Russian Muslims Ready To Go to Iraq

Kyrgyzstan republic nationals strongly denounce the war

A large anti-war meeting took place in the capital of the republic of Kyrgyzstan on the seventh day of the war in Iraq. About two thousand people gathered for the meeting in the city of Bishkek. The majority of protesters were students, they expressed their sincere protest against the war, using obscene language in the address of the “aggressor” sometimes.

Obmurbek Tekebayev, the leader of the party Ata Meken, the leader of the Kyrgyz Communist Party Klara Azhibekova denounced the American administration’s aggression in Iraq. One of the leaders of the Islamic Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan claimed that President Bush acted against the whole Muslim world. It was said that the American president would  have to wage other wars too, not only in Iraq.

The meeting passed the resolution, in which it was said that the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan experienced the affect of the international terrorism forces, so it was well aware of the need to fight dangerous regimes. However, protesters stressed out that one should act in accordance with United Nation’s decisions.

Some of the protesters called upon everyone to head to the American army base Gansi an to express the condemnation of the aggression in front of American military men. This did not happen, though, for the official permission for the meeting prohibited any actions like that. The government of the Kyrgyzstan republic was not really willing to give its approval to non-governmental organizations to hold actions of protest against the war in Iraq. There is nothing surprising about that unwillingness, though. The republic of Kyrgyzstan finds itself in a very complicated situation currently: there are both Russian and American military forces deployed on the republic’s territory. If a quarrel happens, this means that the republic might suffer from serious financial sanctions, taking into consideration the fact that there was such a precedent before. When students of the American university wanted to hold a meeting of protest during the first days of the war in Iraq, someone told them that it was not very nice to denounce those, who paid their studies. The administration of the university had to apologize to the American embassy for that.

It should be mentioned here that the population of the republic perceives the war in the Middle East in a much more emotional way in comparison with the reaction of the Kyrgyz government. The conflict between the United States and Iraq is discussed at all marketplaces and coffee shops. As a rule, people do not watch their language, when they talk about the war. Their sympathies are definitely on the side of the Muslims. A lot of Kyrgyzstan nationals are ready to contribute something personal for the people of Iraq. Hundreds of volunteers have already set out their wish to go for the war. They just need an organization that would fund a trip there.

A semi-legal religious organization Hizb-ut Tahrir is ready to help volunteers. The organization has its offices in almost every town and settlement in the south of Kyrgyzstan. Hizb-ut Tahrir has a lot of funds that it gets from oil-extracting countries of the Muslim world. They say that the organization has already prepared lists of thousands of  volunteers, who might be sent to the battlefield very soon.

Yury Razgulayev
PRAVDA.Ru
Bishkek

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov