Kurmanbek Bakiyev

Kurmanbek Bakiyev (born August 1, 1949, Masadan, Kirgiziya, U.S.S.R. [now in Kyrgyzstan]) is a Kyrgyz politician who served as prime minister (2000–02) and president (2005–10) of Kyrgyzstan.

After graduating in 1972 from the Kuybyshev (now Samara) Polytechnic Institute in Russia, Bakiyev worked as an electrical engineer until 1990, when he began serving in a series of government posts in southern Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan). In the late 1990s he was governor of Jalal-Abad oblasty (province) and then moved to northern Kyrgyzstan, where he assumed the post of governor of Chui oblasty. In December 2000 Pres. Askar Akayev appointed Bakiyev to the post of prime minister. He was dismissed, however, on May 22, 2002; Bakiyev reportedly asked Akayev to allow him to return to his former position as governor of Chui but was turned down. The reason for the falling out between the two remained a matter of speculation. After threatening to join the opposition, Bakiyev then ran for a parliamentary seat in his native south.

After his election to the lower house of the national parliament in October 2002, Bakiyev joined a centrist group that sought to defend the interests of the regions. In September 2004 he became head of the newly founded opposition People’s Movement of Kyrgyzstan. Some six months later, allegations of government corruption and of vote rigging in the parliamentary election sparked widespread demonstrations, and in March 2005 Akayev and Prime Minister Nikolay Tanayev were forced to flee the country. The protests, and Bakiyev’s subsequent rise to power, were dubbed the “Tulip Revolution” by observers. Though the opposition leadership initially tapped Bakiyev to take over Tanayev’s post, Bakiyev was quickly designated head of state as well until a presidential election could be held.

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One of the first tasks of the interim president was to restore public order in the country, particularly to put an end to the looting and destruction of property that had accompanied the collapse of the previous regime. To carry out this task, Bakiyev ensured the release from prison of the popular opposition leader Feliks Kulov, a former top security official. Bakiyev then turned his attention to restoring the economy, which had been in decline for more than a decade, and to trying to reassure the international community, particularly international donors, that Kyrgyzstan was returning to normal.

International observers assessed the electoral process in the July 2005 elections, in which Bakiyev received nearly 89 percent of the vote, as generally fair. However, the parliament rejected several of Bakiyev’s nominees for ministerial posts, and political tensions arose over his dismissal of the prosecutor general, prominent opposition leader Azimbek Beknazarov. These early conflicts between Bakiyev and opposition parties set the tone for his administration, which was frequently deadlocked by parliamentary opposition and faced organized protests in the capital. Bakiyev responded by holding a referendum on a new constitution in 2007. The referendum was approved in an election that was criticized by international observers, and Bakiyev used the powers granted to him under the new constitution to dissolve parliament and call for snap elections. At the polls in December 2007, his party, Ak Zhol (Bright Path), won 71 of the 90 seats. Mismanagement of Kyrgyzstan’s hydroelectric resources led to an energy crisis in 2008, and allegations of corruption and nepotism plagued Bakiyev and his allies. As Bakiyev’s term progressed, opposition figures also accused him of intimidation and a dwindling tolerance for dissent.

In the period leading up to the presidential election of 2009, in which Bakiyev sought reelection, attacks on journalists were perpetrated with increasing frequency and were criticized by observers as an attempt to stifle dissent. The election was held on July 23, 2009, and, as voting progressed, Bakiyev’s main challenger alleged widespread electoral fraud and effectively withdrew himself from the race before the polls had even closed. Official election results credited Bakiyev with a landslide victory of more than three-fourths of the vote, but international observers expressed concerns about the conduct of the election.

Protest against Bakiyev’s increasingly authoritarian policies and accusations of corruption both played a role in the outbreak of violent unrest in early 2010, although the more immediate cause appeared to be a steep increase in the cost of utilities. In early April thousands of protesters attempted to storm the main government building in Bishkek in an apparent effort to overthrow the government. Riot police, failing to disperse the crowds with tear gas and stun grenades, fired with live ammunition, killing some 80 people and wounding hundreds more. On April 7 the Kyrgyz government declared a state of emergency as unrest continued in Naryn, Tokmak, and Talas. By the early hours of April 8, Bakiyev had fled the capital by plane, and the opposition had announced the formation of an interim government.

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Although he issued statements condemning the events, Bakiyev’s precise whereabouts were unclear until several days later, when he emerged near Jalal-Abad, farther south. Although Bakiyev initially insisted that he retained popular support and would not step down, the opposition claimed to have received Bakiyev’s resignation. Bakiyev departed Kyrgyzstan on April 15, leaving the country in the hands of the opposition-led interim government. Several days later, however, from exile in Belarus, Bakiyev denied having resigned and insisted that he was still in fact the country’s legitimate president. Meanwhile, as looting and unrest sparked by the political conflict continued, the interim government authorized the use of deadly force to restore order.

Bakiyev was later granted political asylum by Belarus, which refused extradition requests from the Kyrgyz government. In 2013 he was tried in absentia and found guilty of abuse of power. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison.