Kyrgyzstan

Foreign statesman 1944–현재 → Deposed in 2005, in exile

Scientist-president who moved from reformist promise to prolonged rule

At the Supreme Soviet session on 26 August 1991, Akayev declared the draft Union Treaty 'unacceptable' and demanded a confederal revision.

A physicist and former president of Kyrgyzstan's Academy of Sciences, Akayev was elected the republic's first president in 1990 as an outsider to the senior party apparatus. Amid late-Soviet ethnic conflict and demands for sovereignty, he promoted pluralism and market reform, then quickly condemned the 1991 coup attempt and led Kyrgyzstan toward independence. At the Novo-Ogaryovo negotiations he put republican sovereignty first, calling the August treaty draft unacceptable and demanding a revision closer to confederation. His later rule brought extended presidential terms, family-centered politics and corruption allegations, ending in his overthrow during the 2005 popular protests.