Sooranbay Ceenbekov: Kyrgyz president resigned saying ‘I don’t want to be remembered as the president who shot his people’

Kyrgyz President Sooranbay Ceenbekov announced his resignation. Ceenbekov, in a statement on the website of the presidency, said that he wanted to prevent the continuation of violence in his country.

“I am not holding onto power. I do not want to be remembered as a president who shoots and spills blood against his own people,” said Sooranbay Ceenbekov.

Stating that he resigned for the unity of the nation, which has been shaken since the October 4 elections, Ceenbekov continued as follows:

“The tension continues in Bishkek, our capital. Yesterday our parliament approved the new government, I signed the Presidential Decrees for the relevant appointments. But this did not reduce the tension. The demands for my resignation were ongoing. There was a risk of conflict between protesters and law enforcement officers due to the current situation. “

Ceenbekov also called on Prime Minister Sadir Caparov and other opposition politicians to “distance” their peacebuilding supporters from the capital, Bishkek.

The head of the BBC’s Bishkek bureau, Almaz Tchoroev, says that Ceenbekov’s resignation will likely deepen the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan.

With the resignation of Ceenbekov, the speaker of the parliament, Kanatbek Isayev, was elected interim president of the country. However, the protesters also want Isayev’s resignation.

Ceenbekov previously removed Prime Minister Kubatbek Boronov and all ministers, saying he was willing to resign “if the change of power is carried out by legitimate means.”

Opposition parties, which did not recognize the outcome of the elections, organized protests in Kyrgyzstan.

A state of emergency was declared in the capital city of Bishkek and a curfew was imposed.

Sadir Caparov, who was appointed prime minister in Kyrgyzstan yesterday, was one of the politicians released last week by protesters who took to the streets saying the election was rigged.

Caparov, who was imprisoned for 11 years and 6 months when Almazbek Atambayev was the president of Kyrgyzstan and did not take advantage of the amnesty law enacted by President Ceenbekov because he did not admit his guilt, ranked second in the list of candidates of the political party named “Mekençil” who narrowly got stuck on the threshold of the elections.

Caparov, who was elected to parliament for two terms in the Issyk Kul region, his hometown, is known for defending the expropriation of the Canadian-operated Kumtor gold mine in Issyk Kul in the north of the country.