Sooronbay Sharip uulu Jeenbekov (born 16 November 1958) is a Kyrgyz politician who served as the fifth president of Kyrgyzstan from 2017 until his resignation in 2020, following a week of protests. Prior to that he served as the 18th prime minister of Kyrgyzstan from April 2016 to August 2017.
As president, Jeenbekov dealt with issues specifically in foreign policy and corruption in which several juridical reforms were implemented to improve public trust. In spite of that, Kyrgyzstan under Jeenbekov faced a growth of organised crime and government corruption and lack of economic development which was negatively affected upon the COVID-19 pandemic and was accused of downplaying the alleged cases of electoral fraud in the 2020 parliamentary election that resulted in the 2020 Kyrgyz Revolution and his resignation amidst political unrest over the disputed election results. He was succeeded by Sadyr Japarov who would go on to serve as an acting president and prime minister for short period of time before being officially elected in the 2021 presidential elections.
Jeenbekov was widely expected to continue the policies of his predecessor, Almazbek Atambayev; however, the two fell out just months after he took office, resulting in Atambayev's arrest and the decline of his influence in Kyrgyz politics.
Early life and education Jeenbekov was born in Biy-Myrza, Osh Region on 16 November 1958. His father, Sharif, was a collective farm (kolkhoz) manager while his mother was a housewife. His grandfather, Jeenbek Pirnazarov, was a Red Army soldier who served during the Great Patriotic War and was labelled as missing in action. Jeenbekov is one of nine siblings in his family, being the third eldest child. Jeenbekov attended the Kyrgyz Academy of Agriculture, graduating with a degree in zoological engineering. In 2003, he completed further studies, graduating in accounting from the Kyrgyz National Agrarian University.
Career
Jeenbekov started his career at the Lenin School in the Uzgen District, where he worked as a teacher at 18 and taught Russian and literature. In 1983, he became the chief livestock specialist of the Soviet farm in the Soviet district of Osh region and continued to work in the position for five years. In November 1988, he managed to obtain a job as an instructor in the district committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan in the Soviet district of the Osh region. After a few years, he became the director of the party committee.
After entering politics in 1993, Jeenbekov was elected chairman of the Kashka-Zhol collective farm in Kara-Kulja District. He became a Deputy of the Assembly of People's Representatives in 1995. In 2007, he became the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and the Processing Industry. In 2010, he served as the governor of the Osh region, and in 2015, he was appointed director of the State Personnel Service. In March 2016, he was appointed first deputy head of the Presidential Administration, before his appointment as Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.
2017 Kyrgyz presidential election
Jeenbekov resigned from the post of prime minister on 21 August 2017, after being named as an official candidate in the 2017 presidential election. He stated that he "[wanted] to be in an equal position with other presidential candidates."
The election was held on 15 October 2017. Kyrgyzstan's central election commission reported a total of almost 1.7 million votes cast, of which Jeenbekov won 54.74 percent. Jeenbekov's election marks the first democratic transfer of power in a Kyrgyz election in which Azay Guliyev confirmed the election to be one of the few peaceful elections in Kyrgyzstan's history.
Presidency (2017–2020)
Jeenbekov was inaugurated as president on 24 November 2017 in a ceremony that took place in the Enesay reception house of the Ala Archa State Residence. His first presidential decree in office was made to confer the title of Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic to former president Atambayev. Just days into his presidency, Jeenbekov changed the time of his departure to the White House to early in the morning to avoid Bishkek traffic, a move which was praised by many Bishkek residents. He conducted his first foreign visit after assuming the presidency was to Russia where he met with Vladimir Putin. Early into his presidency, he has been accused of undermining the country's democracy by sandressing opposition politicians lists. On 19 April 2018, Jeenbekov fired his Prime Minister Sapar Isakov and the government following a vote of no confidence from Kyrgyzstan's parliament.
In an address to journalists in May 2018, Jeenbekov promised to fight against tribalism being imposed on the country saying that "We will take measures against those, who impose a "north-south" issue in the society."
Jeenbekov opened the Central Mosque of Imam Sarakhsi, which is the largest mosque in Central Asia, with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his visit to Bishkek in early September 2018. During his visit, Erdoğan pressured Jeenbekov to take the appropriate measures to deal with Turkish Islamist leader Fethullah Gülen.
Jeenbekov opened the 2018 World Nomad Games in Cholpon-Ata on 3 September 2018, marking the first major international event that Jeenbekov has hosted in Kyrgyzstan. Receiving Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán at the Cholpon-Ata State Residence the next day, Jeenbekov thanked the prime minister for becoming the first Hungarian leader to visit the country since its independence. In April 2019, Jeenbekov received Valentina Shevchenko (a professional Kyrgyz–Peruvian mixed martial artist fighter) during her tour of her native Kyrgyzstan, her first visit in seven years. Jeenbekov praised Shevchenko's role in her profession, even going as far as to say that she "defended the honour of our Kyrgyzstan". On 4 May he ordered that all mining of uranium in the country will be banned.
