After sudden shift of power in
Kyrgyzstan, some say little has changed
By STEVE GUTTERMAN
18 April 2005/BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) - When protesters stormed the government
headquarters in Kyrgyzstan last month, staffers in then-President Askar Akayev's
administration cowered in locked rooms or fled through a side door.
Five days later many were back, taking orders from their new boss in a
building still littered with broken glass.
The popular uprising pushed Akayev out after 15 years in power and
ushered some of his staunchest opponents into top positions. But in some ways, little has
changed.
Many bureaucrats remain in office. Others are being appointed because
of connections or family ties, using the same system of loyalty to clan and family that
pervaded the old government. State television has settled into a familiar pattern, fawning
over those now in power.
Perhaps most strikingly, the parliament elected in disputed voting that
served as the catalyst for Akayev's ouster is now in session -- and last week his daughter
Bermet Akayeva, who had fled with the rest of the family, unexpectedly turned up at the
legislature to assume the seat she won in the balloting after a rival was disqualified.
Adjusting her rimless glasses and calmly pulling folders out of her
handbag before taking a seat, Akayeva's cool demeanor and the seeming indifference of
other lawmakers underlined the business-as-usual atmosphere less than a month after the
forceful power seizure fueled in part by anger at alleged corruption and greed in the
president's family.
When darkness fell March 24, hours after opposition protesters strormed
the government building, mayhem began in which many shops and business linked to the
Akayev family were targeted by looters.
Akayeva, though, seemed unconcerned. "I am not expecting any
problems from the people of Kyrgyzstan," she told reporters.
Outside parliament, though, a small crowd of protesters reflected the
anger of those in this country who want a cleaner break with the past. Their ire raises
the possibility of new unrest and has helped prompt warnings, including from Western
nations anxiously watching Kyrgyzstan, that the new authorities must avoid making the same
mistakes as their predecessors, who were widely accused of corruption and abuse of power.
For Melis Eshimkanov, there's already a sense of deja vu.
In the February and March elections that sparked the opposition
protests, Eshimkanov lost to an Akayev ally in a race he claimed was marred by obvious
fraud. After Akayev's downfall, his appeal of the result was rejected by a court he
alleged was under pressure from acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Nothing has changed,
he said.
"Before the revolution, the Akayev administration throttled me
through the courts in order for me not to win. And today, the Bakiyev administration
pressures the judges, and the court rules against me," said Eshimkanov.
He argued that Bakiyev, "in his very first days," has made
mistakes Akayev began making only after years in power.
Eshimkanov said thousands of his supporters were among the anti-Akayev
demonstrators who took part in the protests that culminated in the storming of the
government headquarters. He said that "their victory was stolen in the crudest
way" -- and warned they could take to the streets again if he does not win the seat
on appeal.
Such statements bode ill for stability in the shaken country as it
prepares for a new presidential election, scheduled for July 10. Some analysts have
expressed fears that Akayev's swift and sudden downfall at the hands of a few thousand
protesters left the country's political forces with the impression that change comes
easily.
Edil Baisalov, the head of a prominent non-governmental organization
that monitored the parliamentary elections, said a more gradual transfer of power with
broader backing from citizens would have given the new leaders a stronger sense of their
responsibility to the people to govern fairly and openly.
He evoked Ukraine's Orange Revolution, in which hundreds of thousands
of people took part in weeks of protests that helped sweep the opposition to power.
"I'm disappointed that our revolution lasted not three weeks but
three hours," Baisalov said. "To have had tent camps filled with protesters in
central Bishkek would have lifted the nation's spirits and been a major influence on the
new government. But we didn't have that -- it looked like a coup."
As in Ukraine last year and the former Soviet republic of Georgia in
2003, the political change in Kyrgyzstan was fueled by protests over elections that
opposition leaders claimed were manipulated to keep existing regimes in power or
strengthen their grip.
In Ukraine and Georgia, the vote results were annulled. But in
Kyrgyzstan, the parliament elected in balloting that sparked the protests emerged
victorious in a struggle for authority against the previous legislature. Now it is
planning for the presidential vote.
Its speaker, longtime Akayev foe Omurbek Tekebayev, led successful
efforts to secure Akayev's resignation and persuaded lawmakers to accept it -- even though
it granted him immunity from prosecution. That deal formally concluded the revolution. In
making his argument, he said the need for political stability should trump the desire for
revenge.
Associated Press Newswires
19 Apr 2005 |
