Tulip Revolution

In March 2005 protests over disputed parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan forced President Askar Akayev to flee the country.

Overview

Akayev had led Kyrgyzstan since independence in 1991, but his government became increasingly associated with corruption and family rule. Parliamentary elections in February and March 2005 were criticized by observers, and protests broke out in the south, in cities such as Jalal-Abad and Osh. On 24 March demonstrators stormed the presidential administration building in Bishkek, and Akayev fled to Russia, later resigning. Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was elected president in July 2005. The revolution was compared to the color revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, but Bakiyev himself was overthrown in a further uprising in 2010.