Tag: Kyrgyzstan

Foreign NGOs in Kyrgyzstan seek monopoly for perinatal health services in Kyrgyzstan amidst the election campaign

Photo credit: SUN

Kyrgyzstan still remains the country with the highest maternal mortality rate. According to WHO, there were 79 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2015.

Since then, international organizations based in the country, have been trying to improve this situation. And some of them have even reached positive outcomes. For example, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in Bishkek that has been operating in the country since the 1990s, has implemented a number of social projects, including the training of doctors and nurses, employment promotion and other. Yet, the death rate among new-born babies is still at dangerously high level.

To improve the situation, in 2019 a delegation of Kyrgyz doctors visited Russia’s Yekaterinburg, where the world-famous enterprise specializing in production and exporting perinatal equipment and innovative incubators is located. The visited has resulted in the launch of a new project named The Regional Obstetric Monitoring. The system that provides an A-Z support from the first contact with a doctor to controlling the birth process and first months of a newly-born, has proved to be more efficient than the previous projects, designed by European countries.

However, the next visit to Yekaterinburg aimed at learning and implementing new levels of the system was blocked. The cancellation of the visit was supported by GIZ that referred to efficiency of the German health projects and higher wages for doctors that passed the training.

Ironically it may seem, the German initiative came just amidst the parliamentary elections campaign that is currently going on in Bishkek. Some experts believe it was done on purpose, to prevent current President Zhaparov’s activity to promote Russian technologies among its supporters that would by no doubts increased the number of his female electorate.

November 26, 2021
Kyrgyzstan-Turkey: a new big brother?

17/01-2012 15:37, Bishkek – 24.kg news agency , by Asel OTORBAEVA

Almazbek Atambayev as the President of Kyrgyzstan has finished his first official visit. Nobody surprised that Turkey was chosen for beauty parade of the new head of the state at the foreign-policy scene. Turkey’s leader Abdullah Gül didn’t fail to note this fact. “It is symbolic that the President of Kyrgyzstan has paid his first official visit to Turkey,” he told journalists in Ankara.

According to him, Turkey considers this like symbol of friendship and affinity between two countries. “Kyrgyzstan is in a complicated position and it is needed to exert every effort in order to recover economy. I hope signed documents will assist in this. Turkey will continue rendering economic aid to Kyrgyzstan. Our investors are always ready to pour money into economy of Kyrgyzstan and into other spheres. It is necessary to continue military, cultural and educational cooperation,” Abdullah Gül said and together with Almazbek Atambayev signed Declaration for 20-years joint cooperation.

Why Bosporus?

It’s well-known that Turkey is a second home for Almazbek Atambayev where he has business and many friends. Just let’s remember the muddy story with “poisoning” the then Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev who drank whether water or kefir from the bar in the Government. But the fact remains that Almazbek Atambayev entrusted his health to guru of Turkish medicine.

It’s known also that the family of the then leader of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) sat snug in Turkey out of harm’s way during persecution of the opposition in Kyrgyzstan.

However, Kyrgyzstan’s foreign policy priorities are fuzzy and misty for the present. Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Parliament nor the President has voiced this concept yet. The country chosen for the first official visit gives grounds to suppose that Almazbek Atambayev has decided to “be unfaithful” to another his vis-à-vis – authorities of Russia – and to focus on broadening Eurasian geography.

“One is trying to bring Kyrgyzstan to its knees in exchange for drawing up and collection of money,” he stated in the Parliament of Turkey. According to him, the republic declared its independence 20 years ago. “But this is not absolute independence. We depend on powerful countries technically and financially. We have own reserves of oil but there is no one to make oil. Every year we import fuel with difficulties from other countries. Our natural resources were exported for trifling sum. But we never become slaves. Because it is better for all Turkomen to die than to be slaves on knees,” Almazbek Atambayev said.

Well, it’s not so hard to guess who meant the head of the republic…

We are Turkomen

Surely, Turkish political elite enjoyed compliments paid by the Kyrgyz President without turning a hair. Besides, Almazbek Atambayev used Turkish breaching protocol when holding meetings with official Ankara. “Relations between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey attain absolutely new level,” he stated to journalists during the visit. In his opinion, cooperation passes from formalities to the nitty-gritty. “I think Turkic-speaking countries have to develop at same paces as Turkey. Then states of Turkic world will get stronger,” said Almazbek Atambayev.

Speeches of the guest teemed with Turkic terms. He didn’t stop admiring at achievements of “the big brother” and didn’t hide he dreams about the same for his motherland.

About love

However, the Kyrgyz President safeguarding himself for future said the traditional: Russia remains strategic partner of Kyrgyzstan.

