Photostory - Weekend at Voronzovka

Last week end I went staying for three days in the Regional school of Chuy Oblast, located in Voronzovka.

I was invited through Achim Merlo, my UNV supervisor, to join together with other International UNVs a summercamp for children far from home and orphans. My Office had no problem in authorizing an "unofficial" day off for me to go there on Friday early morning, they all commended the idea and the initiative.

QED - Quod Erat Demonstrandum

Yesterday in my last post I wrote about the armed attack near Uzbek border.

I also presented two options for the follow up to these events. One of the two options was that Uzbekistan would have blamed some unknown extremist group coming from Kyrgyzstan for what had happened in its territory.

Border Service of Kyrgyzstan tightens security measures on border with Uzbekistan

The Border Service of Kyrgyzstan announced today that it has tightened security measures on borders. The Border Service of Kyrgyzstan confirmed information about the explosion that occurred in the night of May 25 and 26 in the Uzbek town of Khanabad, also known for hosting a US airbase (K2 or Camp Stronghold Freedom) vacated in 2005 after unrest in the area.

"According to the obtained information, the explosions are reported to have taken place at 02:00 in the town of Khanabad of the Republic of Uzbekistan on May 26," the Border Service of Kyrgyzstan said.

On the other side, Uzbekistan is claiming for clashes to have started in Kyrgyzstan.

Introduction to local politics

That is to say: "Why I had to spend a Friday buried into my flat".


On Friday, 27th of March 2009 opposition called supporters to organize rallies all around Kyrgyzstan to ask for President Bakiev to resign.

Bakiev was elected President of the Kyrgyz Republic after Nationwide demonstrations in the spring of 2005 resulted in the bloodless Tulip Revolution and the ouster of President Askar Akayev, who had run the country since 1990.

Unfortunately, Bakiev failed to live up to his election promises to reform the country's constitution and transfer many of his presidential powers to parliament.

The political opposition organized demonstrations in Bishkek in April, May, and November 2006 resulting in the adoption of a new constitution that transferred some of the president's powers to parliament and the government.

In December 2006, the Kyrgyzstani parliament voted to adopt new amendments, restoring some of the presidential powers lost in the November 2006 constitutional change. By late-September 2007, both previous versions of the constitution were declared illegal, and the country reverted to the Akaev-era 2003 constitution, which was subsequently modified in a flawed referendum initiated by the President himself.

Bakiev then dissolved parliament, called for early elections, and gained control of the new parliament through his newly-created political party, Ak Jol, in December 2007 elections.

To be honest, there's is a lot to argue for.

Corruption is sky high (Kyrgyz Republic is apparently the 4th most corrupt State in the world), lawlessness is increasing day by day, judiciary is obeying to the government more than to the law, inflation is devastating spending power of the majority of citizens, while lack of adequate welfare is striking most vulnerable population. Finally, since 9/11 all Central Asian states readily adhered to the worldwide trend aimed to sacrifice Human Rights for State Security's sake; this obviously implied a relevant increase in abuses from law enforcement agencies and a general strengthening of their impunity.

This is the context that made opposition decide that time has come for the President to resign and call for new free presidential elections.

In UN this appointment raised immediately some concern. Officials present during 2006 rallies still remember when rumors wanting Bakiev to have had safe heaven in our offices brought part of the dissidents in front of the UN House asking for the President to come out and face their rage.

Of course the rumors were false, but the stones and bricks that crashed their windows were scarely real.

I spent the two days before D-day in Dostuk Hotel for the Regional Training on Adequate Housing and Forced Eviction, so I was not real-time updated about the frantic meetings and brainstorming that brought to the final decision about our presence in office on Friday, 27 of March.

To be honest, I was not especially worried about the situation. All kyrgyz friends and contacts of us seemed totally skeptical about some major disorder to happen, and the overall feeling that we perceived walking around could not have been more quiet.

