Kyrgyz Press: Shocking Titles, Latest Tattle · Global Voices
In Kyrgyzstan, a small country of roughly five million people, rumors play a significant role in forming opinions and forecasting the future. Although Kyrgyzstan's Russian language media is often viewed as being more objective, the editors of the Kyrgyz language press have formidable networks, giving them plenty of opportunity to spill the gossip on whichever local politicians they have it in for.
Newspapers in the country's state language teem with mudslinging interviews, contrarian opinion pieces and reports on the latest movements in Kyrgyzstan's political underbelly. This month, for instance, a former Prime Minister was reported as having a young foal slaughtered in honor of a dinner guest famous for leading political uprisings, an event that occurred less than two months after the country's Attorney General allegedly spent five hours in a beauty salon as riots over a gold mine threw the country into chaos [GV]. Thanks to Gezitter.org – a blog that has been translating over 21 different Kyrgyz language newspapers into Russian since 2010 – there is now an online archive of political scandal for non-Kyrgyz speakers to trawl.
Disclaimer: Although some of the stories ending up on Gezitter.org may be nothing more than mere speculation, the Kyrgyz have a poignant proverb of the “no smoke without fire” kind: Жел болбой, чөптүн башы кыймылдабайт, meaning “if there is no wind, the grass will not sway.”
Gezitter.org translates the rumour mill into Russian (scan of Kyrgyz language newspapers taken from Gezitter.org)
A rather political dinner
Recently, much media attention has been focused on Kyrgyzstan's ex-Prime Minister, the founder of the Respublika party, <PERSON>. <PERSON> has been quiet since being forced from his position as head of government following accusations that he accepted a racehorse as a bribe from a Turkish company last year. 148
In mid-August, Kyrgyz-language newspapers such as Arena and Planeta began reporting [ru] that <PERSON> had treated <PERSON>, the so-called “‘bulldozer of revolutions” in 2005 and 2010, to a friendly dinner in Kyrgyzstan's picturesque countryside.
The nomadic meal – horse meat boiled in milk – has been interpreted as a sign that <PERSON> may be ready to form an alliance with his rabble-rousing co-diner. Kyrgyz netizens, rarely indifferent to politics, weighed in with cynical comments:
<PERSON> (Талас) wrote [ru] :
Два БАРАНА съели лошадку!
Two SHEEP [carrying a derogatory meaning equating to “numskulls”] ate a horse!
<PERSON> (Омбре) noted [ru]:
Думал, что Бабанов, хоть и грязный, но грамотный чувак. А теперь связался с Бекназаровым. Так низко опускаться не стоило…
I thought that <PERSON>, although dirty, was a competent man. And now he has contacted <PERSON>. He shouldn't have stooped so low.
<PERSON> (Биш) recalled the equine bribe <PERSON> was accused of taking as Prime Minister [ru]:
Не тали лошадка из-за которого Бабуина выгнали из правительства?
Was it the same horse that <PERSON> was kicked out of government for? 148