[Joint House and Senate Hearing, 111 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
INSTABILITY IN KYRGYZSTAN: THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE:
U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION
ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
JULY 27, 2010
__________
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COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE
LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
SENATE
HOUSE
BENJAMIN CARDIN, Maryland, ALCEE HASTINGS, Florida,
Chairman Co-Chairman
CHRISTOPHER DODD, Connecticut EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER
SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia New York
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina MIKE McINTYRE, North Carolina
ROGER WICKER, Mississippi G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina
JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JOSEPH PITTS, Pennsylvania
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island ROBERT ADERHOLT, Alabama
TOM UDALL, New Mexico DARRELL ISSA, California
EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS
MICHAEL POSNER, Department of State
ALEXANDER VERSHBOW, Department of Commerce
(II)
INSTABILITY IN KYRGYZSTAN: THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
----------
July 27, 2010
MEMBERS
Page
Hon. Alcee Hastings, Co-Chairman, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.......................................... 1
Hon. Joseph R. Pitts, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.......................................... 2
WITNESSES
Robert O. Blake, Assistant Secretary of State for South and
Central Asia, U.S. Department of State......................... 3
Arslan Anarbaev, Charge D'Affaires, Embassy of the Kyrgyz
Republic....................................................... 12
Martha Olcott, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace............................................ 15
Bakyt Beshimov, Visiting Scholar, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology..................................................... 16
(III)
INSTABILITY IN KYRGYZSTAN:
THE INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
----------
JULY 27, 2010
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe,
Washington, DC.
The hearing was held from 2:30 to 3:39 p.m. EST, 210 Cannon
Office Building, Washington, DC, Hon. Alcee Hastings, Co-
Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe,
presiding.
Members present: Hon. Alcee Hastings, Co-Chairman,
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and Hon.
Joseph R. Pitts, Commissioner, Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe.
Witnesses present: Robert O. Blake, Assistant Secretary of
State for South and Central Asia, U.S. Department of State,
Arslan Anarbaev, Charge D'Affaires, Embassy of the Kyrgyz
Republic, Martha Olcott, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace and Bakyt Beshimov, Visiting Scholar,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
HON. ALCEE HASTINGS, CO-CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Hastings. Mr. Pitts, thank you very much for being
here. I'd like to open our hearing. Welcome to the hearing on
Kyrgyzstan. The country has been much in the headlines since
the bloody uprising that brought down a president in April. In
June, ethnic clashes in the south drew sad headlines all over
the world. Apart from analyzing the causes of these events,
this hearing is proposed to examine the prospects for better
news in the future for Kyrgyzstan.
I've been to Kyrgyzstan several times and, considering how
much promise the country held in the '90s, its arc since then
has been marked by disappointment. In Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
had the most highly developed civil society and seemed headed
for democratic development.
But corrupt authoritarian rule, sadly typical of many
states around the world and some of the post-Soviet states, led
to clashes between the authorities and a civil society willing
to defend its freedoms and prerogatives. The '05 Tulip
Revolution that led to the ouster of former President Akayev
brought no relief. The tenure of his successor, President
Bakiyev, was marked by centralization of power and even worse
corruption, flagrant human rights violations and the
criminalization of politics.
When demonstrations finally rose up against the regime in
April of 2010, they were met by gunfire. Dozens died, ushering
in a bloody beginning to a new chapter in Kyrgyzstan's post-
Soviet history. The interim government which came to power
after President Bakiyev's flight knew firsthand the defects of
top-down presidential rule. They decided to create a
parliamentary system with checks and balances and announced
plans to hold a referendum on constitutional changes along
these lines.
However, on June 10, there was an outbreak of savage
violence in several southern cities between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.
In the worst interethnic bloodshed in decades. There are
witnesses here who may give us a better idea as to how many
people were killed or sometimes butchered, even, in the most
horrific manner. And about 100,000 people fled to Uzbekistan,
while 400,000 in all were displaced.
Nevertheless, the referendum went ahead on June 27, passing
by wide margins, according to official tallies. As a result,
Kyrgyzstan is going from a presidential to a parliamentary
republic. The head of the interim caretaker government, Roza
Otunbayeva, who was ambassador to Washington in the early '90s,
is now the president for a transitional period, until 2012.
Mr. Secretary, I might add, she came to one of our OSCE
Parliamentary Assembly meetings before these matters reached
their head and was appealing tremendously to us to try and take
action. It was interesting to know how much energy she put in
it. And it gives me hope that the OSCE may be able to play a
substantial role.
Today, thankfully, the situation seemingly is more stable,
but where we go from here is uncertain. Kyrgyzstan is the only
country in the region to shift the balance of power to its
parliament and how the experiment will fare is difficult to
predict. But we, at least, are well-acquainted with the
problems that centralized and corrupt presidential rule has
produced. Equally unclear is how well the country will manage
to reconcile its citizens of diverse nationalities, which will
be critical if long-term stability is to be achieved.
Our witnesses are superbly qualified to help elucidate the
situation for us. But before turning to them, I would invite my
fellow present panelists and my cosponsor of this resolution
with reference to Kyrgyzstan--Congressman Pitts, to have any
remarks he might wish to make.
HON. JOSEPH R. PITTS, COMMISSIONER, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN EUROPE
Mr. Pitts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you for your
attentiveness, your leadership in regard to this matter and
others, as far as the rule of law and promotion of democracy
and freedoms all around the world. Thank you for holding this
important hearing on Kyrgyzstan. As you all know, Kyrgyzstan's
interim government recently deposed the autocratic government
of President Bakiyev. The interim government drafted a new
constitution, shifting the balance of power in the nation from
a centralized executive authority to its parliament. And this
transition would make Kyrgyzstan the only country in the region
to do so.
