Azerbaijan, Baku, July 8 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
To transfer the Kyrgyz capital from Bishkek to Osh, ostensibly to strengthen security in the country, is impossible and ineffective, experts said.
On Wednesday one of the leaders of the nationalist forces decided to once again raise the issue of transferring the capital from Bishkek to Osh. Once it was seriously discussed when the President was Askar Akayev.
"Our party will insist that all public authorities to be transferred to the south of Kyrgyzstan. The problem will never be resolved without transferring authoritative organizations. All the major problems of Kyrgyzstan are in the south," Asaba party leader Beknazarov said.
Deputy Chairman of the Kyrgyz Interim Government Beknazarov said that a positive solution on the transfer of the capital of the republic to Osh will help to solve the problems of the south.
"The recent events in the south, confirm that the state power must be located in Osh. According to the Constitution, it is the second capital of the country," he said.
However, experts said that transferring of the capital from Bishkek to Osh will not solve the problems of the republic. It has some disadvantages.
Kyrgyz expert Orozbek Moldaliyev said that the proposal to transfer the capital to Osh is poorly balanced. The author examines the functions of the capital only from one side.
"This question has been raised with former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, overthrown in April this year. Certain steps were made in this direction, for example, the ministry of emergency situations was transferred to Osh, etc.," Moldaliyev told Trend over phone.
He said that besides functions of ensuring security, Osh, as the capital of the republic, will not be able to perform a number of other important functions, such as cultural, organizational, management and others.
I can not imagine the capital being moved to Osh really, U.S. expert on Central Asia Bruce Pannier said.
Osh has only some 220,000 inhabitants compared to Bishkek with up to 800,000. It is much easier by car, train or airplane to reach Bishkek rather than Osh.
"The conditions, not just living but in terms of industry and services, are better in Bishkek. And Osh is in the Ferghana Valley where security is always an issue these days," Radio Freedom expert Pannier told Trend via e-mail.
Also, from the Kyrgyz point of view, having a capital so close to the Uzbek border probably does not sound like a good idea. Many people, including Uzbekistan's political opposition in exile, were calling for Uzbek President Karimov to send his army across the border during the recent unrest in southern Kyrgyzstan, the expert said.
"If such a thing ever did happen I imagine Uzbek troops would be in Osh maybe as quickly as an hour after crossing the border. Better to keep the capital near the border with Kazakhstan since the Kazakhs have proven to be Kyrgyzstan's best friend in the region," he said.
In any case, there are no funds in the budget of the republic for such fundamental changes, the Association of Kyrgyz Political Analysts head Nur Omarov said.
He said that Beknazarov's statement is empty words, because the republic can not afford to transfer the main administrative offices and the entire bureaucratic infrastructure to the south.
Beknazarov is a representative of the southern elite.
"What one can say even if the restoration of Osh's infrastructure will cost at least half a billion dollars", Omarov said in an interview with "View" newspaper.
Nevertheless, the proposal voiced by Vice-Prime Minister can bring him extra points ahead of the elections, Omarov said.