Q&A: Kyrgyzstan

Where is Kyrgyzstan?

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked central Asian republic. It borders China to the east, Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and Tajikistan to the south. It is home to both Russian and US military bases.

What is its history?

The earliest notable residents of what is now Kyrgyzstan were warrior tribes of Saka from about the sixth century BC to the fifth century AD. The region was under the control of various Turkic alliances from the sixth to the 10th centuries, and was the scene of a pivotal battle in 751, when the Turks and their Arab and Tibetan allies drove a large Tang Chinese army out of central Asia.

In 1685 the Mongols drove vast numbers of Kyrgyz south into present-day Tajikistan, and when the Mongols were defeated, the Kyrgyz became de facto subjects of the Chinese, who mainly left them to their nomadic ways. The 19th century saw Russia close in, taking Tashkent in 1865. A Kyrgyz revolt in 1916 was heavily put down by the Russian army, and the country became a full Soviet republic in 1936.

Elections were held to the Kyrgyz supreme Soviet in February 1990, with the Kyrgyz Communist party (KCP) walking away with nearly all the seats. After multiple ballots, Askar Akayev, a physicist, was installed as a compromise president. In August 1991, the Kyrgyz supreme Soviet reluctantly voted to declare Kyrgyzstan's independence.

What has happened since the fall of the Soviet Union?

Six weeks after independence, Akayev was re-elected president, running unopposed and he has ruled the country ever since. By the end of 1991, Kyrgyzstan had joined the Commonwealth of Independent States. In May 1993, a brand new constitution dispensed with the last structural vestiges of the Soviet era.

Has Akayev been a good president?

Akayev established himself as a stubborn reformer by restructuring the executive apparatus to suit his liberal political and economic attitudes and instituting reforms considered to be the most radical in the central Asian republics. His economic programme got a solid popular vote of confidence in a referendum in 1994 and again in early 1995 elections.

Since then, though, the president has tarnished his reputation. He has tinkered with the constitution, staged elections condemned as unfair by international observers, intimidated political opponents, won himself lifelong immunity from prosecution and lost his reforming zeal.

By 2000, the country had slipped from being a pacesetter of transformation to stagnant backwater and Akayev's standing hit a low point in 2002, when police killed six demonstrators who were protesting against the arrest of an opposition politician.

What about the country's economy?

Kyrgyzstan is a poor, mountainous country with a predominantly agricultural economy. Cotton, tobacco, wool and meat are the main agricultural products, although only tobacco and cotton are exported in any quantity. Industrial exports include gold, mercury, uranium as well as natural gas and electricity. The country has been fairly progressive in carrying out market reforms, such as an improved regulatory system and land reform, and it was the first of the former Soviet states to be accepted into the World Trade Organisation.

What has prompted the recent unrest?

In the run-up to parliamentary elections at the end of February, several independent newspapers and radio stations were shut down and many opposition politicians were barred from standing, leading to fears that Akayev was planning to install a pliant parliament that would change the constitution and enable him to stand for re-election for a third term or engineer the appointment of a loyal successor.

Youth and opposition activists organised demonstrations to bring about a so-called "tulip revolution", and some 3,000 supporters of opposition politician Arslanbek Maliyev protested at the supreme court's rejection of his last-minute appeal to be allowed on to the ballot for the elections.

The elections - in which Akayev's son Aider won 80% support and became one of only 31 of the 75 candidates to gain a first-round majority - were condemned in early March by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Akayev allies won all but six seats in parliament.

Until now the capital, Bishkek, has been calm, but tensions escalated this week when an estimated 15,000 demonstrators, some bearing sticks and petrol bombs, took control of the streets and public buildings in the country's second city of Osh to demand Akayev's resignation.

What is the situation now?

The opposition appears to remain in control of Osh and a second town, Jalal-Abad, in the south of the country. A stand-off has developed in which Akayev, who has condemned the protests as a "criminal" attempt by "opposition forces, financed from the outside, to bring about the collapse of society", has offered an investigation into the elections in disputed districts, while the protesters demand his resignation. The president has ruled out the use of "massive" force to suppress dissent, but, following the appointment of a hardline security chief, police used violence to break an opposition demonstration by some 200 people in the capital.

Are comparisons with Ukraine and Georgia justified?

Analysts say it is too early to say whether events will pan out the same way in Kyrgyzstan, but the similarities are clear for all to see: a former Soviet republic stages less than democratic elections that are condemned by the west, leading to opposition protests calling for the Russian-backed government to step down.

But there are differences too, most notably that, until now, no single opposition leader has emerged for the protesters to unite behind. As a result they are not able to offer a viable alternative to Akayev's regime.

The danger - especially in the south - is of a power vacuum in which relatively small groups could find themselves scrambling for influence in an environment of insecurity, which could lead to an escalation of violence.