Insight

Kyrgyzstan’s ‘tulip revolution’

By Ainagul Abdrakhmanova
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
03-31-2005

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — While it remains unclear exactly how the overthrow of President Askar Akaev will eventually play out, local residents of the capital are already expressing shock and dismay at the looting and arson that accompanied the coup. Some have suggested that the lawlessness could have been incited by figures from the old regime that wanted to create havoc before they left. On the night after Akaev’s hasty exit, crowds could be seen ransacking and burning supermarkets, boutiques, currency-exchange offices and even hairdressing salons. Some took the opportunity to try on the latest in Italian designer footwear stolen from high-priced shops. Young girls could be seen struggling to drag away computer equipment. Older women greedily looted packs of macaroni from ransacked supermarkets. Some of the attacks appear to have been directly aimed at shopping malls controlled by members of Akaev’s family, and people were heard justifying the robbery as reprisals against Akaev, his relatives and associates. But many smaller businesses were also vandalized, including small shops, restaurants, Internet cafes, currency-exchange offices and automatic cash machines. A late-night attack on a Hyatt hotel in the capital was repelled only with the help of young opposition supporters. Despite the widespread disorder, few casualties have been reported since the coup. The health ministry reported two fatalities, one from a gunshot wound and the other from a stabbing. Local media, meanwhile, reported that around 360 people had been injured. A surgeon at a Bishkek clinic, who declined to give her name, said that most of the people she had treated “were injured while attempting to protect their property. People have come in with broken bones, major bruising and skull trauma. We are totally shocked.” With law-enforcement officials nowhere to be seen, national television has been asking citizens to form ad hoc militias to keep order. Many regular police have put on civilian clothes out of concern for their own safety. Still, many in the opposition believe the widespread looting may have been an attempt by the ousted regime to discredit what has become known as the “ “tulip revolution.” “It’s (Akaev) revenge on Kyrgyzstan,” said an opposition figure who declined to give his name. “At the end, he wanted to drive us to marauding and discord so that people would start killing each other. He hired local bandits and sent them to his own commercial property, since they don’t belong to him any more.” Others expressed hope that order would return as the opposition found its footing. Over the weekend, a few police in riot gear could be seen guarding key locations in the capital. Ultimately, the heavy rain and strong winds that swept the city over the weekend may have done more to cool down the disturbances than any contingent of police ever could. Ainagul Abdrakhmanova is the program coordinator in Bishkek for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Write him at the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street, London N1 9LH, U.K.