Friday, March 25, 2005
Kyrgyzstan: Third former soviet state to revolt in 17 months
Jax
The newly appointed acting president of Kyrgyzstan today said the country would hold fresh elections in the summer after Askar Akayev's regime was toppled by mass opposition protests yesterday.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev promised June elections the day after thousands of his supporters, protesting against what they alleged were rigged elections, stormed the presidential building to bring an end to Mr Akayev's 15-year rule.
Mr Bakiyev told a crowd in the capital, Bishkek, that parliament had chosen him as the country's president and prime minister. He said he wanted to maintain good relations with Russia and hoped Moscow would help the central Asian republic to progress.
"We traditionally had good relations with Russia," the Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. "No one is going to change these relations, and we are striving to develop them further. "We are facing a difficult situation now and Russia could help us solve it. We need Russian investment ... we are ready to cooperate closely with Russia and hope for its prompt steps in that direction." His comments came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, condemned the violence and what he called the "illegal" overthrow of Mr Akayev, an ally of Moscow. "It is unfortunate that yet again in the post-Soviet space, political problems in a country are resolved illegally and are accompanied by pogroms and human victims," he said on a visit to Armenia. Mr Putin said he would raise no objections if the ousted leader - whose whereabouts remain unknown - were to seek refuge in Russia, and added: "This is quite possible." Mr Putin said he would cooperate with the Kyrgz opposition. "We know these people pretty well, and they have done quite a lot to establish good relations between Russia and Kyrgyzstan," he said. "Russia will do its best to keep up the current level of relations between the states and improve relations between the people." Mr Putin said he hoped the country's interim leadership would act to bring a swift end to the looting and anarchy that have gripped the country. Thousands of opposition protesters took control of Bishkek yesterday. "Freedom has finally come to us," Mr Bakiyev told a crowd in Bishkek's central square. He pledged to fight corruption - a major complaint against Mr Akayev's regime - and the clan mentality that roughly splits the country between north and south."I will not allow the division of the people into north and south," he said. "We are a united nation." (More)
