A power struggle between local oligarchies and a variable element in the “Great Game” being played out in Central Asia between America, Russia and China. This is the opinion expressed by Tiberio Graziani, editor-in-chief of the geopolitical magazine Eurasia, on the recent political turbulence in Kirghizstan. At the beginning of April President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was removed from power following a series of revolts and street clashes marked by violence with at least 80 people killed and over 500 wounded. Five years ago it had been Bakiyev himself, who has now taken refuge in Minsk under the protection of the Byelorussian head of state Aleksander Lukashenko, who had come to power using street protests in which a number of people were killed, removing his predecessor Askar Akayev after what was renamed the “Tulip Revolution.”Interview by Matteo Tacconi.