Kyrgyz Opposition Leader Claims Control

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Kyrgyz Opposition Leader Claims Control

James Joyner | Friday, March 25, 2005

Kyrgyzstan’s opposition leader, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, claims he has been named acting prime minister and president. Meanwhile, President Askar Akayev claims that he has not in fact resigned and is therefore still the president.

Kyrgyz Opposition Leader Claims Control (AP)

Kyrgyzstan’s triumphant opposition scrambled Friday to restore order in a capital described as “gone mad” with looting and vandalism, and named a leader of the rebellion acting president after driving President Askar Akayev from power.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev emerged from the Parliament building and said he had been named acting prime minister and president. “Freedom has finally come to us,” Bakiyev told a crowd in the capital, Bishkek. Celebrations also were reported in southern Kyrgyzstan, where the popular uprising began earlier this month.

Bakiyev’s appointment as acting president was endorsed in a late-night session by a newly restored parliament of lawmakers who held seats before this year’s disputed elections, which fueled protests against Akayev and his government.

Akayev, whose whereabouts were unknown after fleeing the Central Asian country with his family, denied he had resigned, according to Russia’s ITAR-Tass news agency. “My current stay outside the country is temporary,” said Akayev, who ruled Kyrgyzstan for 15 years. “Rumors of my resignation are deliberate, malicious lies.”

I’m guessing Akayev is out of power permanently, whether he knows it or not.

About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.

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