Abstract
XI Khan of Kyrgyzstan: Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Family Rule and Heroization of the PastThe aim of the article is to highlight mechanisms of the construction of the national past. The precommunist and communist times, the period of independence and the events of March 2005 were used to design the narration on the almost mythical heroism of current authorities and their predecessors. The paper also attempts to reveal strategies of legitimization through the commemoration of the Tulip revolution.Additionally, it tries to reconstruct and critically comment upon main arguments used in public speeches by the head of state, by his family and ideologues of the regime. The aim, however, is not to present the coherent structure of official thinking similar to ideology. Ambiguities, inconsistencies and ad hoc reactions constituted very important part of the regime’s official rhetoric. That is why the paper emphasizes strong tension between authoritarian and democratic strands of official discourse used accordingly to the ever-changing context in which Bakiyev’s regime operated.
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