Ömürbek Babanow

Babanov in October 2011

Ömürbek Babanow ( Kyrgyz Өмүрбек Токтогулович Бабанов , Russian Омурбек Токтогулович Бабанов ; * May 20, 1970 ) is a Kyrgyz businessman and politician.

He is an oligarch and oil entrepreneur and the founder of the business-friendly Respublika party , which was elected to parliament in the Kyrgyzstan general election in 2010 . Since December 23, 2011, he has held the post of Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.

On March 1, 2012, around 10,000 people demonstrated in Osh demanding the resignation of his government and the punishment of those responsible for the violence in the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010 and the unrest in southern Kyrgyzstan in June of that year.

On August 24, 2012, President Almasbek Atambayev dismissed his government. The coalition of four was broken when the ruling party Ata Meken left the government citing alleged corruption of Babanov. He is said to have bought a racehorse for US $ 20,000 from a Turkish businessman whose value is said to be at least one million US dollars. The government is still temporarily in charge of state affairs until the Kyrgyz parliament agrees on a new government.

From October 2015 to November 2017, Babanov sat as group leader of the party " Respublika-Ata Shurt " in Jogorku Kengesch .

In the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan in 2017 , he received 33.5 percent of the vote and took second place behind Sooronbai Sharipovich Dscheenbekow . After this defeat, he resigned all political mandates and the chairmanship of Respublika -Ata Jurt in December 2017. One of the reasons for this decision was the criminal proceedings initiated against him by the Attorney General's office a few weeks after the elections. However, he managed to leave the country for Russian exile before his arrest. In April 2019, Babanov announced that he would return to Kyrgyzstan, but finally gave up on this project.

After the escalation in the power struggle between ex-President Atambayev and incumbent President Dscheenbekow, which culminated in the violent conflict between special forces and Atambayev's supporters over his arrest on August 8, 2019, Babanov urged those involved to de-escalate . Via Facebook , the politician warned of a civil war and the associated suffering of the population. On August 9, Babanov returned to Kyrgyzstan from his exile in Russia, despite the threat of arrest there for several ongoing criminal proceedings. Observers explained the fact that there was no arrest for the time being, with concerns about further protests in the already tense political situation in the Central Asian country. His return sparked speculation that Babanov wanted to run in the next parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place in October 2020, and exploit the conflicts within the ruling party SDPK to his political advantage. At the same time, on his return, he emphasized that he wanted to resolve differences with President Dscheenbekow in a peaceful manner.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Kyrgyzstan on the way to democracy. In: Frankfurter Rundschau . October 11, 2010, accessed October 11, 2010 . 
2. ^ Nationalist opposition wants the government to resign. In: The Standard . March 1, 2012, accessed March 1, 2012 . 
3. ^ Government overthrown by the horse
4. ↑ Деньги, скакуны и скандалы - факты о Бабанове. In: Sputnik Kyrgyzstan. May 23, 2018, Retrieved July 1, 2019 (Russian). 
5. ↑ Омурбек Бабанов заявил, что уходит из политики и отказывается от мандата. In: Sputnik Kyrgyzstan. December 30, 2017, Retrieved July 1, 2019 (Russian). 
6. ^ The editors: Kyrgyzstan: conflict between president and predecessor escalates. In: Novastan German. August 8, 2019, accessed on August 9, 2019 (German). 
7. ^ Showdown in Kyrgyzstan. August 11, 2019, accessed August 14, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Catherine Putz, The Diplomat: Babanov's Back: Kyrgyz Presidential Runner-up Returns. Retrieved August 14, 2019 (American English).