Askar Akayev, whose biography will be described below, was one of the most atypical presidents in the post-Soviet space. Doctor of technical sciences, mathematician and physicist, he was absolutely not like an ordinary eastern despot. During his reign, Kyrgyzstan became a model for the development of democracy and civil rights in Central Asia. However, the temptation of power turned out to be too strong - all citizens of the republic witnessed the rapid enrichment of members of Askar Akayev’s family. As a result, the liberalism of the regime of the first president of Kyrgyzstan turned against him, and he was forced to leave his homeland, fleeing the revolutionary masses.
Wunderkind from Kyzyl Bayrak
Askar Akayev was born in 1944 in the village of Kyzyl-Bayrak, in the Keminsky district of the Frunze region of the Kyrgyz SSR. He grew up in the family of an ordinary collective farmer Akay Tokoev, studied at a rural school. However, he grew up an inquisitive smart child, was fond of mathematics, physics, and often shocked classmates and teachers with his unexpected inventions.
There is a legend that at the final exam in chemistry a diligent student conducted laboratory experiments so swiftly that one of the teachers in fear or enthusiasm demanded that he immediately give the gold medal to the rural boy, otherwise he would blow up their school.
Be that as it may, the cherished gold medal of graduation was in the hands of Askar Akayev, and he went to conquer Frunze - the capital of the Kyrgyz SSR. Here he entered the correspondence department of the mechanical faculty of the Frunze Polytechnic Institute. At the same time, a native of the rural outback, who has no relatives in the capital, began working as a car mechanic at the Frunzemash enterprise, where he established himself from the very best side.
Scientist
The level of the Kyrgyz Polytechnic seemed to Askar Akayev insufficient for his ambitions, and after a year of study he risked trying his luck in the northern capital of the Soviet state. In 1962, he entered the Institute of Precision Mechanics, considered one of the most prestigious in Leningrad.
Here, the Kyrgyz did not get lost among the mathematical prodigies of the entire Union and soon became one of the first students. An imperfect knowledge of the Russian language by Akayev in those years did not even become an obstacle to this. Possessing monstrous capacity for work and perseverance, over the year he learned to speak the language of Pushkin and Fet much better than 95% of the natives of Russia and even conducted a Russian language circle among Central Asian students.
After graduating with honors from the Institute with the qualification of a mathematics engineer, Askar Akayev entered graduate school, deciding to devote himself to scientific activity. In 1972, he defended his thesis with the dizzying title “A new approximate analytical method for solving multidimensional boundary-value problems of heat conduction and its application in engineering practice”.
Homecoming
In 1977, a native of Kyzyl-Bayrak, in the rank of a young and promising scientist, unexpectedly for his Leningrad teachers returned to his homeland. Askar Akayev’s wife, Mairam, with whom he met in Leningrad, and two young children, son Aidar and daughter Bermet, went with him to Kyrgyzstan. By the way, the first lady of Kyrgyzstan also received a degree, standing out among the spouses of world leaders. After a while, two more children appeared in the family - Ilim and Saadat.
In Frunze, Akayev began as a junior assistant at the local Polytechnic Institute. However, he continued his scientific activities and was able to gather around him a group of talented students and followers.
In 1980, a young scientist became a doctor of science for his work on the problems of storing information in holographic structures.
According to reputable experts in the field of holography, Askar Akayev made a great contribution to the development of this scientific discipline at the junction of optics and computer technology.
The beginning of socio-political activity
By 1986, a native of Kyzyl-Bairak was the president of the Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences, a world-famous scientist. However, Askar Akayevich was well aware that the heyday of the creative activity of physicists and mathematicians fell on the period thirty to forty years, and that he had already developed his most advanced ideas.
Not wanting to get bogged down in administrative academic activities, an ambitious professor decided to try his hand at politics.
In 1986, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan, became a people's deputy of the republic. Since there was perestroika, the main content of the programs of young politicians, including Akayev, was the need for changes in public life and the economy.
In 1989, Askar Akayev was successfully elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Here, such a rare intellectual in politics makes a fast career, becoming a member of the committee on economic reforms and joining the Central Committee of the CPSU. If it were not for the end of the Union - who knows, maybe the next president of the USSR would be a smiling native of sunny Kyrgyzstan.
First president
Meanwhile, in the homeland of Askar Akayevich, a struggle for power flared up in earnest. In 1990, the post of president of the Kyrgyz SSR was established, respectively, it took a man who could take the chair of the head of the republic. Askar Akayev, who came to politics quite late and stood apart from group disputes within the party’s apparatus, as well as having significant weight at the all-Union level, was perceived as a compromise candidate capable of maintaining a balance of power in the leadership. Everyone shook hands, and in 1990 the doctor of sciences became president of the Kyrgyz SSR.
In August 1991, thunder struck in the form of a GKChP. Having become a far-sighted and perspicacious politician, Askar Akayevich from the very beginning spoke in the ranks of the opponents of the State Emergency Committee. Realizing that this was the end of a single state, he soon announced the state sovereignty of Kyrgyzstan.
Out of competition
In October 1991, Askar Akayev was elected president of the young republic. In 1993, a new Constitution was adopted, and therefore, a year later, confirmation of the presidential powers of Akayev in a popular referendum was required. In the same year, the head of state dissolved the previous parliament, setting a date for elections to the new supreme legislative body.
In 1995, Oscar Akayev, the president of Kyrgyzstan, was re-elected for a second term, winning with an indecently low 70% for Central Asia. The leaders of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, regularly gaining 95-99% of the vote (including infants and people with disabilities), presumably, looked with contempt at their foolish colleague.
They once again convinced themselves that an excess of intelligence and conscience is unacceptable for an authoritative statesman.
By 1998, Askar Akayev was seriously struck by the virus of power and asked the Constitutional Court to allow him to run for a third term. The national leader was allowed to violate the Basic Law of the republic a little, and in 2000 he once again took the post of head of state.
Success
According to many political scientists, Askar Akayev was too good a ruler for a small Central Asian republic. Unlike his colleagues and neighbors in the region, he allowed the activities of opposition political movements, the work of independent media, with him, citizens had all the possibilities of political freedom.
As best he could, Akayev pursued economic reforms, again standing out from his neighbors. He managed to stabilize the national currency, cause an influx of investment in the republic, stimulate the development of small and medium-sized businesses.
Entrepreneurs from neighboring republics looked enviously at their comrades from Kyrgyzstan, who worked without feeling the heavy press of the state. There was a saying - in Uzbekistan, a rich state with poor people, and in Kyrgyzstan - a poor state with rich citizens.
