RIA Novosti, Russia

2005-03-29 14:17

EXPERT: KYRGYZ REVOLUTION TASTES LIKE OPIUM

MOSCOW, March 29 (RIA-Novosti) – According to Nikolai Bordyuzha, the
secretary general of the Collective Security Council Organization (CSTO)
including Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan),
CSTO leaders had the necessary levers to influence the situation in
Kyrgyzstan ahead of the revolution, Izvestia reported.

Bordyuzha personally offered ousted President Askar Akayev consultations
with CSTO representatives to prevent pillage and lawlessness in the country.
The CSTO had no plans to keep Akayev in power to push a revolution. However,
Akayev said that the situation was still within the norm and thought it
premature to engage the CSTO.

“We can see the result – a revolution that, among other things, tastes like
opium,” Bordyuzha said.

The local administration office was already burning in Osh in southern
Kyrgyzstan. Yet, Akayev believed he could solve the problem. He might have
thought that if he had agreed to use the CSTO, it would have meant
acknowledging his own weakness. However, he did consult the EU and the U.S.
ambassadors.

“Perhaps, some of them were against assisting us,” he said.

The masses were the driving force behind the democratic opposition’s coup.
The opposition included two forces, one of them participated in the
presidential race last autumn, and the other, from Osh and from outside
Bishkek, went to destroy the offices of the government agencies and loot
local businesses.

But most alarming, Bordyuzha said, is what is happening in Osh where the
presence of “the drug mafia is very strong”. He believes that the Islamic
terrorist organization, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, “is working hard” in the region.

Bordyuzha said coordinated efforts are needed to prevent the drug cartel’s
spread to CSTO countries, noting that Article 2 of the Collective Security
Treaty provides for immediate consultations in case of escalation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress