Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, and also known as Kirghizia, is a country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.
The President of Kyrgyzstan is the head of state and the highest official of the Kyrgyz Republic. The president, according to the constitution, "is the symbol of the unity of people and state power, and is the guarantor of the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic, and of an individual and citizen." The president is directly elected for no more than one six-year term by the Kyrgyz electorate. The office of president was established in 1990 replacing the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet that existed, in different forms, from 1927 whilst the country was known as the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic.
Kyrgyzstan elects on the national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a tenure of single six-year term by the people. The Supreme Council is composed of 120 members filled by proportional representation.
On Thursday 24 March 2005, President Akayev fled the country as protesters overran government buildings. The Prime MinisterNikolai Tanayev also resigned within the same day creating a power vacuum. The constitution clearly states “If the President becomes unable to carry out their duties for reasons such as death, illness or impeachment, the Prime Minister shall carry out their duties until the election of a new head of state. This must take place within three months of the termination of their Presidency.” This therefore presented the Kyrgyz parliament with a legal problem. Ishenbai Kadyrbekov, the Speaker of Parliament immediately assumed power, unconstitutionally. The next day, opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was appointed Prime Minister and thus Interim President.
Nikolay Timofeyevich Tanayev served as the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 2002 to 2005, under President Askar Akayev. He is an ethnic Russian. He served as Deputy Prime Minister under Kurmanbek Bakiyev and was made acting PM on 22 May 2002 after Akayev fired Bakiyev. He officially became PM eight days later when the Supreme Council confirmed him.
A constitution is an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity, and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
Ishenbai Duyshonbiyevich Kadyrbekov was the Chairman of the Legislative Assembly of Kyrgyzstan and the interim president of Kyrgyzstan in March 2005.
The interim period was one of increasing political tension and a breakdown in the rule of law. The new unicameral parliament – elected amid allegations of fraud – went into session on 22 March. However, its mandate was revoked just two days later, with the Supreme Court declaring the old chamber the rightful body. This decision was then once more revoked by an agreement between the rival chambers. The “old” parliament dissolved itself, and the “new” parliament gained recognition as the legitimate body (although a number of individual seats remained in dispute and subject to review by courts). This drew some protests from people who argued that the uprising was in direct relation to the rigged election which had created the new legislature. Additionally Bermet Akayeva and other politicians were allowed to sit in the new chamber for a significant period, before also having their mandates declared null and void.
The rule of law is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as: "The authority and influence of law in society, especially when viewed as a constraint on individual and institutional behavior; (hence) the principle whereby all members of a society are considered equally subject to publicly disclosed legal codes and processes." The phrase "the rule of law" refers to a political situation, not to any specific legal rule.
The supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and highcourt of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court. Supreme courts typically function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate-level appellate courts.
In political science, a revolution is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due to perceived oppression or political incompetence. In book V of the Politics, the Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle described two types of political revolution:
Complete change from one constitution to another
Modification of an existing constitution.
The former President, Akayev refused to resign until April, creating a legally questionable period whereby two heads of state existed (The parliament had allowed Bakiyev to take over without impeaching Akayev or initiating any legal process that formally ended his Presidency). The former leader's lawyers are still claiming that he legally remains President of Kyrgyzstan.[citation needed]
An upsurge in violence also occurred following the revolution. On 1 June hundreds of people forced their way into Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court, ejecting protesters who had held it for more than a month. The occupation was being held in support of candidates who lost during the parliamentary elections in April. The sit-in had prevented the court from operating. After an hour of clashes, unarmed police and soldiers reportedly managed to separate the two groups, whilst one witness said they had seen several injured people taken away in ambulances.
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change.
Kyrgyz legislator Jyrgalbek Surabaldiev was shot dead in Bishkek on 10 June, following an attack on another politician Bayaman Erkinbayev in April. During the same day protesters, allegedly demonstrating against Erkinbayev, were fired on in the southern city of Osh. At least one person was killed, and five others were injured as a result of the violence.
Bishkek, formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chuy Region. The province surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of the province, but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan.
Bayaman Erkinbayev was a top Kyrgyzstani lawmaker and parliamentary deputy, who was the driving force behind the riots in southern Kyrgyzstan that led to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev on March 24, 2005. One of the richest businessman in the country, he funded the Central Asian state's Socialist Party. He had announced his candidacy for the presidency in the July 2005 elections, but bowed down long before the vote, when his party supported former security chief and Bishkek mayor, Felix Kulov.
