Kyrgyzstan has experienced a year of significant changes and political achievements, including a popular uprising against a president and a move to a parliamentary system of government, and many challenges still lie ahead.

Roza Otunbayeva, chairman of the interim government of the Kyrgyz Republic, discussed the recent upheaval in Kyrgyzstan and prospects for the country's political future and relations with the United States, Russia, China, and Europe.

The Tulip Revolution did not mark the emergence of democracy in Kyrgyzstan. To the contrary, since 2005, limits on political rights and freedoms and the strengthening of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s family rule have only increased.

On March 8, 2006, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted a small, off-the-record dinner meeting with H.E. Roza Otunbayeva, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, entitled “Kyrgyzstan Since the ‘Revolution.’”  Carnegie Senior Associate Martha Brill Olcott chaired the session.

Discussants explore the events that led up to Kyrgyzstan's Tulip Revolution, the extent of corruption present in the Akayev regime, Kyrgyzstan's geopolitical relations with China, and the goals and challenges of the new administration.