Kyrgyz President Offers Terms for Resignation - courtesy of Internazionale

TEYYIT, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said Tuesday that 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 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.

"Second, if my personal security and that of my family and my relatives is guaranteed," Bakiyev told reporters outside his yurt in his home village. "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.

The self-proclaimed government has said Russia is its key ally, and some leading ministers have said the lease on a U.S. air base in Kyrgyzstan, the subject of Russian objections, could be shortened. The base is used for supplying U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

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," said the president, looking tired. "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 have ordered Bakiyev to surrender by the end of Tuesday or face arrest.

"We have abolished his presidential immunity," Beknazarov said. "We have opened a criminal case against the former president. If he does not show up today after the rally we will hold an operation to detain him."

Bakiyev brushed aside those threats, adding that a military unit had reached the nearby town of Uzen before turning back.

"No, I am not afraid of any special operations … the forces they have at their disposal are not able to fulfill this," he told reporters. "It’s not worth trying to intimidate me or the population of the south with the use of armed forces."

A few dozen men armed with Kalashnikov rifles, some wearing dark glasses and camouflage jackets, guarded the president, and villagers squatted by the roadside ready to block roads with makeshift obstacles if necessary.

Earlier in the day, about 7,000 Bakiyev supporters rallied in the nearby city of Jalalabad, many waving banners and shouting: "Down with the bloody interim government."

A U.S. military official said the Manas base would not be used as a hub for sending troops into Afghanistan in the near term, in case it is needed for humanitarian aid or other logistical purposes.

The United States says the interim government has pledged to abide by its agreements on Manas.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake will visit Bishkek this week to meet the interim government, the highest-level U.S. visit since Bakiyev fled the capital.

Source: The Moscow Times