New Dispute Looms Over Kyrgyz State Television

(RFE/RL) BISHKEK, November 14, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Kyrgyzstan's State Secretary Adakhan Madumarov has bluntly rebuked opposition demands to turn the state television station into a public broadcaster, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.

At a news conference in Bishkek, Madumarov said the MTRK television channel must remain untouched.

"If there is a state, then it has to have a face, and this face should be [MTRK]," Madumarov said. "If [they] want to have a public television, they have plenty of other options. Kyrgyzstan holds a record with regard to the number of media outlets. If they want to set up a public television channel it's alright, they can do it on the basis of [private television channels such as] Piramida, NTS, or KOORT. It's up to them to decide."

Opposition lawmaker Melis Eshimkanov brushed aside Madumarov's comments, saying the new constitution that was passed amid street protests and signed into law on November 9 gives parliament the right to bypass President Kurmanbek Bakiev on the issue.

Bakiev vetoed an opposition-backed bill on September 5 that sought to turn MTRK into a public broadcaster.

Under that bill, the new channel would have been managed by a board made up of an equal number of presidential appointees, parliament appointees, and representatives of civil society.

Madumarov said on November 14 that Bakiev has signed a decree setting up a supervisory board for MTRK. That board will comprise representatives of the president, the parliament, and MTRK itself.

Making state television public has been a longtime demand of the opposition, which held a weeklong protest that began outside Bakiev's office on November 2.

The demonstrators were demanding that Bakiev implement constitutional and other reforms or step down.