Ousted Kyrgyz president slams ‘unconstitutional coup’

ABC Online, Australia
Last Update: Saturday, March 26, 2005. 2:00am (AEDT)

Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president Askar Akayev has slammed the ouster of
his regime as an “unconstitutional coup d’etat”, Kyrgyz and Russian
media reported.

“An unconstitutional coup d’etat has occurred in the republic,”
Mr Akayev said in a message to a Kyrgyz news agency in his first
comments on Thursday’s chaotic opposition protests that sent him
fleeing from a country he had ruled since 1990.

“A group of irresponsible political adventurists and conspirators
embarked on the criminal path of grabbing power by force,” the message
said, according to the reports.

“The rumors about my resignation are not true… In the current
situation I took a decision to temporarily leave the country in order
to avoid bloody excesses.”

“The attempt to rid me of presidential powers via an unconstitutional
route is a crime against the state,” Mr Akayev said. “My current stay
outside the country is temporary.”

Mr Akayev did not say where he was, though unconfirmed media reports
said he had fled to Kazakhstan with his family.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the day offered to take
in Mr Akayev.

“We will not object if Askar Akayev wants to come to Russia,” Mr
Putin told journalists during a visit to Armenia.

-AFP