At the opposite, the idea of receiving the order not to exit my flat and to stay totally alone, without Internet connection or TV for the whole day was much more annoying than the idea of a far possibility of being besieged for a while into the UN House.

The final decision from the Head of Agencies Meeting cought me when I went back to the office after the end of the last training day.

Due to major security concerns, all our Office but the Head of Agency and the National Program Officer was "invited not to come to the office the day after, and to strictly follow guidelines and directives from DSS".

Shit.

In the end, my day as 21st century hermit man passed by slowly and smoothly. That is to say that I had a quiet, boring day.

I infringed DSS rules only for a quick walk to the local market to buy some fresh vegetables and noodles. You can order me to stay 24 hours without internet and my whole life without Tv, but you cannot force me to stay one day at home alone without cooking. No way.




PS: FYI, nothing special happened on the 27th. Just 1000 people attended the rallies in Bishkek, and they never really moved from the area the were assigned to. In the rest of the country no more than 5-700 people organized rallies in different cities without any major problem occurring. Apparently, Bakiev decision to fix in a rush the date for next early Presidential elections, the uncomfortable location assigned for the gathering and the unpleasant weather contributed to deflate the tensions and to demotivate many. Now, everything is postponed to next July when Presidential election will take place.

Talas, вoдкa и снег

Talas, vodka and snow


I must be honest.

At first, I seriously thought about telling you what happened during this last crazy funny week end in Talas. It's important - I told myself - it's the first experience out of the capital, you cannot avoid writing down all the things that happened and, believe me, there's plenty of things to say.

But in the and I decided not to do it. Federica was faster than me and her English is much worthier of telling this particular story, so I decided to forward you directly to her blog. There, you'll find the full report of our reckless week end in the Talas Oblast, plus some beautiful picture of Besh Tash (Five Stones), the Natural Reserve we went visiting the second day.

Enjoy the reading, as compensation I will tell you another story, a unique one.

Eating Japanese style in Bishkek

Before moving to the "fancy" main part of this post, I would like to resume and conclude the previous Nookat Report issue. As probably very few of you were so willing to read it to the very end, I will shortly summarize the facts; whoever is interested in knowing a bit more can move to the "Nookat Report" post to have the full picture.

Nookat events of 1 October 2009 (based on the attached report prepared by a Commission of Inquiry established by the Ombudsman)

The annual celebration of Orozo-Ait and Kurman-Ait is taking place throughout the country including in Bishkek and has been a tradition celebrated in Nookat since 2005. An official authorization for this year’s celebration was issued by the mayor of Nookat on 27 September. However, on 1 October, when people gathered in front of the stadium where the celebration was to take place, the stadium was surrounded by police. The people then spontaneously went in front to the building of the local administration to ask the mayor for an explanation. After about an hour the mayor came outside the building, announced that the celebration had been banned and warned the crowd to disperse within half an hour otherwise force would be used. According to witnesses four young people were then taken inside the building, reportedly beaten up and then thrown out of the building in front of the crowd. The situation deteriorated when the police stared dispersing the people and some of them responded by throwing stones. On 2 October, a list of 90 people suspected in extremist activities compiled by the State Committee for National Security was given to the border authorities to prevent them from leaving the country (the list contained names of children as young as 4 as well as elderly people). After a very quick investigation (less than a month) during which all detained were severely tortured, including a pregnant woman who later lost her child, on 27 November, 32 people were convicted in a 4-days trial to up to 20 years of prison. On 17 January, a Court of Appeal upheld the sentences. The next instance is the Supreme Court –dates have not been fixed yet. Our Office is supporting the Commission's request to the International Community to monitor, advocate and push for the Supreme Court to repeal the sentences.

