Turkish Daily News
March 26 2005
Putin says ready to work with Kyrgyz opposition
Saturday, March 26, 2005
YEREVAN – Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he was ready to
cooperate with the Kyrgyz opposition and would not object if ousted
Kyrgyz leader Askar Akayev sought refuge in Russia.
Putin, on a visit in Armenia, also said he hoped the Kyrgyz
opposition would soon have the situation under the control.
“We know these people (the opposition) pretty well and they have
done quite a lot to establish good relations between Russia and
Kyrgyzstan,” Putin told reporters. “For its part, Russia will do its
best to keep up the current level of relations between the states and
improve relations between the people.”
Considerable problems:The chairman of Europe’s leading security
organization said on Friday in Pridtina there are considerable
problems with establishing order and power structures in Kyrgyzstan.
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
Chairman-in-office Dimitrij Rupel said the organization does not
favor any party following the ouster of Akayev.
“My information tells me that there are of course some considerable
problems with establishing order and power structures in Kyrgyzstan,”
said Rupel, who is also a Slovenia’s foreign minister.
“I think that the signs that we have been receiving from Kyrgyzstan
are clear enough,” he said. “Kyrgyzstan wants to reach a state of
democratic, fully operational, viable and prosperous country.”
Rupel made the comments following a meeting with Kosovo’s Prime
Minister Bajram Kosumi. He is on a one-day visit to this disputed
U.N. run province, where he also met with the President Ibrahim
Rugova.
EU urges Kyrgyz people to behave responsibly :The European Union
urged Kyrgyz citizens on Friday to avoid violence and restore law
following a quick coup, in which the opposition seized power in the
former Soviet republic.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana made the appeal after
discussing the situation in the impoverished Asian country with
officials of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), Solona’s spokeswoman said.
“The high representative strongly appealed to the people of
Kyrgyzstan to behave responsibly, to ease restoration of law and
order throughout the country and to refrain from violence and
looting,” Cristina Gallach said.
Solana’s cautious reaction contrasted with a statement made by the
European Parliament’s socialist group, which welcomed “the opening of
the path to democracy in the country after the opposition took
control of Akayev’s palace.
“We now call for engagement by the European Union in stabilising
the democratic process in the country and we hope that this will be
done in a peaceful context,” the group’s vice president, Jan Marinus
Wiersma, said in a statement.
“After Georgia and Ukraine, this is another example of people
claiming their democratic rights. This is an ongoing process in that
part of the former Soviet Union,” he added.