Networks, localism and mobilization in Aksy, Kyrgyzstan

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Christoph Zuercher and Jan Koehler for their feedback on earlier drafts, along with their wisdom and witticisms. Support for fieldwork for this article was provided by the US Fulbright Program and the Volkswagen Foundation.

Notes

1. Based on a survey by United Nations Development Program (UNDP), First Early Warning Report at Regional Level: Jalalabad Oblast, 2003. The survey found Aksy Rayon's actual unemployment rate to be 61.7%, compared to 48.8% in Bazar-Korgon, 48.6% in Nooken and 48.5% in Ala-buka Rayons. Further, ‘comparative analysis demonstrates that average annual income in Bazar-Korgon is 23,064 Som, in Nooken – 29,919 Som, in Aksy – 19,162 Som, and in Ala-Buka – 16,596 Som’. Ibid.

2. Ibid.

3. Interview with Akbarali Babakulov, Former Chair of sel sovet, Kara-Jigach AO, 14 April 2004.

4. Emil Alymkulov and Marat Kulatov, ‘Local Government in the Kyrgyzstan Republic’, in Victor Popa, Victor Munteanu and Igor Munteanu, eds, Developing New Rules in an Old Environment: Local Governments in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (Budapest: Open Society Institute, 2002).

5. First Early Warning Report, op cit, Ref 1.

6. See Kathleen Kuehnast and Nora Dudwick, ‘Better a hundred friends than a hundred rubles?’ World Bank Working Paper No 39 (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004).

7. He has yet to defend his dissertation after having completed it several years ago, because it would require going to Bishkek and bribing a committee of 13 professors US$50 each, totalling US$650, which he cannot afford but for which he is saving up.

8. Apparently, even three years before the Aksy events, the community was already politicized, an oddity partially explained by the fact that people universally seem to be long-time listeners of Radio Liberty.

9. Lola Sigaeva, ‘Impeachment v obmen na territorii’, www.gazetasng.ru, 13 May 2002.

10. ‘Summary of the work of the State Committee for Study of the Reasons and Conditions Enabling the Tragic Events of 17 March 2002 …’, General Prosecutor, Jalalabad Oblast, p 7.

11. Ibid, pp 8–10

12. Aksiiski Dnevnik (Bishkek: Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 2002), p 2.

13. Interview, Begimkul Seetkulov, Kara-su AO, 10 April 2004; Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11.

14. Interview, Tabalde Dosbaev, Kizil-too AO, 13 April 2004; Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11, p 11.

15. Interview, Tajimamat Turaliev, Kerben AO, 6 April 2004; Seetkulov, op cit, Ref 12.

16. Interview, Tursunbek Shatmanaliev, Kara-su, 14 April 2004; Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11, p 15.

17. Interview, Janysh Kurbanov, Kara-su, 15 April 2004.

18. Interview, Kadrali Jarakulov, Kara-Jigach, 14 April 2004.

19. Interview, Kurbanov, op cit, Ref 16.

20. While I was there, USAID and UNDP had several ongoing projects, for which communities ‘socially mobilized’ people to work and contribute a share of money for the project. In the single case where people spoke badly of their JB, the JB did not take part in the protests and even denied they happened in my interview with him. Whether people's dislike for him was a cause or effect of his disdain for protests (and admiration of Akaev) is unclear.

21. Interview, Seetkulov, op cit, Ref 12; Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11, p 15. A similar situation, in which the masses took police hostage in exchange for releasing protesters under custody, took place in September. See Respublika newspaper, 10 September 2002.

22. Reported by Jarakulov, ex-teacher and JB, later member of CDB, Kara-Jigach, op cit, Ref 17; Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11, p 21.

23. Including the threat of horsewhipping, mentioned by two sources, Kara-su, 13 April and 19 April 2004.

24. ‘Informatsiya o Situatsyii v Aksiiskom Rayone Jalalabadskoi Oblasti za Period 17–19 Marta 2002 Goda,’ Foundation for Tolerance International (FTI); Sigaeva, op cit, Ref 8, reports 80 injuries.