And now, finally:

Eating Japanese style in Bishkek

Yesterday evening I was invited as International UNV to the evening reception to launch a photography exhibition organized by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), UNV and HelpAge International. Pictures were taken by a Japanese UNV, Azuma Nakahira, who volunteered with HelpAge International collecteding photography, case studies and video interviews over a series of visits to older people between December 2008 and February 2009.
The "Winter Diary" aims to raise public awareness towards both the extreme vulnerability of many older persons in winter months and their critical contributions to sustain families and communities to live through cold weather. Temperatures in Kyrgyzstan routinely fall below ­20°c during the winter months, yet shortages in gas and electricity supplies, coupled with rising food and fuel prices, mean that many are unable to heat their homes. The venue of the exhibition, mainly inplemented bu JICA, was the Russian National Theatre. It has been a nice event with beautiful and moving pictures and videos, music performance and mixed Japanese-Kyrgyz folk cotillons and gadgets. The overall sight was amazing: geishas and kyrgyz women walking around in traditional dress and posing with participants who wanted to take pictures of this impressive pan-asian pastiche. Most of all, the main attraction of the evening was the announced Japanese catering that meant only one thing: Sushi for free!
To be honest, in the end I ate just a few things; I didn't want to be gross or appear ill-mannered, so I just bottled up my spontaneus instinct of flying in circle around the catering staff waiting for the right moment to "refill" my dish again and again, and I did avoid asking the staff - very thrifty in dispensing food - to be a little more generous as 90% of others actually did. In this way I just had to chance to taste a pair of maki, a meatball, some fried chicken and a few slices of outstanding sesame-flavoured beef but I can easily say that the overall level was very good. After the exhibition a small group of us (2 Italians and 3 Spanish) moved to a British-style pub where we had a beer (it's the second time I drink some alcohol in one month) and both me and Federica we had the chance to practice a lot of Spanish. It's always weird to speak a foreign language different from the one of the country you're living in, and as usual I provoked some funny moments such as talking to Kyrgyz people in Spanish rather than using the 4 Russian sentences that I've hardly learnt.

Apart from that, a new sudden decision has been taken: as soon as possible, we will experience Asian restaurants in Bishkek. Firstly, Corean, then Japanese and finally Chinese.

Will keep you posted on this ambitious plan.

Nookat Report

Or, what they will never tell you about this country.

Last week I attended my first press conference since I am working with OHCHR. This press conference is culminating four months of joint investigations between OHCHR and the Office of the Kyrgyz Ombudsman started on October 2008 after the riot in Nookat (a town in the South-Western Osh Oblast of Kyrgyzstan) and the subsequent tough repression enforced by police forces and local courts. At my arrival the report was already written but Dyma (Kyrgyz Ombudsman’s team), Erlan (NUNV and Legal Officer, OHCHR) and Saltanat (my direct supervisor and National Program Officer, OHCHR) informed me about what had happened. To use the words of the official report (hereby translated from Russian):

