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Kyrgyz President to Resign if Family’s Safety Guaranteed

13 April 2010 18:03 (UTC +04:00)

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, facing increasingly unrealistic odds of returning to power, appears ready to bow to the inevitable. Both Mr. Bakiyev and the provisional government are now expressing (Tuesday) a willingness to negotiate an end to the standoff that would culminate with his resignation.

This comes after the deputy in the interim government in charge of law enforcement, Azymbek Beknazarov, announced President Bakiyev no longer has immunity from arrest and now faces criminal charges.

Beknazarov warned the president had until the end of the day to give himself up or government forces would be dispatched to arrest him.

The military and police switched sides after hundreds of anti-government demonstrators were shot by security forces in the capital. More than 80 have died.

Earlier in the day, at a rally in his village, Teyit, in the southern Jalal-Abad region, Mr. Bakiyev told supporters he did not recognize the government action stripping him of immunity.

Mr. Bakiyev reminded his loyalists he was elected by the people of Kyrgyzstan and what the provisional government decides is not legitimate. But he invited the leader of the interim government, Roza Otunbaeva, to come to the south for talks.
Professor Medet Tiulegenov at the American University of Central Asia in Bishkek tells VOA News that resolving the issue of the defiant president is critical for the legitimacy of the interim government and would clear the way for it to receive international recognition.

"Legally, he is still the president. And, as an interim government, they are not legal. Although, in fact, they are a government, because they are controlling more than the president controls as they came on the wake of the overthrow of President Bakiyev. But, still, it is an issue," Tiulegenov said.

Mr. Bakiyev took power in 2005 after a similar violent uprising led to the ouster of his predecessor.

The interim government says it wants to rewrite the constitution and hold parliamentary elections.

In a statement issued Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed "to all parties concerned to resolve the issue peacefully" and in accordance with Kyrgyzstan’s present constitution.