On April 7, Kyrgyzstan celebrates the state holiday – April Revolution Day ( Kyrgyzstan Eldik April revolution is the Konu revolution ), which is the official day off since 2016.
The history of this holiday is interesting. The fact is that modern Kyrgyzstan has survived two popular revolutions associated with a change of power. The first happened on March 24, 2005 and went down in the history of the country as bloodless, since the removal and removal of President Askar Akayev from power was almost peaceful, although there have been police clashes with rallying opposition supporters.
The reason for the revolution was the February parliamentary elections, the result of which was called into question by representatives of the political opposition. The rallies she initiated swept across the country, and by March 24, 2005 they reached Bishkek. As a result of clashes between the police and the protesters, the Government House was last seized. The president himself at that time left the country with his family.
As a result of the new presidential election, one of the leaders of the opposition forces – Kurmanbek Bakiev took the post of head of state. And in order to emphasize the importance of the revolution on March 24, 2005 on the path to democratization of the country, he established in 2006 a new holiday – Day of the People’s Revolution, although this decision was made ambiguously by society. Nevertheless, starting in 2006, on March 24, a public holiday was celebrated in Kyrgyzstan, the status of which as a non-working day was legislatively fixed.
However, the new political events that swept the country in 2010 also changed the list of holidays. On April 7, 2010, a new revolution took place in Kyrgyzstan, caused by dissatisfaction with the board of Bakiev. He, like the former head of state, was accused of usurpation of power and the departure from the principles of democracy. But the second popular revolution cannot be called peaceful or bloodless, since events were marked by the death of people.
Shots sounded on both sides of – both from the presidential guard and from opposition representatives, rallying and storming government buildings. As a result of the opposition’s actions, the buildings of the Parliament and the telecentre were seized, the building of the General Prosecutor’s Office was burned.
President Bakiev managed to leave Bishkek, and then the country. Power passed to the interim government. Then, over 80 people died during the confrontation. New victims brought unrest that swept the country after the April events and resulted in an international bloody conflict.
As a result, Almazbek Atambayev became the new president of Kyrgyzstan. In December 2011, he approved a new date – on April 7, and the name of the official public holiday – April Revolution Day. And in 2016, the current legislation was amended, according to which, starting in 2016, the Day of the People’s April Revolution was declared a non-working day.
Today, many festive events and mass celebrations have been timed to this day throughout the country, in honor of the victory of the people in the struggle for the democratization of society. But it does not do without mourning events in memory of those who died in those days – they pass at the Monument in memory of those who died for the freedom of the people during the Axis events of 2002 and April events 2010 of the year.