Posted on 03/29/2005 9:06:37 PM PST by ConservativeMind
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, March 29 - Kyrgyzstan's ousted president, Askar Akayev, put out mixed messages on Tuesday about his willingness to resign, insisting first in a radio interview in Russia that he would not step down but later hinting that he might if given "adequate guarantees."
"At this point I am the only popularly elected and legitimate president of the Kyrgyz Republic," Mr. Akayev said in an interview broadcast by Moscow Echo radio. He noted that his mandate would end on Oct. 30 this year. "At the moment, I can see no reasons, no grounds for submitting my resignation," he said.
Later, however, he suggested in an interview on one of Russia's state television networks, Channel One, that he might be prepared to step down. "Of course," he said, when asked if he would resign early before new elections were held, "if I am given adequate guarantees and it is in full accordance with the current legislation of Kyrgyzstan."
His defiance has created a constitutional crisis in his country, where opposition figures seized control of the government last week as he fled a wave of violent demonstrations. Since then, opposition politicians, led by Kurmanbek Bakiyev, have struggled to find a legal footing for what amounts to an accidental coup.
Despite Mr. Akayev's assertions that the opposition organized the demonstrations last Thursday to oust him, Mr. Bakiyev and other protest leaders insist that they had only intended a peaceful protest to force him to resign. They seized power after protesters stormed the presidential compound and opposition leaders realized Mr. Akayev had run away.
In the days after his ouster, the Supreme Court canceled the registration of a newly installed Parliament whose election amid charges of widespread fraud had prompted the protests. The previous Parliament appointed Mr. Bakiyev interim prime minister and acting president in Mr. Akayev's absence.
After days of conflict between the old and new parliaments, Mr. Bakiyev recognized the new one, which then confirmed his appointment. But he said Tuesday that he recognized that his position had no constitutional foundation.
"This situation is not mentioned in the Constitution," he said to reporters in the White House, the presidential office building, still littered with shattered glass, that Mr. Akayev had fled.
Asked if the new Parliament, stacked with people previously loyal to Mr. Akayev, had the power to dismiss him and bring back Mr. Akayev, he said, "There are enough smart people in Parliament for them not to do that," adding that such a move "would be a huge mistake."
But it appears that the only thing protecting Mr. Bakiyev is the popular distaste for Mr. Akayev, whose family amassed huge wealth in the impoverished country. Mr. Akayev's wife and son are particularly disliked for their aggressive, many people say corrupt, business tactics.
Mr. Bakiyev vowed to fight Kyrgyzstan's endemic corruption, beginning with his government, and threatened to fire anyone on his staff caught selling positions or employing relatives. He also suggested that a hard line on corruption could buy him a measure of protection against Mr. Akayev, saying the government will check Mr. Akayev's assets and make decisions about further action "according to the law."
In his radio interview, Mr. Akayev called the new executive branch illegitimate. He said, however, that he was willing to work with the speaker of the new Parliament, Omurbek Tekebayev. "I can hold talks with Omurbek Tekebayev only as Parliament speaker, the only legitimate leader in Kyrgyzstan today," he said.
Separately, the Russian news agency Interfax reported that Mr. Tekebayev said Tuesday that he was willing to hold talks with Mr. Akayev if he had the backing of Parliament to do so.
Mr. Akayev admitted to errors during his 15 years in power but appealed for people to consider the progress the country has made. "I made mistakes as president," he said. "There were many mistakes. But we were on the right path. Kyrgyzstan was an island of democracy in Central Asia."
Western diplomats and officials agree that Kyrgyzstan under Mr. Akayev was far more democratic than its neighbors and pursued a policy of economic liberalization in a region still thawing from Soviet-era centralized economies.
For all the flaws in the recent parliamentary elections, meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which monitored the elections, found serious problems in only 11 percent of the country's polling stations. Many observers described the elections as vastly better than those in 2000. Even Mr. Bakiyev said Tuesday that after reviewing the records, there was no reason to question most of the parliamentary seats won in the elections.
Mr. Akayev said in his radio interview that he would not run for president again. Many Kyrgyz believe that the election irregularities were meant to give Mr. Akayev the means to amend the Constitution to allow himself another term, or to install a successor. He said Tuesday that he intended to do neither.
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