“Annual celebration of Orozo-Ait and Kurman-Ait is a state-wide event throughout the whole territory of the country. (…) The festivities include the prayer (ait-namaz), cooking and distribution of food, including free meals. Starting from 2005 such celebrations have been conducted in the center of Nookat under the guidance of local public administration and usually were accompanied by free distribution of pilaf and drawing of prizes. (…) But on October 1, 2008 the celebration of Orozo-Ait in the center of Nookat, which has become a tradition since 2005 based on the permission of authorities, was unexpectedly prohibited. (…) While the local population was informed by the authorities on the celebration at the stadium beforehand, actual actions on prohibition were completely unexpected by the citizens and resulted in a spontaneous rally near the building of the rayon public administration. The verdict of the court says that the mass disorder was a planned and organized event (but written communications from the staff of law enforcement structures say the opposite). (…) According to the witnesses, the indignation of people increased after they saw faces covered with blood, as well as people who were detained and beaten by the police in the administration building. The rally turned into a forced confrontation only when the police started to disperse the people with batons. (…) According to those detained, ten of them were shown a video, which recorded their presence in the center of Nookat on October 1, 2008. At the same time these video tapes did not contain any evidence of their complicity in mass disorder and other crimes that other detainees were incriminated with. (…) In addition to the State Committee of National Security and the Rayon Police Department, the lists of Hizb-ut-Tahrir religious extremists are also available in urban and rural municipalities (…) the religious extremists’ lists included complete families, minor children and aged citizens. Nobody knows what criteria were applied by local authorities for the compilation of these lists, as according to the available information, each representative of local administration has his own subjective concept of that. Among the criteria which were used to discover Hizb-ut-Tahrir members, the representative of rayon public administration used the following: wearing of hijab, a beard, presence of prohibited literature as well as behavior that differs from the behavior of other people. (…) The lists complied by urban and rural municipalities were later used for repressions, though the people that were in the lists never knew about that. The case does not say anything on the registration of detention on the Nookat Rayon Police Department, while all those convicted claim that the first detentions, interrogation without the presence of the lawyer and the beatings happened in the Nookat Police department. The extracts from the case which show the dates of detention and the dates of court warrant are evidence of a gross violation of the 48-hour detention period without the warrant of the court. According to the population of Nookat, the representative of law-enforcement agencies asked them to pay money for the release of their relatives. Unlawful expropriation of property and money was also performed in respect of the detained persons. Those interviewed claimed that the police officers had been detaining the population of Nookat rayon until October 15, 2008 and asked them for the buyout to stay free. (…) According to the detainees and the people from Nookat, the law-enforcement officers insisted that those detained write a denunciation on 20 persons. One of those detained, who was unable to withstand the torture, called one fictitious named. After the law enforcement officers checked this information and realized that it was false, they again tortured the person under investigation. (…) There were no records on injured policemen either in the Crime record book or the Book of information messages. The relatives of those detained were not informed by the investigation bodies on the facts of their detainment. The relatives of those detained also informed that they were not allowed to meet the detainees during the investigation. They saw them for the first time during the court proceedings. (…) One of those arrested was unable to walk due to the torture (…). Despite bad health status of the persons who were tortured, as well as visible signs of bodily damage, the court, which had issued an arrest warrant in respect of those detained, did not take into account these circumstances and failed to take any action.

