Newspaper Article

Clan loyalties and regional ties run deep in divided land

Korowicz, David

2005

Overview

In the bars and bazaars of Kyrgyzstan, the Akayevs have been a source of marvel and complaint. They, their extended family and close associates, own or have a stake in almost every major business in the republic, including most of the mass media. Stories of their reputed gambling problems, profligacy, malfeasance and sometimes menace abound. On occasion I have comes across Aidar, the president's son and now a newly elected MP, in Bishkek nightspots, his disgruntled arrogance and band of armed, aggressive heavies reinforcing the brutal point of power. Everyone stays well clear. This system of running government has a long history in central Asia and it is not a system that will be easily changed, whoever leads the country. It will involve grappling with the contradictions between national, tribal and regional political structures. The states of central Asia were created by decree between 1924 and 1936 out of the Muslim region of the Russian Imperium. They were given an invented past, an ethnic history, even a national language. This was done as part of Stalin's strategy to divide and control a region that until the late 19th century had been filled with stateless nomads, city-states and fluctuating regional powers.

• Publisher: The Irish Times DAC