Book 1.indb - The Jamestown Foundation

The Tulip Revolution: Kyrgyzstan OneYear After
and looting to interrupt peaceful demonstrations. Many experts and politicians, in-
cluding acting foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva and NGO leader Edil Baisalov,
believe these charges. According to them, on March 24 groups of aggressive provocateurs
armed with stones and metal debris attacked demonstrators on the main
square in Bishkek to provoke a fight. The government had hoped to end the protests
with mass arrests after demonstrators and provocateurs clashed. According to
Res publica, the “spontaneous demonstrators” arrived armed with stones collected
from the outskirts of Bishkek and improvised metal bludgeons. It follows that
Akayev’s government foresaw the March 24 protests in Bishkek, as anti-revolutionary
actions were prepared in advance. However, the attack on the White House
on the first day was not anticipated either by the opposition or the government.
Ordinary citizens are trying to understand what the revolution means
to them personally and, more importantly, to decide how they will vote in the
upcoming presidential election. There are some supporters of the previous re-
gime, mostly in Bishkek, who feel nostalgia for the Akayev
era, saying it was
a stable existence, without lootings or spontaneous appropriations of land by
peasants. Uncertainty about the future has become the main reason for the rapidly
increasing exodus of ethnic Russians. Others say that the true revolution
has not materialized yet, so far only a mere shuffle of political figures has taken
place. The revolution, according to this view, will be evident when the government
is no longer suspected of corruption and the economy begins to prosper.
High political standards and economic efficiency are a tall order for a new
government. But it is yet unclear who will be next president in Kyrgyzstan. Felix
Kulov is the most popular figure across the entire country, gaining over 50 percent
in Internet polls. On April 25 Kulov announced that he would enter the presidential
race. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev polls about 20 percent, but has formed
a coalition government in the past month. According to Omurbek Tekebayev, the
speaker of parliament, “On July 10 we are choosing not only a new person, but a new
era of Kyrgyzstan.”
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