Timeline Kyrgyzstan or the Kyrgyz
Republic
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A mountainous state between China, Kazakstan,
Uzbekistan
and Tajikistan with 4.5 million people. A land of nomads with almost no
written history.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.A10)
Kyrgyzstan is twice the size of the state of
Michigan
and had a population of some 4.7 million in 1999. 52%of the people were
Kyrgyz, 21% Russian and 13% were Uzbek. The capital is Bishkek.
(MT, Spg. '99, p.5)(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A2)
220 Million The fossil of a birdlike
reptile from this time was found in Kyrgyzstan around 1970. The reptile
was named Longisquama insignis and its evolution appeared to precede
the development of dinosaurs. The imprint of feathers and hollow shafts
related it to modern birds. The feather imprints were later claimed to
be just thick scales.
(SFC, 6/23/00, p.A1)(SFC, 11/23/00, p.A14)
c1000BC The capital city of Bishkek was founded.
(MT, Spg. ‘99, p.4)
745-840 The Uighur of eastern Turkestan formed an
empire in the north that was ended by an invasion of the Kyrgyz peoples.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
c924 A 1000 year-old poem passed
down orally tells of a warrior-liberator known as Manas. The long
version is about 500,000 lines and takes 3 weeks to recite by a
professional Manas-teller.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.A10)
1924 Stalin divided remnants of
Turkestan into the current Central Asian republics.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.A10)
1936 Dec 5, Armenian SSR,
Azerbaijan SSR, Georgian SSR, Kazakh SSR & Kirghiz SSR became
constituent republics of Soviet Union.
(MC, 12/5/01)
1944 Mar 8, The Soviet government
celebrated International Women's Day by forcibly deporting almost the
entire Balkar population to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Omsk Oblast in
Siberia. Starting on 8 March and finishing the following day, the NKVD
loaded 37,713 Balkars onto 14 train echelons bound for Central Asia and
Siberia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkars)
1989 Chingiz Aitmatov (b.1928),
Kyrgyzstan writer and member of the Soviet Parliament, returned home to
help mediate a conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. His novels
included “The Day Lasts More Than a 100 Years” (1980).
(WSJ, 2/24/05, p.D8)
1990 Jun, In Kyrgyzstan about 300
people were killed in a violent land dispute between Kyrgyz and
Uzbeks in Osh, and only the quick deployment of Soviet troops
quelled the fighting.
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.AA5)(AP, 6/13/10)(Econ, 6/19/10,
p.27)
1991 Aug 31, Uzbekistan and
Kirghizia declared their independence, raising to 10 the number of
republics seeking to secede from the Soviet Union.
(AP, 8/31/01)
1991 Dec 13, Five Central Asian
republics of the Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan) agreed to join the new Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) being organized by Russian President Boris
Yeltsin.
(AP,
12/13/01)(www.therussiasite.org/legal/laws/CISagreement.html)
1996 Apr 26, The Shanghai Five
grouping was created with the signing of the Treaty on Deepening
Military Trust in Border Regions in Shanghai. Boris Yeltsin and the
presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan visited Shanghai
and signed a treaty with Pres. Jiang Zemin at the Jin Jiang Hotel that
demarcated their borders with China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation)(WSJ,
3/5/97, p.A16)
1996 Jun 28, Pres. Askar Akayev
hoped to develop the Kumtor gold fields with the help of Cameco, a
Canadian mining firm out of Saskatchewan.
(WSJ, 6/28/96, p.A6)
1996 Dec, Pres. Askar Akayev
ordered computers for every high school in Kyrgyzstan.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.A10)
1997 Nov, In Bishkek Hillary
Clinton dedicated a campus building at one of the country’s 43
universities. Pres. Aska Askaev had earlier received a financial
commitment of $2 million each from the Soros Foundation and the US.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A12)
1997 Mar 24, Prime Minister Apas
Dzhumagulov (63) resigned due to age and said new forces were needed
for reform. He was expected to be appointed as an ambassador.
(SFC, 3/25/98, p.C14)
1997 The Central Asia Regional
Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program was initiated. The 8-member group
included Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(www.adb.org/CAREC/default.asp)
1997 Kyrgyzstan’s population
numbered about 4.5 million people.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.A10)
1998 Apr, Kyrgyzstan became the
1st country in the region to adopt a comprehensive drugs law including
the death penalty for large-scale trafficking.
(Econ, 7/26/03, p.46-7)
1998 May 20, A truck spilled 20
tons of cyanide and forced 600 people to seek medical treatment. 3,876
pounds of cyanide leached out of the truck but did not seem to hurt any
local residents. Some fish died in the river and the water flowed into
the 113-mile-long Lake Ysyk Kol. The Cameco Corp. of Canada ran the
Kumtor gold mine and contributed some 15% of the country’s GNP.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/18/98, p.A18)
1998 Dec, Zhumabek Ibraimov was
appointed Prime Minister to address the nation's economic problems.
(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A1)
1999 cApr 4, Prime Minister
Zhumabek Ibraimov (50) died following recent surgery in Russia.
(WSJ, 4/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Aug 23, Militants (IMU) from
Tajikistan crossed into Kyrgyzstan taking hostages and claiming control
of several villages. Some 1,000 religious fighters took a swath of land
and 13 hostages that included a Kyrgyz general and 4 Japanese
geologists.
(SFC, 8/24/99, p.A11)(SFC, 10/21/99, p.AA5)
1999 Aug 25, In Kyrgyzstan Boris
Yeltsin met with Jiang Zemin to forge a closer alliance to
counterbalance US global clout. The meeting preceded a 5-day Central
Asia summit.