Osh is the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the Fergana Valley in the south of the country and often referred to as the "capital of the south". It is the oldest city in the country, and has served as the administrative center of Osh Region since 1939. The city has an ethnically mixed population of about 281,900 in 2017, comprising Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Russians, Tajiks, and other smaller ethnic groups. It is about 5 km from the Uzbekistan border.
Candidates
The Central Election Commission completed registering presidential candidates on 13 June. Elections had last been held on October 29, 2000, with the next previously scheduled for late 2005. The 2000 election was marred by allegations of fraud, heightened by the high percentage of the vote for President Akayev - 74%. His nearest rival was Omurbek Tekebayev who polled 14%. Former Vice-President and opposition leader Felix Kulov had initially decided to run in the 2005 poll, but later withdrew from the race. This followed an agreement with acting President Bakyiev, whereby Kulov would become Prime Minister should the interim leader win the election. Urmatbek Baryktabasov, a businessman from eastern Karakol, was refused registration for the election, after authorities cited his alleged Kazakh citizenship. More than 100 Kyrgyz protesters demanding his registration subsequently stormed Bishkek's main government building, occupying it for several hours.
The candidates met each other in a series of televised head-to-head debates from 4 July, culminating in a gathering of all individuals on Friday 8 July.
With Bakiev expected to easily win, the authorities feared a low turnout. However by 17:00 (Bishkek time) the Central Election Commission declared that around 53 percent of voters had participated. The law states that one vote over 50 percent is needed for the election to be deemed valid. The preliminary results of the ballot show that after 1967 polling stations out of 2181 (90.19%) returned results Bakiev has secured a landslide. The central election commission announced that 88.82% of voters supported the acting President with his nearest rival, Tursunbai Bakir uulu, obtaining just 3.73%. The new Head of State therefore was elected without the need for a second round of voting.
The OSCE declared the process as "tangible progress toward meeting OSCE and other international commitments" in its internet press release the following day. However, election monitors observed a "small number of serious irregularities," particularly during vote counting. Kimmo Kiljunen, head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation, told a news conference in Bishkek on 11 July. Representatives of the CIS-EMO however stated "It is impossible to say that the presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan were fair and met the international standards in full". The group had previously said that the disputed Kyrgyz parliamentary elections, 2005 were "free and fair".
Maksim Maksimovich, the lawyer of former President Akayev, claimed he could not vote in Moscow because his name had not been included on a voter list. His daughter, Bermet Akaeva however voted without incident in Bishkek. She claimed to have voted for the candidate who would not lead the country into catastrophe, according to RIA-Novostinews agency.
Bakiyev was sworn into office on the 14 August, in Bishkek.
Quotations
"The people demonstrated high civic activity and made their choice. And it is understandable. Kyrgyzstan's people are tired of poverty and unemployment, instability, and uncertainty that some [forces] try to benefit from," President-elect Kurmanbek Bakiev, 11 July
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The history of the Kyrgyz people and the land now called Kyrgyzstan goes back more than 2,000 years. Although geographically isolated by its mountainous location, it had an important role as part of the historical Silk Road trade route. In between periods of self-government it was ruled by Göktürks, the Uyghur Empire, and the Khitan people, before being conquered by the Mongols in the 13th century; subsequently it regained independence but was invaded by Kalmyks, Manchus and Uzbeks. In 1876 it became part of the Russian Empire, remaining in the USSR as the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic after the Russian Revolution. Following Mikhael Gorbachev's democratic reforms in the USSR, in 1990 pro-independence candidate Askar Akayev was elected president of the SSR. On 31 August 1991, Kyrgyzstan declared independence from Moscow, and a democratic government was subsequently established.
The Politics of Kyrgyzstan, officially known as the Kyrgyz Republic takes place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President is head of state and the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan is head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The Economist Intelligence Unit has rated Kyrgyzstan as "hybrid regime" in 2016.
Parliamentary elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on 27 February and 13 March 2005. The belief that the elections had been rigged by the government led to widespread protests, culminating in the Tulip Revolution on 24 March in which President Askar Akayev was overthrown.