Tortures and cruel treatment

1. Tortures were applied during all states of investigations and consideration of the case: at the moment of detention, during the transportation, during the stay in pre-trial facilities of State Committee of National Security, in the court building – the tortures were stopped only after the detainees were transferred to the pre-trial facility No 5 (institution No 25) of the Ministry of Justice.
2. The police officers pointed their machine guns to the chests of two detainees without any resistance from them during their arrest, all this happened in the eyes of their aged parents. One person was hit with buttstock on his head and placed in the car being unconscious.
3. First tortures were applied to the detainees during their arrival and stay in Nookat Rayon Police Department.
4. During the transportation of the detainees from the Nookat Police Department to Osh they were put on the floor between the seats and were beaten with the machinegun buttstocks, kicked and not allowed to raise their heads. All along the road they were put their faces down and the policemen were placing their feet on the heads of the detainees.
5. The following types of tortures were applied: beating on the places which had the traces of previous blows; beating with batons on feet; suspending the persons under investigation with their hands behind their back and beating on their body; dousing with cold and boiling water; absence of medical aid after the injury; “learning” the Kyrgyz anthem and singing the anthem 5 times a day in the premises of the State Committee of National Security; putting plastic bags on the head; burning the beard with a lighter; tearing the beard; placement in the cold concrete room without clothes, where the floor is poured with chlorinated water ankle deep up to 3 days; prohibition to use the toilet; passing through special corridor; tearing the fingernails; putting the gas mask before or after the press-up exercises, sometimes they let the cigarette smoke in the air filter; pouring vodka in the throat, beating with palms on the ears (those who suffered from such tortures reported the bleeding from their areas and subsequent loss of hearing).
6. The tortures were applied with the following purpose: the victims were asked to identify the persons on the photos that were shown to them; to write a denunciation on 20 people; to ask forgiveness from the President of the Kyrgyz Republic (which is a widespread practice of special services in Uzbekistan), to make the victims learn the anthem in the Kyrgyz language (people in the south are often Uzbek, and sometimes don’t even know Kyrgyz language), to sign admissive evidence, punish and humiliate.
7. During the confinement in the punishment cell the persons under investigation were forced to stand from 6 AM to 11 PM, when the people tried to sit, they were punished.
8. One of the officers of the State Committee of National Security was keeping a part of the torn beard in his pocket and was showing it to other detainees and was saying that he was going to keep it as a memory.
9. Among the tortures the detainees mentioned “Afghani position”, this was the position when staff State Committee of National Security made the detainees stand for a long time with semiflexed legs on tiptoes, with their hands behind their head. As soon as the victims tried to stand in a normal position or tried to stand straight, they were severely beaten.
10. The procedures of “special room” (two of the accused thought that this was an operation room). This is a room in the premises of the Osh Department of the State Committee of National Security, it has a metallic trestle bed; the persons under investigation were placed on it belly down, handcuffed to the legs for their immobilization and then beaten on their bare feet with batons, beaten on the whole body, on their legs and on the opposite side of their knees with batons.
11. Tortures applied to two detained women had their own specificity. At first the investigators cut the plaits of two women under the pretext that they may hang themselves (both women had four minor children). On the next day the officer of the Department of the State Committee of National Security (SCNS) (name omitted) ordered to shave their heads with the razor. Their heads were shaven for the second time before the session of the court. When one woman informed the investigators during the beating that she had two months’ pregnancy, the staff of the SCNS started to insult her and deliberately cause the miscarriage. For this purpose they handcuffed the pregnant woman, asked her to lift coat rack with concrete base and hold it in her hands for a long time. When she became unable to hold it anymore and dropped it, they beat her on her fingers, two her fingers were dislocated. Systematic beatings and placements in a cell resulted in a miscarriage, after that she was first brought to the Osh maternity home; the doctor there offered her first medical aid and said that should stay in bed. Instead of that she was placed in a cell without outer coat and footwear ankle deep in water with chlorine 10 cm deep. This resulted in high temperature and bleeding, again she received emergency medical aid and the doctors said that she had to stay in bed and undergo ultrasonic tests. Instead of that officer of SCNS (name omitted) again put her in the cell. The investigators demonstrated to this woman how they beat other detainees and even made her dance waltz with one of them as she was handcuffed. Both women were beaten with batons or fists on their heads. Both women have scars on their heads. When one of them asked for water she was offered to drink urine. Five times a day they were brought before the men, asked to remove their kerchief and sing the Kyrgyz anthem. The women were also forced to clean the toilet and other rooms of the pre-trial prison of the SCNS.
12. Tortures were also applied to persons who had some mental disabilities. Father of one of such persons managed to get a medical certificate for his son confirming that he was mentally sane as he was afraid that his son would be unable to get married. After beatings by the staff of the pre-trial prison of the SCNS this person was always swearing, the officers were coming back and started to beat him again. According to other detainees, he did not realize what had been going on and that his action would result in other beatings – therefore he was beaten more often than the others.
13. One of the torture methods in the Osh oblast police department is the electric chair. The detainee is put on a metallic chair, his hands are tied to the armrest, they put a metallic circle with electric wire on his head and demonstrate the readiness to connect it to the mains.
14. The following injuries were recorded after the tortures: concussion of the brain, rib fractures, bruises, scars, worsened sight and hearing, inability to bend the knees and sit, finger displacement.

I think that for today is enough, this post is already too long.

Tomorrow, maybe, I will tell you what happened in front of the court. Just one tip for those who were so brave to read all the above: don’t leave room for hope. Not yet.

PS: today I will participate to the briefing of the Inquiry Commission under the Ombudsman of the Kyrgyz Republic on Nookat events. Apart from me, National, International, Regional, Bilateral and Multilater institution are expected to come and discuss about the report you red in this post. I will keep you posted on what will come next.