On June 27, Kyrgyzstan's authorities succeeded in creating
the necessary environment for the conduct of a peaceful
constitutional referendum. And I'm optimistic that the
caretaker government will build on this foundation to ensure
that parliamentary elections, planned for October, are
conducted in full accordance with international standards.
These important steps--and I recently introduced a
resolution with Chairman Hastings and Congressman Smith
supporting the government reforms, while calling on the OSCE to
continue its assistance in the region. It is my hope that the
new constitutional order will provide greater freedom,
democracy and human rights in Kyrgyzstan. However, I am very
concerned about the ethnic tensions and the violence that has
occurred in the southern portion of the country.
The outbreak of violence forced thousands of people to flee
their homes. Several hundred or thousands were killed. Tragic
ethnic hostility has threatened the livelihoods and safety of
thousands of people. And the interim government has yet to
fully extend its authority in the south and build the capacity
that is needed to address the underlying social, political and
economic tensions in that region.
The government must bring to justice those who took part in
the recent violence and ensure that its military and police do
not commit abuses. It must be steadfast in prosecuting those
who committed these crimes. And the Kyrgyzstan government must
offer equal protection under the law for all of its citizens.
The OSCE has agreed to provide a policy advisory group to
Kyrgyzstan, with the purpose of building trust among the people
in the south.
And it is my profound hope they are successful and prudent
in their actions. I look forward to hearing our witnesses
today. Again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership and
for scheduling this hearing. I thank all of those who've come
for being here and I yield back.
Mr. Hastings. Thank you very much, Congressman. We'll start
now with Assistant Secretary Robert O. Blake, who is the
assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs.
And ladies and gentlemen, to allow any of you that have an
interest in the full biographies--it's not that he does not
have a full one. Without me reading it into the record, it will
be submitted. And at our desk outside are the biographies of
the secretary, as well as the other fine witnesses we have here
today. Mr. Secretary, the floor is yours.
ROBERT O. BLAKE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR SOUTH AND
CENTRAL ASIA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Mr. Blake. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Pitts, thank you very
much for your invitation here today. And thank you very much
for your leadership in organizing this hearing today.
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Bishkek and visit
Osh in Southern Kyrgyzstan on July 18 to 19, so I'm very
pleased to be here today to give you the administration's fresh
perspective on events in Kyrgyzstan.
Again, I want to thank you and the committee members for
your interest and for your continued engagement on U.S. policy
in Central Asia. The Helsinki Commission has demonstrated
exemplary leadership and bipartisan cooperation in helping us
to forge a strong and sustained partnership between the United
States and the five countries of Central Asia.
Mr. Chairman, Central Asia is a region of significant
importance to U.S. national interests. Recognizing the
uniqueness of each of the five Central Asian nations and their
sovereignty and independence, U.S. policy supports the
development of fully sovereign, stable, democratic nations,
integrated into the world economy and cooperating with one
another, with the United States and our partners to advance
regional security and stability.
We are not in any competition with any country over
influence in Central Asia. We seek to maintain mature bilateral
relations with each country based on our foreign policy goals
and each country's specific characteristics and dynamics. With
regard to Kyrgyzstan, our primary foreign policy interest is to
facilitate its development as a stable, democratic state that
respects the rights of its citizens.
Kyrgyzstan is also a significant contributor to security in
Afghanistan, by hosting the Manas Transit Center, through which
nearly all U.S. troops enter and leave the theater. Maintaining
the Manas Transit Center is an important national security
priority for the United States, but that center can only be
maintained if Kyrgyzstan itself is stable and a reliable
partner and we ourselves are totally transparent in the
functioning of that center. The center is an important part of
our partnership, but our focus has been and remains developing
our overall political, economic and security relationship.
Mr. Chairman, as you know and as you said, in April of this
year, a popular uprising overthrew President Bakiyev and
brought to power a provisional government headed by Roza
Otunbayeva, an experienced diplomat and consensus-builder. As
you both noted, clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in
Southern Kyrgyzstan from June 10 to June 14 tested the
provisional government. The violence killed an estimated 350
people and displaced about 400,000, with approximately 100,000
of those going to neighboring Uzbekistan. The security
situation has since generally stabilized, although tensions
still remain in the south.
Humanitarian organizations are currently transitioning from
emergency relief to recovery, reconstruction and
reconciliation. Of the 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks who fled to
neighboring Uzbekistan, virtually all returned to Kyrgyzstan
within two weeks. On June 27, the citizens of the Kyrgyz
Republic overwhelmingly voted to adopt a new constitution in a
national referendum and affirmed Roza Otunbayeva as president
for the transitional period, until December of 2011. And she
was inaugurated on July 3.
While we are encouraged that there has not been a
recurrence of violence since June, President Otunbayeva and the
provisional government face daunting challenges. Fear and
tension remain, especially among ethnic Uzbeks in the south.
In Uzbekistan's displaced persons' camps, although there
were no reports of force to promote returns, reports of
psychological pressure, monetary incentives, threats of loss of
citizenship, coercion and/or encouragement to participate in
the June 27 referendum and concerns about family members who
remained in Kyrgyzstan all may have factored into the rapid
repatriation of those who were displaced.
Most of the estimated 75,000 persons who remain displaced
in Kyrgyzstan and those who returned from Uzbekistan currently
reside with host families. Others are squatting in abandoned
buildings or camping on the sites of their destroyed homes. An
estimated 1,850 homes were burned or otherwise destroyed in Osh
and Jalalabad. An undetermined number of homes are reported to
be damaged and will need repair before they can be inhabited
again.
