"Kyrgyzstan: time to honour our commitments"
Jordi Vaquer,
Director of CIDOB
June 15th, 2010 / Opinión CIDOB núm 77
News from Southern Kyrgyzstan is getting worse and worse. As the world
tries to figure out what to make of the revolution that overthrew the
government headed by Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and that was born out of the
‘Tulip revolution’ - Central Asia’s own democratic revolution - the
situation in the South of the country is deteriorating rapidly.
Agitation by Bakiyev loyalists in the Kyrgyz areas of the Fergana Valley
seem to be descending rapidly into all-out ethnic violence, mainly
targeting the Uzbek minority community. As the new government struggles
to consolidate its position, Kyrgyzstan may be nearing the brink of
collapse, with potentially huge regional implications.
The new government’s leader, Roza Otunbayeva, has publicly called on
Russia to help re-establish peace and security in the south of the
country. (...)
The crisis in Kyrgyzstan might very well prove a timely opportunity for
the European Union to take an important step in its relations with
Russia. (...)
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