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| - Kyrgyzstan, whose president Sooronbay Jeenbekov resigned Thursday after 10 days of unrest over a disputed parliamentary election, has been riven by political turmoil for well over a decade. Here is a roundup of some of the crises and revolutions that have marked the Central Asian country over the last 15 years: On March 24, 2005 thousands protesting election results and corruption invaded the government headquarters, forcing then president Askar Akayev, who had been in power for 15 years, to flee. The first leader after Kyrgyzstan's independence from the Soviet Union, Akayev was accused of fixing elections and packing parliament with family members and loyalists. Four months later one of the leaders of the uprising, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was elected president with 90 percent of the vote. The term "Tulip Revolution" was used by Akayev himself in a speech warning that no "colour revolution" should happen in Kyrgyzstan, as they had in other ex-Soviet bloc countries. In 2010, Akayev's successor Bakiyev fled to Belarus after bloody street protests ousted his government and left nearly 100 dead. On April 7, thousands of demonstrators tried to force their way into the president's office, before taking control of the television headquarters and invading parliament. They also torched the public prosecutor's office. Bakiyev's house was ransacked and set alight after he fled to his hometown Jalal Abad in the south of the country. After trying to rally his supporters in the south, Bakiyev finally resigned and fled. He was sentenced in absentia along with his younger brother to life in prison in 2014 for violence against demonstrators. In June 2010, deadly violence between ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz people broke out in the main southern cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad. Whole Uzbek neighbourhoods were set ablaze and they also came under heavy weapons fire, while majority Kyrgyz zones were largely spared. Over four days nearly 500 people were killed and some 400,000 displaced, with many refugees heading to neighbouring Uzbekistan. Historically relations are tense between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the south, fuelled by resentment at the Uzbek minority's grip on trade. Bishkek rejected demands from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for an investigation into claims that the army and police took part and helped organise the violence. After Bakiyev fled, diplomat Roza Otunbayeva headed an interim government and was later sworn in as caretaker president, helping stabilise the country before elections in 2011 which Almazbek Atambayev won. President Atambayev (2011-2017) was the third successive head of state since independence in 1991 to have a tumultuous end to his career. Accused of having eased the illegal release of a crime boss, he was sentenced to 11 years in jail in June 2020 after a trial seen as part of a violent power struggle with his successor and former ally Jeenbekov. Dramatically arrested in August 2019 after two special forces raids on his villa near the capital, his prosecution fuelled fears of further unrest in the country. Atambayev was freed from his cell along with several other prominent politicians by demonstrators at dawn last Tuesday by supporters protesting the results of Sunday's (October 4) parliamentary election. They accused President Jeenbekov of buying votes to hold onto power. At least one person died and hundreds were injured when thousands took to the streets calling for a fresh poll and for Jeenbekov to resign. The election results have since been annulled, with Jeenbekov saying he was ready to step down to end the crisis. On October 10 Atambayev was rearrested by special forces. A populist politician, Sadyr Japarov -- also released during post-vote chaos -- became acting prime minister. Under pressure from Japarov, Jeenbekov finally resigned on October 15. bur/fg/jmy/lc
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