Sooronbay Jeenbekov

His Excellency Sooronbay Jeenbekov Сооронбай Жээнбеков
File:Sooronbay Jeenbekov (2017-11-30).jpg
5th President of Kyrgyzstan
Incumbent
Assumed office 24 November 2017
Prime Minister	Sapar Isakov Muhammetkaliy Abulgaziyev Kubatbek Boronov
Preceded by	Almazbek Atambayev
18th Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan
In office 13 April 2016 – 22 August 2017
President	Almazbek Atambayev
Deputy	Cholpon Sultanbekova
Preceded by	Temir Sariyev
Succeeded by	Muhammetkaliy Abulgaziyev (Acting)
Governor of Osh
In office 16 August 2012 – 11 December 2015
Preceded by	Aytmat Kadyrbayev
Succeeded by	Taalaybek Sarybashev
Personal details
Born	Sooronbay Sharipovich Jeenbekov (1958-11-16) 16 November 1958 Biy-Myrza, Kirghiz SSR, Soviet Union (now Kyrgyzstan)
Political party	Social Democratic
Spouse(s)	Aigul Tokoyeva
Children	2
Residence	Ordo House, Ala Archa State Residence
Alma mater	Kyrgyz National Agrarian University

Sooronbay Sharipovich Jeenbekov (Kyrgyz: Сооронбай Шарипович (Шарип уулу) Жээнбеков, Sooronbay Şaripoviç (Şarip uulu) Jéénbekov; [soːrɔnˈbɑj ʃɑˈripɐvit͡ʃ d͡ʒeːnˈbɛkəf] or Sooronbay Zheenbekov; born 16 November 1958) is a Kyrgyz politician, and the President of Kyrgyzstan. He officially took office on 24 November 2017. He was also the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from April 2016 to August 2017.

Early life and education

Jeenbekov was born in Biy-Myrza, Osh Region on November 16, 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

File:Dmitry Medvedev, Sooronbay Jeenbekov and Tigran Sargsyan at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting, 7 March 2017.jpg

Prime Minister Jeenbekov with Dmitry Medvedev, and Tigran Sargsyan at the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council summit in Bishkek, 7 March 2017.

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 about 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 as Director of the State Personnel Service. In March 2016, he was appointed as First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, before his appointment as Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.

2017 Kyrgyz presidential election

Main article: 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. Azay Guliyev confirmed the election to be one of the few peaceful elections in Kyrgyzstan's history.

Presidency

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Jeenbekov with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Sochi, Russia.

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 suppressing opposition politicians and journalists. 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."

File:6th Summit of Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States kicks off in Cholpon-Ata 03.jpg

Jeenbekov with Ilham Aliyev

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 of 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 September 3, 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 May 4 he ordered that all mining of uranium in the country will be banned.

Foreign policy

File:Participants in the CSTO Collective Security Council meeting.jpg

Jeenbekov with other CSTO leaders at the CSTO summit in Minsk, November 2017.

See also: List of international presidential trips made by Sooronbay Jeenbekov

Jeenbekov's foreign policy has been described as much more balanced that 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 November 28, 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	Turkey	President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
5 September 2018	Hungary	Prime Minister Viktor Orban
28 March 2019	Russia	President Vladimir Putin
12 June 2019	Mongolia	President Khaltmaagiin Battulga
13 June 2019	China	President Xi Jinping
14 June 2019	India	Prime Minister Narendra Modi
27-28 November 2019	Kazakhstan	Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

Coronavirus pandemic

In June 2020, Jeenbekov went into quarantine after returning from a cut-short visit to Moscow after two of his staffers tested positive for Covid-19. He was due to attend the 2020 Moscow Victory Day Parade. He declared July 30 as a Day of National Mourning. That day, he took part in an Islamic religious ceremony to honour those who lost their lives from the pandemic, saying "Let the souls of our deceased compatriots rest in peace, may their souls be in heaven".

Relationship with Atambayev

Since Jeenbekov took power in November 2017, he has had what can only be described as a contentious relationship with his predecessor and former ally, Almazbek Atambayev. In the early months of his presidency, he used his position to praise Atambayev's work, even going as far giving him the title of "Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic", which the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a citizen of Kyrgyzstan. Atambayev strongly backed Jeenbekov during the 2017 election against his opponent Ömürbek Babanov, even referring to himself as an “older brother” to Jeenbekov. As he continued serving as president, a rift grew between the two as Atambayev later became more involved in politics in the 6 months post his presidency, eventually rising to the Chairmanship of the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, of which Jeenbekov is a member. In Atambayev's remarks following his assumption to the post, he criticized Jeenbekov for his handling of the Bishkek power plant failure earlier that, as well as rebuked him for not taking steps to force his brother to resign from parliament. In early April 2018, Jeenbekov dismissed two high ranking officials in the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) who are considered to be close to Atambayev. The move was seen as an apparent jab at Atambayev and his former government. In an interview on his 60th birthday later in the year, Jeenbekov accused Atambayev of indirectly and directly trying to influence him and his presidency, saying the following to the 24 Kyrgyzstan news agency:

His attempts to turn me into a puppet leader through some third individuals, to direct my actions – discredit him as a person, as an ex-president, as a fellow party member and associate.

He later denied that he was fighting with Atambayev, saying at a press conference in December 2018 that his major goal was to do "nothing but to work day and night" while saying that he does "not consider anyone a rival". Due to the failed attempt by SOBR Units to arrest Atambayev at his residence in Koy-Tash on 7 August, which resulted in the death of one soldier, Jeenbekov came back from his vacation and called a meeting of the Security Council, in which Jeenbekov accused Atambayev of "rudely violating the constitution".

The relationship between the two and their supporters eventually became so strained that the SDPK suffered splits in 2019, and the majority of each faction formed their own parties to run in the 2020 Kyrgyz parliamentary election. The SDPK did not run any candidates.

Personal life

His wife, Aigul Jeenbekova (née Tokoeva), has been married to Jeenbekov since 1988. Together, they have 2 children, with their eldest daughter, Baktygul, being married and a graduate from the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University. Their younger child is a son named Iman. Jeenbekov's younger brother, Asylbek Jeenbekov, is also a politician, while his other brother, Zhusupbek Sharipov, is a former governor from Jalal-Abad and the current ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to Ukraine. Aside from his native Kyrgyz, Jeenbekov is also fluent in Russian.

Awards

• Order of Manas (2015)
• Medal of Dank (2011)
• Honored Worker of Agriculture
• Order of Nazarbayev (2019)

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Temir Sariyev	Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan 2016–2017	Succeeded by Muhammetkaliy Abulgaziyev Acting
Preceded by Almazbek Atambayev	President of Kyrgyzstan 2017–present	Incumbent