Kyrgyzstan: Ulterior Motive for RFE/RL, BBC Shutdown?

The Kyrgyz government has been widely condemned for withdrawing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) broadcasting rights and halting transmissions of the British Broadcasting Corporation's Kyrgyz-language radio service.

BBC programs were cut on December 6. Radio Azattyk, the Kyrgyz-language arm of the US-funded RFE/RL, has been unable to transmit since October 8. Two prime-time television news shows produced by Azattyk, "Inconvenient Questions" and the youth-oriented "Azattyk Plus," have also disappeared from the schedule.

Observers say the move heralds a new low for President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's increasingly authoritarian administration. The government is running scared of public opinion as it lurches from one emergency to the next, they say, and the suspension of BBC and RFE/RL programs is a blatant attempt to stifle debate as the country slides deeper into crisis.

Melis Eshimkanov, head of the Kyrgyz National Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation, has accused RFE/RL of running up service bills of $57,000, a charge which the Prague-based broadcaster strenuously denies. In the case of the BBC, a failure to upgrade radio equipment in line with contractual obligations was cited.

Joanna Levison, a senior media advisor with RFE/RL, said in an interview with EurasiaNet that repeated attempts to engage with the Kyrgyz government were either ignored or rebuffed, and that RFE/RL now believes that the decision to pull them from the airwaves was a political one.

"This was a unilateral decision taken by the government, one that was made above our heads and without warning," Levison said. "We've asked ourselves many times why this has happened. We've traced the bills we are supposed [to] not have paid and have evidence of payment and of receipt. We made the payments and no money has been returned our bank account."

Attempts to secure meetings with government officials, including President Bakiyev, have so far failed, she continued. " We wanted to send negotiators last week, but in the end didn't because no one would agree to meet with them."

Levison said RFE/RL was deeply frustrated by the situation but was still "considering" sending two negotiators to Bishkek later this week if definite meetings could be made with either Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Eshimkanov or Medet Sadyrkulov, Bakiyev's chief advisor. However, she added that the reluctance of the Kyrgyz authorities to rectify the situation has prompted RFE/RL to assume that an ulterior motive exists for the delay.

"If it was a purely contractual issue, we could sort this out and get back to business," Levison added. "But we have to assume this decision was political. They must see RFE/RL as an irritant and inconvenient, and the government doesn't appreciate open expression or discussion," she said.

Kyrgyz National Television and Radio Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Eshimkanov could not be reached for response.

The BBC said on December 8 that it had received no explanation for the suspension of its FM programming in both the Russian and Kyrgyz languages, but that negotiations were ongoing. "We are making inquiries into the situation and will endeavor to reinstate our services to listeners as soon as possible," a statement said.

Paul Quinn-Judge, the Bishkek-based Central Asia project director for the International Crisis Group, said the suspension of the highly popular broadcasts is a crude attempt to limit the amount of independent information available to citizens, and a tactic typical of a weak government in times of duress.

"My gut feeling is that it reflects the current insecurity of the regime as it moves more and more into an energy crisis. The next step will be an economic crisis and perhaps next year, I stress perhaps, they fear some form of domestic unrest in response to and as a reaction to these crisis," Quinn-Judge said. [For details, see the Eurasia Insight archive.]

"This is a small government," Quinn Judge continued. "I very much doubt that this decision is the work of a junior official, so it's my strong suspicion that on an issue like this -- which has reverberations with the international community, especially with governments that are friendly to the Kyrgyz, such as the US and UK -- the decision was taken at a high level," he added.

Government officials could not be reached for response.

Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan's troubled media environment has been contracting at a rapid pace. Radio Pyramida, a popular local station will stop broadcasting on January 1, 2009, and the country's largest and most respected newspaper, Vecherniy Bishkek, a Russian-language daily, has shut all of its regional offices.

Earlier this year another Russian language paper, Russkaya Gazeta, closed down, and De Facto, a Kyrgyz language opposition paper with a weekly circulation of 25,000, was shut after a protracted legal battle with the government.