The Tulip Revolution or First Kyrgyz Revolution led to President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayev's fall from power. The revolution began after parliamentary elections on February 27 and March 13, 2005. The revolutionaries alleged corruption and authoritarianism by Akayev, his family and supporters. Akayev fled to Kazakhstan and then to Russia. On April 4, 2005, at the Kyrgyz embassy in Moscow, Akayev signed his resignation statement in the presence of a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation. The resignation was ratified by the Kyrgyz interim parliament on April 11, 2005.
Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva is a Kyrgyz diplomat and politician who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 7 April 2010 until 1 December 2011. She was sworn in on July 3, 2010, after acting as interim leader following the 2010 April revolution which led to the ousting of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. She previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as head of the parliamentary caucus for the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan.
Felix Sharshenbayevich Kulov is a Kyrgyz politician who was Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 2005 to 2007, following the Tulip Revolution. He first served from 1 September 2005 until he resigned on 19 December 2006. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev reappointed him acting Prime Minister the same day, but parliamentary opposition meant Bakiyev's attempts to renominate Kulov in January 2007 were unsuccessful and on 29 January the assembly's members approved a replacement. Kulov cofounded and leads Ar-Namys, a political party, and chairs the People's Congress, an electoral alliance to which Ar-Namys belongs.
Kurmanbek Saliyevich Bakiyev is a politician who served as the second President of Kyrgyzstan, from 2005 to 2010. Large opposition protests in April 2010 led to the takeover of government offices, forcing Bakiyev to flee the country.
Omurbek Chirkeshovich Tekebayev is a Kyrgyz politician. He was Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament from March 2005 to March 2006. Tekebaev is the leader of the Ata-Meken socialist party. Tekebayev is currently serving an eight-year jail sentence for corruption and fraud.
Tursunbai Bakir Uulu is a Kyrgyz politician, former ombudsman and presidential candidate. He is leader of the political party Erkin Kyrgyzstan (ErK). A teacher by training, a historian, and a doctor of philosophy he is married with four children.
Alikbek Jeshenkulov is the former Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan (2005–2007) and now the leader of the oppositional party "Za spravedlivost".
Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev is a Kyrgyz politician who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 1 December 2011 to 24 November 2017. He was Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 17 December 2010 to 1 December 2011, and from 29 March 2007 to 28 November 2007. He served as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK) from 30 July 1999 to 23 September 2011.
The Constitution of Kyrgyzstan is the supreme law of the Kyrgyz Republic. The constitution in force until 2010 was passed by referendum on 21 October 2007 and it is based on the first post-Soviet constitution originally adopted on 5 May 1993, a year and a half after the country had gained independence from the former Soviet Union. The 1993 constitution had been amended several times: first on 10 February 1996, then on 2 February 2003, and finally twice in quick succession on 9 November 2006 and 15 January 2007 after the Tulip Revolution of March 2005. The last two amendments were adopted under pressure from protracted public protests in the capital Bishkek, but they were annulled in September 2007 by the Constitutional Court, which restored the 2003 constitution and paved the way for another constitutional referendum in October 2007. The description that follows is based on the text of the October 2007 constitution.
Daniar Toktogulovich Usenov is a Kyrgyz banker and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from October 2009 to April 2010. He previously served as Mayor of Bishkek.
Azim Beishembayevich Isabekov born 4 April 1960) served as the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 29 January until 29 March 2007.
A presidential election was held in Kyrgyzstan on 23 July 2009. The date was set after the constitutional court ruled that the extension of the presidential term from four to five years did not apply until the next presidential election, calling for elections by 25 October 2009; in response, a parliament committee proposed the July election date, which was then passed by the incumbent president Kurmanbek Bakiyev's Ak Jol-dominated parliament. Bakiyev had previously announced his intention to run for reelection. Bakiyev was re-nominated on 1 May 2009.
Early presidential elections were held in Kyrgyzstan on 30 October 2011 to replace Interim President Roza Otunbayeva. Former Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan won in the first round.
The Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010, also known as the Second Kyrgyz Revolution, the April Events or officially as the People's April Revolution, began in April 2010 with the ousting of Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in the capital Bishkek. It was followed by increased ethnic tension involving Kyrgyz people and Uzbeks in the south of the country, which escalated in June 2010. The violence ultimately led to the consolidation of a new parliamentary system in Kyrgyzstan.
This article is a list of events in the year 2005 in Kyrgyzstan.
