Asia

Asia

New Kyrgyzstan government established

18 December 2010 18:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The leaders of Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary parties on Friday achieved a consensus after lengthy discussions and voted for Atambayev, head of the Socialist Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, as prime minister, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

Protesting events against former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev emerged in the spring and intensified on April 7 when a large number of opposition supporters swarmed into the capital city Bishkek and clashed with police.

The uprising ended with the deaths of 87 people and injuries of more than 500 people. Bakiyev was ousted and an interim government was set up headed by the former Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva.

However, the interim government had difficulty in obtaining assistance and resuming diplomatic relations with other countries for lack of a legal basis. The government then had to push forward the "legalization process" under an unrest environment.

On June 27, Kyrgyzstan held a referendum, passed a new draft constitution and recognized the interim government led by Otunbayeva. The key value of the new constitution relied on transferring Kyrgyzstan from presidential to a parliamentary country.

On Oct. 10, Kyrgyzstan held the first parliamentary election after the approval of the new constitution, in which five parties including Ata-Zhurt, SDPK, Ar-Namys, Respublika and Ata-Meken won seats in the parliament.

In early December, SDPK party, together with Respublika and Ata-Meken made an agreement on a coalition government that was forced to dissolve because it failed to vote on a speaker of the parliament as planned.

Newly elected Prime Minister Atambayev said before the parliamentary election that the transshipment center, a former U.S. Air Force base located in Bishkek, would continue to operate over the next four years.

Atambayev also said that he would choose Russia as his first country to visit if he became prime minister.

"Russia is always being our trustful strategic partner in history and present time," he said.

Atambayev said the new Kyrgyz government would focus on increasing financial relations with neighboring and Commonwealth of Independent States countries. It also would develop balanced multilateral and bilateral relations with other countries, he said.