KYRGYSTAN – BACK TO THE FUTURE

Sept 1999

DUR 16’

 

On a peak of the Tien Shan Mountains, Alamkul has come to set his eagle free/

 

Every year, he catches hunting birds and trains them to hunt for him.

 

 

(Alamkul) “These traditions were left to us by our forefathers. It is a tradition to catch hunting birds. But they must be released after winter.”

 

If his eagles are kept too long, their feathers fall out and they can no longer fly.

 

NATSOT BIRD FLYING

 

The Kyrgyz people are now emerging from their own captivity at the hands of Russia.

 

 

For three generations, the Communist invaders took them from the mountains and trained them to be Soviet citizens.

 

But they never lost their hope that one day they’d be free.

 

ALAMKUL GRAB

“I understand freedom like this. Every man lives by himself without having any superiors. Everyone lives by himself, does his work and is left to his own devices.”

 

NATSOT FESTIVAL

 

Today, an independent Kyrgyzstan celebrates the nomad culture that Communism tried to end.

 

In the capital, Bishkek, they mark the start of the Muslim New Year with a display of the past.

 

From the camels of the Kyrgyz warriors… to the tents they carried called Yurts.

 

But being free from Russia doesn't necessarily make Kyrgis free to choose their future.

 

That prerogative remains with their politicians gathered here under a statue of Lenin like a Communist politburo.

 

And none is more powerful than their President Askar Akayev.

 

NATSOT AKAYEV TO CROWD EX FESTIVAL TAPE

“The future of Kyrgyzstan depends on our decisive actions today. I am convinced that it is in our power to build a flourishing and economically prosperous Kyrgyzstan.”

 

In a region characterised by despots, President Akayev stands out as a liberal.

 

His model for a culturally nomadic people is a free market and a free society.

 

AKAYEV GRAB

“From ancient times our people had democratic traditions as nomads, as opposed to many Central Asian peoples. The Kyrgyz were freedom-loving nomads and the Kyrgyz had a certain freedom of expression too. Thus the Kyrgyz could sing their songs in which they expressed the people’s opinions of their rulers, about negative sides of society’s life.”

 

STREET SCENES, STALLS, BEGGARS

 

The liberal sentiments have made Kyrgyzstan a favourite for world lending bodies like the International Monetary Fund.

 

But the lavish praise and substantial aid that the IMF has given has done little for ordinary Kyrgyis.

 

Even the capital has few signs of market reform beyond kiosks and street stalls.

 

Half the population now lives below the official poverty line, ten per cent more than three years ago.

 

President Akayev insists that the people will soon reap the rewards.

 

(Akayev) “We believe that we must lay the foundations of a liberal, open economy from the start, and let people get used to fierce competition.”

 

NATSOT PRESSES ROLLING

 

But not everyone believes that competition is fair.

 

Every Monday night, the presses roll for a feisty, local newspaper called Respublika.

 

The editor, Zamyra Sydykova, is a constant spoiler of the President’s claims of a free and open society.

 

“What’s the main story tonight?”

(Zamyra) “Probably the most important is that we are the first to report that some parliament deputies demand the resignation of the president. It is the first such demand in recent years.”

 

Zamyra’s paper has accused the Government of outright theft.

 

And she’s paid a high price for her claims.

 

She recently spent three months in jail for insulting a Government official, or as she saw it exposing a corrupt bureaucrat.

 

She insists Akayev is taking Kyrgyzstan back to the days of the feudal Khans.

 

ZAMYRA GRAB

“Akayev is a feudal ruler. He imagines himself as an heir to all Kyrgyzstan’s assets and there were many articles recently about his khan origins, he is playing this up and he mentions his royal roots frequently to the Russian press.”

 

WEDDING

 

This lavish wedding has added to concerns that the President is moving towards a dynastical system.

 

His 24-year-old son married the 18-year-old daughter of the President of neighbouring Kazakhstan.