House Quest

22/02/09

Note: This post has been written on the date specified in the very first lines, which could differ from publication date.


Nobody says looking for a flat is easy, but in my case it was. Might be because of the large offer of flat for rent and their medium-high quality, or maybe for the fear of continue paying 30$ per night in our temporary apartment, me and Federica – my former flat mate – we both found the “right flat” after just 3 days of house exploring. The previous one was, all in all, a good solution and at our arrival - when we finally get to enter (we arrived at 5am and our freelance driver had hard time opening the outer door of the building) – we were relieved of discovering into this warm, lovely and roomy flat our new house. Then, as always happen, we started noticing those small details that make your idea of looking soon for another flat a bit more attractive. To be honest, instead of warm I should have said hot; the apartment was totally hot round the clock and we were used to have snow out of the window and summer pajamas under the pillow. Secondly, after long and committed investigation we found out that the awful, intense and sudden smell wafting from time to time was originated somewhere somehow from the bathroom. Later on we discovered that this was not peculiar of the flat but a problem common to the majority of the houses, but I still believe that the strength of that specific aroma was outstanding. Finally, we soon discovered how difficult is living in a “temporary” condition; without opening the main luggage but just using the few things wisely elected to stay in the hand luggage “for any emergency” while supplies last, with no chance of buying furniture and stuff useful to make your stay more comfortable or goods to allow some home economics, you feel totally uneasy.
Probably some of you jumped on your seat while reading the rent price; well, don’t be surprised. Here in Bishkek (and in Central Asia in general) it’s common to pay from 450 up to 550 USD (plus expenses) for a double room flat (1 bedroom, 1 living room) in the center of the city. Families, on the other side, are usually paying around 750-850 for solutions more appropriate to their needs. The real estate market in this area is totally sick and prices are sky-high because the offer is usually limited both in quantity and in access; tenants are generally looking for businessman or foreign officers of international organizations to enter their houses, and the offer is according to this premise. Therefore, when fall decides to play it hard like in 2008 many people die from cold because of the lack of adequate housing or shelter (cfr: http://sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/804bb175b68baaf7c125667f004cb333/7483bfb5c44299fbc12569ce00494f2c?OpenDocument, http://www.fidh.org/spip.php?article2065, and http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G00/443/37/PDF/G0044337.pdf?OpenElement). Of course people who cannot afford to leave in the city center move to the outskirt where prices drop down against high criminality rates and lack of social and health services.

Now I can understand a bit more why adequate housing is one of the main concern of my Office.

Landing in Manas airport

15/02/2009

Note: This post has been written on the date specified in the very first line, which could differ from publication date.

My trip from Rome to Bishkek with Turkish Airways is divided in two. The first part, from Rome to Istanbul, has been a pleasant an quiet flight with a comfortable airplane and decent food. The second half, from Istanbul to Bishkek, is a totally different story. In Ataturk airport I met with my future colleague Federica, economist mastered at LSE and coming straight from London were she was working before accepting the UNV position in Central Asia. To be honest we met the first time in Bonn, Germany during the UNV briefing, so we were not a surprise one for the other and she immediately recognized me while I was sitting in a bar, struggling with a terrific powerful Turkish coffee and an embarrassing weak wireless signal.

