When in doubt, blame the foreigners.
Unable to admit Kyrgyzstan’s recent chaos is the product of unaddressed socioeconomic grievances, corruption and warlordism, officials and self-described patriots are blaming international organizations for nearly every one of the country’s seemingly insurmountable list of problems.
For example, Deputy Prime Minister Azimbek Beknazarov last week said international organizations could not be trusted as many of their Osh-based staff are ethnic Uzbek. Such naked chauvinism nourishes nationalist paranoiacs who believe the world is collaborating with Uzbeks in a conspiracy against the Kyrgyz nation. Beknazarov said a planned 52-strong deployment of unarmed OSCE police advisors should be cancelled because they could not be impartial.
On August 13, Beknazarov’s office lashed out at the conclusions of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights. Yep, the UN’s OHCHR too says the Uzbeks were the primary target of the June violence.
“Representatives of international organizations have lost credit among the people,” political analyst Orozbek Moldaliev told 24.kg, explaining why “patriots” – apparently including himself – are against the OSCE advisors.
“Such organizations as Doctors Without Borders violated ethics by saying that Uzbeks don’t have access to medical treatment. That is why nobody trusts international organizations now,” Moldaliev added, complaining about Kyrgyzstan’s tarnished international image.
(Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders said many Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan are afraid to seek medical treatment.)
The censure and accusations are likely to grow more heated. Today, Human Rights Watch will release a report saying Kyrgyz officials continue to arbitrarily arrest and torture ethnic Uzbeks.
For some the report will fortify the maudlin idea that Kyrgyzstan has lost an “information war,” as if it is being singled out at a global show trial. Some now wish to see international organizations (read: anyone daring to suggest that Uzbeks have suffered disproportionately in southern Kyrgyzstan) the target of a new investigation, distracting from the need for an independent investigation into the atrocities.
“Non-governmental organizations are financed from abroad and it is not improbable that they were given a command. It is necessary to conduct an investigation and they have to be held liable at the highest international courts,” said Marat Dzumanazarov, leader of the “Kyrgyz National Movement”, which is raising a nationalist base on its frequent anti-OSCE statements. Dzumanazarov has blamed “separatists” (i.e. Uzbeks) for the June violence. Another member of Dzumanazarov’s movement has also called for foreign media to be held “accountable” for their reporting on the ethnic violence.
It's getting so bad that international aid workers in Osh fear for their safety in this maelstrom of anger. That's a development likely to stall restriction and frighten off talent, let alone obstruct the disbursement of that billion dollars in aid.
But so far no one is complaining about the internationals carrying all that money.
David Trilling is Eurasianet’s managing editor.
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