| Askar Akayev's regime collapsed Yesterday, the regime of Askar Akayev fell in Kyrgyzstan. Although Akaev himself, as of yesterday evening, has not yet resigned his presidential powers and formally remains the head of state. Also, last night it was not yet known exactly where Akaev was. In the afternoon, the plane he was on board urgently took off from Bishkek and headed for Russia, however, as Interfax reports, in the air, already over Russian territory, it turned around and flew towards Almaty. By this time, Akaev’s family, including his wife Mairam, had also hastily fled there on the presidential helicopter. Members of the Akayev family are there as private individuals. Askar Akayev himself, according to unconfirmed reports, has already left Alma-Ata.
All this was an unexpected result of the events that began yesterday morning in Bishkek. And if they foreshadowed something similar, then it was by no means so soon, in any case, not within those few hours, during which Akaev’s power weakly collapsed. The Kyrgyz authorities themselves spurred their final collapse by ordering the harsh suppression of an opposition rally that began in the morning in the capital. Several dozen athletic-looking men in white caps burst into the ranks of the protesters and started a fight. These “athletes” distinguished themselves the day before by taking an active part in dispersing a small rally in the center of Bishkek. But yesterday's rally was already attended by many thousands, and its participants got involved in hand-to-hand combat, using the traditional weapons of the proletariat. The attacking "caps" were repulsed, but these clashes had catastrophic consequences for the authorities. Angry demonstrators rushed to the Bishkek White House, where the residences of the president and government of Kyrgyzstan are located. The police guarding it offered no resistance and the crowd swept its inhabitants out of the White House offices. Some of the officials who did not have time to escape were severely beaten. Among the victims, according to Vremya Novostei sources, were the Minister of Defense of Kyrgyzstan Topoev, the head of the country's National Security Service Imankulov and the deputy head of the presidential administration Dzhanuzakov. By this time, President Akaev had already left the White House. Perhaps this was the only timely and adequate decision he had made in recent weeks.
At the same hours when Akaev’s residence was seized, a group of oppositionists headed to the suburbs of Bishkek, where the most famous opposition leader in the country, the former vice-president of Kyrgyzstan, the ex-minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Security, and the former mayor of Bishkek, was already serving his sixth year in prison. and ex-governor of the Chui region Felix Kulov. A Vremya Novostei columnist contacted Mr. Kulov by telephone while he was waiting to be called to the prison colony administration. 40 minutes later, Felix Kulov called your observer and said that he was free and was driving in a car towards Bishkek. And half an hour later, Mr. Kulov was already speaking on Kyrgyz state television with an address to the nation. Congratulating them on the victory of the people's revolution, he called on the Kyrgyz people to remain calm, not to settle scores with their opponents, and to the country's security forces not to use weapons against civilians. However, in the current conditions of anarchy and chaos in Bishkek, it was not possible to avoid robberies and looting. Shops and offices, most of which are owned or controlled by the Akayev family, were attacked by crowds.
By yesterday evening, it became known about the first decisions taken by the leadership of the Kyrgyz opposition, which attempted to form transitional authorities in the country. The meeting of the Coordination Council of National Unity of Kyrgyzstan (CSNEK) was attended by ex-premier Kurmanbek Bakiyev, ex-ministers of foreign affairs Roza Otunbaeva and Muratbek Imanaliev, as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of the influential newspaper Melis Eshimkanov. Following this, an emergency session of the previous parliament was convened. Chairman of the Supreme Court Kurmanbek Osmonov, who spoke at the meeting, said that a decision had been made to cancel the results of the parliamentary elections held in the country on February 27 and March 13. This, as well as Akayev’s unconditional early resignation, was what the opposition demanded. Parliament entrusted the leadership of the security forces to Felix Kulov.
The Chairman of the Supreme Court, Kurmanbek Osmonov, also announced Akaev’s resignation, however, this has not yet been confirmed from other sources. He also reported on the resignation of the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Nikolai Tanaev, which already looks like a reliable fact. Deputies of parliament elected the acting president of Kyrgyzstan, deputy and ex-minister of construction Ishenbay Kadyrbekov, who lost the recent elections in the Talas region.
If we look for the reasons for such a rapid fall of the Akaev regime, it should be noted that the main and consolidating leader of the entire Kyrgyz opposition at the last stage of the revolution in the country was none other than President Akaev himself. Only his inappropriate behavior became the main incentive that forced thousands of Kyrgyz to seek his resignation. Among other things, he chose not to notice the indignation that the president’s orders caused in society when he issued the storming of the regional administrations in Osh and Jalal-Abad on March 20, which had previously been occupied by the opposition, which carried out acts of disobedience. It was the events of March 20 that finally provoked a spontaneous and hasty rebellion that overturned the Akaev regime like a house of cards, who was considered the most democratic leader in Central Asia, but, as it turned out, had almost completely lost the idea of the true mood in his country.
The reaction of world leaders to the events in Kyrgyzstan last night seemed stingy. We only know about statements by the head of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry expressing “concern.” US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Stephen Young expressed Washington's intention to work together with the Russians and Chinese to ensure stability in Kyrgyzstan. The ambassador made it clear that the United States will work with the victorious opposition in Kyrgyzstan.
The statement made yesterday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov looks somewhat different. He called on “all participants in the confrontation in Kyrgyzstan to return to the legal framework for resolving the conflict.” The statement seems belated, since by this time there was no one in the country to resist the Kyrgyz opposition.
At the time of signing the newspaper issue, nothing was known about Vladimir Putin’s reaction to the events in Kyrgyzstan. The Russian president was on his way to Armenia at the time of the described events in Bishkek.
Foreign bases in Kyrgyzstan
The Kant air base uses the infrastructure of a Soviet military airfield and flying school transferred to Kyrgyzstan in 1992. However, for ten years the authorities of Bishkek practically did not engage in the development of Kant. In September 2003, Russia entered into an agreement with Kyrgyzstan to station an aviation unit in Kant as part of the Collective Rapid Deployment Force of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Now there are about 500 Russian military personnel stationed here, as well as several Russian planes and helicopters, incl. Su-27 fighters, Su-25 attack aircraft, Il-76 transport aircraft, Mi-8 helicopters, L-39 training aircraft.
The military base at Manas, located just 30 km from Kant on a Soviet-era civilian airfield, has been used by the Americans since 2001. Before the invasion of Afghanistan, several aircraft from countries allied with the United States were deployed there. After the end of the war with the Taliban, allied military personnel left Kyrgyzstan, but the Americans still continue to keep more than 1.5 thousand soldiers and officers there, as well as several transport aircraft and attack aircraft. Some time ago it was also reported that Washington allegedly plans to station AWACS reconnaissance aircraft in Manas. Arkady DUBNOV |
|