“Such states like Turkey, Russia supported us since independence. Russia is a strategic partner of Kyrgyzstan. Rapidly developing relationships between Turkey and Russia encourage us. Our country will benefit from this. Turkey is example for Kyrgyzstan how to build strong democratic state. I think all Turkic-speaking countries have to follow this way,” he said to deputies of the Grand National Assembly.

Meanwhile Turkish press covered the visit in such a manner, “The President of Turkey Abdullah Gül and his wife Hayrünnisa Gül gave an entertainment in honor of the Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev paid the official visit to Turkey and his wife Raisa Atambayeva. Speaking at the dinner Atambayev called Gül “the big brother” and his wife “daughter-in-law”. As Habertürk reports, “Atambayev, having called Turkey “the Motherland”, said, “Kyrgyzstan is far away from Turkey however every Kyrgyz knows that Turkey for Kyrgyz is star, the Motherland directing to us”.

“Big” prospects…

Kyrgyz officials depicted many prospects following the first official visit to the friendly state and they exaggerated traditionally prospects’ scale. For example, the Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev said during visit to Ankara that “probably, Kyrgyzstan will be the first country for which market of Turkey will be opened by quota system”.

According to him, our delegation handed over a draft agreement on issuing quotas by Turkey for labor migrants from Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile our compatriots work illegally on shores of Bosporus.

Let’s note that the agreement on imposing visa-free regime between Kyrgyzstan and Turkey was signed in 2011. However, Turkey hasn’t still ratified the agreement.

Besides, Turkey promised to construct a bread-baking plant in Chuy province. The Secretary General of the Union of Turkish World Municipalities Mustafa Bashkurt told journalists they are asked about this … by the mayor’s office of Bishkek.

He noted that Bishkek mayor’s office stands ready to afford a territory. According to his estimations, € 3.5 millions will be needed to construct the plant.

Mustafa Bashkurt didn’t mention whether Bishkek mayor Isa Omurkulov told the Turkish side about future of local representatives of small business or about risks in competitive ability for Turkey.

The President of Kyrgyzstan promised Turkish businessmen that he would ensure total protection of their investments. “My will of the head of the state will be enough to give guarantees to investors,” he told journalists in Istanbul.

… and unknown

So, one just can guess about other prospects as the President said nothing because he feared to hoodoo. “Let me note I met with ten Turkish billionaires who are ready to discuss issues on investing in Kyrgyzstan. They will visit the republic and consider our proposals to work in spheres of telecommunication, power economy, and mining and garment industry where they have big experience. The main thing is we have regained confidence shattered for recent 20 years when bribes arranged all deals. Our task is to transform Kyrgyzstan into paradise for investors then people will live well. The main thing now is that clean-up bodies will work and thefts will be brought in prison,” Almazbek Atambayev said finishing visit to Turkey.

Then Almazbek Atambayev reproached with Turkish Airlines for high prices at tickets. He told journalists that it is needed to create a Kyrgyz-Turkish airline. It is easy to guess who will create and head it…

What to do with multivector?

Kyrgyzstan cannot escape multivector. Authorities of the country will shower promises “to be friends”, assure in political sympathy and admire at the experience of a country where they will pay visits.

Atambayev’s schedule for 2012 has trips to Russia, CIS countries and Georgia, and to far-abroad countries as well as attendance of summits of CIS, EurAsEC and CSTO…

Compliment remains the basis for construction “new” (old) relationships with other states (read “partners”). Constituting part of foreign debt formed by foreign investments and laying burden on next generations leaves no another forms of building foreign-policy arc.

So, they have to continue master graceful bows. They will be very useful during a next official visit…

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January 18, 2012
Big Powers May Not Save Kyrgyzstan
If Kyrgyz-style violence should radiate across borders in Central Asia, the result could be a rise in Islamic militancy that would directly threaten Russia and the United States.

Diplomatic Memo

Value to Big Powers May Not Save Kyrgyzstan

Bryan Denton for The New York Times

Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the provisional government in Kyrgyzstan, landing by helicopter in the southern city of Osh on Friday, after days of ethnic fighting there.

By ELLEN BARRY

Published: June 18, 2010

MOSCOW — A year and a half ago, the world’s great powers were fighting like polecats over Kyrgyzstan, a landlocked stretch of mountains in the heart of Central Asia.
Related

Some Refugees Begin Returning to Kyrgyzstan (June 19, 2010)