25. Interviews, Ahmatali Toktonov, Kizil-too, 12 April 2004; Shairbek Imanaliev, Kara-Jigach, 14 April 2004.

26. Interview, Satilgan Sapirbaev, bus driver and later CDB member, Kush-tebe, 17 April 2004.

27. Figures from FTI. Higher figures in the range of 15,000 provided by Svetlana Varavina, Pravo i Lyudi, 5 April 2004; Interview, Seetkulov, op cit, Ref 12.

28. Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11, p 25

29. Interviews, Kurbanov, op cit, Ref 16; Jarakulov, op cit, Ref 17.

30. Interviews, Seetkulov, op cit, Ref 12; Toktogul Tengeberdiev, Kerben, 7 April 2004, Kurbanov, op cit, Ref 16.

31. Aksiiski Dnevnik, op cit, Ref 11, p 24

32. Interview, Jarakulov, op cit, Ref 17.

33. Their demands now included: (1) dropping all charges against Beknazarov; (2) punishing those guilty of the 17 March shooting; and (3) Akaev's resignation.

34. Interview, Kudrat Karimov, Osh, 22 October 2003.

35. One also cannot ignore the fact that when the first protest acts began, namely hunger strikes, gathering signatures and demonstrations, it was winter, when work on the farm was at its low ebb and people had more free time.

36. Adding to his mystique was his work ethic, which earned him the name ‘Ishterman’ (hard-worker) on the kolkhoz. Interview, Turaliev, op cit, Ref 14.

37. According to UNDP, as of 2003, there were 3037 telephone lines installed in the rayon and three villages have no lines, because the cables run through Uzbekistan, the lines were stolen and the authorities will not allow repairmen to replace them. First Early Warning Report, op cit, Ref 1.

38. Interview, Kara-su, 11 April 2004.

39. Interviews, Raihan Bagishbaeva, Kashka-su, 18 April 2004, Babakulov, op cit, Ref 2.

40. Interview, Bagishbaeva, op cit, Ref 38.

41. Unfortunately nobody kept statistics on how many people participated from each AO; estimates are based on author's interviews.

42. According to committee member Seetkulov, two CDB members were women. Another protestor estimates 30% of the total leadership were women, Interview, Turali Subankulov, Kara-su, 11 April 2004.

43. Interviews, Tahir Hamdamov, Kerben, 5 April 2004; Sadakul Jashaeva, Kara-su, 15 April 2004.

44. Interview, Jarakulov, op cit, Ref 17.

45. Many assumed that the Aksy events had made news worldwide and were widely known in America.

46. Alisher Hamidov, ‘Kyrgyzstan's unrest linked to clan rivalries’, Eurasianet.org, 5 June 2002. For a clan-based argument on Central Asian politics, see Kathleen Collins, ‘The political role of clans in Central Asia’, Comparative Politics, Vol 35, No 2, January 2003, pp 171–190.

47. On tribes, clans, and their politicization, see Pauline Jones Luong, Institutional Change and Political Continuity in Post-Soviet Central Asia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), ch 3.

48. A (very believable) rumour has it that Beknazarov's supporters in Aksy gathered money to purchase his seat in parliament so that he would represent them; therefore they had a personal stake in his remaining a deputy and an interest in getting him out of prison.

49. See ‘Kyrgyzstan's political crisis: an exit strategy,’ International Crisis Group, 20 August 2002.

50. Chris Shore and Stephen Nugent, eds, Elite Cultures: Anthropological Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2002).

51. Interview, Rashibek Arstanbekov, Kizil-too, 12 April 2005.

52. See Pauline Jones Luong, ‘Central Asia's contribution to theories of the state’, in Pauline Jones Luong, ed, The Transformation of Central Asia (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004).

53. Specific cases related by residents of Kara-su, 15 and 18 April 2004, Kizil-too, 15 April 2004 and Kara-Jigach, 14 April 2004. No such dynamic took hold in the southern AOs Kerben, Kashka-su, Kush-tebe.

54. Reported by Kurbanov, op cit, Ref 16; Seetkulov, op cit, Ref 12; Turaliev, op cit, Ref 14.

55. From author's fieldwork in Jalalabad, Osh and Bishkek in April–May, 2005.