Thursday, March 24
Morning in Kyrgyzstan
I have been following the popular uprising against Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev for the last week or so, but even I was stunned to wake up, click on BBC.com, and learn that Akayev had been deposed. The speed of this uprising is only one of the notable points about this most recent popular revolt in a former Soviet Republic. Kyrgyzstan is also the first Central Asian country (that is, the first non-European Soviet Republic) to overthrow its dictatorial leader. Likewise, this revolution was apparently carried out with little to no influence from the United States (after all, Akayev has been a friend of the US's since 2001, when he allowed US bases into the country to help fight the war against Afghanistan). So this is a stunning and vitally important event on many levels.We can only speculate about what this will mean for the region as a whole; in some ways, Kyrgyzstan was the least repressive of the other "-stans." If anyone deserved to be have been deposed first, I would have chosen Turmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov or Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov, two total bastards who have used their countries' uncertainties after the end of the USSR to abuse and torment their people while amassing war-chests full of money and favors. Early in the 1990s, Akayev was considered the only bona-fide moderate leader in Central Asia, and there were hopes that Kyrgyzstan would evolve into the area's first democracy, but he was quickly bullied by his neighboring dictators to take a harsher stance against opposition, and Kyrgyzstan became just like all the other countries in Central Asia.
So this is great news--a chance for Kyrgyzstan to try again at creating a country its people can be proud of. And who knows? Perhaps this is only the beginning--there's an election in Kazakhstan next year, and there have already been rumblings in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, as well. Dominoes, anyone?
If you want to know more about Kyrgyzstan, then please check out my Kyrgyzstan entry in Central Asia in Word and Pictures. If you want to keep up with the developments not only in Kyrgyzstan but in the rest of Central Asia, then I'd strongly recommend adding EurasiaNet to your links--it's an indispensable resource.