Times Topic: Kyrgyzstan
The United States was ferociously holding on to the Manas Air Base, a transit hub considered crucial to NATO efforts in Afghanistan. Russia was so jealous of its traditional dominance in the region that it promised the Kyrgyz president $2.15 billion in aid the day he announced he was closing Manas. With the bidding war that followed, Kyrgyzstan could be forgiven for seeing itself as a global player. And yet for the past week, as spasms of violence threatened to break Kyrgyzstan apart, its citizens saw their hopes for an international intervention flicker and die. With each day it has become clearer that none of Kyrgyzstan’s powerful allies — most pointedly, its former overlords in Moscow — were prepared to get involved in a quagmire. Russia did send in several hundred paratroopers, but only to defend its air base at Kant. For the most part, the powers have evacuated their citizens, apparently content to wait for the conflict to burn itself out. The calculus was a pragmatic one, made “without the smallest thought to the moral side of the question,” said Aleksei V. Vlasov, an expert in the politics of post-Soviet countries at Moscow State University. “We use the phrase ‘collective responsibility,’ but in fact this is a case of collective irresponsibility,” he added. “While they were fighting about whatever — about bases, about Afghanistan — they forgot that in the south of Kyrgyzstan there was extreme danger. The city was flammable. All they needed to do was throw a match on it.” He referred to the city of Osh, which suffered days of ethnic rioting. Kyrgyzstan might have unraveled anyway, but competition between Moscow and Washington certainly sped the process. To lock in its claim on the base after the threat of expulsion, the United States offered President Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev $110 million to back out of his agreement with Russia, which had already paid him $450 million. Congratulating itself on its victory, Washington raised the stakes by announcing the construction of several military training facilities in Kyrgyzstan, including one in the south, which further irritated Moscow. This spring, the Kremlin won back its lost ground, employing a range of soft-power tactics to undermine Mr. Bakiyev’s government. Mr. Bakiyev was ousted by a coalition of opposition leaders in April, and conditions in Kyrgyzstan’s south — still loyal to the old government — hurtled toward disaster. “Let’s be honest, Kyrgyzstan is turning into a collapsing state, or at least part of it is, and what was partially responsible is this geopolitical tug of war we had,” said Alexander A. Cooley, who included Manas in a recent book about the politics of military bases. “In our attempts to secure these levers of influence and support the governing regime, we destabilized these state institutions. We are part of that dynamic.” Last week, as pillars of smoke rose off Osh and Jalal-Abad, citizens begged for third-party peacekeepers to replace local forces they suspected of having taken part in the violence. Roza Otunbayeva, the head of Kyrgyzstan’s interim government, asked Moscow for peacekeepers, and when that request was denied, for troops to protect strategic sites like power plants and reservoirs. She asked Washington to contribute armored vehicles from the base at Manas, which she said would be used to transport the dead and wounded, she told the Russian newspaper Kommersant. So far, Moscow and Washington have responded mostly with humanitarian aid pledges — late on Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Ms. Otunbayeva’s request was still under consideration. The United States, overextended in Afghanistan and Iraq, has neither the appetite nor the motivation for a new commitment. Russia, the more obvious player, sees the risks of a deployment outweighing the benefits. Russian troops would enter hostile territory in south Kyrgyzstan, where Mr. Bakiyev’s supporters blame Moscow for his overthrow, and Uzbekistan could also revolt against a Russian presence. Mr. Vlasov, of Moscow State University, said: “Who are we separating? Uzbeks from Kyrgyz? Krygyz from Kyrgyz? Kyrgyz from some criminal element? There is no clearly defined cause of this conflict. It would be comparable to the decision the Soviet Politburo made to invade Afghanistan — badly thought through, not confirmed by the necessary analytical work.” If the explosion of violence was a test case for the Collective Security Treaty Organization, an eight-year-old post-Soviet security group dominated by Russia, it seems to have failed, its leaders unwilling to intervene in a domestic standoff. In any case, neither the Russian public nor the county’s foreign policy establishment is pressing the Kremlin to risk sending peacekeepers. “If you send them, you have to shoot sooner or later,” said Sergei A. Karaganov, a prominent political scientist in Moscow. “Then you are not a peacekeeper, but something else.” Though it seems that the worst of the violence has passed, great challenges remain. Beyond the immediate humanitarian crisis is an unstable state at the heart of a dangerous region. The Ferghana Valley, bordering Afghanistan, is a minefield of religious fundamentalism, drug trafficking and ethnic hatreds. If Kyrgyz-style violence should radiate across borders in Central Asia, the result could be a rise in Islamic militancy that would directly threaten Russia and the United States. The failure of international institutions last week should alarm both capitals. President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia began their relationship with the crisis over the Manas base, and as they grope toward tentative collaboration in the post-Soviet space, Kyrgyzstan has dominated their conversation. Now, Kyrgyzstan needs help building a stable government that knits together the north and the south. Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, suggested that NATO should be working with the members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization to develop a mechanism for collective action. The next time a Central Asian country is wobbling at the edge of a precipice, he said, someone must be prepared to accept responsibility. “You can abstain from a local conflict in Kyrgyzstan,” Mr. Trenin said. “You can close your eyes to it — it’s bad for your conscience — but you can live with it. If something happens in Uzbekistan, you will not be able to just let it burn out.”
June 19, 2010