Kyrgyz president, security chief deny rift between them 

The Kyrgyz president and the country’s security chief have both denied rumours of a power struggle between them. 

President Sadyr Japarov said that in the past three years there were “several attempts to drive a wedge” between him and Security Chief Kamchybek Tashiyev. 

“For me and Kamchybek Kadyshayevich, it does not matter which one of us is president,” Japarov said, using Tashiyev’s patronymic.  

“He, like myself, cares about our homeland. This is why he won’t fight for power,” Japarov added, addressing a meeting of the People’s Assembly, a consultative body that gathers once a year.  

Tashiyev did not attend the gathering that took place last week.  

In a brief Facebook post on Sunday, Tashiyev said he missed the People’s Assembly because of an illness. He then backed Japarov’s denial of a rift between them. 

“First, the head of state said the right thing: two friends won’t fight over an official position. Second, the most important thing for both of us is the Kyrgyz people’s peaceful and prosperous future,” Tashiyev said. 

He added that Japarov was eligible to run for another five-year term in office.  

“Therefore, I hope that everyone will support Sadyr Nurgozhiyevich [Japarov’s patronymic] and we shall serve our people together,” he added.   

The rumours that Tashiyev might be plotting to take over from Japarov were reignited recently following the killing in October of the country’s most powerful crime boss Kamchy Kolbayev.  

Observers said Kolbayev’s removal would change the balance of power between Japarov and Tashiyev in favour of the latter.  

Japarov and Tashiyev came to power following the October 2020 protests over disputed parliamentary elections. It is said that the late crime baron Kolbayev’s support was instrumental in their success. 

Kolbayev was killed by the security service in a special operation. President Japarov commented on it after a 12-day silence, saying he knew of the operation “like everyone else, from the internet”.   

Meanwhile, according to an investigation published on Monday by mediazona.ca website, the Kyrgyz security service’s funding has seen an unprecedented rise under Tashiyev.

In the past two years, Tashiyev spent 2bn dollars, in his own words, to strengthen the service. Some of the money went to build or reconstruct 40 security service buildings around the country. The service’s employees have also been getting various financial and social perks, like housing.

Mediazona.ca quoted political observer Medet Tyulegenov as saying that the main goal behind beefing up the security service is “to stay in power”.

The investigation also accused Tashiyev of being behind the ongoing government campaign against independent Kyrgyz media and all the government’s other “potential opponents”.

Tashiyev, 55, ran for president in 2011, gaining over 14 percent of the vote. He planned another presidential bid in 2017, but withdrew in favour of the eventual winner Sooronbay Jeenbekov, whom he and Japarov would oust in 2020.  

Japarov, 54, is a former anti-corruption chief and an MP. In 2017 he was sentenced to 11 years in prison for kidnapping. He was freed from jail amid the October 2020 protests.   

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