S@ilor says:

I have talked to the drivers of local minibuses or ‘marshrutkas’ about the regulation and what they know about it. Nobody knows anything. Looks like again we will find out about it last minute, and people will suffer from it.

Well, let me finish on a more positive note. Today, 1 August, is the Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s birthday. He is now 58 years old. The blogger morrire has conducted a small survey to find out what bloggers think would be the best present for our President. 30 bloggers took part in the survey and the results show the following:

41,4% - no present at all
37.9% - Chinese tractor
17.2% - head of sheep
13.8%- noodle
10.3%- air ticket to Moscow

You can view the full version (RU) of the survey here.

Funny choice of presents, huh?

0 comments · »»

July 4th, 2007

Kyrgyzstan: From national surveys to a spy-lady in parliament

Asel · 08:46 · Central Asia & Caucasus

lingua → pt · de · es · zht · zhs

The Kyrgyzstani blogosphere has been actively discussing the results of a national survey conducted by the International Republican Institute (IRI) in May 2007, in which around 1500 Kyrgyz inhabitants aged 18 and above took part.

According to survey’s results, unemployment, economic development, corruption and political crises are believed to be the biggest problems Kyrgyzstan is currently facing. People of the country are mostly concerned about the threat of war, uprisings, and economic and political instability, as the survey shows.

Some rather pessimistic notes on the survey’s actually positive indicators about Kyrgyzstan’s situation were posted on forums.

For instance, IoLa thinks that there has been a substantial change for the worse, even though the survey indicates overall economic and social progress and development. Zoltan also disagrees with some of the survey’s outcomes (both links in Russian):

Интересно кто это написа что им лучше живется, наверное жогорку кенеш опрашивали!?!?!?

I wonder who wrote that the life is better now, I guess parliament deputees were surveyed!?!?

Another interesting survey was conducted by the Russian online newspaper “Novyi Region”. It aimed to identify the sexiest president of the former Soviet Union.

Among the 15 heads of state, Kyrgyzstan's president Kurmanbek Bakiyev turns out to be the fifth-sexiest president. An interesting group discussion of this topic is found at Svobodnoe Pokolenie (Free Generation) and the survey's preliminary results were posted by Mirsulzhan on neweurasia (both links in Russian).

Честно говоря, меня тревожит факт, что нашему Салиевичу кроме сексуальности нечем хвалиться. Обыдна. Если Салиевич сексуальный - то Бабанов кто?

To be honest, I am worried by the fact that our respected Salievich (Bakiyev's middle name) has nothing except his sexuality to be proud of. If he is sexy-than what is Babanov (deputy)?

The blogosphere’s discussion was not limited to survey results only; the Failed States Index published annually by the Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine has also attracted bloggers’ attention. Asel on neweurasia and Shannon on nonpon published posts on the ranking results, according to which Kyrgyzstan drops thirteen spots to #41. Here's what Shannon says:

Kyrgyzstan, on the other hand, allegedly stepped the furthest from the abyss, dropping a full 13 spots to #41. Encouragingly, the drop was due to lower rankings nearly across the board, albeit extremely marginal. The ability of Kyrgyz to flee the country seems to be the main factor keeping it ranked above Turkmenistan.

The Kyrgyzstani blogosphere constantly elaborates on current political issues, and the last two weeks were not an exception. A heated debate about a detained spy lady, a worker of Kyrgyz Parliament’s press service, who was allegedly relaying secret information to China, can be seen on different blogs.

Baisalov argues that there is absolutely no state and military secret information in the parliament, while anonymous notes that possibly it was just a PR action of Sutalinov, head of the State Committee of National Security, who likes acting this way. Naryn Aiyp comments on Djekshenkulov’s (former Minister of Foreign Affairs) statement that it was not right to announce on spy’s criminal action right before the upcoming SCO summit in Bishkek this August (links in Russian).

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