Foreign Affairs and Inter-Parliamentary Committee of Kyrgyz Parliament approved denunciation agreement with the U.S. concerning Manas airbase presence on Kyrgyz territory on Tuesday, February 17.
Kadyrbek Sarbaev, the Kyrgyz Minister of Foreign Affairs gave common arguments for denunciation of the agreement. In particular, he mentioned normalization of political situation in Afghanistan, repeated discussions of the issue between Kyrgyzstan and the U.S. government, and murder of the Kyrgyz citizen Alexander Ivanov.
Opinions of the committee’s members were different. Deputies Murat Djuraev and Kabai Karabekov were for denunciation. Djuraev has named the decision politically important, saying that he as a Kyrgyz citizen was for denunciation. “There were a lot of cases when Russia supported us and, as the Kyrgyz president said, it could play a role of international arbiter while solving water issue in Central Asia,” the deputy informed.
Meanwhile, a member of the parliament Baktybek Beshimov has another point of view. He said that firstly he took into account interests of the Kyrgyz people but not interests of Russia or Afghanistan. According to Beshimov, if decision about airbase withdrawal was announced in Kyrgyzstan, it could be understood. But the statement in Moscow placed Kyrgyzstan in quite unfavorable light. “Kyrgyz government, if having a rough time, should not turn into a puppet. It is a pity that this decision was made inadequately and produced an image of illiberal policy in Kyrgyzstan,” he added.
At the suggestion of Kabai Karabekov the denunciation bill will be considered at parliament’s session on Thursday, February 19.