Foreign policy
Jeenbekov's foreign policy has been described as much more balanced than his predecessors. In his inaugural remarks, he vowed to make the Kremlin the country's "main strategic partner" as well as signaled that he will seek more collaborative bilateral ties with China and the European Union. He is noted for repairing relations with neighboring Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, following an improvement in ties under Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who took power the year before Jeenbekov, and a diplomatic crisis after Jeenbekov's predecessor, Almazbek Atambayev accused Kazakhstan of election interference and called the Kazakh government under President Nursultan Nazarbayev a "dictatorship". All of this is reflected in the international working and state visits which he makes often, with Jeenbekov visiting Russia and Kazakhstan the most since 28 November 2017.
In an address to the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan in late June 2018, he outlined and made clear that his country will pursue and develop multilateral relations with Turkey, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the Arab world by the end of his term in 2023. In his first year in office, President Jeenbekov participated in 30 international meetings, where 77 bilateral agreements and 414 multilateral documents were signed. Also during his first year, Kyrgyzstan established diplomatic relations with four foreign countries.
In March 2019, Jeenbekov made his remarks during a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of Kyrgyzstan that his country had plans to step up work on development of bilateral co-operation with the United States and United Kingdom. The draft of a new co-operation agreement with the United States is currently being reconciled.
During Vladimir Putin's state visit to Bishkek in March 2019, he ordered that a new marble pavilion be created outside the Ala Archa State Residence to provide a sound place for the National Guard to render honors. Since then, he has received Xi Jinping, Khaltmaagiin Battulga, Narendra Modi at the new area. Jeenbekov attended the latter's second swearing-in ceremony in late May in his first visit to the Indian sub-continent.
State visits hosted by Jeenbekov Date Country Visitor Notes 1 September 2018 President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 5 September 2018 Prime Minister Viktor Orbán 28 March 2019 President Vladimir Putin 12 June 2019 President Khaltmaagiin Battulga 13 June 2019 President Xi Jinping 14 June 2019 Prime Minister Narendra Modi 27–28 November 2019 President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev
Establishment of a family-clan regime
Jeenbekov's rule was associated with the strengthening of family-clan ties at the highest echelons of power. It was increasingly said that key positions in the state were occupied by people close to the president by blood or regional affiliation. The president's brother, parliament deputy Asylbek Jeenbekov, was openly called the president's right hand and the "shadow cardinal."
Jeenbekov's son-in-law became the head of the foreign policy department of the president's office, his nephew Nooruz headed the "Gazprom Kyrgyzstan" branches, another brother, Jusup Jeenbekov, headed the embassy in Ukraine, and another nephew Teniz became the head of the "Ayyl Bank" branches. Many saw this as a departure from the democratic ideals and principles that Kyrgyzstan tried to uphold since its inception. Such a strengthening of the family-clan regime undermined the trust of the people in the government and became the main reason for its overthrow.
As it turned out later, cases with a politically motivated bias were personally handled by the president's nephew Rustambek Borombaev in Attorney general's office, and his relatives also entered the leadership circles of the corrupt South-West customs of Kyrgyzstan.
Сorruption during coronavirus pandemic
In July, Kyrgyzstan topped the global statistics for mortality per capita on specific days at least 6 times. The official number of deaths during the pandemic period was 1,390; however, experts claimed that the death toll was many times higher, with excess mortality being 6,390 people. In total, international financial institutions provided the country with grants amounting to $165.8 million and loans totaling $461.5 million.
The public and the media accused the country's authorities of excessive mortality from the coronavirus pandemic, particularly pointing out corrupt schemes involving people connected to the president's brother, Asylbek Jeenbekov. The amount of funds used in state procurement sometimes exceeded the market value of goods by ten times. The company "Farwater" won a bid for the supply of PPE suits for 6,000 soms, even though volunteers purchased them at prices ranging from 240 to 360 soms. In another lot won by "Farwater", respiratory masks were procured at 400 soms, although similar masks in Bishkek can be found ranging from 30 to 150 soms. Meanwhile, single-use three-layer masks from the "Farwater" tender were bought for 25 soms, even though you can find such masks for as low as 10 soms. The company was linked to the "Birimdik" party, affiliated with Asylbek Jeenbekov. According to the Ministry of Justice registry information, the founder and director of the company is Sadykova Indira Tofikovna. The name of "Farwater's" director is also listed among the founders of the president's brother Asylbek Jeenbekov's party "Birimdik".
Additionally, conclusions drawn by an interdepartmental commission later revealed that a third treatment protocol prepared by mid-May 2020 was intentionally withheld. The purpose was for several pharmaceutical companies, directly linked to high-ranking officials, to get rid of purchased drugs that turned out to be ineffective. Corruption during the pandemic became one of the reasons for the downfall of Sooronbay Jeenbekov's authority.