Hi all,
I waited a few weeks before covering this story, simply because I wanted to see how the sensational split in one of the most stable political tandems in Central Asian history would unfold: the split between Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sadyr Japarov, and his loyal comrade, the chairman of the State Committee for National Security, or GKNB, Kamchybek Tashiev.
The two friends rose to power together after the 2020 revolution, which brought Japarov out of prison, where he had been serving an 11.5-year sentence for the kidnapping of a local official in the Issyk-Kul region.
While Japarov was ruling the country, Tashiev focused on building a police state, expanding both the powers and the size of the security services — and, with that, his own influence. During his tenure, journalists and members of the political opposition were jailed on trumped-up charges, and fear returned.
But after five years of largely successful rule, during which power was concentrated in the hands of both men — each representing the interests of different regional elites — Japarov decided to get rid of his longtime ally.
First, in February 2026, Japarov abruptly removed Tashiev from his position, while the security chief was in Germany receiving medical treatment. Since then, the state has been dismantling Tashiev’s network and removing his friends, relatives, and loyalists from positions of power.
In March, tax authorities published a video alleging that people in Tashiev’s inner circle were involved in a corruption scheme and the embezzlement of funds from the state-owned oil and gas company Kyrgyzneftegaz. In connection with the scheme, Interior Ministry officials arrested Tashiev’s younger brother, Shairbek, as well as former central bank governor Melis Turgunbayev.
It is still unclear whether the authorities will go a step further and arrest Tashiev himself. What is clear is that Japarov has begun consolidating his power.
In this episode, we will look at how the tandem came to power, what their rule looked like, and what the possible reasons for the split might be. We will also talk about the north-south divide — and about who, of all people, is mourning Tashiev’s fall.
Joining us is Aksana Ismailbekova, a Kyrgyz anthropologist and research fellow at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), whose work focuses on kinship, ethnicity, patronage, conflict, and gender in Kyrgyzstan. She is the author of Blood Ties and the Native Son: Poetics of Patronage in Kyrgyzstan, published in 2017, and Migration and Welfare Austerity: Mobilizing Kinship for Care, Welfare, and Development in Kyrgyzstan, published in 2026.
I hope you will enjoy this one.
Have a great end of the week,
— Agnieszka
