The nearly 6 million populated county of Kyrgyzstan (“A brief history of conflict in Kyrgyzstan,” n.d.) with more than two thirds of Kyrgyz ethnicities and some minorities of Uzbeks and Dungans has faced a myriads history of conflicts in the past of the country which can be categorized as “the Soviet Union Rule, the Independence rule and the post-independence rule.

The history of conflicts in Kyrgyzstan during the Soviet rule can be dissected as having so many occurrences of conflicts which according to BBC (“Kyrgyzstan profile,” 2017) comprises of the Russian rule of the country now known as Kyrgyzstan.

The Russian rule is categorized of some important occurrences which can be itemized below;

1. In 1876, the Russian forces incorporated Kyrgyzstan into Russian empire after it conquers the Khanate of Kokand.
2. From 1917 to 1923, there was an outbreak of civil wars in the wake of October revolution in Russia.
3. The members of the Kyrgyz intelligentsia who expressed dissent concerning the Soviet land reforms which aimed at creating large state-owned farms which is against the nomadic livestock herding way of life of the people were either jailed or executed.
4. Before the region achieved the status of a full republic of the Soviet Union in 1936, the official name of the country was changed to the Kyrgyz Autonomous Republic in 1926 (“Kyrgyzstan – The Soviet Union and Recent History,” n.d.).
5. There was an outbreak of interethnic clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz around the town of Osh which lead to a state of emergency after several hundred people were killed and this, in turn, led to the emergence of Askar Akayev to become the president of the country.

The independence rule of the country brought about a new era with a president, Akayev who came into power after an election by the parliament after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the nineties post-ethnic clashes between the minority Uzbeks and the majority Kyrgyz.

Since the 1990s, Akayev was the president of the country until he was overthrown out of power when he was accused of nepotism, corruption and growing authoritarianism which all happened in 2005 after the Tulip revolution (Tran, 2010).

The Tulip revolution is indeed a breath of fresh air for the people of Kyrgyzstan as the revolution that forced Akayev out of power brought Bakiyev into power. In July of 2005, Kurmanbek Bakiyev who was a prime minister under Akayev came into power through a presidential election which was conducted after Akayev resigned from Moscow.

According to The Guardian (Tran, 2010), Bakiyev concentrated power within his circle of friends and families, and he was found of securing lucrative state contracts for his allies. During his tenure, there were gross human rights violations where journalists and activities were either killed or disappeared.

Bakiyev nepotism got unbearable when the utility prices were increased, and this led to yet another revolution that broke out of the country capital, Bishkek which in less than forty-eight hours, 85 people were killed. This revolution led to the end of Bakiyev as a president of this small central Asian country.

The case of conflicts in Kyrgyzstan has been a reoccurrence of a two-edged sword, conflicts in Kyrgyzstan is either as a result of the south and the north ethnic upheave or a revolution caused by an abuse of power or corruption of government.

One of the recent conflicts from the country was on the state-owned and Canadian owned gold mine in the country which was reported to have been awarded to the Canadian firm based on corrupt proceedings as the state’s share of the derivatives from the mining activities was way below par and the mine was reported to be causing big environmental disasters to the major water source of the country (Varshalomidze, n.d.).

As a closing, the case of conflicts in Kyrgyzstan can be managed if the case of corruption, nepotism and ethnics differences can be resolved amicably by the parties involved and the government but to this point, there is no proper strategy on facing it yet from the state as the corruption-fighting tactics of the government was reported to be one-sided (Diplomat, n.d.).

References:

A brief history of conflict in Kyrgyzstan. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2017, from http://www.insightonconflict.org/2015/09/a-brief-history-of-conflict-in-kyrgyzstan/

Diplomat, S. R., The. (n.d.). Kyrgyzstan’s Anti-Corruption Failure. Retrieved October 24, 2017, from https://thediplomat.com/2015/10/kyrgyzstans-anti-corruption-failure/

Kyrgyzstan – The Soviet Union and Recent History. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2017, from http://countrystudies.us/kyrgyzstan/4.htm

Kyrgyzstan profile. (2017, October 3). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16185772

Tran, M. (2010, June 14). War in Kyrgyzstan: what is causing the violence? The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/14/kyrgyzstan-conflict-background

Varshalomidze, T. (n.d.). Environmental cost of Kyrgyzstan’s gold mine. Retrieved October 24, 2017, from http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/06/environmental-cost-kyrgyzstans-gold-mine-201461616400788735.html