Kyrgyz political and statesman Kurmanbek Bakiyev: biography, features of activity and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:44

Kurmanbek Bakiyev is one of the most famous political figures in Kyrgyzstan today. He was able to come to power thanks to one revolution, but lost it due to another. Nevertheless, Bakiev Kurmanbek Salievich remains one of the brightest personalities in the recent history of Kyrgyzstan. The biography of this person will be considered by us in this review.

Birth and childhood

Bakiyev Kurmanbek Salievich was born in August 1949 in the village of Masadan, which belonged to the Jalal-Abad region of the Kyrgyz SSR, in the family of the chairman of the local collective farm, Sali Bakiyev. In addition to Kurmanbek, the family had seven more sons.

The future president's childhood ended as soon as it began. After finishing school, working days began.

Employment career

Kurmanbek Bakiyev started working in 1970 from the bottom. He got a job as a dispenser at one of the factories in the city of Kuibyshev (now Samara), and a year later as a loader at a fish processing plant. He stayed at this workplace for two whole years.

The next two years (1974-1976) Kurmanbek Bakiyev paid his debt to the Motherland, serving in the ranks of the Soviet army. Afterdemobilization continued his career, first working as a submachine gunner, and then as an energy engineer. In parallel with his work, he studied at the Institute of KPI as a computer engineer.

After in 1978, Kurmanbek Bakiyev graduated from the university, thus, having received a higher education, he decided to return to his homeland, to the Kyrgyz SSR. He moved to the regional center of Jalal-Abad, where he immediately got the position of chief engineer at one of the local enterprises.

In 1985, Bakiyev was promoted as he was appointed director of a factory in the small town of Kok-Jangak.

First steps in politics

As a member of the CPSU, Bakiyev Kurmanbek made his first steps in the political field back in Soviet times. In 1990, he was appointed first secretary of the local city party branch.

After some time, he becomes the head of the Council of Deputies of the city of Kok-Jangak. In 1991, he received the post of deputy head of the regional Jalal-Abad Council of Deputies. And a year later, after the entry of Kyrgyzstan on an independent path of development, Bakiyev Kurmanbek received the post of head of the state administration of the Toguz-Torouz region.

1994 marked another major promotion. Bakiyev became deputy chairman of the State Property Fund. It was already a position of a completely different level.

Further political career

From that moment on, Bakiyev was at the top of the Kyrgyz politicians.

In 1995, he received the post of head (akim) of the Jalal-Abad regional administration. Two years later, he was offered to take an equivalent post in the Chui regional administration. But this was only the middle of Bakiyev's political career. The most important achievements were waiting for him ahead.

Prime Minister

Bakiyev has established himself as a very good regional leader, so the permanent president of Kyrgyzstan from the very moment of its independence, Askar Akayev, offered him the post of head of government. Thus, in December 2000, politician Kurmanbek Bakiyev became prime minister.

From the first days in the new chair, the budding prime minister has developed a vigorous activity. Already at the beginning of 2001, he signed a secret agreement with representatives of Uzbekistan on demarcation issues, a very painful problem since Soviet times.

But opposition protests broke out in early 2002, forcing Kurmanbek Bakiyev to resign in May. However, he was not going to leave politics, and in the same year he was elected to the Kyrgyz parliament.

In 2005, Kurmanbek Bakiyev was re-appointed prime minister. The politician returned to the highest echelons of power again.

Tulip Revolution

At the same time, in the same 2005, opposition protest movements began against the incumbent President Askar Akayev, called the Tulip Revolution.

Protestants forced Akaev, who feared for his own life, to leave the country. Under the Constitution, Prime Minister Bakiyev became acting president. He managed to negotiate with the opposition aboutholding democratic presidential elections.

Presidency

Kurmanbek Bakiyev managed to win a landslide victory in the presidential elections. He enlisted the support of opposition leader Kulov, who withdrew his candidacy in exchange for the promise of the post of prime minister.

After coming to power, Bakiyev actually fulfilled his promise and made Kulov the prime minister, and also allowed some other members of the opposition to work in the government of Kyrgyzstan.

But soon the confrontation between the president and the opposition flared up with renewed vigor. At the end of 2006, Bakiyev insisted on the resignation of the head of the Kyrgyz parliament, and at the beginning of the next year, Kulov was also dismissed from his post.

After these events, Bakiyev initiated changes to the country's constitution, which were supposed to further expand the powers of the president. Thus, the post of prime minister was eliminated, and its functions were transferred to the president. In addition, the new constitution fixed a provision according to which the deputy corps was to be formed by 2/3 from representatives of parties, and 1/3 from nominees from territorial districts.

In a referendum, the new constitution was supported by a majority of votes. After that, Bakiyev dissolves parliament, and his Ak-Jol party wins a convincing victory in early parliamentary elections. True, the election results were called into question by independent observers.

In 2009, another presidential election was held, in which Bakiyev received about 90% of the votevoters. But, again, these results have been questioned by international observers.

New revolution

Meanwhile, the opposition in Kyrgyzstan began to raise its head. In 2010, large demonstrations against the current government flared up again, which escalated into an armed struggle. The protesters seized the presidential administration, and Bakiyev himself had to flee to his native Jalal-Abad region.

Although Bakiyev refused to resign, a provisional government headed by Roza Otumbayeva was formed in Bishkek. Kurmanbek Salievich issued an appeal in which he condemned the actions of the protesters and stated that he was going to move the capital to the southern regions of the country, where he enjoyed a certain popularity.

In the end, Bakiyev and representatives of the interim government managed to reach an agreement. Kurmanbek Salievich resigned in exchange for security guarantees for him and his family.

Life after retirement

After resigning his presidential powers in April 2010, Kurmanbek Bakiyev moved with his family to permanent residence in Belarus, where the country's President Alexander Lukashenko granted him political asylum. But a few days later, Bakiyev refused to recognize the previously signed resignation letter, saying that only he was the legitimate president.

In response, the interim government of Kyrgyzstan issued a decree removing Bakiyev from power and filed a request for the extradition of the former president to Belarus, which was refusedfrom the Belarusian authorities.

In 2013 Bakiyev was convicted in absentia in Kyrgyzstan. He was sentenced to twenty-four years in prison.

At the same time, Kurmanbek Bakiyev currently lives with his family in the city of Minsk and, according to unconfirmed reports, has already managed to obtain Belarusian citizenship.

In Kyrgyzstan itself, in 2011, the interim government was replaced by popularly elected President Almazbek Atambaev.

Family

Kurmanbek Bakiyev met his soul mate, Tatyana Vasilievna, while still a student at a university in Samara. His wife was Russian by nationality. But the marriage, in the end, ended in divorce, although two sons were born in it - Marat and Maxim.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev has not officially registered relations with his second wife. But in this civil marriage, two children were also born. It was with them and with his common-law wife that Bakiyev moved to Belarus.

General characteristics

It is rather difficult to give an objective description of a person like Kurmanbek Bakiyev. On the one hand, he really worried about the state and tried to do everything for its prosperity. But, on the other hand, he did not cope with his task. In addition, there were some abuses of power on his part.

At the same time, it should be noted that his biography has not yet been fully written. Kurmanbek Bakiyev still has the opportunity to say his lastword. He continues to dream of returning to his native Kyrgyzstan, but only time can show how real this is.