Some articles appearing in Kyrgyzstan's media these days are hateful and obnoxious. But then sometimes there are views that are so barking mad as to tip from intolerant to plain ludicrous. The problem is, in Kyrgyzstan's tense environment, delusion and denial could foment more unrest.
Step forward political "expert" Talant Razzakov, who was interviewed by AKIpress news agency about the independent international report into the ethnic bloodshed in Osh last summer.
Clearly disappointed with not finding enough to be disgruntled with, Razzakov has compromised it by simply concocting patent nonsense about a nebulous first draft of the Kyrgyz Inquiry Commission (KIC) report released May 3.
KIC team leader Kimmo Kiljunen categorically stated that there was no qualification for describing the violence in Osh as a genocide, but Razzakov claims that terminology was in fact used in the initial version of the report: "I have read the first printed version and the main idea was like that. But then members of the commission denied that they had written the report."
Several weeks ago, mere rumors the word had been used by foreigners to describe the tragedy drew a a protest outside the parliament and the UN.
Without letting a lack of evidence or facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory, Razzakov then tries to draw a specious link between "Hour of the Jackal," an elusive publication that purportedly alleges genocide was committed against ethnic Uzbeks, and Kiljunen. "Hour of the Jackal" has supposedly been published in Finland, where Kiljunen comes from, he points out.
Razzakov was once deputy head of the National Security Committee's department for fighting terrorism under former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, which should give you some inkling as to the kind of official employed under that regime.
The fact that Razzakov's views were solicited points to a worrying tendency among Kyrgyzstan's media.
Scanning local news agencies' output reveals a practice of selectively reporting the Osh events in a way that appears to lighten the burden of guilt on ethnic Kyrgyz attackers.
That happened when Human Rights Watch published their investigation last year, when local media picked on passages that supposedly laid the blame on Uzbeks for sparking the violence. One AKIpress story citing HRW was headlined: "There Is No Evidence of a Genocide of Ethnic Uzbeks by the Authorities," as though that were the primary theme of the report.
Likewise, a headline about the international report quoted Kiljunen as saying that under international law no genocide took place. You had to read the piece itself to learn about the more damning finding that crimes against humanity may have taken place in Osh.
To be clear, there were many ethnic Kyrgyz casualties in Osh, a fact it would be wrong to forget and that has been reflected in the much-attacked international reports.
Even so, some observers insist on arguing that a frank assessment of the facts will precipitate unrest. For example, on May 4, Asaba Party leader Salmoorbek Dyikanov was surprisingly cited by 24.kg news agency as saying that "Kyrgyz youth [was] guilty of the tragedy," but also as arguing that the KIC report could foment renewed ethnic tensions.
Burying history failed to avoid a repetition of the terrible ethnic bloodshed that hit the southern town of Uzgen in 1990. Why does anybody think that burying their heads in sand will do any good this time?
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