Latest Kyrgyzstan Stories

By Maria Golovnina BISHKEK (Reuters) - Thousands of opposition protesters heckled Kyrgyzstan's embattled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Saturday and gave him until May 27 to meet their demands for more democracy or resign. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian nation west of China and where Russia and the United States have military air bases, has been volatile since Bakiyev came to power last year after a coup that ousted veteran leader Askar Akayev. Bakiyev was fiercely popular...

By Maria Golovnina BISHKEK (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters rallied in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek on Saturday, demanding that embattled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev make good on his pledges to fight crime and corruption or step down. Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished Central Asian nation west of China and where Russia and the United States have military air bases, has been volatile since Bakiyev came to power last year after a coup that ousted veteran leader Askar Akayev. Bakiyev was...

BISHKEK (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it was ready to finalize talks on the use of a military airbase in Kyrgyzstan -- a day after the Central Asian state threatened to shut it down. "We are committed to a quick conclusion of our talks with the Kyrgyz authorities on the continued use of the Manas Coalition Airbase in Kyrgyzstan," the U.S. embassy in Kyrgyzstan said in remarks sent by email. "It is in both the United States' and the Kyrgyz Republic's interests to...

By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who came to power in a revolution last year promising to bring democracy, accused "foreign forces" on Wednesday of stoking unrest in his impoverished Central Asian country. Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by instability and crime since a violent coup toppled veteran leader Askar Akayev last year, in contrast to peaceful protests in Ukraine and Georgia which brought new pro-Western governments to power. Speaking just...

BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said on Wednesday he may shut down a U.S. military base in his country if Washington does not agree to a new contract. U.S. forces set up the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan when they overthrew the Islamist Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001. "Kyrgyzstan reserves the right to consider stopping (the current agreement) if certain circumstances do not allow us to finish negotiations by June 1, 2006," Bakiyev said in a statement....

ALMATY (Reuters) - U.S.-based Human Rights Watch called on Kyrgyzstan on Friday to hold a thorough inquiry into the attack on a prominent rights activist, linking the assault to his campaign against crime in the Central Asian state. Edil Baisalov, 28, received head injuries during an attack by an unknown attacker on Wednesday. Baisalov had campaigned against a controversial businessman seeking a seat in parliament. "This is a shocking attempt on the life of a respected human rights...

By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK (Reuters) - Soyuzbek Kaldarov, sentenced to death in 1999 for the murder of two policemen, is trapped in a legal limbo. His home country of Kyrgyzstan imposed a moratorium on firing-squad executions in 1998 so he cannot be put to death, but the courts continue to hand down death sentences, leaving Kaldarov and others with indefinite stretches on death row. Around 200 inmates are stuck in the same legal vacuum, waiting in crumbling Soviet-era cells where...

By Olga Dzyubenko BISHKEK (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan has asked the United States to pay 100 times more for using a military base in the Central Asian nation, saying the amount it pays now is too low, Kyrgyzstan's president said in remarks published on Wednesday. U.S. forces moved into Central Asia, traditionally a Russian sphere of influence, setting up bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, when they overthrew the Islamist Taliban government in neighboring Afghanistan in 2001. Uzbekistan...

ALMATY -- Kyrgyzstan wants the United States to pay 100 times more for the use of a military base in the Central Asian country, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was quoted as saying on Wednesday.U.S. forces moved into Central Asia, traditionally a Russian sphere of influence, when they started the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in 2001, establishing bases in Kyrgyzstan and neighboring Uzbekistan.But Washington has faced suspicions from leaders across the region that it is out to unseat...

By Maria GolovninaCHEYEK, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - On a frozen alpine lake, stern-looking men on ice skates chase the puck with crude wooden sticks, splashing through pools of melt water, their sweat-soaked clothes steaming in the cold air.Welcome to Kyrgyzstan's fledgling national hockey league, nestled in the Central Asian state's remote region of Naryn.Dwarfed by snow-clad mountains, thousands of fans wrapped in layers of fur and felt watch the game, whistling and cheering wildly. Horses...