President Bakiyev flies out of Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK - Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has flown out of the country to neighbouring Kazakhstan, following last week’s bloody protests, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Thursday.

The president’s leaving the country was engineered in a joint effort by leaders in neighbouring Kazakhstan, the United States and Russia, the Vienna-based OSCE said in a statement.

During an appearance before supporters in Zhalal-Abad in the south of his country, Bakiyev said that Khazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev had “invited” him, according to media reports.

“This development is an important step towards the stabilization of the situation, a return to a framework providing for the rule of law, and the prevention of a civil war in Kyrgyzstan,” current OSCE chairman and Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev said.

Tensions heightened Thursday in Kyrgyzstan after an appearance by Bakiyev to rally his supporters turned into a violent confrontation with anti-Bakiyev forces, the Akipress news agency reported.