 

ZAMYRA GRAB

“This marriage proved once again that the rulers are forging these alliances in order to retain the property they took from the people and pass it on to their heirs.”

 

Akayev describes it as a simple match between neighbours.

 

And he denies there has been any retreat from democracy.

 

AKAYEV OVERLAID

“Yes, some people say that in recent years there is less freedom, the president got more power, but I didn’t notice that people have stopped criticising me.”

 

AKAYEV SYNCH

“So I think that there is freedom of speech and opinion since they are blaming the president.”

 

Many ordinary Kyrgis have come to share Zamyra’s cynicism.

 

This is the village of Barskoon at the foot of the Tien Shan Mountains.

 

Alamkul lives here with his birds and his extended family.

 

Older Kyrgis like him who worked for their lives for the Soviets have ended up with nothing but their family’s support.

 

His daughter-in-law Gulmira believes the Communists who ruled them simply went on to rob them.

 

(Gulmira) “From privatisation they got nothing, because after changes collective farmers divided, everything was divided by Communist rulers, administration of the collective arms, and the people, simple people who was working at the collective farms didn't get anything.”

 

RIDING UP INTO MOUNTAINS

 

But there is one thing the Kyrgyz people can claim as their own.

 

Gulmira believes the mountains and nomadic life still represent the people’s true home.

 

As a child, she lived in a yurt during brief periods when collective farmers could take the flocks to higher pastures.

 

(Gulmira) “I always have dream about my childhood, up in the mountains, hearing the sounds of the horse and sheep. I like it very much. Maybe lately I will come back.”

 

Gulmira can no longer survive as a teacher.

 

Instead, she’s begun a business taking a trickle of foreign tourists into the Tien Shan Mountains.

 

These days, she can bring them to stay with nomad families.

 

Many Kyrgyz are escaping the hardship of the towns to return to the mountains.

 

At the end of a four-hour ride we arrived at the summer camp of a nomad called Demir.

 

GREETING

 

Demir and his family had brought their small yurt on horseback.

 

This is home for four months of the year.

 

DEMIR GRAB

“The mountains are high here so of course it is tough. But we have everything.”

 

 

Life here is almost totally self-sufficient.

 

The horses provide their milk.

 

They ferment it in the lungs of a sheep.

 

The sheep and goats provide their meat.

 

HERDING THE SHEEP

Demir owns only 60 of the flock.

 

The rest belong to friends in the village.

 

He brings them here in return for provisions and occasionally some money.

 

Despite his love of the mountains, the hardship of life in the village makes Demir nostalgic for the security of his old collective farm.

 

DEMIR GRAB

“I think life would be better if the Party stayed. Now there is no equality. Those who have property can live well. Those who don’t can’t.”

 

And not all have the freedom to choose.

 

Seventeen-year-old Gulzina had no say in coming here.

 

Demir’s son kidnapped her.

 

Bride-napping is a traditional Kyrgyz custom that Communism tried to end.

 

It is now enjoying a revival.

 

GIRL GRAB

“We met only once, his sister lives in Chup, so he came there once and we met. And three months later I was kidnapped. This is our tradition.”

Q. Can you refuse?

“Yes of course, it is possible, but we girls feel ashamed.”

 

Gulzina says she is happy now, but she must work harder than anyone until she has proven her worth.

 

It’s one aspect of Kyrgyz life that Gulmira does not welcome.

 

She was the first woman in her village to refuse to wear a scarf after she married and to dare to wear trousers.

 

GULMIRA GRAB

“I don’t like the tradition, but sometimes I respect it because I know a lot of couples who are stealing brides but they are living very happily.”

 

At noon the family chose a small sheep and ritually killed it with a prayer of thanks.

 

Every part would be eaten.

 

MUSIC

 

EAGLES

 

Like the eagles released back into the wild, Kyrgyz have once more begun to fend for themselves.

 

It is a hard and sometimes dangerous freedom in which the strong steal from the weak.

 

They can only hope it is the freedom they dreamt of and that their nation will rise again.