KyrgyzReport.com

Kyrgyz author Chingiz Aitmatov, who introduced his mountainous Central Asian nation to the world through novels about ordinary lives under the Soviet regime, died in Germany on Tuesday, relatives, colleagues and Kyrgyz officials said. He was 79.

Aitmatov died of pneumonia at a clinic in Nuremberg, said Lucien Leitess, the head of Unions-Verlag, his publisher in Germany, where he had been hospitalized after falling ill last month. His family was with him.

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s press secretary, Dosaly Esenaliyev, also confirmed Aitmatov’s death. [Read more →]

The Kyrgyz opposition set up a revolutionary committee. Its main aim is a resignation of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, said on Thursday Azimbek Beknazarov, the leader of the Asaba opposition party, former republican prosecutor-general and an active member of revolutionary events in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005. He reported this news at a press conference in Bishkek.

According to the party leader, Bakiev “has not justified people’s trust”. Beknazarov called on Bakiev “not to repeat mistakes of (Kyrgyz ex-president) Askar Akayev and to surrender his powers voluntarily”.

The Asaba Party leader noted that the question on establishing the revolutionary committee was agreed upon with many political parties in the republic. He claimed that the opposition had exhausted political methods of struggle. Therefore, Kyrgyz residents will soon witness mass protest actions by opposition supporters.

The last large-scale protest action by Kyrgyz opposition backers, led by former premier Felix Kulov, was dispersed last April by police who used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets.

The Asaba Party failed to hurdle the five-percent barrier by the results of the parliamentary elections, held in Kyrgyzstan in December 2007.

Source: ITAR-TASS

Gazprom may be granted a license to develop Kyrgyzstan’s hydrocarbon reserves, and start prospecting in March, Prime Minister Igor Chudinov said on Friday.

“We are pinning great hopes on cooperation with Gazprom in gas prospecting and production at two deposits in Kyrgyzstan,” he said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Viktor Zubkov.

He also said Russia and Kyrgyzstan would build the Kambaratinsk GES-2 hydro power plant, which will be able to meet energy demands in Kyrgyzstan and Central Asia as a whole.

“We lack power generating capacity, and this project will help develop the energy sector not only in Kyrgyzstan, but in the entire region,” the Kyrgyz prime minister said.

Kyrgyz experts have blamed the authorities for delays in talks with Gazprom on a joint project for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons in Kyrgyzstan.

Media quoted an analyst as saying Kyrgyzstan has so far “failed to offer acceptable terms” to Gazprom. “As a result, the state-run Kyrgyzneftegaz company in the country’s south is only producing 70,000-90,000 tons of oil per year. In the meantime, demand for the Kyrgyz market is growing,” he said.

Source: RIA Novosti

As vulnerable groups struggle with food and gas price rises, imminent sell-off of electricity industry looks set to hit them even harder.

By Jyldyz Mamytova and Elina Karakulova in Bishkek for IWPR

Experts warn that plans to privatise Kyrgyzstan’s electricity industry in order to attract much-needed investment will mean higher bills for consumers, hitting poor people the hardest.

The government has announced plans to sell off or grant concessionary management rights to a several power companies by this summer. It says it has no option, as the industry is losing money hand over fist and its decrepit infrastructure needs investment on a scale that the state cannot support.

Addressing the country’s new parliament and cabinet in early January, Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiev urged the new government to make the rapid privatisation of power companies a priority. [Read more →]

Edil Baisalov, a political activist and former secretary of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan has given a rare interview since he left Kyrgyzstan last month.

In his interview to RFE/RL he says “All this talk about me fleeing, that I was seeking asylum, that I became a refugee, are complete lies,” he says. “I am Kyrgyz. But now in Kyrgyzstan injustice is ruling. I will fight against this wherever I am, in Kyrgyzstan or Kazakhstan. I will not leave politics. I will always remain in politics.” [Read more →]

By Erica Marat for Eurasia Daily Monitor

The new Kyrgyz government, formed following the December 16, 2007, parliamentary elections, is comprised mostly of old faces who survived the numerous reshuffling efforts of former president Askar Akayev, the change of presidents in March 2005, and the recent parliamentary elections.

