The Tulip Revolution

Fire of Liberty

The people of the tiny Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan are practicing their own revolution against the kleptocracy/autocracy of President Akayev and his minions. In the same manner that the people of Ukraine went to the streets the people of Kyrgyzstan have opted for a campaign of freedom due to voting fraud in two recent parliamentary elections. In the most recent run-off election on March 13th, the opposition party was predicted to win about 25 seats but they only won some 6 seats in the 75 member parliament. You normally have such a showing in a nation this small especially when the various members of the parliament is either related or friends with President Akayev. I guess when you've been president for some 15 years without an opposing candidate to run against you. Even worse, the OSCE(Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) as well as the US have called the results of both elections were well short of democratic standards.

Such an mass usurpation of the people's rights have prompted several demonstrations throughout the nation. In particular, based on this article in The Times there were some 3,000 demonstrators staged a massive sit-in for the second day in a government building in Talas as well as the 10,000 people who stormed the government building in Uzgen where they forced election officials to admit voter fraud and declare the opposing candidate the winner. Just look at what the The Times has to say:

"We will not back off on our demand that Akayev must resign," Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a former Prime Minister and now an opposition leader, told the crowd. "Akayev, go," demonstrators responded, even though they were surrounded by riot police and soldiers.

Mr Bakiyev plans to run in a presidential election in October, but he failed to win a seat in parliament in the second round. Several other opposition leaders, including Rosa Otunbayeva, a former ambassador to Britain, were blocked from running in either round because they had been living overseas.

I hope the Tulip Revolution has the same results that the Orange and Rose Revolution had in Ukraine and George but I think the current President is planning to take a more hardline stance than the wiser heads in Eastern Europe. After reading this report on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, I think you'd be concerned. See for yourself:

President Akaev was coy in his comments to "Rossiya," a state-run network that has provided friendly coverage to the Kyrgyz president throughout first-round and second-round elections on 27 February and 13 March, respectively. In a reference to events in Ukraine, correspondent Andrei Kondrashov asked Akaev, "Why didn't the Orange Revolution, which so many spoke of as a threat, succeed in Kyrgyzstan?" Akaev replied, "We carefully studied and drew appropriate lessons from the orange and rose revolutions. I'll tell you right now that we've developed our own vaccine, an antivirus, so to speak. I can't reveal its essence today, since there are still presidential elections in October. If I reveal it, the opposition could use it. But I feel that we've discovered an antidote to the 'tulip' revolution that they planned in our country."

I just hope the antidote doesn't involve a Tiananmen Square style crack-down with bullets and harsh jail sentences. Good luck you Tulip revolutionaries, freedom is hard won. Also, check out this Leader in The Times.