WASHINGTON – The Chairman of the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission), Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), announced that the Commission will hold a hearing on the recent revolution in Kyrgyzstan. With the fall of the regime of President Askar Akaev, the series of popular protest movements that began in Georgia in 2003 and continued in Ukraine in 2004 has now spread to Central Asia in 2005. What are the prospects now for consolidating democracy in Kyrgyzstan? And where else might revolutions take place in the former Soviet Union and what are the implications for Central Asia, Belarus, Russia and the United States?
Kyrgyzstan’s Revolution: Causes and Consequences
1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Thursday, April 7, 2005
428A Russell Senate Office Building (updated)
Witnesses include:
Zamira Sydykova, Editor, Res Publica, longtime opposition activist and likely Kyrgyzstan’s next Ambassador to the United States
Dr. Martha Olcott, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Daniel Kimmage, Central Asia Analyst, Radio Free Europe/Radio LIberty
Yulia Savchenko, Talk Show Host, Pyramid TV, Kyrgyzstan
An un-official transcript will be available on the Helsinki Commission’s web site within 24 hours of the hearing.