When we moved to the gate we had the sudden feeling of being casually dropped in a totally different world; faces of people around us, their way of dressing, the sound of their voices, nothing of all that was similar to anything we were used to hear in a European airport. The security control seemed much more rigid than usual (at least to me) and the fact of not being able to communicate with us made the guards’ approach a bit rude. To make things easier, metal detector’s alarm was always buzzing, so the guards had to check a second time everybody with the portable metal detector while luggage was accumulating on the conveyor belt; of course this was making security officers even more nervous. While waiting for the crew to start boarding passengers, I went to the toilet that surprised me first of all for the hygiene, and secondly for the ash tray present in all single toilets, just next to the WC and below the No-smoking signal. Of course, the ash tray was half-full of dust. Back in the hall, I saw an American girl passing the security control experiencing the same communication problems we had 10 minutes before. Her nationality was clear to everybody, as she was wearing a tight (she has some problem with her weight, to say it all) green T-shirt saying “Thank you for supporting the American Army”. Now, if there’s something these last years of Bush administration made us understand, is that there’s a good half of the world were is not convenient to show off too much where are you coming from, if you’re from USA. Kyrgyzstan is, even if less than other places in Central Asia, in this half. Probably she was not informed about the though debate arisen few months ago between Kyrgyz Government and USA for the former wants Manas airport – actually the most important USA Air Base in the war in Afghanistan – to be given back under full control of Kyrgyz Republic. Most of all, she was not informed that in 2005 Kyrgyz population raged against Americans in Manas base as a soldier shot to death a Kyrgyz truck driver, right before being taken and brought back to the US accordingly to the classical impunity USA guarantee to their soldier committing crimes abroad. Being Italian I know many other stories like this one (Calipari, Massacre of Cermis, Gladio scandal, etc.).

When we finally get on board, we had an awful surprise: there was no more space in the overhead locker. After many minutes of indecision, I put part of my hand-luggage in the empty space under a free seat, and the rest under the seat in front of me, where in theory passengers can put bags and\or feet. This airplane, clearly made for flying out of European Union, was much smaller than usual and this space was only devoted to have room to put your feet in. Having occupied it with my bag, I had to stay immobile for the whole flight (more than 5 hours); I had twice the impression my legs were close to fall on the floor. Before I sat, the girl sitting next to me asked for changing our places; she was not likely to seat between two unknown men and she wanted to seat close to the window, she explained. I didn’t want to be picky pointing out that in this way she was going to seat close to two men anyway but in a more unsafe and unpleasant position without any kind of control from other passengers, so I just accepted her proposal. Her prudish behavior was in funny disharmony with her English book on George Best, someone declaring that “I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars - the rest I just squandered”. Others curios things happened during the flight, but the strangest moment was when a girl sitting on Federica’s row on the other side of the airplane, in greatest calm, started working with her knitting needles on a wool pullover. We started wondering if knitting needles are not considered to be a dangerous weapon for Turkish security policy, and the only solution we found is that they probably consider that it wouldn’t be enough a serious and honorable way to hijack an airplane.

Another remarkable note I can add is that Federica sat on the same row with UN Resident Coordinator, our boss in general but her future boss in particular, as she is assigned to the RC Unit. He immediately demonstrated to be an open and easy-going person and they chatted for longtime.

At arrival at around 5 am, we immediately started procedure for obtaining the professional Visa and we spent the next 35 minutes filling in modules and arguing with the officer. In the end we get our 1-month Visa (we initially asked for a 1 year Visa) and we went to luggage claim area, hoping to receiving our baggage and to obtaining soon the extension for the Visa. It is to be noted that after passing the passport control we had to pass another security control with X-ray for hand luggage and after that we were all asked to put once more all kind of luggage into another X-ray machine placed next to luggage claim’s exit door. The X-ray machine being only one, the passenger around 120 and their luggage many more pieces, it took forever to exit that room. When we finally get to exit the landing area we felt in the middle of a bunch of self-proclaimed taxi drivers trying to catch potential customers or suggesting hotels. Luckily our freelance driver, Igor (yes it’s his real name, no kiddin’) was still there waiting for us and he took us to Bishkek on his minivan. With him, I had the first hint of something I would have understood being typical of drivers in Bishkek: The impossibility of understanding each other is not a valuable reason to resign communicating. I totally love this people, they continue talking to you trying to use a variety of words and gestures until they finally use the right one which allow you to guess what on the earth are they talking about. Excited by this huge improvement in communication’s level, rather than getting satisfaction from this success they immediately step up to next level restarting from the beginning this exhausting game.

Yes, I think I will fell in love soon with these people.