MOSCOW -Askar Akayev signed his resignation as Kyrgyzstan's president yesterday, lawmakers said, raising hopes of ending political turmoil in the strategic Central Asian country 11 days after he fled ahead of protesters storming his offices.
Kyrgyzstan, which has Russian and U.S. bases, is the third former Soviet republic to be upended by popular protests. Uprisings in Ukraine last year and Georgia in 2003 forced out entrenched leaders and brought reformers to power.
The United States is Kyrgyzstan's biggest donor, with assistance of nearly $800 million since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Akayev signed his resignation, to be effective today, at the Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow, a day after meeting with a delegation representing Kyrgyzstan's interim leadership headed by parliament speaker Omurbek Tekebayev.
Akayev has made an important decision
lawmaker Tashkul Kereksizov said. The people needed it very much.
Kereksizov said Akayev had recorded a statement to the nation in a tape that would be played to a session of Kyrgyzstan's parliament today and then broadcast on state television.
By stepping down, he removes the last major obstruction to holding new presidential elections, tentatively set by the interim government for June 26.
The revolution has taken place the new government is working but this document is necessary to make it legal, Kereksizov said. Parliament will formally endorse the resignation today, he said.
The country plunged into chaos March 24 when protesters demonstrating against allegations of fraud in parliamentary elections stormed the presidential offices, forcing Akayev to flee initially to neighboring Kazakhstan and then to refuge in Russia.
Akayev's flight left the previous and newly elected parliaments competing for legitimacy. Two nights of looting and gunfire rocked the capital, leaving at least three people dead.
The chaos began to ebb last week after the previous parliament ceded authority.
Kereksizov said yesterday that Akayev recognized the new authorities.
Akayev said that he wouldn't struggle against the new government
and that amounted to his recognition of the new Kyrgyzstan authorities
Kereksizov said. He said he will not confront the new government in either words or deeds and wished it success.
In his address to the nation, Akayev listed the nation's achievements during his 14 1/2-year presidency
but also apologized to people who bore grudges against him
said Tekebayev's aide, Bermet Bukasheva.
He voiced hope that the forthcoming presidential election will be democratic and fully transparent
Bukasheva said.
Akayev, 60, became leader of Kyrgyzstan in 1990, a year before it became independent in the collapse of the Soviet Union. He was regarded as the most reformist and liberal of the ex-Soviet Central Asian leaders.
During his first years of his presidency, Kyrgyzstan acquired the image of an island of democracy in a region noted for heavy-handed autocratic leadership. Opponents complained that in recent years, he showed authoritarian leanings and that opposition activity was repressed.
Before agreeing to resign, Akayev and members of the delegation signed a document reaffirming that he would enjoy security guarantees granted to former leaders under the Kyrgyz law.
But Kereksizov said it was still too early for him to return.
He will return some day to his native country
but he'd better stay in Russia for now
he said.
