In Support of Kyrgyzstan’s Democracy

Mr President, Baroness,

I think none of us can fail to be sympathetic to the people of Krygyzstan for the recent suffering they have endured: 2,000 dead in rioting, 400,000 people displaced, mainly from the Uzbek community, placing an enormous pressure on Uzbekistan. This is ‘an immense crisis’, in the words of the Red Cross. This country is already the poorest and smallest of the former Soviet republics and it is tragic for a country that aspires so earnestly for parliamentary democracy to be in this kind of state. Indeed the triggers seem to have been the constitutional changes that they wish to aspire to. It is also one of the few Muslim nations in the world to be headed up by a woman (let’s that Iran follows shortly). This lady, Rosa Otunbayevat, is the first president of an ex-Communist Central Asian Country, and good for her.

So, all democratic nations should be doing all they can to support an aspiring parliamentary democracy of this sort but it is swimming in a sea of powerful, autocratic neighbours, and with the ever-present threat of radical Islam on its borders. This nation is a bulkhead of democracy and deserves our support. I fear that it has become a pawn in larger power games: it is now part of the Shanghai Co-operation organisation, which China and Russia use to dominate the central Asian land mass, and whose agenda should be regarded with some suspicion. China and Russia have incentives to destabilise the country to threaten the presence of an American Airbase there as well, with covert backing of opposition forces. May I conclude by saying that all democratic nations should support this brave aspiring but deeply troubled nation.

Thank you.

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