Kamchybek Tashiyev, last week stripped of his post as Kyrgyzstan’s national security chief by President Sadyr Japarov, has temporarily left the country, Ozodlik reported on February 17, citing a report by Region TV’s Utkirbek Rakhmonov.

Rakhmonov is a journalist considered close to Tashiyev, a politician known as the “People’s General”, who until his abrupt firing while he was in Germany for a medical appointment, was widely viewed as ruling Kyrgyzstan with Japarov in a power tandem.

Rakhmonov posted a short video on social media showing Tashiyev saying goodbye to his loved ones. However, no clear explanation was given about the reasons for his departure from the country.

Japarov remains engaged in a purge of Tashiyev’s allies.

“No conditions exist for a coup” in Kyrgyzstan, Japarov told state news agency Kabar on February 16, adding: “There is no situation in the country that could lead to a coup. If there are 24 hours in a day, I work 20 of them. I monitor everything closely, and if anything is wrong, I immediately instruct ministers, local authorities, and governors to fix it.”

After sacking Tashiyev, Japarov, who took power five years ago, also acted to bring security units that answered to the State Committee for National Security (SCNS, or GKNB) into new structures that come directly under the presidency and stated that Tashiyev would not be given another government position.

There are anxieties that traditional tensions between the north of Kyrgyzstan, from where Japarov hails, and the south, where Tashiyev’s origins lie, could be aggravated in the wake of the standoff between the two politicians.

The populist-nationalist president, who was sprung from jail by supporters prior to obtaining the presidency, and who is nowadays increasingly under fire for authoritarian rule, also told Kabar that he visited Tashiyev, who has returned from Germany, on February 15, and told him to rest.

“Yes, we met. I received him last night,” said Japarov, adding: “I said, ‘Take care of yourself, my friend, take care of your health, and stay calm.’ According to my friend, whether we call them [Tashiyev backers] ‘the elders’ or ‘the bearded ones’, he says he has never spoken to anyone else [about the events that have unfolded].”

Japarov is expected to launch a bid to win re-election to a second term in a poll scheduled for January 2027.

Also on February 17, the Constitutional Court ruled that Japarov is entitled to run for re-election in the presidential election less than a year from now. Following the adoption of a new constitution in 2021, some doubts over the entitlement triggered a public debate.