(SFC, 8/26/99, p.A13)
1999 Sep 22, Kyrgyz jets bombed
Islamic militants near the villages of Sai and Syrt in the mountainous
Osh region. Officials claimed that 30 rebels were killed.
(SFC, 9/24/99, p.A14)
1999 Oct 25, In Kyrgyzstan 4
Japanese geologists were freed after 2 months of captivity by the IMU.
A $2-5 million ransom was suspected.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.A13)(WSJ, 9/24/01, p.A19)
2000 May 26, Gunmen opened fire on
a visiting Chinese delegation and one official was killed. The visitors
planned to investigate an arson attack at a Chinese market.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A13)
2000 Aug 12, Four American
climbers were captured by Uzbek rebels in the Karasu Valley and held
hostage for 6 days before they managed to escape.
(SFC, 8/25/00, p.A14)
2000 Aug 14, In Kyrgyzstan a 4-day
clash between Islamic militants and government troops left as many as
95 people dead. The militants were said to belong to the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan, which was trying to carve out an independent
state.
(SFC, 8/15/00, p.A14)
2000 Oct 29, In Kyrgyzstan Pres.
Askar Askaev coasted to a 3rd term in flawed elections where 5 rivals
were given no real chance to win. Askaev claimed 73% of the vote.
(WSJ, 10/30/00, p.A1)(SFC, 10/31/00, p.A14)
2000 Garth Willis of St. Paul,
Minn., founded the Alpine Fund to train local Kyrgyzstan children as
mountain guides.
(SSFC, 11/24/02, p.F5)
2001 May 17, In Kyrgyzstan a bus
fell into a mountain ravine and 19 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.D4)
2001 Jun 15, The Shanghai Five
member nations (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia),
having admitted Uzbekistan, signed the Declaration of Shanghai
Cooperation Organization.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation)
2001 Jul, The IMU attacked
government troops in southern Uzbekistan and a TV transmitter in
southern Kyrgyzstan.
(AP, 3/30/04)
2002 Mar 17, In Karadzigach 5
people were killed during a protest over the sentencing of lawmaker
Azimbek Beknazarov. Beknazarov was jailed for asking why Pres. Akayev
ceded territory to China in 2001.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A7)(WSJ, 5/13/02, p.A13)
2002 May 22, Kyrgyzstan Pres.
Akayev accepted the resignation of PM Kurmanbek Bakiev and his entire
government amid protests over clashes with police that killed 6 people
in March.
(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A12)(Econ, 3/26/05, p.44)
2002 Jun 28, A Kyrgyzstan court
overturned the corruption sentence on against an opposition lawmaker,
whose case spawned nationwide protests in the former Soviet republic.
(AP, 6/28/02)
2002 Jun 30, In Bishkek, Kyrgyz,
police reported that a Chinese diplomat was shot and killed by unknown
gunmen in an apparent gangland dispute.
(AP, 6/30/02)
2002 Nov 16, Kyrgyzstan police
detained more than 200 activists who traveled to the Kyrgyz capital,
Bishkek, for an anti-government assembly calling on Pres. Askar Akayev
to resign. They were all released by the next day.
(AP, 11/17/02)
2002 Dec 27, In Bishkek,
Kyrgyzstan, 7 people were killed and 26 injured when a container of
fireworks exploded, detonating a gas tank in the Dordoi market.
(AP, 12/27/02)
2003 Mar 27, in Kyrgyzstan a fire
engulfed a crowded passenger bus, killing 40 people on board.
(AP, 3/27/03)
2003 Apr 20, In southern
Kyrgyzstan a landslide swept through a village, killing 38 people.
(AP, 4/20/04)
2003 Sep 23, China signed
agreements with Russia and four Central Asian neighbors (Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan) in an effort to strengthen a
7-year-old security alliance and encourage economic links across a
largely undeveloped region.
(AP, 9/23/03)
2003 Oct, Pres. Putin attended the
opening a Russian air base in Kant, Kyrgyzstan.
(Econ, 11/1/03, p.40)
2004 Apr 26, In southern
Kyrgyzstan a landslide buried a village, and up to 33 people were
feared dead.
(AP, 4/26/04)
2004 Aug 28, The foreign ministers
of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan approved Russian
membership to their economic block at talks in Astana, the Kazakh
capital.
(AP, 8/28/04)
2004 Sep 21, China's PM Wen Jiabao
hailed a series of agreements with neighboring Kyrgyzstan including an
agreement on the thorny issue of the countries' common border.
(AFP, 9/21/04)
2004 Sep 29, Kyrgyzstan police
arrested a man for attempting the black market sale of 60 small
containers of what was confirmed as plutonium.
(WSJ, 9/30/04, p.A1)
2005 Feb 27, Kyrgyzstan faced a
key test of its commitment to democracy in parliamentary elections amid
tension over the exclusion of a number of opposition figures and
prominent lawmakers. Some opposition figures and prominent politicians
disqualified from the ballot in a country once seen as an island of
democracy in former Soviet Central Asia.
(AP, 2/27/05)(AP, 2/28/05)
2005 Feb 27, Bayaman Erkinbayev, a
wealthy playboy and head of the Palvan Corporation, led 2,000 fighters
trained in Alysh, Kyrgyzstan's answer to Kung Fu, to protests launched
after the first round of a parliamentary election.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 10, Kyrgyzstan opposition
parties united around former PM Kurmanbek, who will coordinate national
protests sparked by the 1st round of elections.