Mr. Chairman, many ethnic Uzbek businesses in the south
remain closed and some Uzbeks are unable to return to work
while remaining with host families and in community shelters.
Some, confronting the destruction of fields and crops,
anticipate food insecurity in the fall and winter.
Reports that the Kyrgyz government intends to expropriate
property in destroyed Uzbek neighborhoods as part of an urban-
renewal effort--replacing traditional houses organized into
ethnic neighborhoods with modern apartments for ethnically
mixed communities--are feeding fears of disenfranchisement and
possible renewed violence.
The United States supports a number of steps that we
believe should be taken to promote reconciliation. Right now,
our principal focus is on providing humanitarian assistance to
all those who were displaced by the violence. We need to make
sure that the people have the ability to return to their homes,
to have shelter for the winter, to help schools reopen and to
meet near-term needs.
As always in such humanitarian emergencies around the
world, the United States has been one of the leading donors,
committing up to $48 million thus far to help the people of
Kyrgyzstan. This aid is in addition to normal foreign aid
levels, which will continue as planned. We've also been working
with Kyrgyzstan's neighbors and the international community to
support a high-level international donors' conference, which
took place today in Bishkek.
As a second step going forward, we believe that security
must be boosted to prevent future violence. The United States
welcomes the decision by the OSCE during the recent informal
meeting in Kazakhstan to agree to a police advisory group that
will be deployed to Kyrgyzstan to support the efforts of the
authorities to reduce interethnic tensions, restore public
order and increase police capacities.
The OSCE and Kyrgyzstan concluded that the group would
comprise 52 police officers, with a possibility of sending an
additional 50 officers at a later stage. The group would be in
Kyrgyzstan for four months, with a possibility to extend as
needed. We hope the government of Kyrgyzstan and the OSCE can
work together to ensure that this force is deployed as soon as
possible.
A third step to ensure reconciliation is that the local
Kyrgyzstan law enforcement and judicial institutions must be
reliable and credible and have the confidence of the local
people. The security services in Kyrgyzstan must fulfill their
responsibilities in a professional and accountable manner so
that they can win the confidence of all of Kyrgyzstan's
communities.
In Osh, I heard many disturbing reports of arrests of human
rights activists, arrests of Uzbek community leaders and
reports of torture and other abuses while in custody. I also
heard complaints that the mayor of Osh does not act in a
balanced manner and that he is pursuing a nationalist agenda. I
shared these concerns with government officials and urged that
they be addressed on an urgent basis. The United States is
prepared to work with the government of Kyrgyzstan to deal with
the challenges of strengthening the professionalization and
accountability of the police.
A fourth and very important step for achieving
reconciliation is that there needs to be a serious
investigation launched into the causes of the violence in June,
both to help understand how to prevent fresh outbreaks of
violence, but also to ensure accountability for those who were
responsible. A number of factors likely contributed to the
violence, but what is important is to have a systematic and
credible inquiry into what those factors were.
The United States welcomes President Otunbayeva's decision
to establish a national commission of investigation, as well as
her decision to ask Finnish parliamentarian and vice president
of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Kimmo Kiljunen, to
constitute an international investigation with the support of
the U.N., the OSCE and Nobel Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari that
will complement the national investigation in Kyrgyzstan.
Finally, one of our top priorities is to help Kyrgyzstan
establish democracy. Part of the U.S. assistance package to
Kyrgyzstan includes funding to support free and fair
parliamentary elections in October.
The U.S. will provide assistance for central election
committee capacity-building, local election officials'
training, civil society support, elections outreach, journalist
training, media monitoring and coverage, voter-list review,
public information campaigns, election observation by domestic
and international observers, parallel vote tabulation, dispute-
resolution training and assistance and voter education. We are
also providing long-term support to strengthen democratic
governance, reconciliation, civil society, independent media
and human rights.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, the United States has a strong
commitment to Kyrgyzstan. We and the international community
want to work with the provisional government and with the
people of Kyrgyzstan to help the nation establish democracy,
provide assistance to all those who were affected by the recent
violence and encourage reconciliation to assist the country's
stabilization.
While we recognize that the situation remains very fragile
and that there are real risks, we remain hopeful that with the
goodwill and sustained efforts of all, including in the United
States and the international community, the people of
Kyrgyzstan can chart out for themselves a more hopeful,
democratic and stable future.
Again, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your
leadership today in hosting this hearing and I'd be glad to
take any questions that you have.
Mr. Hastings. Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. I'd like
to begin questioning with my colleague, Congressman Pitts.
Mr. Pitts. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you,
Mr. Secretary, for your statement. A couple of questions:
Relatives of both the previous Kyrgyz presidents were notorious
for getting rich off of our base in Manas. How can we help
President Otunbayeva to prevent the same thing from happening
again?
Mr. Blake. Thank you very much, Congressman, for that
question. We are in the process now of renegotiating those
contracts at the transit center in Manas. The Department of
Defense has competitively rebid the Manas fuel contract. And we
want to ensure that whatever contract is finally agreed on will
be done in a very transparent and reliable manner.
And one of the things that we've done is that we've posted
on our embassy's website in Bishkek information about our
assistance but also about these fuel contracts so that there
can be maximum transparency and so that we can, again,
encourage the same from our friends in the government.
Mr. Pitts. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for
October. It is critical that these elections be, and be seen
as, free and fair. What can the OSCE and the United States
government do to help ensure that they are free and fair?
