Roza Otunbayeva

Early life

Otunbayeva was born in Frunze (now Bishkek), Kyrgyz SSR, USSR into the family of Isaac Otunbayev, a member of the Supreme Court of Kirgiz SSR. She graduated from the Philosophy Faculty of Moscow State University in 1972 and went on to teach as senior professor and head of the philosophy department at Kyrgyz State National University for six years. In 1975 she became Candidate of Sciences after defending dissertation named "Critique of falsification of Marxist-Leninist dialectic by the philosophers of Frankfurt school". Otunbayeva is a divorced mother of two children. She is fluent in Russian and can speak English, German and French in addition to Kyrgyz.

Political career

In 1981, she began her political career as the Communist Party's second secretary of the Lenin raion council (raikom) of Frunze (now Bishkek). In the late 1980s, she served as head of Soviet delegation to UNESCO in Paris, and later as the Soviet Ambassador to Malaysia. By 1992, the now independent Kyrgyzstan was led by Askar Akayev, who chose her to be both Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, positions she held until later that year when she became her country's first ambassador to the USA and Canada. She returned to her original post in 1994, remaining there for three years. Following the arrest of the journalist Zamira Sydykova and her deputy, Tamara Slashcheva, she spoke out against Human Rights organisations who accused the Akaev government of restricting freedom of speech in the Kyrgyz republic. From 1998 to 2001, she served as the first Kyrgyz ambassador to the United Kingdom. From 2002 to 2004, she was deputy head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia. As a UN official, she publicly contested the existence of human rights concerns in the Eastern territory of Abkhazia, traditionally populated by ethnic Georgians. She argued that the restrictions on the use of the Georgian language in Gali district had less impact than the diminishing practice of the Abkhaz language in Abkhaz collective memory. This dissident opinion broke the trust she had with the Head of the UN Mission (Heidi Tagliavini).

Upon her return to Kyrgyzstan in late 2004, Otunbayeva became politically active. In December 2004, she and three other opposition parliamentarians founded the Ata-Jurt (Fatherland) party in preparation for the February 2005 parliamentary elections.

She was barred from standing for the 2005 legislative election due to a new law requiring prospective MPs to have resided in the country for five uninterrupted years prior to the elections. Her time as ambassador to the United Kingdom prevented her from meeting this criterion. She met this requirement in 2010, so she was eligible to run for the post.

"Tulip Revolution"

Otunbayeva was one of the key leaders of the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan which led to the overthrow of President Akayev. Subsequently she served for a few months as Acting Foreign Minister in the interim government of then prime minister (and acting president) Kurmanbek Bakiyev. After Bakiyev was elected President and Feliks Kulov became Prime Minister, Otunbayeva failed to receive the required parliamentary support to become Foreign Minister. She then ran unsuccessfully in a parliamentary by-election a few months later. Otunbayeva played a key role in the November 2006 protests that pressed successfully for a new democratic constitution.

She was the co-chairwoman of the country's Asaba (Flag) National Revival Party for a short time. In December 2007, Otunbayeva was elected to the Jogorku Kenesh - the parliament of Kyrgyzstan - on the list of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan. She served as head of the parliamentary group of the opposition SDP beginning in October 2009.

2010 uprising and presidency

On April 7, 2010, Otunbayeva was chosen by opposition leaders as head of a Kyrgyz interim government, following widespread rioting in Bishkek and the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Bakiyev fled the Jalal-Abad area as the riots became more violent. Unable to rally support, he resigned as president on April 10, 2010, and left the country for Kazakhstan. Nine days later he went to Minsk, Belarus, where he was given protected-exile status. On April 21 he recanted his resignation and declared that he was still president of Kyrgyzstan. Otunbayeva vowed to bring him to trial.

As interim president, Otunbayeva had four male deputies. Otunbayeva is considered to be unusual as there are few women in politics in Kyrgyzstan. Her first conversation after she came to power was with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Otunbayeva declared that new elections would be called within six months and that she would act as president until then.

With violent protests in support of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev continuing in Jalalabad, the home city of the former President, it was announced on May 19, 2010, by the interim government that elections would be delayed until 2011 and Otunbayeva was named as President. Following a referendum on the new Kyrgyz constitution, she was sworn in on July 3, 2010. Otunbayeva however was prohibited by the new constitution from running in the 2011 presidential election and her term ended on December 31, 2011. The referendum was supported by over 90% and changes the government from a Presidential republic to a Parliamentary republic. Parliamentary elections were held in October and the new parliament elected the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Views

In 2010, while congratulating her people with the approach of the month of Ramadan, Otunbayeva stated that the month would bring unity to her country. Otunbayeva stated:

“The holy Koran appeals to people, living during difficult tests, to general tolerance and forgiveness of the past offences of each other. These days even those who were earlier at enmity must forgive each other in the name of further peaceful coexistence, get rid of all harmful habits and generously respect all people. These holy notions are one of the highest tops of humanistic ideals of Islam."

In her interviews Otunbayeva stated that she does not believe in God, indicating her appreciation for the Koran's ideals without necessarily having any religious ties to it.