(WSJ, 3/11/05, p.A9)
2005 Mar 13, Kyrgyzstan held
parliamentary runoff elections amid rising tension over signs the
longtime leader plans to extend his rule beyond constitutional limits.
President Askar Akayev (60) won an overwhelmingly loyal Parliament in
runoff elections. The opposition won 6 of 75 seats and said the vote
was riddled with abuses.
(AP, 3/14/05)(SFC, 3/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 20, In Kyrgyzstan
protesters stormed a police station in Jalal-Abad forcing officers to
flee, a day after baton-wielding police evicted demonstrators from two
government buildings they had occupied to protest alleged election
fraud. 4 policemen were reported killed.
(AP, 3/20/05)(WSJ, 3/21/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 22, Kyrgyzstan President
Askar Akayev's spokesman said protests sweeping are part of a "coup"
designed by criminals. The government signaled it has no intention of
accepting election fraud charges that have fueled the massive rallies.
(AP, 3/22/05)
2005 Mar 24, In Kyrgyzstan
protesters stormed the presidential compound, seizing control of the
seat of state power after clashing with riot police during a large
opposition rally. President Askar Akayev reportedly flew to Russia. The
ITAR-Tass news agency said President Askar Akayev has resigned. This
came to be called Kyrgyzstan’s “Tulip revolution.”
(AP, 3/24/05)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A1)(Econ, 8/1/09, p.38)
2005 Mar 25, In Kyrgyzstan
Kurmanbek Bakiyev (55) was appointed acting president by parliament.
The opposition scrambled to restore order in Bishkek, a capital
described as "gone mad" with looting and vandalism, after driving
President Askar Akayev from power.
(AP, 3/25/05)(SFC, 3/26/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 27, In Kyrgyzstan 2 rival
parliaments competed for power, raising political uncertainty in the
former Soviet nation. Both groups, the parliament newly elected in a
disputed vote that sparked massive discontent, and the one that lost
the election, met in separate chambers over the weekend, each claiming
to represent the people.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 28, Interim leader
Kurmanbek Bakiyev recognized Kyrgyzstan's new parliament as legitimate
even though it was chosen in disputed elections, a move designed to end
a struggle between the rival legislatures.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Apr 4, Kyrgyz President Askar
Akayev, who fled the country last month after demonstrators stormed his
offices, signed a resignation agreement.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 Apr 11, The Kyrgyz parliament
accepted the resignation of ousted Pres. Askar Akayev.
(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 May 22, A top Kyrgyz official
said Uzbeks who fled into neighboring Kyrgyzstan to escape violence in
their Central Asian country are not refugees and must return home.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 Jun 1, About 200 people, some
throwing stones, broke into Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court and evicted
activists who had occupied the building for more than a month in a
protest on behalf of five losing parliamentary candidates.
(AP, 6/1/05)
2005 Jun 6, In Kyrgyzstan an
arrest warrant was issued for former prime minister Nikolai Tanayev,
accused of illegally transferring about $1 million in state funds to a
private construction company run by his son. A request for Tanayev’s
extradition was sent to Moscow.
(AP, 6/6/05)
2005 Jun 10, Jyrgalbek
Surabaldiyev, a Kyrgyz lawmaker and owner of Kyrgyzstan's largest
automobile market, was gunned down. He was a close ally of the
country's former leader.
(AP, 6/10/05)
2005 Jun 13, In Kyrgyzstan guards
outside a hotel opened fire on hundreds of traders who had come to the
southern city of Osh to demand fair market practices. 4 people were
hurt.
(AP, 6/13/05)
2005 Jun 17, In Kyrgyzstan several
hundred unarmed supporters of a presidential hopeful who was denied
registration in next month's election stormed the government
headquarters. Troops with truncheons and tear gas beat back protesters
in the biggest unrest in Kyrgyzstan since its longtime president was
ousted in March. The clash injured 39 people.
(AP, 6/17/05)
2005 Jun 18, In Kyrgyzstan Mukar
Cholponbayev, who served as speaker of the Central Asian nation's lower
parliament house in the late 1990s, was arrested in the capital Bishkek
for allegedly helping to organize the previous day’s takeover of the
government headquarters.
(AP, 6/19/05)
2005 Jun 27, The UN said it wanted
to move hundreds of Uzbek refugees to third countries from camps in
Kyrgyzstan because there were fears Uzbekistan might try to snatch them
and take them home by force.
(AP, 6/27/05)
2005 Jul 5, An alliance of Russia,
China and central Asian nations called for the US and coalition members
in Afghanistan to set a date for withdrawing from member states,
reflecting growing unease over America's regional military presence.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes China, Russia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
(AP, 7/5/05)
2005 Jul 10, Kyrgyzstan held
presidential elections. With more than three-quarters of the ballots
counted from 95 percent of the districts, Kurmanbek Bakiev (Bakiyev)
received nearly 89 percent of the vote. He had teamed up with Felix
Kulov, his most serious rival, by promising him the position of prime
minister.
(AP, 7/11/05)(Econ, 7/16/05, p.39)
2005 Jul 27, The UN started
evacuating more than 400 refugees from a camp in Kyrgyzstan and will
fly them to a third country to keep them from being sent home to
Uzbekistan where they fear prosecution. Uzbekistan has been pressuring
Kyrgyzstan to hand over the refugees, and Kyrgyz officials relented in
recent weeks, sending at least 87 of them back.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 29, A plane with 440
Uzbek refugees left Kyrgyzstan for Romania.
