KYRGYZSTAN Zhaparov represses those who oppose the exchange of territories with Uzbekistan

Protests over the transfer of the Kempir-Abad reservoir to the Uzbeks. The Kyrgyz president wants to close a front to concentrate on the border conflict with Tajikistan. Activists accuse him of using the nationalist card to silence opponents. Those who denounce cases of corruption are also in the spotlight.

Moscow () – The transfer to Uzbekistan of the strategic Kempir-Abad reservoir, near Osh, has led to numerous protests in Kyrgyzstan over the last month. As a consequence, a very tense climate has been generated that seemed overcome in a country that has always been marked by different social turmoil. President Sadyr Zhaparov wants to curb nationalist impulses – the same ones that brought him to the top of power in January 2021 – with even more radical methods than his predecessors.

The persecution of activists who oppose the transfer of border territories is turning into a campaign of oppression of political opponents and the free press. This risks plunging Kyrgyz society back into chaos. In recent weeks, the authorities have arrested 26 people, who will remain in prison for at least two months, and attacked several media outlets.

These measures triggered a large protest demonstration, on October 24, in Bishkek and Osh, to demand the release of political prisoners and freedom of expression for journalists, as well as to clarify the Kempir-Abad agreement.

In dialogue with Azattyk, a contributor to the Carnegie Fund, Temur Umarov, confirms that “Kyrgyzstan is becoming an increasingly authoritarian country, and all of Zhaparov’s decisions, both in domestic and foreign policy, seem to be aimed solely at reinforcing his power to the maximum.” Even the border agreement with Uzbekistan, announced in early October, is an outrageous card in the hands of the president, considering that he himself spent three years in prison before becoming the idol of the crowds.

Zhaparov’s supporters carried him to the pinnacle of power by basing himself on two fundamental demands: the right to own land and opposition to foreign claims to Kyrgyzstan’s resources. On the other hand, the agreement signed on November 3 with the Uzbeks was intended to guarantee the normalization of relations with Tashkent. In the framework of the border conflict with Tajikistan, now it is a matter of reconciling this demand with the popular protests.

The government insists on defending the agreement, alleging that it is actually very advantageous for Kyrgyzstan, which in exchange for the basin obtains 15,000 square kilometers of territory hitherto controlled by the Uzbeks. The Kempir-Abad waters will be jointly managed and both countries will have access to water resources for agricultural and social purposes.

The press continues to demand the publication of all the documents, and attacks the president’s main collaborator, the head of the National Security Committee (GKNB) Kamchybek Tashiyev, responsible for managing the entire operation, which is not very transparent.

The social conflict is aggravated as the economic crisis deepens, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the growing tensions with Moscow -partly as a consequence of the conflict with Tajikistan in September, which left around a hundred victims.

Zhaparov raised himself as a defender of Kyrgyz sovereignty, achieving a consensus of just under 80%, and with this he believed that he could act in an increasingly less scrupulous and authoritarian manner. However, there is now a growing perception of the president’s difficulty in facing all the challenges together, as many commentators note. In this regard, they also recall the scandals related to the fate of the profits from the Kumtor gold mine. A court recently acquitted journalist Bolot Temirov, who was arrested in January after accusing Tashiyev of dividing money from state contracts among his family and accusing the GKNB of spreading false reports. Now the General Prosecutor’s Office has filed an appeal against the court, and the matter risks becoming a new trap for Zhaparov himself.