[lg policy] Kyrgyzstan: Language and Media Still Sensitive Subjects in Southern Regions

Fri Oct 19 14:39:38 UTC 2012

Kyrgyzstan: Language and Media Still Sensitive Subjects in Southern Regions
October 18, 2012 - 1:42pm

After two years of rebuilding, ethnic Uzbeks still have few media
outlets catering to their minority group. (Photo: David Trilling)
With iconic Suleiman Too rising in the distance, an Uzbek man tries to
salvage bricks in September 2010 from his destroyed home in the
Kyzyl-Kyshtak neighborhood of Osh. Prior to the June 2010 ethnic
clashes, there were three Uzbek-language TV stations and two
Uzbek-language newspapers, all owned by ethnic Uzbeks. Today, there
are weekly Uzbek-language papers provided by the state and one public
radio station. (Photo: David Trilling)

Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s southern capital, is calmer than it’s been in ages.
The hostile vibe that has prevailed since inter-ethnic rioting in 2010
seems to be slowly dissipating -- evidenced by the fact that Kyrgyz
and (some) Uzbeks can be seen strolling in the city’s parks together
on weekends.

But the new normal is a far cry from the conditions that existed
before the 2010 rioting. The local Uzbek population, which bore the
brunt of the 2010 violence, may be tolerated, but Uzbeks still must
contend with discrimination and limitations on cultural expression.
This reality is particularly noticeable in the realm of mass media.

“There is a certain media revival in the southern region, but it is
too early yet to say the situation is the way it was before the June
2010 events because there are few Uzbek-language media outlets,” said
Marat Tokoev, head of the Association of Journalists, a Bishkek-based
watchdog.

Before the 2010 Osh events, there were three Uzbek-language TV
stations and two Uzbek-language newspapers, all owned by ethnic
Uzbeks, according to a June study published by the Association of
Journalists. During and after the violence, the owners of all five
outlets fled Kyrgyzstan, according to the report. One TV station never
reopened, while ethnic Kyrgyz took over the other two and the
newspapers.

Later, two of the Uzbek owners were accused of separatism and
organizing mass riots and were sentenced to prison in absentia. Such
charges were common for Uzbek community leaders after the violence.
The Committee to Protect Journalists says Khalil Khudaiberdiyev and
Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev were persecuted with “fabricated criminal
charges” for their independent reporting, and basically for being
Uzbek. “The ongoing repression of ethnic Uzbek media representatives
must cease immediately,” the CPJ said in a statement released in June
2011.

Two years have brought modest improvements. Today, there are weekly
Uzbek-language papers published by three southern municipalities, but
all have limited circulations. A donor-funded website also publishes
news in Uzbek.

Perhaps the brightest hope for an Uzbek-language revival in mass media
is Yntymak Public Radio – started by the American non-governmental
organization Internews with US government funding. Yntymak means
“concord” or “understanding” in both Kyrgyz and Uzbek. The station, FM
106.1, went on air full-time in August and broadcasts in the three
languages spoken widely in southern Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyz, Russian and
Uzbek. Internews promises a TV station to follow.

Sabyr Abdumomynov, the station’s chief editor, says that Yntymak
broadcasts news and music equally in the three languages. During the
day, the content is 50 percent news and 50 percent music. Between
midnight and 7 am the programming is entirely music.

The government in Bishkek proposed the radio project in September
2010, according to Ernis Mamyrkanov, a government liaison at the
station. “It was necessary to create a special media outlet, the main
purpose of which is the unification of the people of Kyrgyzstan,” he
said.

That a radio station is again broadcasting in their language has
heartened many among the beleaguered Uzbek population. “The fact that
news is broadcast in Uzbek and Uzbek songs are played on the radio has
raised the spirit of the Uzbek community,” said Erkin Bainazarov, an
Uzbek writer from Osh.

While it may offer hope to Uzbeks, the station has experienced lots of
hardship in the months since it began broadcasting. Staffing issues
have presented a constant challenge, those involved with the project
say. Many Uzbeks, especially skilled young men, fled Kyrgyzstan
following the 2010 violence. Of those remaining, most try to keep a
low profile, lest they be rounded up and prosecuted for invented
crimes by southern Kyrgyzstan’s notoriously partial courts.

“There is a catastrophic lack of Uzbek-language journalists,” said
Denis Bevz, an Internews trainer at Yntymak. “At present, we have only
one Uzbek-language journalist. Today, Yntymak’s biggest challenge is
finding journalists who can write and report in Uzbek well.”

In September, several Uzbeks, including the disc jockey, abruptly left
the station. Multiple sources told EurasiaNet.org that Uzbek staffers
had received threats sent via mobile phone text messages. Bevz, the
Internews trainer, acknowledged “scurrilous text messages sent by
hooligans,” but argues that members of all ethnic groups working at
the station have received the threats.

Some quiet critics also grumble that the station isn’t really all that
Uzbek in character. Though Yntymak promises to broadcast equally in
the three languages, these critics assert the station still favors
Kyrgyz. “Yntymak does not broadcast in Uzbek more than 20 percent of
the time,” Alima Sharipova, a former press secretary for the Osh city
government who now heads a non-profit dedicated to cross-cultural
projects, told EurasiaNet.org. “Yntymak is a wonderful name, and we
have been missing such things as friendship and ethnic tolerance, but
why does Yntymak not broadcast fifty-fifty?”

Bevz said the lack of skilled Uzbek journalists hinders the production
of Uzbek content, but went on to note two Uzbeks were expected to
begin hosting radio talk shows in the coming weeks.

Given the lack of local Uzbek-language media outlets, Uzbeks living in
southern Kyrgyzstan now tend to get most of their news from
neighboring Uzbekistan. Tashkent’s state-run television and radio
broadcasts easily reach Osh – some Osh suburbs sit right on the
border.

Kyrgyz nationalist elements are widely regarded as responsible for
hindering the re-emergence of a lively Uzbek language press in
southern Kyrgyzstan. Some observers contend that the nationalists’
efforts to keep a lid on the Uzbek language are counter-productive
when it comes to state-building. “We must think about national
information security. I think it is better if the Uzbek-speaking
population will receive information in the Uzbek language from the
Kyrgyz media, rather than information from neighboring countries,”
said Tokoev.

reposted from: http://www.eurasianet.org/node/66068?utm_source=Weekly+Digest&utm_campaign=7417b40da7-my_google_analytics_key&utm_medium=email

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