(AP, 7/29/05)
2005 Aug 1, A prosecutor said that
Kyrgyzstan will send 15 Uzbeks asylum seekers back to their home
country, despite pleas from the United Nations and rights groups that
it violates international treaties on refugees.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 14, Kurmanbek Bakiyev,
Kyrgyzstan’s new president, pledged in his inaugural speech that the
former Soviet Central Asian nation, which hosts both US and Russian
military bases, will pursue an independent foreign policy under his
leadership.
(AP, 8/14/05)
2005 Aug 15, New Kyrgyz President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev appointed Felix Kulov, a former opposition politician
who was jailed under the country's ousted Soviet-era leader, as acting
prime minister.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Sep 5, Kyrgyzstan President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev said that his Central Asian nation will allow the US
military base on its territory for as long as necessary to bring
stability to Afghanistan, but he also said the rent will increase.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 21, Unidentified gunmen
in Bishkek killed Bayaman Erkinbayev (38), a Kyrgyz lawmaker and
wealthy businessman. He had survived an assassination attempt 5 months
ago.
(AP, 9/22/05)
2005 Oct 3, The UN ambassadors of
Britain, France and the US sent a letter emphasizing their continued
opposition to a proposal to create a nuclear-weapons free zone in
Central Asia. The letter, sent to the UN ambassadors of the five
Central Asian nations, says that a draft treaty to create the zone
still does not address their biggest concerns and that further
discussions are needed. It calls for consultations "very soon." The
five nations agreed to the draft text for a Central Asian nuclear-free
zone in February. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan had originally put forward a proposal for a nuclear-weapon
free zone in 1997, but divisions both internal and external over the
text have stalled progress. Moscow claims that a 1992 treaty that
Russia signed with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan could allow
missiles to be deployed in the region.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Oct 20, Inmates at a prison
hospital in Kyrgyzstan killed a parliamentarian and two other people
after taking him and his entourage hostage.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 24, Hundreds of
demonstrators rallied in front of the Kyrgyz parliament for a third day
to demand that the PM resign over the slaying of a lawmaker during a
prison uprising.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2005 Nov 1, Gunfire erupted and at
least four inmates were killed at two Kyrgyz prisons after riot police
entered to restore order following a bloody uprising.
(AP, 11/1/05)
2005 Dec 29, Kyrgyzstan's
president effectively ended the use of the death penalty in this
ex-Soviet republic by extending a moratorium on the punishment until
its planned abolition. Kyrgyzstan first imposed the moratorium in 1998
and has since repeatedly extended it.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 The population of Kyrgyzstan
was about 5 million.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A2)(SFC, 3/25/05, p.A12)
2006 Feb 27, Omurbek Tekebayev,
the speaker of Kyrgyzstan's parliament, stepped down in response to the
president's criticism of lawmakers. Tekebayev had submitted his
resignation on Feb. 10 after saying that President Kurmanbek Bakiyev
"should go hang himself if he is a man."
(AP, 2/27/06)
2006 Apr 12, In Kyrgyzstan Edil
Baisalov, leader of a coalition of civic groups called For Democracy
and Civil Society, suffered a gunshot wound in the back of the head
when he was leaving his office in the capital, Bishkek. Baisalov has
led a campaign against a bid by alleged criminal boss Ryspek Akmatbayev
to become a lawmaker.
(AP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 19, In Kyrgyzstan Pres.
Bakiyev threatened to expel American troops from the Central Asian
nation unless the US agrees to pay more for its military presence.
(AP, 4/19/06)
2006 Apr 29, In Kyrgyzstan
thousands of protesters demanding reform gathered in the main square in
Bishkek but dispersed peacefully after President Bakiyev and PM Felix
Kulov addressed the crowd.
(AP, 4/29/06)
2006 May 10, In Kyrgyzstan a
gunman in a passing car shot and killed Ryspek Akmatbayev, a reputed
crime boss, who was recently elected to parliament.
(AP, 5/10/06)
2006 May 12, Gunmen attacked
border posts on both sides of the frontier between Kyrgyzstan and
Tajikistan, killing five people and injuring two.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 May 27, In Kyrgyzstan
thousands of protesters demonstrated in the capital Bishkek to demand
that the government undertake promised constitutional reforms.
(AP, 5/28/06)
2006 Jun 15, The Shanghai
Cooperation Organization, a Russian and Chinese-led bloc of Asian
states, said it plans to set up an expert group to boost computer
security and help guard against threats to their regimes from the
Internet. SCO members (China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) are mostly authoritarian states that
maintain tight controls on communications technology, including the
Internet.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Jul 11, An officials said
Kyrgyzstan's Foreign Ministry has decided to expel two US diplomats for
"inappropriate" contacts with nongovernment organizations.
(AP, 7/11/06)
2006 Jul 14, Kyrgyzstan and the US
resolved a payment dispute that had threatened the future of the US
military base near Bishkek.
(AP, 7/14/06)
2006 Jul 18, Kyrgyz police in Osh
arrested six men suspected of taking part in an uprising in neighboring
Uzbekistan last year and seized 14 ounces of TNT from them.
(AP, 7/19/06)
2006 Aug 6, In Kyrgyzstan Imam
Mokhammadrafik Kamalov (53) was killed in the city of Osh along with
two suspected Islamic radicals during an operation to track down men
suspected of attacking Kyrgyz and Tajik border posts in May, killing
nine people.