Mr. Blake. Let me say, there are a number of things that I
think we and the OSCE can do. First of all, with respect to the
OSCE, the OSCE, as I said, is going to plan to deploy a police
advisory group. We are hoping that that can be done by early
September. And then there's an option to deploy more if they
feel that those would be necessary.
I think that will help a lot to encourage, first, a more
accountable police force, particularly in the south where it's
going to be needed, and that will help voter turnout out there.
The OSCE is also beefing up its own presence in Bishkek, where
I think they have already played a very, very helpful role. And
our embassy and the EU and others are working very closely with
the OSCE, so we welcome that.
In terms of the elections themselves, of the $48 million
that the United States is providing now, about 5 million of
that will be for democracy. And a significant portion of that
money will be to support free and fair elections in October. I
ran through in my statement some of the things that we're going
to be doing to help ensure that.
But in that regard, we'll be working very closely with the
OSCE and also with the U.N. and with the European Union, all of
whom also plan to take very important and aggressive roles in
this.
Mr. Pitts. Now, various groups, including some government
officials, have been protesting about the police advisory group
sent in by OSCE. Will the police advisors be involved in
training those police in the southern part of the country? Will
they be involved in anticorruption training? What will be the
extent of some of the training?
Mr. Blake. Congressman Pitts, their mission is advising and
monitoring. So they will basically be partnering with the
police down in the south primarily, in Osh and Jalalabad, to go
out on their patrols with them and, again, to mentor them as
they go about their business. And hopefully, again, to provide
some visible international presence down there, which we hope
will, again, provide some confidence for the local communities
but also help to prevent future violence.
Mr. Pitts. Could these police face security problems of
their own?
Mr. Blake. They could. I mean, of course, they will be with
the local police who themselves will be armed. So I think that,
by itself, will ensure a measure of security for them.
Mr. Pitts. Finally, how have the neighbors of Kyrgyzstan
responded to the events since April? Is anything similar
possible in other Central Asian countries? What's your take on
progress?
Mr. Blake. Well, let me take those in order. I think first,
with respect to Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan behaved with great
restraint and also, we think, very admirably. They were very
quick to accept the 100,000 or so refugees that came streaming
across from Osh and Jalalabad. They worked very cooperatively
with the UNHCR, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, which
hasn't been in Uzbekistan since 2005. So they allowed UNHCR in,
worked very cooperatively with them to establish camps for all
of those who were displaced.
About a month ago I had a chance to visit those camps. And
I must say, I was very impressed with what they had done in a
very short time to accommodate those refugees. As I said in my
statement that most of those went back in about two weeks. But
when we met with members of the provisional government and
President Otunbayeva last week, they were all very
complimentary of the ongoing good communication that they have
with the government of Uzbekistan.
Mr. Pitts. What about the Kazakhstani chairmanship? How
have they responded?
Mr. Blake. Again, in their capacity as the OSCE chairman-
in-office, I think also Kazakhstan has played an important
role. You know, again, they also were quick to help to respond
to the April crisis and to help mobilize the OSCE as quickly as
possible.
They have also been supportive of the police advisory
group. It was during the ministerial that they hosted in Almaty
that the ministerial approved that police advisory group. And I
think their behind-the-scenes efforts to get that done were
important.
But we're going to need to continue to see Kazakhstan's
leadership on this because I think, as you say, there are still
many, many challenges to be faced here. We may need to deploy
more of that police advisory group in which case that would
have to be a decision that would be approved by the permanent
council of the OSCE. Again, we'll need Kazakhstan's support for
that.
And I think we'll need their support for keeping their own
borders open. One of the things I heard when I was in Osh is
that they want to be sure that as the agricultural harvests
come in, that they will be able to export both to Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan, both of which are important markets for them.
Mr. Pitts. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Hastings. Thank you very much, Congressman. Mr.
Secretary, I have several questions, but I'm fearful about
votes. And I'm going to truncate my requests and submit to you
for you to follow up several written questions. I want to have
an opportunity to, at the very least, have Congressman Pitts
and I hear the other important witnesses here as well.
But I would ask about other actors. It is easy for you and
for us here as policymakers to point to various countries and
NGOs and subsets of groups. But during your entire testimony, I
didn't hear the United Nations mentioned. And I did hear a
reference, a positive one, to the European Union.
I also did not hear--and believe--that India has a role to
play. We, of course, have a base there, as does Russia. And we
have tried to describe our efforts with Russia as some kind of
pragmatic undertaking. And yet we know that this is a post-
Soviet country and that Russia has played, for lack of a better
expression--and I'm always careful when I speak about Russia
but I can't help but believe, knowing what I do in Central
Asia, that a portion of the role that they have played, by
some, has been manipulative. And toward that end, it gives us a
difficult picture and I'm just curious who is trying to
coordinate the efforts.
If I could turn to another part of the world: Everyone in
this room suffered in their hearts with the earthquake in
Haiti. And the world responded in many respects by offering
assistance. But as we speak today, there is a concomitant
hearing going on that I can't participate in that I can assure
you is going to identify that on the ground, those coordinated
efforts are lacking and that the people are not receiving the
benefits from the world's outpouring.
I daresay you could go through this United States Congress
and get past the Helsinki Commission and the foreign affairs
committee and couldn't find a hundred members that could point
to Kyrgyzstan on the map. It seems so far away from us and yet
so near and yet so critical with reference to Afghanistan. And
yet, clearly, an interest area that is vital to us all.
