The FINANCIAL — Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, deposed in large-scale opposition protests that swept across the country last week, said on April 12 he believed that the Kyrgyz people were still on his side, RIA Novosti reports.
The statement came during a rally staged by Bakiyev's supporters in his home village on the outskirts of Jalal-Abad in southwestern Kyrgyzstan. The demonstration involved some 500 people.
"If I had felt guilty, I would not have been here and would have fled as [former president] Askar Akayev did. The people are with us, I do not believe that they have turned their backs on us," Bakiyev, who left the capital, Bishkek, last week said.
Bakiyev, who has pledged not to resign, said his supporters would hold a large meeting on Tuesday near the Jalal-Abad regional administration's office, saying the outcome of Monday's rally was modest due to the bad weather.
"It is raining today," the deposed leader told journalists.
Protests against Bakiyev and his government began in Talas on Tuesday and spread to other regions of the country including Bishkek, on Wednesday and Thursday.
The opposition has formed an interim government and appointed Roza Otunbayeva as its prime minister. The interim government claims that the Kyrgyz armed forces, police and security services have sided with them.
Bakiyev said on Sunday he felt personal responsibility for the unrests, which left some 80 people dead and more than 1,500 injured. "My fault is that I let it happen," he said.
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