Kyrgyz lawmakers reach deal

MOSCOW â€”  After six days of anti-government protests, opposition and pro-government lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan said Tuesday evening that they had agreed to a new draft constitution sharply reducing the president’s power. The document will be considered by the full 75-member parliament today, they said.

It was not immediately clear whether President Kurmanbek Bakiyev would agree to the proposed constitution, but he has said he will go along with a shift in powers from the presidency to parliament.

The opposition is demanding that Bakiyev accept the constitutional reforms or resign, along with Prime Minister Felix Kulov. The two men came to power last year in a largely nonviolent people’s revolution, but many of their former supporters have been disappointed by a perceived failure to crack down on corruption, nepotism and violent crime.

The compromise came at the end of a day in which thousands of opposition and pro-government demonstrators clashed in central Bishkek, the capital, prompting police to use tear gas and fire rubber bullets. Eighteen protesters and 17 policemen were injured during the confrontations, according to a statement from the Bishkek city police department.

“At the present time the situation in the city has stabilized and is under law enforcement agencies’ control,� it said.

The mountainous ex-Soviet state of 5.2 million people, which is predominantly Muslim, borders China and is host to U.S. and Russian military bases. Washington, Moscow and Beijing compete for influence.

After Tuesday evening’s agreement, former parliament Speaker Omurbek Tekebayev, head of the For Reforms movement that has spearheaded the protests, went to the city’s central square to urge the crowd of about 2,000 to disperse. Thousands more protesters had been in the square earlier in the day.

“Go home for now,� Tekebayev said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. He told protesters the rally would resume this morning, the report said. Other rally leaders said several hundred people planned to stay at the square overnight despite fears of violence, Interfax reported.

About 20 Kyrgyz yurts and scores of Western-style tents had been set up in the square for protesters who spent recent nights there.

“We fear an attack on the tent city by members of organized criminal groups and criminal elements recruited by the incumbent authorities,� the For Reforms movement said in a statement. “We are requesting diplomatic missions and international organizations to send their observers to the square.�

Political tensions had escalated Tuesday after an overnight session of parliament at which 40 opposition deputies approved a new constitution without following the procedures required by the current constitution.

Bakiyev then threatened to call new parliamentary elections if the conflict escalated.

“I have not set myself the goal of dissolving parliament,� he said Tuesday morning, in remarks broadcast on Russian television. “But I have such a constitutional right and of course, if contradictions between the legislature and the executive continue, what will I have left to do? I cannot watch such bacchanalia endlessly.�

By the evening, legislators had agreed to a new draft that would shift power to parliament and make Russian an official state language alongside Kyrgyz, Interfax reported.

Kyrgyzstan has a significant ethnic Russian minority, and many educated Kyrgyz know Russian better than their native language.

Changes to the constitution require the approval of at least 51 members of parliament, with additional procedures required.

Kyrgyz National Security Service chief Murat Sutalinov told journalists that protesters would not be allowed to remain in the square overnight, Interfax reported. “Bishkek is sick and tired of it,� he said.

If the protests develop into riots, security forces will act “resolutely and within the limits of the law,� Sutalinov said on TV, according to Interfax.

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Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.