Kyrgyzstan, formerly the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic during Soviet times, gained its independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Askar AKAYEV became President of Kyrgyzstan and the country seemed to be on the road to democracy. However, over time corruption became rampant, the country suffered from a poor economy, and there was blatant nepotism in the country. This led democracy activists to protest against his government. The Kyrgyz non-governmental organizations (NGO) and many young people began protesting the corruption, and against unfair parliamentary and presidential elections. The Kyrgyz government cracked down on opposition groups and the NGOs, and many government opponents were imprisoned and harassed. Newspapers critical of the government were also shut down. The protests became known as the Tulip Revolution, a relatively nonviolent revolution that forced AKAYEV to resign and flee to Moscow in March 2005.

The Tulip Revolution brought Kurmanbek BAKIYEV into power as the President, and Feliks KULOV as the Prime Minister. BAKIYEV ran on a democracy ticket and pledged to fight corruption within the government. Now, a year after the Tulip Revolution, the economy is still weak, President BAKIYEV has failed to deliver on his promises of reforms, and there is fear that the Kyrgyz government is being taken over by organized crime figures and thugs. During the past year three legislators (who were all alleged to have organized crime connections) have been murdered.

One of the murdered legislators was Tynychbek AKMATBAYEV, who was gunned down by a prisoner during an official visit to a prison. His younger brother, Rysbek AKMATBAYEV, who is alleged to be an organized crime boss, blamed Prime Minister KULOV for the murder of his brother. Rysbek AKMATBAYEV has a past criminal record for the possession of illegal weapons, and for creating a criminal organization (he was convicted and went to prison.) AKMATBAYEV was also charged last year with murdering three people, including a police officer, however, this past January he was acquitted due to a technicality????????the statue of limitations had expired. After the murder of his brother, Rysbek AKMATBAYEV decided to run for the parliament, and after several legal challenges to his candidacy were knocked down by the courts, he was elected to the parliament on April 9, 2006, with 79% of the vote. Arnaud de Borchgrave wrote recently of AKMATBAYEV in the Washington Times:

In nearby Kyrgyzstan, mafia chief Rysbek Akmatbayev, who is linked to Afghanistan’s multibillion-dollar heroin trade, and is protected by top government officials, sauntered into parliament with 79 percent of the votes on April 9. His close connections with the judiciary paid off handsomely; he was acquitted on triple homicide charges in January. Next, in one of the new democracies nurtured by the U.S., Mr. Akmatbayev is expected to become chairman of the parliamentary committee on security, rule of law and information policy.

A day before the April 9 election, a demonstration was held to protest the court????????s decision to allow AKMATBAYEV to run for the parliament, and for overall constitutional and judicial reforms. The demonstrations were organized by more than 20 political parties and nongovernmental organizations, with many of the organizers of the Tulip Revolution participating, including Edil BAISALOV. BAISALOV, a strong critic of Rysbek AKMATBAYEV, threatened that larger protests would follow throughout the country if power brokers in the government did not stop mingling with organized crime. On April 12, 2006, BAISALOV was attacked as he was leaving his office (which is located directly across the street from the Office of the Prosecutor General.) BAISALOV was hit in the head with a blunt object, which caused a cerebral fracture and a concussion. He was hospitalized after the attack. Recently journalists have also been intimidated and some are afraid to report on corruption and organized crime. Some of the members of parliament have also claimed to have been threatened, and publicly stated that they have also faced intimidation.

The election of AKMATBAYEV, a reputed organized crime figure, and the brutal attack on his critic is emblematic of a government being infiltrated by members of the criminal world, and does not bode well for the future of democracy in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan is important to the United States, and is an ally in the fight against terrorism. Shortly after the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Kyrgyz government granted the United States the use of an airbase located at Manas Airport in Bishkek, the capitol of Kyrgyzstan. (In fact, unofficially, the base is named Ganci Air Base, named for Chief Peter J. Ganci Jr. of the New York City Fire Department, who died during rescue operations at the World Trade Center on September 11.) The US and coalition forces have used the base for operations in Afghanistan since 2001. The airbase in Kyrgyzstan has become more important since the Uzbek government has evicted the US from the airbase in Uzbekistan after the US was critical of the Uzbek government????????s crackdown on protestors last year.

The Kyrgyz government has also allowed Russia to deploy anti-terrorist forces at the Kant airbase, which is approximately 20 miles away from the US airbase. The Kyrgyz government enjoys good relations with both Russia and China.

High level officials of the US, including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher have all made stops in Kyrgyzstan. U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Marie Yovanovitch, visited Edil BAISALOV in the hospital after he was attacked, and the embassy issued a press release in support of BAISALOV????????s fight against organized crime.

The brave participants of the Tulip Revolution have not given up, and they plan to meet publicly at the end of April to petition the government to move against organized crime and to make constitutional changes, as well as to reform the law enforcement agencies in Kyrgyzstan. A group of political parties and NGOs have come together to form the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society to continue the demonstrations in support of democracy and against corruption and organized crime. Coalition members claim that they will not protest to force President BAKIYEV to resign, but instead they will push for him to effectively carry out democratic initiatives.
An original organizer of the Tulip Revolution, Roza OTUNBAYEVA, who coordinated past protests, says that the root flaw in the Tulip Revolution was that the winners had no plan beyond ousting former President AKAYEV. “We wanted anyone but AKAYEV,” she said, “and eventually an ‘anyone’ appeared on the scene.”

Hopefully, as the democracy advocates meet at the end of April, the Kyrgyz people will support their efforts. There are signs that the Kyrgyz people are growing unhappy with the current government and especially corruption. It will be an uphill battle and a real challenge to reform the Kyrgyz government and to do it without someone else falling victim to the criminal element that has infiltrated the government.