What is it about?
This article examines the sources of police repression and trauma that police have experienced during three revolutions in Kyrgyzstan. The 2005, 2010 and 2020 regime changes in Kyrgyzstan began as public revolts followed by mass violence and brutal confrontations between law enforcement and protestors. The goal of this paper is to explore the police repression in the handling of mass mobilizations and the trauma and moral injury. The research is based on interviews with fifteen active duty and retired police officers, ranging from rank-and-file officers to police chiefs. My research shows that the Kyrgyz police are deeply traumatized by political upheavals which bring the public and police into violent conflict, with skirmishes which result in the loss of lives of civilians and police officers. Police officers now fear public disorder and are often reluctant to participate in crowd control operations. They often feel as though they are used as a tool by incumbent leaders to suppress political opposition, and are subsequently betrayed by whoever succeeds ousted political elites.
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Why is it important?
Findings of the study show that the police were used by ruling regimes as a controling tool for the political oposition in Kyrgyzstan. Furthermore, police in Kyrgyzstan were revealed comparatively less repressive against the public during the violent revolutions than other post-soviet states such as Russia, Belarussia, and Kazahkstan. Less repressiveness of Kyrgyzstani police was explained by the notion of weak state and weak police due to a lack of state support to the police. Furthermore, the police trauma and moral injury were examined to be high among police officers in light of the revolutions. Fear of criminal procecution for use of force and lack of psychological support and rehabilitation of police officers after the violent conftrontations with rebels increased the police trauma and moral injury.
Perspectives
This is the first article which used a deep analysis through interiviewing of rank-and-file police officers. Author himself is also a former police officer and current academician who has a deep knowledge about the police in Kyrgyzstan. Political, insititutional, social, and cultural perspectives were brought into discussion in order to explain role of police, police repression and trauma in the context of political instability and forced regime changes in the country. I believe that you will find this article very interesting and read its outcomes that are based on respondents' perceptions and outcomes that are also comparative to other Post-Soviet countries.
Dr. Bekchoro Aliiaskarov
Ala-Too International University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Police Repression and Trauma in Light of the Revolutions in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asian Affairs, July 2023, Brill Deutschland GmbH,
DOI: 10.30965/22142290-bja10045.
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