(AP, 8/8/06)
2006 Sep 5, In Kyrgyzstan Maj.
Jill Metzger (33), a US Air Force officer, went missing while shopping
in the capital of Bishkek. Metzger reappeared 3 days later and said she
had been seized by three young men and a woman in a minibus and held in
a rural area about 30 miles from the capital.
(AP, 9/6/06)(AP, 9/9/06)
2006 Sep 9, Five central Asian
countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan) signed a nuclear-free zone treaty, but it did not cancel
out a 1992 agreement to allow Russia to transport and deploy nuclear
weapons there under certain circumstances.
(SSFC, 9/10/06, p.A18)
2006 Nov 6, Kyrgyzstan President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev agreed to several opposition demands after five days
of rallies demanding his resignation. Police officers guarding the
presidential headquarters switched over to the protesters' side.
(AP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 7, In Kyrgyzstan
protesters demanding the Kyrgyz president's resignation clashed with
government supporters, but fears of deadly violence eased after
lawmakers on both sides said they had agreed on a compromise draft
constitution.
(AP, 11/7/06)
2006 Nov 9, Kyrgyzstan's President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed an amended constitution limiting his own
powers in a bid to defuse the deepest political crisis this Central
Asian nation has experienced since the 2005 uprising that carried him
to power.
(AP, 11/9/06)
2006 Dec 6, A US serviceman
fatally shot a civilian at the US air base in Kyrgyzstan "in response
to a threat."
(AP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 7, In Kyrgyzstan
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev called for US troops deployed in the former
Soviet nation to be stripped of diplomatic immunity after a US
serviceman fatally shot a Kyrgyz civilian. The US air base said the
serviceman who fatally shot a Kyrgyz truck driver had been threatened
with a knife and responded as his training required.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 19, Kyrgyzstan’s
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev accepted the resignation of the government
due to a dispute with parliament, adding new tension to the troubled
politics of a country of strategic interest to both Russia and the
United States.
(AP, 12/19/06)
2007 Jan 15, Kyrgyzstan Pres.
Bakiyev signed into law constitutional amendments strengthening his
powers that he had pushed through after threatening to dissolve
parliament.
(AP, 1/15/07)
2007 Apr 11, In Kyrgyzstan
thousands of opposition supporters gathered in the main square of
Bishkek to press President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to resign. Bakiyev had
sought to head off the opposition protest by signing constitutional
amendments curtailing his power a day earlier, but the opposition
rejected his move and showed up in full force.
(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Apr 19, Kyrgyzstan police
used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of opposition
protesters who had marched to the president's office in Bishkek to
demand his resignation.
(AP, 4/19/07)
2007 May 30, Medical officials in
Kyrgyzstan confirmed that PM Almazbek Atambayev was poisoned after
receiving death threats but said they have not yet identified the toxin.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Aug 17, The six members of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) held their first joint
maneuvers on Russian land in a demonstration of their growing military
ties and a shared desire to counter US global clout. The presidents of
Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
attended the unprecedented joint military exercises in Chelyabinsk near
the Kazakh border.
(AFP, 8/17/07)
2007 Sep 19, Kyrgyzstan's Pres.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev called a national referendum on changing the
constitution to elect the Parliament by party list, a change that would
hurt the country's many small parties and independent politicians.
(AP, 9/19/07)
2007 Oct 21, Kyrgyzstan held a
national referendum on changing the constitution to elect the
Parliament by party list. On Oct 23 the main trans-Atlantic security
and rights group and the US Embassy said the referendum on
constitutional change was marred by numerous violations.
(AP, 10/23/07)
2007 Oct 22,
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed a decree dissolving
parliament, a day after voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum on
constitutional changes that his critics called a power grab.
(AP, 10/22/07)
2007 Oct 24,
In southern Kyrgyzstan Alisher Saipov (26), a prominent
independent ethnic-Uzbek journalist, was shot to death. He had close
ties to the opposition to the authoritarian regime in neighboring
Uzbekistan.
(AP, 10/24/07)(Econ, 6/19/10, p.28)
2007 Nov 28, Kyrgyzstan's
president signed an order relieving PM Almazbek Atambayev of duty, nine
months after he was appointed in a move to appease opposition groups.
(AP, 11/28/07)
2007 Dec 16, Kyrgyzstan held
parliamentary elections. Critics have said election code changes,
introduced in October, were designed to evict all opposition
politicians from the legislature. The Central Election Commission said
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's Ak Jol party won 71 out of 90
parliament seats in the parliamentary election. The top opposition
party failed to win parliament seats and the party accused the
government of rigging the vote and said it would appeal the results in
court.
(AP, 12/17/07)(AP, 12/20/07)
2007 Dec 24, In Kyrgyzstan Igor
Chudinov, a former energy and industry minister was, named prime
minister.
(AP, 12/24/07)
2008 Aug 24, In Kyrgyzstan a
Boeing 737 passenger jet carrying 90 people to Iran crashed near
Bishkek’s Manas Int’l. Airport. At least 65 people were killed.
(AP, 8/24/08)
2008 Oct 5, A 6.6-magnitude
earthquake struck the mountains of Central Asia, destroying Nura
village in Kyrgyzstan and killing at least 75 people including 41
children.
(AP, 10/6/08)(AP, 10/7/08)(SFC, 10/11/08, p.B6)
2008 Dec 5, Kyrgyzstan's state
radio station was reported to have taken BBC programming off the
airwaves, days after withdrawing broadcasting rights from US-funded
Radio Liberty's Kyrgyz Service.
