BISHKEK: Kyrgyzstan’s president has called on the US to avoid interfering in its domestic affairs after the US concerns over draft legislation on foreign agents.
In a letter released on social media, President Sadyr Japarov said an earlier message by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the draft bill showed “signs of interference in the domestic affairs” of Kyrgyzstan. The call came in reply to a letter by Antony Blinken over the White House’s concerns regarding to the draft bill.
Noting that the Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved the draft bill in the first reading, President Japarov said its aim was to “clarify and streamline the activities of non-governmental/non-profit organizations operating in the country.”
Kyrgyz President Asks Washington Against Interfering in Domestic Affairs
In his letter, published by press secretary Askat Alagozov, the President said that some non-governmental or non-profit groups in the Central Asian country receive funding from abroad, causing issues “directly linked to the protection of the legitimate interests of the Kyrgyzstan.
The Kyrgyz president said the concept of the draft law is close to the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) approved in the United States in 1938, saying that organizations must provide the purpose and source of their foreign funding.
President Japarov expressed that the draft bill caused a “storm of indignation” on the part of some EU and US-financed media and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) “as they fear to step out of the ‘shadow’ and real tax control by the country.”
On Friday, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry had announced that Japarov’s letter to the US Secretary of State was given to the US envoy in Bishkek during a meeting with FM Jeenbek Kulubaev.