Bakiyev's press secretary Avazbek Atakhanov said this in an interview with the Kyrgyz Kabar agency.
"Central Asia has a complete mechanism of security cooperation within such organizations as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) with Kyrgyzstan being their member," Atakhanov said.
According to him, after the talks with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Bakiyev "sees no necessity to reinforce air bases."
Today Kyrgyzstan has two airbases. The Russian base in Kant (30 km to the east of Bishkek) was deployed in October 2003 and is a part of the CSTO collective forces. The Ganci airbase was opened in Manas, Bishkek's international airport, by the US-led anti-terrorist coalition to support the operation in Afghanistan. Besides, Bishkek is the base of the CIS Anti-Terrorist Center.
Osh having a 200,000 population is a center of the Osh region in southern Kyrgyzstan on the border with Uzbekistan. Ethnic Uzbeks account for some 50% of the more than 1,500,000 population of the Osh region. Osh is located 70 km to the southeast of Andizhan hit by armed clashes ten days ago. According to official data, 170 people were killed in Andizhan while independent media and human rights advocates claim a thousand victims. Tashkent officials believe that the international terrorist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir (the Party of Islamic Liberation) is behind the bloodshed in Andizhan.