(AP, 12/5/08)
2009 Jan 18, Kyrgyzstan began to
come under a massive cyber attack attributed to Russian
“cyber-militia.” Less than 20% of the country’s 5.3 million population
had online access. Proposed reasons for the attacks included the US use
of an air base for operations in Afghanistan or a hit on the fledgling
Kyrgyz opposition, which has used the Internet to express its
discontent.
(WSJ, 1/28/09, p.A10)
2009 Feb 3, Kyrgyzstan said it
would end the US lease of an air base that supports military operations
in Afghanistan. Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev announced his
intention to shut the base, at least for the moment, after Russia
agreed to provide Kyrgyzstan with $2 billion in loans plus another $150
million in financial aid. The lease deal obliges Kyrgyzstan to give the
US 180 days notice to clear the base.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 4, Russia sought to
bolster its security alliance with six other ex-Soviet nations
(Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan)
by forming a joint rapid reaction force in a continuing effort to curb
US influence in energy-rich Central Asia.
(AP, 2/4/09)
2009 Feb 6, Russia granted transit
rights to nonlethal US military supplies headed to Afghanistan, but
only after pressuring Kyrgyzstan to close an air base leased to the US.
(SFC, 2/7/09, p.A3)
2009 Feb 19, Kyrgyzstan's
parliament voted to close a key US air base in the country, a move that
could hamper Pres. Obama's efforts to increase the number of US forces
in Afghanistan.
(AP, 2/19/09)
2009 Feb 20, Kyrgyzstan ordered US
forces to depart within six months from an air base key to military
operations in Afghanistan, complicating plans to send more troops to
battle rising Taliban and al-Qaida violence. A US military official
said Uzbekistan will allow non-lethal US military cargo heading to
Afghanistan to transit through the country.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 26, Kazakhstan announced
it was pulling out of the Central Asian power grid to protect its
energy supplies, a move that forced rolling blackouts and electricity
rationing on Kyrgyzstan, its tiny, power-starved neighbor.
(AP, 2/26/09)
2009 Mar 3, In Kyrgyzstan Syrgak
Abdyldayev, a journalist with the Reporter-Bishkek weekly, was stabbed
repeatedly by four assailants after leaving his office. Opposition
parties described the attack as an attempt to stamp out freedom of
expression.
(AP, 3/4/09)
2009 Mar 6, Kyrgyz lawmakers voted
overwhelmingly to suspend an agreement that allows US-led coalition
forces fighting in Afghanistan to use an air base on its territory.
(AP, 3/6/09)
2009 Mar 11, Prosecutors in
Kyrgyzstan charged a prominent opposition leader with murder in a case
that government critics say is politically motivated. Alikbek
Jekshenkulov was accused of involvement in the shooting of a Turkish
citizen in late 2007 and illegal possession of a weapon. Jekshenkulov
was foreign minister until February 2007.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 13, In Kyrgyzstan Medet
Sadyrkulov, a key opposition figure to Pres. Bakiyev, was killed in an
alleged car crash that left him and 2 passengers burned beyond
recognition.
(WSJ, 3/14/09, p.A6)(Econ, 1/9/10, p.45)
2009 Mar 16, In Kyrgyzstan
opposition parties called for protests across the country this month,
amid worsening economic conditions and mounting accusations of
government repression.
(AP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 18, Kyrgyzstan police
detained several prominent activists as they held a ceremony to mark
the seventh anniversary of shootings that left six protesters dead.
(AP, 3/18/09)
2009 Apr, In Kyrgyzstan Sanjarbek
Kadyraliev became the 4th parliamentarian to be assassinated since the
2005 revolution.
(Econ, 8/1/09, p.38)
2009 Jun 23, A Kyrgyz
parliamentary committee approved a deal in which the United States has
agreed to pay more than triple the previous rent for use of a key air
base in Kyrgyzstan to ship non-lethal military supplies to Afghanistan.
(AP, 6/23/09)
2009 Jun 25, Kyrgyzstan's
parliament unanimously approved a deal allowing the US to continue
using an air base crucial to military operations in Afghanistan,
sharply shifting course months after ordering American forces out by
August. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev signed the agreement into law in
early July.
(AP, 6/25/09)(AP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jun 27, Kyrgyzstan security
forces killed three alleged members of a terrorist organization in a
shootout. Authorities identified the gunmen as Islamic militants and
said one of those killed was their leader, a Kyrgyz citizen who had
received training at a terrorist camp in Pakistan. Another of the dead
was from Khanabad, a town in neighboring Uzbekistan. The security
ministry said they belonged to the Islamic Jihad Group (IJG), an
obscure organization that Uzbek authorities have claimed is a splinter
group of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
(AP, 6/29/09)
2009 Jul 12, In Kyrgyzstan
government critic Almaz Tashiyev (Tashiev) died of complications from
head injuries after surgery. Relatives said he told them before the
operation that he had been beaten by eight police officers earlier in
the week. His death came after a series of attacks on reporters and
shortly before next week's presidential election, reinforcing concerns
about the risks faced by independent journalists in the Central Asian
nation. Junior lieutenant Shukurbek Nurmatov was arrested July 16 on
suspicion of being involved in the beating.
(AP, 7/13/09)(AP, 7/17/09)(Econ, 8/1/09, p.38)
2009 Jul 23, In Kyrgyzstan
Almazbek Atambayev, the main opposition candidate, said he was no
longer taking part in this day’s presidential election, citing
widespread ballot-stuffing and the intimidation of election monitors.
Pres. Bakiyev (59) won another 5-year term with 76% of the ballots.
International monitors said the election was marred by ballot-box
stuffing and widespread irregularities in vote counting.
