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Former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Evan Feigenbaum: â€œIt is tragedy that Manas base have become a sold thing when they talk about the baseâ€ - INTERVIEW

09 April 2010 09:09 (UTC +04:00)

Washington. Isabel Levine-APA. APAâ€™s Washington correspondentâ€™s interview with Evan A. Feigenbaum, former deputy assistant Secretary of State for Central Asia, who currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington DC

- It has been five years since long-term Kyrgyz leader Askar Akaev was ousted during the Tulip revolution and Kurmanbek Bakiev assumed the presidency, further entrenching the cronyism and corruption for which his predecessor was overthrown. Now it is Bakievâ€™s turn to flee, as a bloody showdown ends with the opposition claiming power. What is the next step for Kyrgyzstan, and what can the temporary government really offer? What challenges will the new government face?

- We have a situation where the Government hopefully will restore and maintain the situation that can back-up democratic government to the country. The most important thing, I think is refocusing on some economic, social and fundamental things that have really got lost in Kyrgyzstan, recent years. This has been a country that was just reset by a political maneuver and this is a really stand up the government this point that to take a point of economic development of social points. Hopefully what comes out of this is order and democracy, better governance, especially, economic and social governments

- Some analysts believe that many Kyrgyz citizens feel betrayed by Bakievâ€™s government. Does this mean that there was no "revolution" in 2005? If the country is returning to semi-authoritarianism, can we say that any revolution took place at all? Why did the riots start exactly now?

- People need economical and social development. I think those things have largely been ignored and thatâ€™s one reason what people are so angry. A lot of these protests were spontaneous. And that what raced the degree of anger â€“ not respecting the peopleâ€™s needs.

- What is the influence of the key countries on the situation? What will it all mean for Washington, with whom Bishkek has had rocky and wavering relations over the use of the Manas military base for its operations in Afghanistan? Is there any concern about the Manas base?

- Iâ€™m not concerned in the near time about Manas Airbase. I wouldnâ€™t expect that instrument would most quickly to have the US removed the base. The base has been a source for concern in US Kyrgyzstan relations for quite some time. We have an expression in American English â€“ itâ€™s a political football. There have been accidents, incidents â€“ including shooting incidents. I expect it may become a subject to political controversy again. But I would expect that United States and Kyrgyzstan romance would go through that. And ultimately we have been called a transit center rather than a base now. But the bigger issue now is that unfortunately, the base of Manas has become the public face of the US in Kyrgyzstan and I understand why that is the case, but this is unfortunate because the US does a lot of other things in Kyrgyzstan except the base.

- What kind of things do you mean?

- They have drug control programs, economic development, corruption fight programs, American University of Central Asia and other things except the base. Hopefully, whatever happens in Kyrgyzstan there will be a kind of discussion, that dispute any kind of political conflict they will allow the base to remain. But I also hope that the public face of the US in Kyrgyzstan will become a lot more differentiated. It is tragedy that the base has become a sold thing when they talk about the base.