MOSCOW, March 22 (RIA Novosti) - No more "color revolutions" will hit Central Asia in the near future, the former president of Kyrgyzstan said Wednesday, a year after he was driven from his homeland after being toppled in an uprising.
Askar Akayev, who was deposed in what became known as the "tulip revolution", said the West's desire to encourage the democratic process in the former Soviet Union and to change the old generation of presidents with new politicians had been the main cause of a series of political upheavals in the Commonwealth of Independent States, a loose union of ex-Soviet republics.
A little more than year before Akayev was forced to flee to Russia, new pro-Western authorities had swept to power on the back of popular uprisings after disputed presidential elections in the former Soviet republics of both Georgia and Ukraine in what became known as the "rose" and "orange" revolutions, respectively.
The former leader said Kyrgyzstan was the only Central Asian country where a "color revolution" had occurred because it had a developed civil society and political freedoms, which allowed a strong opposition to exist.
"It was the first and, I hope, the last experience of color coups," he said.
According to Akayev, the purpose of the uprisings was to weaken integration processes in the former U.S.S.R. and the role of Russia, which has traditionally had interests in the area.
Although he said he hoped to return to his homeland, Akayev, who currently lives in Moscow, said he would only return to Kyrgyzstan if the security of his family, some of whom face criminal charges, were guaranteed. He added that his arrival in Kyrgyzstan would be possible as soon as the incumbent authorities stopped "the anti-Akayev hysteria and persecution."
The ex-leader said the criminal cases against him and his family had no foundation and were designed to prevent him from returning to Kyrgyzstan, one of the poorest former Soviet states, and his children from pursuing political careers.
"My wife was setting up education centers for children throughout Kyrgyzstan and as a result the number of criminal cases that were opened against her equaled the number of schools for children she managed to open," the ex-president said.
He also said the FBI had been searching for millions allegedly stashed away by his family at the request of the country's incumbent authorities but had found only $69,000 that had been transferred to a U.S. account for educational purposes.
Akayev said a new criminal case had been launched against him, but dismissed it by saying the move was connected with the failure of the Kyrgyz authorities to achieve any success in the year since the coup.