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has surrounded himself in the new government with loyal political supporters primarily interested in the continuity of the current political regime and their public offices. This political clique will be interested in having Bakiyev re-elected in 2010. But the clique’s populist and corrupt politics almost certainly will prevent Bakiyev from peacefully and predictably transforming state power.

Most of the new ministers have low popular approval ratings. However, Bakiyev installed his candidates into the government with ease, as his newly formed Ak Zhol political bloc occupies the majority of parliamentary seats. Only two opposition political parties – Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan and Ata Meken – are represented in parliament. [Read more →]

This article was published by BBC on December 20, 2007.

Kyrgyzstan’s main opposition party has failed to gain any seats in parliament, despite receiving more than 8% of the vote in recent national elections.

Ata Meken - the main rival to President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s Ak Zhol - fell foul of election laws requiring a party to win 0.5% of the vote in each region.

Officials said Ata Meken had not gained enough votes in the second city of Osh.

Earlier reports suggested the Supreme Court had cancelled the regional rule, but officials said this was not true.

Ata Meken has promised “large-scale” protests, accusing the Central Election Commission of “falsifying the results” in Osh.

“We consider these elections were conducted dishonestly, with flagrant violations of legislation,” Ata Meken said in a statement.

The BBC’s Central Asia correspondent, Natalia Antelava, says Ata Meken needed only 600 votes in Osh to secure the 0.5% share they needed.

Party activists claim to have proof they received at least 3,000 votes.

Reuters news agency reported that at least one member of the country’s 12-strong election commission was unhappy with the conduct of the ballot.

“Everything has been rigged - I am not taking part in this,” Akylbek Sariyev said at a commission meeting on Thursday.

But the commission’s head, Klara Kabilova, denied the vote was rigged, saying unidentified Estonian computer hackers had caused confusion by attacking the commission’s website. [Read more →]

PRESSTV reports that an ancient civilization has been found under the Kyrgyz lake of Issyk-Kul. The article says that it dates back to 25 centuries ago.

The civilization has been described as an equivalent to the Hellenic civilizations of the northern coast of the Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, according to Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

If it is really true, which I hope it is, then it will hopefully attract more tourists.

Local blogger azzzik has some cool pictures of the New Year celebrations in the capital (Bishkek) of Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan has recently been dubbed “the land of Santa Claus”.

Forget about the North Pole or Finland, Santa Claus may be moving south. Kyrgyzstan is making the most out of a survey, done purely for fun, that showed Santa Claus would do better starting his annual journey to leave presents for children around the world if he began in Kyrgyzstan.

President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s Ak-Jol party won the parliamentary elections and he appointed former Energy Minister Igor Chudinov a new Prime Minister. Bruce Pannier writes for RFE/RL:

New Prime Minister Igor Chudinov, with a career spent in energy and industry, has vowed to boost Kyrgyzstan’s stagnant economy — particularly in key sectors such as farming, minerals and gold, and a fledgling tourism industry that has recently dubbed the country “the land of Santa Claus.”

President Kurmanbek Bakiev’s Ak-Jol (Best Path) Party appointed Chudinov, a former industry and trade minister, as prime minister on December 24. The party stormed to victory in parliamentary polls on December 16 that were criticized by both the opposition and Western monitors as falling short of international standards.

Following widespread outrage and post-poll protests, the election dust has now settled, leaving the new prime minister with a major challenge: bringing stability to one of the more restive states of Central Asia, where Bakiev himself was swept to power on the wave of a popular revolt in March 2005. For now, that means no changes at the top. “I have tried to keep the government as it was appointed in April,” Chudinov told RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service in an exclusive interview. “A lot has been achieved this year, so in my opinion changing people just for the sake of change is not exactly right.” [Read more →]