I would underscore what Congressman Pitts pointed out to
you as a key role that should be played by the Kazakh chair-in-
office. It's not as if Kyrgyzstan is not in their backdoor. And
I also called for and would urge you in your capacity in
Central Asia with my limited experience in the area, the one
thing that I found is a lack of regional cooperation coming
about largely because people haven't asked them.
We haven't asked--us I'm talking about, not you--but we
haven't asked President Karimov what his real thoughts are with
reference to how we handle this matter. The same would be for
Nazarbayev or we hear from his chair-in-office, the foreign
secretary--or foreign minister/secretary Saudabayev.
But this is a difficult problem. And here we have--I'm
talking the United States now--an opportunity to really
assist--no matter how it came about, whether people agree with
the referendum, disagree with the referendum--the referendum at
least speaks to where we come from in terms of our values with
reference to a democracy.
And for a post-Soviet country to, whatever the motive, pass
a measure that will allow for the development of a parliament
that would control and not an autocracy, I think is
complimentary. Never mind the motives. I get past that and get
to what we ought to be doing to try to undergird what has
happened at this point, recognizing all of the dangers.
Mr. Blake. Well, that's a terrific question. There are
several questions in there. Let me try to answer them. First of
all, with respect to the U.N. role. If I didn't mention the
U.N., that was an oversight because the U.N., I think, has been
playing quite a helpful coordination role. They've activated
what they call their cluster system.
And when I was in Bishkek, I had several meetings where we
met with the U.N., the U.N. resident representative, the head
of the OSCE, the head of the EU there and many of the key
donors. And they meet on at least a weekly basis and are very
closely coordinated. The Kazakh ambassador is part of that, as
is the Russian ambassador and the Kazakh chairman-in-office
special ambassador also comes in very frequently.
So I think there's very good coordination now in the
international community on this matter. And we intend to keep
that up and, if anything, enhance it now because we've just had
this very important donor's meeting today, which quite a large
amount of money was pledged.
You're recalling from your Haiti experience again. So I
think we'll need to make sure that we remain very tightly
knitted up and that we're not duplicating each other's efforts.
And we intend to do that.
With respect to the Russian role, let me just say that,
again, I think that we have all been very pleased with the good
coordination that we've had with the Russians at many different
levels, starting with the president and President Medvedev, but
also in Bishkek, here in Washington, in Moscow--in many, many
different areas.
And again, we've really made an effort to try to work with
the Russians and I think the Russians have been very
supportive. They have supported this decision to send a police
advisory group. They have supported beefing up the OSCE
presence. So again, I think the Russians have played, on the
whole, a very constructive role. And we welcome that and we're
going to continue to work closely with them.
One of the areas that we have talked about working is the
United States perhaps helping to establish a more accountable
and effective police force. And so that's something the United
States is going to work on and we've sort of taken that on as
something that we're looking at how we might be able to help in
that respect. I think the Russians are going to do something
slightly different, perhaps helping with some of the border
security issues because they've got a lot of expertise in that
area.
And there's, I think, particular concern about the southern
border with Tajikistan and the possibility that some militants
from Afghanistan might try to come up through that border to
try to exploit the situation in Kyrgyzstan. So again, I think
Russian cooperation on that would be very welcome and would
help the Kyrgyz a lot.
With respect to democracy, I just couldn't agree with you
more, Mr. Chairman. I think we have a unique opportunity now to
establish a parliamentary democracy in this country and to
really bring the rule of law and something quite special and
unique in this part of the world. And that's why we're putting
considerable taxpayers' money into this because we think this
is really a significant opportunity. And again, we're working
very closely with the U.N., with the EU and with other donors
to make sure that happens.
Lastly, just let me say with respect to the U.N.--that the
U.N., I think, is going to play an important role in this
investigation that I talked about. There's both the domestic
investigation that will go on and then there'll be an
international investigation that will complement it, led by Mr.
Kiljunen. And he has decided to draw upon the very considerable
resources of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. So
again, I think there'll be an important U.N. role there and
they bring a lot of expertise to bear, as you know, on these
issues.
Mr. Hastings. Right. All of these things come around. I was
just told by the staff director that Jan Kubis is the special
envoy, who used to be the secretary general of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe. And of course, Kimmo
Kiljunen has played a significant role. Mr. Pitts and I know
him. I know Kubis extremely well. But that's another thing that
I would urge the State Department to not ignore.
I appreciate your compliments to the Helsinki Commission.
The staff here does an extraordinary job on staying on top of
things around the sphere of the Helsinki groups. And please
don't ignore us as a source of assistance as you move around.
I had the good fortune of working very actively on the same
desk that you hold now through several of the crises. And I
think that then-assistant secretaries will tell you that from
time to time, I may have had a helpful hand. And I don't mean
that with any suggestion that I hold any keys, but sometimes,
it's good to hear other voices--I can't help but say to you
that I think had I been listened to, we would be in a different
position with Uzbekistan today. I try. And I'll try again--and
again and again--on behalf of our great country.
Toward that end, Mr. Secretary, I thank you. Mr. Pitts, do
you have any additional questions? I thank you so very much--
Mr. Blake. Could I just make one comment about the Helsinki
Commission because again, I really want to thank you for your
engagement--your personal engagement, Mr. Chairman. It really
does make a difference. And believe me, we take very seriously
your advice. And the fact that you are interested and are very
knowledgeable makes a big impact on these five countries that
we're dealing with.
You may know, Mr. Chairman, that we just had our annual
bilateral consultations with Turkmenistan about a month ago.
And I was very happy to have one of your staff, Janice Helwig,
along with us as a member of our delegation. So I hope we can
do that in the future because that was very helpful. And it
sort of underscores, I think, the bipartisan support for many
of the themes that you stress every day in what you do. And I
really appreciate that so I just wanted to say that.
