Almazbek Atambayev

Atanbayev with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Atambayev with Dmitry Medvedev during the 2015 Moscow Victory Day Parade.

Almazbek Atambaev was born in 1956 in the Northern region of Chui. His father, Sharshen Atambayev, was a veteran of World War II (Great Patriotic War) who served on the front lines in Eastern Europe.[2]

Atambaev received his degree in economics while studying at the Moscow Institute of Management.[3] He has four children from his marriage to his first wife Buazhar. In 1988 he married his second wife, Raisa, with whom he has six children: daughters Aliya (born 1997), Diana, and Dinara, and sons Seyit, Seytek, and Khadyrbek (born 1993).[4] Raisa is an ethnic Tatar, born in the Urals in Russia, who moved to Osh as a child, with her parents. She is a doctor.[5]

In January 2018, he published a song he authored called "Kyrgyzstan", which was later rewritten by Azerbaijani performer Araz Elses.[6]

Atambayev was an unsuccessful candidate in the October 2000 presidential election, receiving 6% of the vote.[7] He served as the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism in the government from 20 December 2005[8] until he resigned on 21 April 2006.[9]

In November 2006 he was one of the leaders of anti-government protests in Bishkek, under the umbrella of the movement 'For Reform!' (За Реформы).[10] He was also involved in earlier protests in late April 2006.

On 26 December 2006 Atambayev rejected calls from other lawmakers for a dissolution of the Supreme Council, saying, "It is impossible for this Parliament to be dissolved at least until May [2007], and it has to adopt all the laws. Otherwise there will be a war in Kyrgyzstan, because even if Parliament adopts the [proposed] authoritarian constitution, I will tell you openly, we will not accept it. It would be a constitution adopted illegally. Then we would take every [possible protest action]. We are ready for that."[11]

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Azim Isabekov on 29 March 2007, Atambayev was appointed acting Prime Minister by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.[12] He was then confirmed in parliament by a vote of 48-3 on 30 March.[13] He is the first prime minister in Central Asia to come from an opposition party.[14] On 11 April, he tried to address a large protest in Bishkek demanding Bakiyev's resignation, but was booed by the protesters.[15][16]

Bakiyev announced the resignation of Atambayev's government on 24 October 2007, following a constitutional referendum. The government was to remain in office until after a parliamentary election in December.[17] Nonetheless, Atambayev resigned on 28 November 2007; Bakiyev accepted the resignation, while praising Atambayev for his performance in office, and appointed Acting First Deputy Prime Minister Iskenderbek Aidaraliyev in his place as Acting Prime Minister.[18][19] Edil Baisalov of the Social Democratic Party claimed that Atambayev was forced out of office because he was an obstacle to alleged government interference in the parliamentary election.[19]

On 20 April 2009, Atambayev was announced as a candidate for the July 2009 presidential elections.[20] But on polling day Atambayev withdrew his candidacy claiming "widespread fraud": "Due to massive, unprecedented violations, we consider these elections illegitimate and a new election should be held".[21]

Following the 2010 parliamentary election, he was chosen to be Prime Minister at the head of a coalition government with his SDPK, Respublika, and Ata-Zhurt (which won a plurality in the election).[22]

Atambayev ran in 2011 to succeed Roza Otunbayeva as President of Kyrgyzstan. On election day, 30 October 2011, he won in a landslide, defeating Adakhan Madumarov from the Butun Kyrgyzstan party and Kamchybek Tashiev from the Ata-Zhurt party with 63% of the vote from about 60% of the eligible Kyrgyz population voting.[23]

Raisa Atambayeva, Almazbek Atambayev, Ilham Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva in 2012

Since he left office on 24 November 2017 and handed the presidency to his successor and former prime minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov, he has served as head of the SDPK. He has also has used his post presidency to get back in the political arena, most notably by criticizing his successor. This criticism, which began in the spring of 2018, has mostly revolved around Jeenbekov's criticism of the government corruption that took place under his rule. One of Atambayev's main points of criticism of Jeenbekov is that is that he is a victim of a smear campaign by his former ally and his government, saying the following to the April Television Agency about the Jeenbekov government:

A frantic campaign of lies and slander against me and members of my family has been unleashed

On 17 March, he expressed regret by saying: "I apologize to everyone for bringing this person to power".[44] In June 2019, MPs voted to strip Atambayev of his presidential immunity and called for the pursuement of criminal charges on him. In response, Atambayev told reporters at his residence in Koy-Tash that he would "stand to the end" against the parliament and that he is "not afraid of anything in this world".[45][46] Since then, he remained in his compound while publicly stating that he has weapons at his disposal to "fight back" if police come.[47] On 3 July, Atambaev left his compound for the first time in weeks to speak at a rally of 1,000 of his supporters who called for all the charges to be dropped.[48] On 24 July, he began a two-day visit to Russia with a delegation from the SDPK after departing on a Sukhoi Superjet 100 at Kant Air Base (operated by the Russian Air Force) at 1:48 pm that day.[49][50][51] During the visit, he met with President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.[52][53]

• Order of Manas (1 December 2011)[61]
• Order of "Danaker" (28 November 2007)
• Order of the Republic of Serbia (Serbia, 2013)
• Presidential Order of Excellence (Georgia, 2013)[62]
• Order Dostyk I degree (Kazakhstan, 7 November 2014)
• Order of Alexander Nevsky (Russia, 17 September 2016)[63]
• Order "Friend of Azerbaijan" (Azerbaijan, 2016)[64]
• Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic (2017)