BISHKEK, 26 March 2005 — Kyrgyzstan’s new leaders tightened their grip on power yesterday, naming an interim head of state and calling a fresh election, as the nation’s ousted ruler denounced what he called a coup d’etat and vowed to return.
In Bishkek, gunshots were heard in several areas as security forces fired into the air to deter looters. Broken glass and naked mannequins ripped from shop windows littered the streets after the revolution degenerated into a night of looting and vandalism.
As Parliament named Kurmanbek Bakiyev, one of the leaders of the fractious opposition, to head the new regime, deposed president Askar Akayev insisted he had not resigned.
“The rumors about my resignation are not true,” he said in an e-mail message to a Kyrgyz news agency, his first public comments since Thursday’s protests swept aside his regime in what he called “an unconstitutional coup d’etat.”
Akayev confirmed he had left the country but insisted it was only temporary “in order to avoid bloody excesses” and that he would return. “The attempt to rid me of presidential powers via an unconstitutional route is a crime against the state,” he added. “My current stay outside the country is temporary.”
It was unclear where Akayev was speaking from. Unconfirmed reports say he fled to neighboring Kazakhstan after protesters seized the seat of government and presidency in the capital Bishkek.
Bakiyev, a 55-year-old electrical engineer by training, said new elections for president would be held in June, but did not announce a date.
Bakiyev sought to reassure Moscow and Washington that the new leadership would not suddenly change tack. Russia made it clear it was ready to work with the new Kyrgyz leadership, which President Vladimir Putin said was attuned to Moscow’s interests. He described the regime change as “illegitimate” but laid at least some of the blame on Akayev and said Moscow hoped to establish positive relations with the new leaders.
Bakiyev said he had no plans to review the status of strategic Russian and US military bases on Kyrgyz soil.