Mr. Hastings. Thank you so very much, Mr. Secretary. It is
deeply appreciated. All right, if our next panel would come
forward--Mr. Anarbaev, Dr. Olcott and Dr. Beshimov--I would
appreciate it.
Okay, if we can just hear from Mr. Anarbaev first, then.
Mr. Anarbaev is the charge d'affaires of the Embassy of the
Kyrgyz Republic, and we're deeply interested in what you have
to say, sir, please.
ARSLAN ANARBAEV, CHARGE D'AFFAIRES, EMBASSY OF THE KYRGYZ
REPUBLIC
Mr. Anarbaev. So Mr. Chair, let me first advise you in a
very brief way about the current political and social situation
in the country, and give a short description of my government's
proactive measures to keep my country in peace and stability.
So the current situation is getting more and more stable
but still remains fragile and shaky due to some objective
potential destabilizing factors. We still have concerns about
interethnic tension and distrust as well as persisting feelings
of revenge and anger in consciousness of those who've suffered
heavily from bloody events.
According to the updated information we just received today
coming from the ministry of public health, as of today, death
loss reached 355; non-identified dead bodies, 184; and about 50
people are still missing. The total number of wounded people
stands for about 1,080. About 2,000 residential houses were
burnt and destroyed.
Anyway, so far, Kyrgyz government has practical control
over the territory of the whole country. Mr. Chair, I'd like to
highlight some points indicating where we are today and what
our government is going to do for the next three months until
we elect a new parliament next October the 10th.
As you well know, we successfully held the referendum on
new constitution, which is actually a good start for further
steps in creation of all legitimate institutions. At this
stage, we have a legitimate president of Kyrgyzstan for the
transitional period as well as the so-called technical
government that would act as executive power until we formulate
the legitimate parliament.
Just recently, we succeeded in approving creation of
national and international investigation commissions on tragic
events in my country. Both investigation teams are of great
importance in terms of building up bases for reconciliation
between the two ethnic communities. And they are also important
for us to answer the main question: why it happened in my
country, and what should be proactively done not to have yet
another terrible, bloody tragedy and dangerous destabilization
in Kyrgyzstan and in the region as a whole.
We also succeeded in inviting OSCE special advisor police
mission to assist national law enforcement bodies in conflict
zones. This is really important for my country with respect to
capacity-building of national law enforcement bodies and
building up bases for reconciliation between the two ethnic
communities and thus to secure stability and peace in my
country.
State of emergencies and curfews are still enforced in
conflict zones, serving as impediments for would-be
destabilization. Kyrgyz government has adopted a national
program on stabilization of social, political and economical
situation. According to each, a number of top-priority tasks
and objectives has been identified for their practical
implementation in the following three months.
Today, as you might know, in Bishkek, we successfully held
the first international high-level donor meeting to address a
support package for Kyrgyzstan. In August, there would be yet
another similar event in Almaty.
My president, Roza Otubaeva, in her statement at the said
high-level donor meeting in Bishkek, highlighted the following
top priorities for short and medium-term domestic sustainable
development. First, political reforms and social development.
Within this track, we will shortly develop and adopt national
program called ``back to democracy,'' which will lay a good
base for restoration of genuine democratic values in
Kyrgyzstan.
Second, conducting parliamentary elections in an open, fair
and peaceful manner. We are committed to be effectively
prepared for holding upcoming parliamentary elections, followed
by legitimization of all governmental agencies and state
bodies.
Three, fight against corruption. Four, restoration of the
fundamental democratic principle, the rule of law. And fifth,
maintenance of competitive economy in my country.
And finally, one of the top priorities in implementing the
plan of proactive measures is ongoing national and
international humanitarian aid activities to the local
population in conflict zones with the focus on providing food,
medical assistance and construction materials so that people
can obtain their new residential houses before winter season
comes. So we are encouraged by international support to restore
and maintain social and economic sustainable development in my
country.
So it's worth noting the role of OSCE in maintenance of
stability in Kyrgyzstan. We do appreciate the role of OSCE in
maintenance of stability in Kyrgyzstan. OSCE along with
international community plays a crucial role in building up
bases for interethnic reconciliation and further reinforcement
of democracy, observance of human rights and the rule of law in
Kyrgyzstan. With this in mind, we count on just recently
approved OSCE decision on deployment of special advisory police
mission in conflict zones in the south of Kyrgyzstan.
We also count on international investigation commission on
events in Osh and Jallal-Abad oblasts under the auspices of
OSCE to investigate and identify the real causes of the said
tragic events with appropriate recommendations for new Kyrgyz
authorities for its further activities in terms of maintenance
of national and regional security.
As well-known OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and
Human Rights was and remains one of the main international
bodies that provides reliable and internationally approved
recommendations for preparations and holding free and peaceful
election campaigns in OSCE countries. Hopefully, our close
cooperation with ODIHR as well as IFES and others will bring
good results in our joint preparatory work for upcoming
parliamentary elections in my country to be held next October
this year.
So I would like to make some short comments on the upcoming
parliamentary elections. Kyrgyzstan attaches great importance
to upcoming parliamentary elections keeping in mind that
democratically elected parliament will serve as starting point
for building up a new system of good governance in the Kyrgyz
Republic.
