This is a former Soviet country in central Asia, bordering Afghanistan. A small presence on the map, perhaps, but could have a significant impact if the country shifts into the wrong hands (explained at the final portion of the article).
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (CNN) -- Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court has declared controversial parliamentary elections invalid, according to reports, after protesters seized the seat of government and forced the country's longtime president to flee his office.
The ITAR-Tass news agency said the court on Thursday recognized the central Asian nation's former parliament as the legitimate legislature.
Other reports said that parliament was to reconvene Thursday night, hours after demonstrators stormed the presidential and government headquarters of the former Soviet republic.
The demonstrators, angered by the election results and demanding the resignation of President Askar Akayev, converged Thursday on the center of the capital, Bishkek.
They broke through riot police at their positions outside a fence protecting the building, news agencies reported.
Many of the demonstrators have been bused into the capital from the country's south, where opposition forces earlier this week staged successful protests in major Kyrgyz cities such as Osh and Jalalabad.
There were reports that some of the protesters smashed windows with stones as they advanced on the building, while hundreds of police looked on.
New York Times correspondent Christopher Pala told CNN that government officials said Akayev had ordered troops not to use force against the protesters.
Pala added that Akayev had fled the presidential office. Russia's Interfax news agency, citing unspecified sources, reported Akayev and his family had left Kyrgyzstan's capital by helicopter for Russia.
AP reported that other government officials had been seen leaving through a side door as protesters began entering the government compound.
CNN's Moscow correspondent Ryan Chilcote said Kyrgyzstan's security and defense ministers reportedly had been held inside the government compound by opposition officials.
He said the ministers were released after "writing their letters of resignation."
Chilote quoted opposition leaders as saying they had now "taken control" of three-quarters of Kyrgyzstan.
"In three or four days they expect to be in control of the entire country," he said, adding that it was unclear whether that meant control of all government and police buildings.
Reuters quoted an opposition leader as telling a rally in central Bishkek, following the storming of the government compound, that the opposition had also taken over the national television station.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz opposition leader Felix Kulov was released from jail on Thursday, a friend of Kulov told Reuters.
Kulov, once a vice president under Akayev, was imprisoned in 2000 under embezzlement charges that supporters said were politically motivated.
Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of supporters of Akayev, carrying sticks and home-made shields, waded into a crowd of over 10,000 protesters gathered on Bishkek's main Ala Too square, Reuters reported.
Reuters correspondent Dmitry Solovyov said he heard several gunshots but said it was not possible to identify who had fired them.
Solovyov later reported pools of blood near the main rostrum from which former prime minister Kurmanbek Bakiev and other opposition leaders had addressed the rally.
The square was strewn with broken bottles and debris after the clashes, Solovyov said.
Protests against Akayev, 60, began after the first round of parliamentary elections on February 27 parliamentary elections and accelerated after the March 13 run-offs that the opposition and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said were seriously flawed.
Kyrgyzstan's constitution prohibits Akayev from seeking a third term, but the opposition has accused him of manipulating the vote in order to elect lawmakers who would be in favor of amending the law.
On Thursday, an OSCE official called on a coalition government of national unity in Kyrgyzstan to end unrest there.
"It would be good to create a provisional government of national unity so that there is time to move away from the streets and reach a provisional solution," Alojz Peterle told CNN.
The protests in Kyrgyzstan echo similar demonstrations in other former Soviet republics -- the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2003 and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, which extended from late 2004 into this year. (Full story)
Kyrgyzstan is one of the few central Asian republics without oil exports and the mountainous nation is bypassed by old Soviet pipelines.
Other former Soviet republics in the region -- such as Kazakhstan, Azerbajian and Uzbekistan -- are oil-rich. In contrast, Kyrgyzstan produces a mere 2,000 barrels of oil per day for local consumption.
Protesters are angry about poverty and government corruption in the landlocked country. The southern part of the nation lies on the edge of a drug-smuggling route from Afghanistan and is home to a strong militant Islamic movement.
There is fear that the secular opposition could lose control to drug lords and extremists. There is both an American and a Russian military presence in the country, which has a population of 5 million.
Right now, the U.S. military amounts to 1,000 U.S. troops at an airbase outside Bishkek, U.S. officials said. In recent days, additional force protection measures have been taken from within the country.
The officials believe the protesters are not necessarily anti-United States.