On top of Kyrgyzstan's crime problem, a military exercise nearly got out of control as well. The exercise was originally to have been conducted by unarmed troops outside the parliament building. But just before the exercise, the parliament ordered the Defense Ministry’s main communication directorate to vacate its offices within the parliament building because they were $12,500 behind in paying their electrical bill. So, in a show of strength, the military held an armed exercise instead to remind the government that they could stage another revolution.
Parliament has called for the prosecution of General Zamirbek Moldoshev, who led the exercise. The General downplayed the whole situation and said it was only an exercise.
U.S. diplomats got in trouble the second week in July. The Kyrgyz government claimed that the two diplomats had “inappropriate” contact with non-government organizations (NGOs). The U.S. government responded that this was just a signal to Western countries not to promote democratic reform within this region of the world.
On Aug. 9, the Kyrgyzstan government announced that it would defy international law and extradite five Uzbeks who had been granted refugee status by the United Nations. The Uzbeks were part of the Andijan protest that turned into a massacre by the Uzbek government in May 2005. The U.S. and EU have both condemned the extradition.
Despite all these problems, the EU still had words of praise for the Kyrgyzstan government since the Tulip Revolution overthrew the previous regime. "We [understand] the difficult situation which currently [the] Kyrgyz Republic is facing and welcome the earnest efforts of Kyrgyz authorities to address the problems such as widespread corruption and organized crime," the statement read. But privately, EU officials say that there is a world of difference between the democratic revolutions of Georgia and Ukraine, compared to Kyrgyzstan.
Only time will tell whether true democracy will come to this country that is currently overrun by criminal gangs.
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