One of the most important issues relating to preparatory
and conducting elections is to secure personal and public
security in the country. This is a crucial precondition to
successfully hold these really important political events. To
this end, we keep on attracting international assistance that
might be as follows:
First, broad and timely information support for
multinational population at large with focus on displaying
vigilance to would-be provocations and any intentional attempts
to defeat elections at various levels. For this, we might
realize some joint projects. For example, it seems to be
reasonable if we could manage to channel program translation in
the form of appropriate spot advertising and infomercials, as
well as billboards and flyers in the streets.
Second, personal precautions for all participants for
national election campaign. Here, we need some assistance in
support of would-be voluntary people's patrol in conflict
zones, big cities and communities.
And third, with respect to would-be additional consultative
and technical assistance in maintaining stability and peace in
conflict zones, I would suggest to invite a group of experts
from the Office of OSCE High Commissioner on National
Minorities to come and make on the ground some assessment of
our urgent needs and develop a good program and recommendations
for Kyrgyz government on proactive measures for reconciliation
between the two ethnic communities.
Mr. Chairman, you may ask me a question: why Kyrgyzstan has
chosen a parliamentary form of governance? This is still a very
controversial matter, I should say. For Kyrgyzstan, it was
actually an audacious step in the direction of absolutely new
form of governance, full of many unpredictable implications.
But we did not have a choice and I will try to explain you why
we stand for a parliamentary republic.
For the last 19 years of the history of my country, as a
newly independent country after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, we did not succeed in achieving the main goal to build
up a well-balanced system of good governance based on
democratic institutions, justice, public accountability and
transparency of governmental and state agencies.
Instead, we unfortunately have had bad experience with our
two previous presidents who actually concentrated all powers in
their own hands and gave birth to nepotism, high levels of
corruption, poverty and unemployment. So I share the common
conviction that a 19-year experience of our not-successive
presidential form of governance has become a main reason to
change our constitution.
In conclusion, I would like once again to extend my high
appreciation for the U.S. government for its generous help and
support for my country. We are encouraged by ongoing well-
coordinated international efforts to stabilize the current
fragile situation in Kyrgyzstan by means of capacity-building
of law enforcement bodies and other governmental agencies as
well as the civil society sector.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Hastings. Your Excellency, thank you for your wonderful
presentation. Congressman Pitts and I as well as other members
of the commission may very well submit to you questions in
writing. But today, we are operating with votes coming up in
just a few minutes. So we are going to ask our other witnesses
to come forward so that he and I might hear from them. And that
way, you won't have to answer all of the hard questions that we
were going to ask you right now. But seriously, thank you and I
thank the Kyrgyzstan government for your presentation, Mr.
Charge.
Mr. Anarbaev. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Hastings. Thank you. With that in mind, if we could
hear from Dr. Olcott and Mr. Beshimov now. And I urge you all--
you do have written statements--to the extent that you can, if
you would summarize them, it would help us. Mr. Pitts and I are
going to stay through the second bell. We expect it to go off
real soon. But after that, we have to make our way to vote. So
let's begin with you, Dr. Olcott, and ask you to abbreviate as
best you can.
MARTHA OLCOTT, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR
INTERNATIONAL PEACE
Ms. Olcott. I'll try to be very, very fast so that Dr.
Beshimov has some time. Thank you very much for the opportunity
to speak today. And I'd just like to make some brief comments
from my testimony.
The question before us is whether developments in
Kyrgyzstan were the product of a pent-up thirst for democracy
on the part of the population or are they a sign of state
failure? I suggest in my remarks that the reality lies between
the two, which really creates a dilemma and a challenge for
U.S. policymakers in order to find ways to try to rectify the
situations without leading to state failure itself.
Let me just highlight a few points having to do with the
violence in the south, the weakness of the interim government
and what the international community might be able to do to
speak to this.
Why the violence in the south? I think the interim
government has been flawed in several important ways. It lacked
and it continues to lack strong support from many of the
prominent political families in the southern part of the
country where Bakiyev had been strong and has lacked a figure
that can command respect from the country's disparate and
relatively disorganized security forces.
The events in mid-May when there was seizure of government
buildings highlighted these problems. But unfortunately, the
interim government was only able to paper over these tensions
and competition between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups and within
Kyrgyz groups rather than addresses them and failed to create a
strong figure in the security--or, a strong response and modify
the security structure or begin the reform of a security
structure.
The end result is well-known. And as we have heard today,
in the aftermath of the ethnic violence, especially local
groups in local government in Southern Kyrgyzstan have chosen
to make the Uzbeks scapegoats for a lot of this violence, so I
won't stay on this.
While the violence has ended, I think that the leadership,
as I have mentioned, continues to target the Uzbeks in the
south. And unfortunately, the national leadership has de facto
consented to the continued situation in the south, this
continuation of finding blame among the Uzbeks through their
silence on these questions. I'll come back to that at the very
last minute.
Let me just pause on the referendum in the constitution
briefly. The referendum, I think, has not solved the problems
of governance in Kyrgyzstan. They've simply pushed them forward
in time. The parliamentary government--the notion that this
parliamentary system will succeed in providing checks and
balances, I think, is somewhat naive. It could well turn into a
division of the spoils among Kyrgyzstan's leading political
figures. That really will require scrutiny on the part of the
acting president and those who come to power.
The competition over seats in the parliament because they
will form the government is really going to create a real
challenge for ODIHR. It will be critical that these elections
be conducted in the most transparent fashion possible because
of how much is at stake in terms of the election process
itself. Whoever wins will get to try, at least, to form the
government.
So to me, it's not a question of training, as Secretary
Blake said. It's also a question of holding the government
responsible for maintaining transparent elections and to think
about using conditionality of some further assistance if the
government doesn't meet the standards that ODIHR holds before
them.