(AP, 7/23/09)(AP, 8/2/09)
2009 Jul 29, In Kyrgyzstan a
number of protestors were detained, as police suppressed a series of
demonstrations against the disputed re-election of President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev. Police said 42 protesters were detained in Bishkek. The
opposition reported that about 80 people were detained in Besh-Kungei.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Aug 1, Kyrgyzstan allowed
Russia to open a second military base on its territory, expanding
Moscow's military reach to balance against the US presence.
(Reuters, 8/1/09)
2009 Sep 23, Officials in
Kyrgyzstan called for the death penalty to be reinstated and said
public executions could be carried out, a sharp reversal that will
likely draw international condemnation.
(AP, 9/23/09)
2009 Oct 20, Kyrgyzstan's Cabinet
resigned as part of a sweeping government reform campaign the president
said will save money and make the Central Asian nation's leadership
more effective. Opposition leaders dismissed President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev's reform push as a bid to increase his own power.
(AP, 10/20/09)
2009 Nov 30, Tajikistan unveiled a
Chinese-built 500-kilowatt transmission line that will link the
northern and central parts of the country. This would add to the poor
nation's debt to China but reduce reliance on Uzbekistan, which planned
to withdraw on Dec 1 from the Soviet-era power grid that unites four
Central Asian countries. This prompted fears of electricity shortages
that could make for a winter of hardship in impoverished Tajikistan and
Kyrgyzstan. Tajikistan, said the move will cut it off from gas-rich
Turkmenistan.
(AP, 11/30/09)
2009 Dec 22, In Kazakhstan
journalist Gennady Pavlyuk (51) of Kyrgyzstan died six days after being
thrown from a 6th story window in central Almaty.
(Econ, 1/9/10, p.45)
2009 Dilip Hiro authored “Inside
Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan,
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Iran.”
(Econ, 9/26/09, p.98)
2010 Mar 17, In Kyrgyzstan
thousands of demonstrators rallied in the capital Bishkek to protest
recent sharp increases in heating and electricity tariffs and alleged
oppression of government opponents.
(AP, 3/17/10)
2010 Mar 23, Kyrgyzstan's Pres.
Kurmanbek Bakiyev said that Western-style democracy has run its course
in the ex-Soviet Central Asian country, prompting fears of a further
decline in political freedoms.
(AP, 3/23/10)
2010 Apr 3, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon repeatedly criticized Kyrgyzstan for human rights problems,
a strong rebuke to the country once regarded as former Soviet Central
Asia's "island of democracy."
(AP, 4/3/10)
2010 Apr 6, In Kyrgyzstan hundreds
of protesters angry over rising heat and power prices seized a
government building in Talas, took a governor hostage and clashed with
troops after trying to seize a regional governor.
(AP, 4/6/10)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.43)
2010 Apr 6, UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon criticized as "unacceptable" Uzbekistan's placing of land
mines along parts of its border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that
have not been delineated.
(AP, 4/6/10)
2010 Apr 7, In Kyrgyzstan
anti-government unrest rocked Bishkek as thousands of protesters
stormed the main government building, set fire to the prosecutor's
office and looted state TV headquarters. At least 83 people were killed
and some 1500 injured in clashes nationwide.
(AP, 4/7/10)(AP, 4/8/10)(Econ, 4/17/10, p.46)
2010 Apr 8, Kyrgyzstan President
Kurmanbek Bakiyev told a Russian radio station he is not admitting
defeat despite a bloody uprising and the formation of an interim
government. Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign
minister, said earlier parliament was dissolved and she would head an
interim government that would rule for six months until elections were
held. Otunbayeva replaced PM Daniyar Usenov following his resignation.
The country's new defense chief said that the nation's 5 million people
now have nothing to fear from the security forces.
(AP, 4/8/10)(SFC, 4/9/10, p.A2)(Econ, 4/10/10, p.43)
2010 Apr 13, Kyrgyzstan's deposed
president said he will resign if the interim authorities guarantee his
security, and the head of the security services said he was ready to
make such a promise. Kyrgyzstan's interim leader said her government
will extend the lease of a US air base key to the war in Afghanistan.
(AP, 4/13/10)
2010 Apr 15, Deposed Kyrgyzstan
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev' left the country for neighboring
Kazakhstan, just hours after gunfire erupted at a rally where he was
speaking to supporters.
(AP, 4/15/10)
2010 Apr 20, Kyrgyzstan's ousted
president was in exile in Belarus, as the interim authorities
controlling the Kyrgyz capital warned he would be imprisoned if he
tried to return to the Central Asian country.
(AP, 4/20/10)
2010 Apr 27, In Kyrgyzstan the
leader of the interim authorities said ousted president Kurmanbek
Bakiyev has been charged with organizing mass killings in the deadly
uprising that forced him from office in this Central Asian country
earlier this month.
(AP, 4/27/10)
2010 May 3, Kyrgyzstan's interim
government offered cash rewards for information leading to the arrest
of fugitive relatives and colleagues of deposed President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev. Rewards from $20,000 to $100,000 were offered to those who can
help find them, colossal bounties in a country where the average salary
is $130 per month. Bakiyev’s brother Zhanybek was wanted for ordering
police to open fire on protestors.
(AP, 5/3/10)
2010 May 13, In Kyrgyzstan
opponents of the interim rulers stormed two regional government
headquarters, threatening the delicate peace that has reigned since the
violent overthrow of the president last month.
