Bakiyev to step aside if safety guaranteed
Source: Agencies |
April 14, 2010, Wednesday
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KYRGYZ President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said yesterday he might resign if the interim government guaranteed his safety and calmed the turmoil gripping the country since an uprising against his five-year rule.
Raising for the first time the possibility of ceding power, Bakiyev attached several conditions to stepping down, a sharp shift in tone that could offer a way out of the standoff with the self-proclaimed government that controls Kyrgyzstan.
When asked by reporters outside his yurt in his home village under what conditions he could resign, Bakiyev said: "I believe first and foremost if there is a guarantee that the roaming of these armed people ends in Kyrgyzstan, that this redistribution of property and this armed free-for-all stops.
"Secondly, if my personal security and that of my family and my relatives is guaranteed. And also let them start preparing a snap presidential election to be held within two or three months."
By offering the prospect of resignation, Bakiyev could open up a way out of the turmoil. Since fleeing the capital after troops fired on demonstrators in an uprising on April 7 that brought his opponents to power, Bakiyev had warned of a bloodbath, refused to resign and tried to rally followers in his southern stronghold.
He called on the head of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, to join talks in the southern city of Jalalabad because he said the government could not guarantee his safety in Bishkek.
"I can guarantee full security while they cannot guarantee any for me," he said. "Why on earth should I go there, especially if they cannot guarantee my security?"
The interim government also said it was ready for talks. "Our representatives are there with Bakiyev. He should say himself when and in what format (the talks should start)," said Azimbek Beknazarov, an interim deputy prime minister in charge of security.
Kyrgyzstan's new rulers had ordered Bakiyev, who swept to power five years ago in a coup that removed Kyrgyzstan's first post-Soviet leader Askar Akayev, to surrender by the end of yesterday or face arrest.
Bakiyev brushed aside those threats, adding that a military unit had reached the nearby town of Uzen before turning back.
Raising for the first time the possibility of ceding power, Bakiyev attached several conditions to stepping down, a sharp shift in tone that could offer a way out of the standoff with the self-proclaimed government that controls Kyrgyzstan.
When asked by reporters outside his yurt in his home village under what conditions he could resign, Bakiyev said: "I believe first and foremost if there is a guarantee that the roaming of these armed people ends in Kyrgyzstan, that this redistribution of property and this armed free-for-all stops.
"Secondly, if my personal security and that of my family and my relatives is guaranteed. And also let them start preparing a snap presidential election to be held within two or three months."
By offering the prospect of resignation, Bakiyev could open up a way out of the turmoil. Since fleeing the capital after troops fired on demonstrators in an uprising on April 7 that brought his opponents to power, Bakiyev had warned of a bloodbath, refused to resign and tried to rally followers in his southern stronghold.
He called on the head of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, to join talks in the southern city of Jalalabad because he said the government could not guarantee his safety in Bishkek.
"I can guarantee full security while they cannot guarantee any for me," he said. "Why on earth should I go there, especially if they cannot guarantee my security?"
The interim government also said it was ready for talks. "Our representatives are there with Bakiyev. He should say himself when and in what format (the talks should start)," said Azimbek Beknazarov, an interim deputy prime minister in charge of security.
Kyrgyzstan's new rulers had ordered Bakiyev, who swept to power five years ago in a coup that removed Kyrgyzstan's first post-Soviet leader Askar Akayev, to surrender by the end of yesterday or face arrest.
Bakiyev brushed aside those threats, adding that a military unit had reached the nearby town of Uzen before turning back.
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