Kyrgyz president calls on US Secretary of State not to interfere in internal affairs

BISHKEK -- President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov called on US Secretary of State Antony Blinken not to interfere in the country's internal affairs, according to Japarov's response letter to Blinken published on Monday.

The letter was handed over by Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kulubaev to US Ambassador in Bishkek Lesslie Viguerie on Friday.

In the letter, the Kyrgyzstan's head of state said "the content of your letter has signs of interference in the internal affairs of our state," responding to Blinken's previous letter expressing concern about the bill amending the law "On Non-Profit Organizations," which is being considered by the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan.

According to the amendments to the law, organizations that receive funding from abroad and are engaged in political activities will be given the status of foreign representatives and included in a special register. The purpose of the bill is to clarify and streamline the activities of non-governmental, non-profit organizations operating in Kyrgyzstan, said Japarov in the letter.

The president said that there are tens of thousands of non-governmental and non-profit organizations that are successfully working throughout the republic, addressing many problems that previously the state had neither the will nor the desire to deal with.

At the same time, it should be recognized that some non-governmental/non-profit organizations receive funding from abroad, and not only from the United States and EU countries, he added.

"Naturally, there is a problem directly related to the protection of the legitimate interests of the Kyrgyz state -- how much state control can be and should be over the activity of mass media and non-governmental organizations funded by foreign states or with foreign participation," said the president.

Japarov stated that the concept of the bill initiated by deputies of the Kyrgyz Parliament is close to the concept of the current Foreign Agents Registration Act adopted in the United States in 1938, adding that Blinken's "concerns" about the draft law are "based on unreliable information from certain non-governmental/non-profit organizations operating in our country."

"This, unfortunately, did not allow you to form an objective picture of the real situation with human rights and freedoms in our country, including the right to association," wrote the president.

He noted that the vast majority of NGOs and non-profit organizations work in Kyrgyzstan with dignity and honesty, and only a small, but very vocal group of these structures funded by foreign states and their individual representatives are sources of unreliable information for their grantors.

The same non-governmental structures often disseminate false and unreliable information among people, leading to lawsuits by the victims or the defamed, he said, adding that if necessary, the Kyrgyz side is ready to provide relevant information about such organizations.

"In this connection, I propose to conduct an audit of the use of funds by non-governmental/non-profit organizations funded by US government organizations -- at least for the last 10 years," the head of Kyrgyzstan noted.