(AP, 5/13/10)
2010 May 14, In Kyrgyzstan gunfire
erupted as hundreds of interim government backers fought supporters of
deposed Pres. Kurmanbek Bakiyev for control over regional government
buildings. At least one person was killed and more than 60 injured in
the worst violence since last month's forceful government change.
(AP, 5/14/10)
2010 May 18, In Kyrgyzstan several
thousand people tried to storm a university in a burst of ethnic
violence that left at least 2 people dead and 50 wounded, prompting the
interim government to call a local state of emergency.
(AP, 5/19/10)
2010 May 19, In southern
Kyrgyzstan ethnic violence broke out in Jalalabad. Ethnic Kyrgyz
supporters of ousted Pres. Bakiyev clashed with the Uzbek minority,
supporters of the interim government.
(AP, 5/20/10)(SFC, 5/20/10, p.A2)
2010 Jun 7, Kyrgyzstan's fragile
interim government suffered its first major defection as Edil Baisalov,
the acting president's chief of staff, announced his resignation and
disclosed plans to create a new political party.
(AP, 6/7/10)
2010 Jun 10, In Kyrgyzstan five
simultaneous attacks by masked men carrying guns took place in Osh. The
perpetrators were said to be Bakiyev-financed criminal gangs and ethnic
Uzbek groups financed by someone else.
(Econ, 6/19/10, p.27)
2010 Jun 11, In southern
Kyrgyzstan clashes between the ethnic Kyrgyz and the minority Uzbek
community erupted overnight and killed at least 37 people leaving more
than 450 wounded in Osh. Officials declared a state of emergency in
part of the Central Asian nation that hosts US and Russian military
bases.
(AP, 6/11/10)
2010 Jun 13, Kyrgyz mobs burned
Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents in the worst ethnic
rioting this Central Asian nation has seen in 20 years. Officials said
more than 75,000 Uzbek refugees have fled the rising ethnic violence,
amid reports of Kyrgyz mobs torching Uzbek villages and slaughtering
their residents.
(AP, 6/13/10)
2010 Jun 14, Some 100,000 minority
Uzbeks fleeing a purge by mobs of Kyrgyz massed at the border, as the
deadliest ethnic violence to hit this Central Asian nation in decades
as fires raged in the southern city of Osh for a fourth day.
(AP, 6/14/10)
2010 Jun 15, The Int’l. Red Cross
said several hundred people have been killed in Kyrgyzstan since
rioting began on June 10. The interim government blamed the inner
circle of former Pres. Bakiyev for inciting the rioting. Uzbekistan
closed its borders saying it could take no more refugees.
(AP, 6/15/10)(SFC, 6/16/10, p.A5)(Econ, 6/19/10,
p.26)
2010 Jun 17, The United Nations
said some 400,000 people have been displaced by ethnic violence in
southern Kyrgyzstan, dramatically increasing the official estimate of a
crisis that has left throngs of desperate, fearful refugees without
enough food and water in grim camps along the Uzbek border.
(AP, 6/17/10)
2010 Jun 18, Kyrgyzstan's interim
Pres. Roza Otunbayeva said that 2,000 people may have died in the
ethnic clashes that have rocked the country's south, many times her
government's official estimate, as she made her first visit to a
riot-hit city since the unrest erupted.
(AP, 6/18/10)
2010 Jun 19, A top US envoy called
for an independent investigation into the violence that has devastated
southern Kyrgyzstan, as amateur video emerged of unarmed Uzbeks
gathering to defend their town during the attacks.
(AP, 6/19/10)
2010 Jun 21, Kyrgyz government
forces swept into an ethnic Uzbek village, beating men and women with
rifle butts in an assault that left at least two dead and more than 20
wounded.
(AP, 6/21/10)
2010 Jun 22, Kyrgyzstan troops
reportedly beat several dozen men and women in an Uzbek neighborhood in
Osh in a raid that deepened refugees' fears about returning to an area
seared by an eruption of deadly ethnic violence.
(AP, 6/22/10)
2010 Jun 25, Kyrgyz authorities
said they have arrested Sandjar Bakiyev (27), a nephew of deposed
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and charged him with helping organize the
ethnic rioting that tore apart this Central Asian nation's south.
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jun 27, Kyrgyzstan held a
referendum on a new constitution, amid deadly ethnic tensions. The
interim government hoped it would legitimize their hold on power until
new elections in October. Interim Pres. Roza Otunbayeva said voters
have approved a new constitution that will allow the nation to form a
legitimate government after months of turmoil.
(AP, 6/26/10)(AP, 6/27/10)
2010 Jul 3, In Kyrgyzstan Roza
Otunbayeva was sworn in as president. She would hold office for 18
months and would be ineligible to stand for election.
(SSFC, 7/4/10, p.A3)(Econ, 7/3/10, p.42)
2010 Jul 21, Kyrgyzstan police
detained Akhmat Bakiyev, a brother of deposed President Kurmanbek
Bakiyev, in the latest effort to solidify control over the country's
tense south and dismantle the former leader's entourage. International
health and rights groups said that minority ethnic Uzbeks in southern
Kyrgyzstan are being deprived of medical treatment and opportunities to
seek refuge in neighboring Uzbekistan.
(AP, 7/21/10)(AP, 7/22/10)
2010 Jul 27, Kyrgyzstan's
government appealed to an international donors conference for $1.2
billion in aid to rebuild the country after months of political and
ethnic violence.
(AP, 7/27/10)
2010 The population of Kyrgyzstan
was about 5.4 million.
(Econ, 5/15/10, p.49)
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End of file.