Diminishing US presence raises concern

The American University in Kyrgyzstan (AUK) stands as a symbol of Washington’s structural help to Kyrgyzstan, but the recent evacuation of most of the institution's foreign staff has shaken the confidence of local people in the future of the country and the role of the US in the region. "We have been asked to book air tickets, and I am leaving on 7 October. This is the middle of the first semester, and I feel very bad leaving my students right now. What are they going to think? And what kind of message is this to the people of Kyrgyzstan?" Evangelia Papoutsaki, head of the journalism programme at AUK, told IRIN. Half the academic staff at AUK comes from Western countries, a fact that strongly contributes to the prestige of this unique institution in Kyrgyzstan. AUK was founded in 1997, but started operations as the Kyrgyz-American School in 1993. It is sponsored by the Kyrgyz government, the US Department of State, and the Soros Open Society Foundation. About 1,000 students, mostly from Central Asia, but also from the CIS, Eastern Europe, Iran, China, South Korea and Japan, study humanities or software engineering within a Western-style curriculum. "This is an elite school. I don’t understand how we are supporting Kyrgyzstan by closing down half of AUK," said Papoutsaki. The US Embassy requested the "authorised departure of non-emergency personnel and family members of US Embassy personnel in the Kyrgyz Republic", after the 11 September attacks. Other authorised departures were announced elsewhere in the region, including Pakistan. As a result, half the foreign staff of AUK - including non-US citizens - has already left the country. "This is really sad, and our main concern is how are we going to get credits for our courses, now that our professors are out of the country," Saodat Asanova, a third-year journalism student from Tajikistan, told IRIN on Tuesday. AUK professors have promised to conduct their classes by email and through the internet, but beyond the technical difficulties AUK students may encounter, a real concern is that the evacuation is sending an alarming signal to people in Kyrgyzstan. Given the uncertainties of a possible US military operation in Central Asia, rumours are abundant. Many read the evacuation of Americans and AUK staff as a confirmation of an imminent war. "After 11 September, some AUK students from the Baltics and the Ukraine returned home because their parents were terrified of a possible war in Kyrgyzstan," said Asanova, who is determined to stay in Bishkek. On the night of 11 September, windows were smashed at AUK, and anti-US slogans were found on the walls the next morning. "This was probably the job of one or two drunk youths, but the result is that today half of our teachers are leaving. People have become oversensitive to rumours. My mother called me and urged me to return home," another journalism student from Kazakhstan, who wishes to remain unnamed, told IRIN. "If AUK is reduced or closes down, we lose our only campus offering high-standard liberal values. Then our only alternative will be the Turkish university and Turkish high schools," a political analyst, Dzhyrgalbek Kasabolotov, told IRIN on Monday. Kyrgyzstan is already facing a massive brain drain of young people in search of Western-style education and jobs abroad. "There is a real ‘southernisation’ of Kyrgyzstan, with people from the north leaving for Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries, while people from the south are moving up north. The only effective way to stabilise the population is to develop a large education programme, with universities sponsored by the US, Europe and Russia. Instead of scaling down, AUK should actually open branches in Osh and Jalal-Abad in the south of Kyrgyzstan," Kasabolotov said.