An unidentified crew member walks along the wing of a U.S. Air Force KC 135 tanker plane at the Ganci air base near Manas international airport, 30 km (19 miles) from Bishkek, on March 29, 2005. About 2,000 U.S. service members are deployed at air bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, according to the U.S. military.
Photo: AP
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Kyrgyzstan Gears Up to Drive Out Americans
// Kyrgyz Deputies Demand Closure of US Air Base
On Wednesday evening members of four committees in the Kyrgyz parliament spoke out together in support of an initiative to abrogate the agreement that gives the US military permission to maintain an air base at Bishkek's Manas Airport. The loudest support for the initiative came from deputies close to Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. According to information obtained by Kommersant, the impetus for the initiative comes from Moscow. The Russian authorities hope that President Bakiyev will officially request that the US remove its base from Kyrgyz territory by as early as August, when the next meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be held in Bishkek.
"The military actions in Afghanistan have ended, and today there is no need for the presence of an American military air base on the territory of Kyrgyzstan. If necessary, I will lead my people out to close the air base at Manas!" thundered deputy Hajimurat Korkmazov at a meeting of the Committee for Defense and Security in the Kyrgyz Parliament. The meeting was also attended by representatives of three other parliamentary committees.
To explain his concern about the fate of the US Air Force base at Manas Airport, Mr. Korkmazov said that the base is on the territory of his constituency and that it is causing ecological damage to the Chuisk Valley: "My voters are demanding that [the American] planes stop flying overhead and dumping their excess tons of fuel on their vegetable gardens and children," he said. Deputy Almambet Matubraimov found a different argument for tearing up the agreement with Washington: "Reports have appeared saying that the planes based at Manas Airport will be bombing Iran. The Iranians say that they will retaliate with strikes at the places from where the missiles were launched. Does that mean our territory?" he wondered.
In the final statement to come out of the meeting, however, there was no trace of concerns about the environment or the safety of Iran. The deputies' decision was couched entirely in a geopolitical context: "Pursuant to the declaration of the heads of state of the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization from July 5, 2005, Parliament must make a request to the Congress and government of the United States concerning the immediate withdrawal of the military contingent from the territory of Kyrgyzstan." The declaration to which the statement refers, which was made by the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SOC) member states at the organization's summit in Astana in 2005, demands that all American military bases be removed from Central Asia as soon as possible. The four committees intend to bring up the question of the evacuation of the US air base at a meeting of the whole legislature within the next few days.
The Kyrgyz authorities have previously spoken avidly about the necessity of reviewing the agreement with Washington, but their demands have usually carried a "commercial" character and have thus led, naturally, to an increase in the rent that the US pays for the air base. Last year the US agreed to pay $17 million annually, a significant increase over the initial rent agreement of $2 million per year, and the Kyrgyz government still appears interested in protecting the air base. Yesterday Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev said, "the agreement with the US is very cunningly put together – it is practically impossible to annul; the government believes that the presence of the base at Manas is worthwhile, but we will not allow it to be used to bomb Iraq or Iran."
Deputy foreign minister Talai Kadyrov made a special appearance at Wednesday's meeting of the Committee for Defense and Security to attempt to explain the government's position to the deputies. The legislators, however, were in no mood to listen to him. Curiously, the tone of the discussion was set chiefly by deputies from the pro-presidential camp. Particularly vocal was Iskhak Masaliyev, who belongs to the same clan as the president. For effect, Mr. Masaliyev recounted for his colleagues in detail an event that took place last December, when American Sergeant Zachary Hatfield shot Kyrgyz citizen Alexander Ivanov to death at a checkpoint. Mr. Ivanov had been working as a driver of a fuel truck at the Manas base. "The Americans took him out of Kyrgyzstan, and now no one will ever make them answer for it!" objected the deputy.
Not surprisingly, other supporters of Kurmanbek Bakiyev were no less vociferous. According to information obtained by Kommersant, Moscow is prodding the Kyrgyz president forward in a broad campaign to drive the American military presence from the base at Manas. In exchange, Russia is offering its support to the embattled president on the domestic political front. Pressure from Russia has apparently convinced the Kyrgyz president to announce his intention to shut down the base in the very near future, most likely on the pretext of the SOC summit in Bishkek in August. China is also adding its voice to the fray: Beijing has said that it is even ready to commit funds to the organization of the summit if Kurmanbek Bakiyev firmly demands that Washington evacuate its base.
Nevertheless, President Bakiyev is in no hurry to take all of the responsibility for the decision on himself – hence his appeal to the legislature. All he has to do now is explain to the Americans that he is only responding to the demands of the people's elected representatives.
The first potshot at the American base was taken by Kyrgyz Parliament speaker Marat Sultanov, who just returned last week from a visit to Moscow. Mr. Sultanov arranged a special meeting with US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Mary Jovanovich to tell her that "Kyrgyzstan will not allow its territory to be used against countries that are our allies." He then spoke publicly in support of deepening the country's military cooperation with Russia, particularly in terms of enlarging Russia's air base at Kant and returning Russian border guards to posts along Kyrgyzstan's southern border. After a visit to Bishkek last week, Nikolai Bordyuzha, the general secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTE), the military alliance of CIS countries, approved of the plan, though on one condition: that the troops should be from several CSTE member states, not just Russia. But the essence of the idea remains unchanged.
Alexander Gabuyev; Bek Orozoliyev (Bishkek)
All the Article in Russian as of May 25, 2007
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