Almazbek Atambayev

Almazbek Atambayev Алмазбек Атамбаев
President of Kyrgyzstan
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2011
Prime Minister	Omurbek Babanov
Preceded by	Roza Otunbayeva
Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan
In office 14 November 2011 – 1 December 2011
President	Roza Otunbayeva
Preceded by	Omurbek Babanov (Acting)
Succeeded by	Omurbek Babanov
In office 17 December 2010 – 23 September 2011
President	Roza Otunbayeva
Preceded by	Daniar Usenov
Succeeded by	Omurbek Babanov (Acting)
In office 29 March 2007 – 28 November 2007
President	Kurmanbek Bakiyev
Preceded by	Azim Isabekov
Succeeded by	Iskenderbek Aidaraliyev (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1956-09-17) September 17, 1956 (age 55) Arashan, Soviet Union (now Kyrgyzstan)
Political party	Social Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Raisa Atambayeva
Religion	Sunni Islam

Almazbek Sharshenovich Atambayev (Cyrillic: Алмазбек Шаршенович Атамбаев; born September 17, 1956) is the President of Kyrgyzstan since 1 December 2011. He previously was Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from 17 December 2010 to 1 December 2011, having also been Prime Minister from 29 March 2007 until 28 November 2007. He has also served as Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan from 30 July 1999 to 23 September 2011.

Personal Life

Almazbek Atambaev was born in 1956 in the Northern region of Chui. He received his degree in economics while studying at the Moscow Institute of Management.^[1]

Political career under Akayev and Bakiyev

Atambayev was an unsuccessful candidate in the October 2000 presidential election, receiving 6% of the vote.^[2] Almazbek Atambayev became the President of Kyrgyzstan, in 2011.

Atambayev served as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism in the government from 20 December 2005^[3] until he resigned on 21 April 2006.^[4]

In November 2006 he was one of the leaders of anti-government protests in Bishkek, under the umbrella of the movement 'For Reform!' (За Реформы).^[5] He was also involved in earlier protests in late April 2006.

On 26 December 2006 Atambayev rejected calls from other lawmakers for a dissolution of the Supreme Council, saying, "It is impossible for this Parliament to be dissolved at least until May [2007], and it has to adopt all the laws. Otherwise there will be a war in Kyrgyzstan, because even if Parliament adopts the [proposed] authoritarian constitution, I will tell you openly, we will not accept it. It would be a constitution adopted illegally. Then we would take every [possible protest action]. We are ready for that."^[6]

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Azim Isabekov on 29 March 2007, Atambayev was appointed acting Prime Minister by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.^[7] He was then confirmed in parliament by a vote of 48-3 on 30 March.^[8] He is the first prime minister in Central Asia to come from an opposition party.^[9] On 11 April, he tried to address a large protest in Bishkek demanding Bakiyev's resignation, but was booed by the protesters.^[10][11]

Bakiyev announced the resignation of Atambayev's government on October 24, 2007, following a successful referendum. The government was to remain in office until after a parliamentary election in December.^[12]

Nonetheless, Atambayev resigned on 28 November 2007; Bakiyev accepted the resignation, while praising Atambayev for his performance in office, and appointed Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Iskenderbek Aidaraliyev in his place as Acting Prime Minister.^[13][14] Edil Baisalov of the Social Democratic Party claimed that Atambayev was forced out of office because he was an obstacle to alleged government interference in the parliamentary election.^[14]

Presidential candidate

On 20 April 2009 Atambayev was announced as a candidate for the July 2009 Kyrgyz presidential elections.^[15] But on polling day Atambayev withdrew his candidacy claiming "widespread fraud": "Due to massive, unprecedented violations, we consider these elections illegitimate and a new election should be held".^[16]

Political career since 2010

Following the 2010 parliamentary election, he was chosen to be Prime Minister at the head of a coalition government with his SDPK, Respublika, and Ata-Zhurt (which won a plurality in the election).^[17]

Atambayev ran in 2011 to succeed Roza Otunbayeva as President of Kyrgyzstan. On election day, October 30, 2011, he won in a landslide, defeating Adakhan Madumarov from the Butun Kyrgyzstan party and Kamchybek Tashiev from the Ata-Zhurt party with 63% of the vote, and with about 60% of the eligible Kyrgyz population voting.^[18]

Foreign policy

In 2011 soon after becoming President, Atambayev traveled to Turkey and signed an agreement with the Turkish President agreeing to increase trade from $300 million in 2011 to $1 billion by 2015, with Turkey also agreeing to attract Turkish investment to Kyrgyzstan to the amount of $450 million within the next few years.^[19]

Russia

Atambayev has repeatedly presented himself as a pro-Russia politician. He announced Kyrgyzstan’s entry into the Customs Union, he promised to secure the withdrawal of the American base from the country in 2014, he has spoken of the need for closer economic relations with Russia, which temporarily employs about 500,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan.^[20] Maintaining good relations with Russia is a priority of Atambayev, although he hopes to achieve greater economic and energy independence from them.^[21]

In early 2012 Atambayev traveled to Moscow, where in his meeting with Medvedev he called for the $15 million owed by Russia to Kyrgyzstan for their use of the Kant airbase.^[22] Not only has Russia not been paying rent, but allegedly, they have also not paid for utilities like water and electricity, something unheard of anywhere else in the world.^{[citation needed]} Russian pilots were also to have trained their Kyrgyz counterparts, which has not occurred.^[23]

References

v t e Prime Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Kara-Kyrgyz AO Yusup Abdrakhmanov • Bayaly Isakeyev Kyrgyz SSR Bayaly Isakeyev • Murat Salikhov • Ismail Abuzyarov* • Ivan Rebrov* • Turabay Kulatov • Iskhak Razzakov • Abdy Suyerkulov • Kazy Dikambayev • Bolot Mambetov • Akhmatbek Suyumbayev • Sultan Ibraimov • Pyotr Khodos* • Arstanbek Duysheyev • Apas Jumagulov Kyrgyz Republic Nasirdin Isanov • Andrei Iordan* • Tursunbek Chyngyshev • Almanbet Matubraimov* • Apas Jumagulov • Kubanychbek Jumaliyev* • Boris Silayev* • Jumabek Ibraimov • Boris Silayev* • Amangeldy Muraliyev • Kurmanbek Bakiyev • Nikolai Tanayev • Kurmanbek Bakiyev • Felix Kulov • Azim Isabekov • Almazbek Atambayev • Iskenderbek Aidaraliyev* • Igor Chudinov • Daniar Usenov • Almazbek Atambayev • Omurbek Babanov* • Almazbek Atambayev • Omurbek Babanov denotes acting

v t e Leaders of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz SSR Maksim Ammosov Aleksey Vagov Nikolay Bogolyubov Iskhak Razzakov Turdakun Usubaliyev Absamat Masaliyev Jumgalbek Amanbayev Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev Kurmanbek Bakiyev Roza Otunbayeva Almazbek Atambayev