Kyrgyz Government, Opposition Edge toward Talks Amid Stepped-up Protests

24/03/2005| IslamWeb

The Kyrgyz government and opposition protestors were preparing for possible talks in a bid to end a crisis over a contested parliamentary election, after the Central Asian nation's leadership warned it could resort to the use of force to restore order.

 

Kyrgyz Defense Minister Esen Topoyev and lawmaker Tashkul Kereksizov had flown into the flashpoint southern town of Osh for talks with protest leaders, the opposition People's Movement told AFP.

 

The delegation was "to pave the way for talks between the government and the opposition due to be held (later on Thursday)," a source in Prime Minister Tanayev's office confirmed to AFP.

 

Tanayev was reportedly due to head the Thursday talks, but sources in his office told AFP early Thursday the premier did not intend to leave the capital for the volatile south where the talks were supposed to be held.

 

Supporters of Kyrgyzstan's disjointed opposition have staged demonstrations, mostly in the south of the country, since the results of a March 13 election were announced that virtually shut the opposition out of the former Soviet republic's parliament.

 

In a sign the unrest was spreading, Kyrgyz police for the first time Wednesday dispersed a rally in the capital Bishkek where about 300 supporters of a candidate who lost his bid for parliament to the daughter of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev had gathered.

 

The opposition charges that Akayev's administration helped fix the vote in order to pack the 75-seat chamber with supporters ahead of presidential elections in October.

 

Akayev, a 60-year-old physicist by training who has ruled this impoverished mountainous nation since 1990, has refused opposition demands that he resign and annul the results of the election.

 

As the government tried to keep the opposition-led protests from spreading to the capital, Kyrgyzstan's new interior minister warned Wednesday that authorities could resort to the use of force to restore order.

 

Just hours after his appointment by Akayev, Keneshbek Dyushbayev said that law enforcement forces could legally use "physical methods, special means and issued arms in order to restore constitutional order".

 

Protests also continued to roil southern Kyrgyzstan, the country's most impoverished region with a history of violent clashes.

 

In the city of Osh, which along with nearby Jalal-Abad has borne the brunt of the protests, some 500 people gathered under a Lenin statue in front of the governor's house to hear fiery speeches by the opposition, which has declared itself in control of the region.

 

At talks late on Wednesday the opposition presented the demands it considered a necessary requirement for the talks, including the resignation of several state officials and official recognition of the leaders of protest-ridden Osh and Jalal-Abad regions.

 

A delegation from the European OSCE security body was due to arrive in Bishkek Thursday to take part in the talks, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported quoting a foreign ministry source.

 

But a spokesman for President Akayav questioned with whom it could talk, pointing to the fractured opposition and said the leader would not negotiate amid violence.

 

Akayev "was ready to hold talks with the opposition in order to keep the country stable, but the opposition's conditions are unacceptable," the presidential spokesman Abdil Segizbayev said late Wednesday.

 

"Through provocative methods, they open the road to crime. Government offices are burned, pogroms are held, this strikes fear into peaceful people. If the opposition takes the situation in hand and no longer hurts the people, the president would be ready for dialogue," he said.

 

Meanwhile, Russia, until now low-key in its support for the Kyrgyz regime, sharpened the tone of its comments, criticizing the European Union for what it said was an "incorrect assessment" of the crisis in Kyrgyzstan, saying that it could lead to an escalation of tensions in the former Soviet nation.

 

Russia has had a military air base near Bishkek since 2003, aimed at ensuring the protection of the ex-Soviet republics which are members of the 1992 security accord.

 

 

 

PHOTO CAPTION

 

A Kyrgyz opposition protester adjusts a head band on another protester, as they rally in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Thursday, March 24, 2005. (AP)