I think, finally, I think that the challenges before the
current leadership are really considerable. Bakiyev was ousted
because the population was led to believe that their lives were
bad because their leaders were corrupt. There is nothing in the
future scenario that implies that their lives are going to
improve anytime soon.
The donors' conference that was held today has promised
$600 million of assistance this year, which even if it comes
forward, is still less than the budget deficit that the Kyrgyz
government faces for this coming year. The problems that
they're going to face are really severe.
I think that it's impossible to expect the government now
to begin telling the people that they have to do belt-
tightening and expect hard times before the election. But I
think that it's really incumbent upon this committee, the OSCE,
the U.S., more generally, to make sure that a reality check is
held for the Kyrgyz government and that the population begin to
not only learn to live better together in a single state inter-
ethnically but that they realize that it's going to be a slow
recovery period; that they won't even get to where they were
before.
I do think--to highlight the question of a Kazakh
chairmanship), I think that it does give us opportunities to do
more--to do even more with the OSCE than it's done. And I think
that especially the bilateral Kazakh-Kyrgyz economic commission
is really important to serve as a way to stretch and better
target the assistance money that'll be coming forward. Thank
you very much.
Mr. Hastings. Dr. Beshimov, if you will go forward. Joe, if
you have to go, I'll stay another five minutes but then I'll
have to go.
BAKYT BESHIMOV, VISITING SCHOLAR, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY
Mr. Beshimov. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I would
like to thank the entire Helsinki Commission and you,
personally, for positive support of a Kyrgyzstan which today
has a new chance and a history of the Soviet Union to succeed
in democratization.
Therefore, the content of my speech is motivated with a
strong desire to set up a prudent attitude to this situation to
get rid of complacency and really do not miss where you need a
chance to set up the democratic institutions. Therefore, I will
focus my attention to very important points. The written text
of my speech has been distributed therefore I will just mention
a few.
First of all, I would like to argue that it is essential
for us all not to overestimate the referendum of June 23rd as a
step forwards stability for it may not be.
The referendum of June 23rd was a self-legitimizing
initiative of the Interim government. It took place only a week
after the ethnic clashes, when between 100,000 to 400,000
citizens of Kyrgyzstan--mostly ethnic Uzbeks--had been
displaced. Instead of postponing the referendum to focus
squarely on addressing the magnitude of the tragedy, the
interim government used the tragedy to pressure citizens to
approve of the referendum. Members of the interim government
frequently stated, if you are for peace, vote for the
referendum.
This brazen manipulation occurred when most citizens, at
least in the south of Kyrgyzstan, not only couldn't vote but
simply couldn't make an informed decision. We know that even
OSCE, fearing for safety, decided not to send a large observer
mission, limiting to only 36 observers.
Being intimately familiar with politics in Kyrgyzstan, I
can assure you that in the future, some political forces in
Kyrgyzstan will use all these conditions under which the
referendum took place to question the validity of its results
and the legitimacy of the current government.
Yesterday, almost half of the influential parties who are
running for election--they announced their disagreement with
the shift to the parliamentarian system and they announced that
they'll urge the people of Kyrgyzstan to return again to a
presidential system. And knowing this, how can anyone not only
recognize the results of the referendum but also see it as a
step toward stability?
Of course, it's most important for the international
community and very respected and esteemed international
organizations as the OSCE to support the Kyrgyz government
after the referendum. It was the willingness to set up a
positive attitude for the interim government. But it's
important to take into account what happened in our previous
history.
In June 2005, the international community rushed to
congratulate President Bakiyev, who won the presidential
elections in the aftermath of March 2005 coup that violently
overthrew the previous president. Unsurprisingly, Bakiyev then
used his international support to strengthen his power through
fabricated parliamentarian and presidential elections in 2007
and 2009, effectively denigrating the country to a de facto
autocracy.
Still before, Kyrgyzstan's first president, Askar Akaev,
for years enjoyed the support, and almost adulation, of the
international community, which he masterly manipulated to
aggrandize his power and sow the seeds of pervasive instability
in Kyrgyzstan.
I would like to underline what the interim government has
had hence on these ethnic clashes in the south because in the
battle for power after the coup in April, they involved the
ethnic Uzbek community in political struggle. And this
politicization brought Kyrgyzstan to this tragedy. Therefore,
it is important to ask kindly the responsibility of the
provisional government and help them to be accountable before
their citizens.
What happened in June in the south, is a sign that despite
two regime changes in the past five years, the nature of a
ruling class in Kyrgyzstan remains largely unchanged: its
interests, its survival and its enrichment remain far above the
interests of its people. We all know that, that never leads to
democracy or stability.
It's important for me to say about the role of external
powers in Kyrgyzstan. Leaders of both the United States and
Russia suggest that they are pursuing a ``pragmatic
partnership'' in their relations over Kyrgyzstan and Central
Asia as a whole. However, the reality on the ground suggests
that Russia is using this pragmatic partnership as a
smokescreen to continue and intensify its strategy of
reestablishing Central Asia precisely as its zone of privileged
interests.
The people of Kyrgyzstan would hope that while the U.S.
pursues a partnership with Russia and Russia manipulates it,
Kyrgyzstan would not terminally lose its sovereignty nor suffer
intractable instability for years to come.
Mr. Hastings. Doctor, I most regrettably have to proceed to
cast a vote at this time. You did provide us with your written
testimony. I do have a couple of questions and I would--I'll
submit them to you--to you and Dr. Olcott. My deep apologies.
And I'm fond of saying--and the staff gets tired of me hearing
it--it's hard to apologize for working. I'll talk to you. Thank
you. The hearing is closed.
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