Tulip Revolution

The Tulip Revolution (sometimes called the Pink Revolution) refers to the overthrow of President Askar Akayev and his government in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan after the parliamentary elections of February 27 and of March 13, 2005.

The revolution seeks the end of rule by Akayev and by his family and associates, who in popular opinion have become increasingly corrupt and authoritarian.

Following the revolution, Akayev flees the country.

On April 4 he signs his resignation statement in the presence of a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation in his country's embassy in Moscow, and on April 11 the Kyrgyz Parliament ratified his resignation.In the early stages of the revolution, the media variously refers to the unrest as the "Pink," "Lemon", "Silk", "Daffodil", or "Sandpaper" Revolution.

But it is "Tulip Revolution," a term that Akayev himself used in a speech warning that no such Color Revolution should happen in Kyrgyzstan, which sticks in the end.

Such terms evoke similarities with the non-violent Rose Revolution in Georgia and the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004, whose names owe a debt to the Czech-Slovak Velvet Revolution.Givi Targamadze, a former member of Liberty Institute and the chair of Georgian Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security, consults Ukrainian opposition leaders on the technique of nonviolent struggle, and later he advises leaders of Kyrgyz opposition during the Tulip Revolution.The Tulip Revolution, however, sees some violence in its initial days, most notably in the southern city of Jalal-Abad, where the first major signs of violence are noted, and at least three people die during widespread looting in the capital in the first 24 hours after the fall of the Kyrgyz government.

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