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Kyrgyzstan may offer new base for regional security

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  • Kyrgyzstan may offer new base for regional security

    Kyrgyzstan may offer new base for regional security

    AP Worldstream
    May 26, 2005

    MIKE ECKEL


    Kyrgyzstan is considering establishing a base in the south of the
    country to boost regional security, acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev
    said in an interview published Thursday in the Russian daily
    Kommersant.

    "If there is a need for it, a military base in Osh could be
    established within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty and
    Shanghai Cooperation Organization," he said, without giving any
    further details.

    The six-nation Collective Security Treaty links Russia with Armenia,
    Belarus and the three Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
    and Tajikistan.

    The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes China, Russia,
    Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The group has set
    up an anti-terrorism center in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, although
    the move is viewed as largely symbolic.

    Russia meanwhile said it was considering stepping up anti-terrorism
    cooperation with Kyrgyzstan but that it had received no specific
    requests to open a new base in the Central Asian nation.

    Earlier this week, a regional Kyrgyz governor said Russia had
    discussed opening a second base to help fend off terrorist
    threats. Anvar Artykov, governor of the Osh region in southern
    Kyrgyzstan, told a news conference on Tuesday that the Kyrgyz
    government had yet to make a final decision on the issue.

    Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko, however,
    denied any request had been received.

    Russia "does not have information about an official request from the
    Kyrgyz side regarding the strengthening of the Russian military
    presence in southern Kyrgyzstan," he said in a statement. He added: "A
    possibility to deepen bilateral interaction in the terrorism fighting
    sphere is being tentatively considered."

    On Wednesday, meanwhile, a top Kyrgyz envoy pleaded at a meeting of
    NATO and other nations for international support to help its new
    leaders prepare for July elections and to prevent unrest in
    neighboring Uzbekistan from spilling over.

    Uzbekistan has been shaken by the May 13 riots in Andijan, where
    troops fired on protesters. The borders of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and
    Tajikistan converge in the densely populated Fergana Valley, where
    poverty runs deep and radical Islamic groups are active.

    Kyrgyzstan, which saw its longtime president ousted in a popular
    uprising in March, hosts some 500 Russian military personnel along
    with fighter jets and other aircraft at the Kant air base east of the
    capital, Bishkek.

    The United States operates a base at Bishkek's main airport.
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