Faded Tulips

William Daniels

The Tulip Revolution of March 2005 brought hope and a promise of democracy to Kyrgyzstan. But it would not last.A bloody uprising in Kyrgyzstan in April 2010 saw the country's president flee the capital. Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva claimed to have taken control, stating 'You can call this revolution. You can call this a people's revolt. Either way, it is our way of saying that we want justice and democracy.' William Daniels examines the background:~~The Tulip Revolution of March 2005 brought hope and a promise of democracy to Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz people overthrew the authoritarian and corrupt regime of President Askar Akayev and elected in his place Kurmanbek Bakiyev, an opposition leader and former prime minister. The international community broadly welcomed the uprising, as they had the earlier 'colour revolutions' in Georgia and Ukraine.~

~Four years later, hope is fading and democracy regressing. Elections are rigged, Bakiyev's opponents are arrested and parts of the media are censored. Since 2005, fifteen opposition politicians have sought political asylum abroad. Others have been arrested and imprisoned, and some have died in suspicious accidents. Several journalists have been attacked. A new law allows the president to use the army to quell demonstrations. Civil society is also under threat: proposed legislation will limit the roles of local and international NGOs. Corruption, one of the main factors that led to the 2005 revolt, has worsened. According to the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, in 2008 Kyrgyzstan ranked 166 out of 180 countries surveyed.~~The economic situation is dire: 40% of the population live below the poverty line and the country is one of the most indebted in the world. The price of basic foodstuffs is increasing, as is the price of electricity, gas and coal. The global crisis has caused many Kyrgyz working abroad (mainly in Russia) to return home, thus depriving the country of an important source of revenue. Nearly half of the population say that they regret the passing of the communist era.~~The government has been effective in at least one arena: diplomacy. It has played a skilful balancing act between Russia and the United States, both of which have military bases in Kyrgyzstan. The US base, used as a supply hub for the war in Afghanistan, was supposed to be closed in 2009 but Bakiyev allowed the Americans to stay in exchange for a tripling of the rent. Observers speculated that the move had also encouraged the US government to muzzle its public criticism of the Kyrgyz regime.~~In July 2009, Bakiyev was re-elected with 78% of the vote. Local and international monitors reported that the contest was marred by widespread irregularities and the misuse of administrative resources. The revolution seemed to be dead, but the events of April 2010 suggest that the Kyrgyz people had other ideas.