History of Sooronbay Jeenbekov

Jeenbekov was born in Biy-Myrza, Osh Region on November 16, 1958. His father, Sharif, was a collective farm manager while his mother was a housewife.

Jeenbekov started his career at the Lenin School in the Uzgen District, where he worked as a teacher at 18 and taught Russian and literature. In 1983, he became the chief livestock specialist of the Soviet farm in the Soviet district of Osh region and continued to work in the position for about five years.

His wife, Aigul Jeenbekova (née Tokoevna) has been married to Jeenbekov since 1988.

In November 1988, he managed to obtain a job as an instructor in the district committee of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan in the Soviet district of the Osh region. After a few years, he became the director of the party committee.

After entering politics, in 1993, Jeenbekov was elected chairman of the Kashka-Zhol collective farm in Kara-Kulja District.

He became a Deputy of the Assembly of People's Representatives in 1995.

Jeenbekov attended the Kyrgyz Academy of Agriculture, graduating with a degree in zoological engineering. In 2003, he completed further studies, graduating in accounting from the Kyrgyz National Agrarian University.

In 2007, Sooronbay became the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources, and the Processing Industry.

In 2010, he served as the Governor of the Osh region.

In 2015, he was appointed as Director of the State Personnel Service.

In March 2016, he was appointed as First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration.

On 13 April 2016, he was appointment as Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan.

Jeenbekov resigned from the post of Prime Minister on 21 August 2017, after being named as an official candidate in the 2017 presidential election. He stated that he "wanted to be in an equal position with other presidential candidates."

The election was held on 15 October 2017. Kyrgyzstan's central election commission reported a total of almost 1.7 million votes cast, of which Jeenbekov won 54.74 percent. Jeenbekov's election marks the first democratic transfer of power in a Kyrgyz election. Azay Guliyev confirmed the election to be one of the few peaceful elections in Kyrgyzstan's history.

Jeenbekov was inaugurated as president on 24 November 2017 in a ceremony that took place in the Enesay reception house of the Ala Archa State Residence.

His first presidential decree in office was made to confer the title of Hero of the Kyrgyz Republic to former president Atambayev.

He conducted his first foreign visit after assuming the presidency was to Russia where he met with Vladimir Putin.

In early April 2018, Jeenbekov dismissed two high ranking officials in the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) who are considered to be close to Atambayev. The move was seen as an apparent jab at Atambayev and his former government.

On 19 April 2018, Jeenbekov fired his Prime Minister Sapar Isakov and the government following a vote of no confidence from Kyrgyzstan's parliament.

In an address to journalists in May 2018, Jeenbekov promised to fight against tribalism being imposed on the country saying that "We will take measures against those, who impose a "north-south" issue in the society."

In an address to the Parliament of Kyrgyzstan in late June 2018, he outlined and made clear that his country will pursue and develop multilateral relations with Turkey, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the Arab world by the end of his term in 2023.

Jeenbekov opened the Central Mosque of Imam Sarakhsi, which is the largest mosque in Central Asia, with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during his visit to Bishkek in early September of 2018. During his visit, Erdoğan pressured Jeenbekov to take the appropriate measures to deal with Turkish Islamist leader Fethullah Gülen.

Jeenbekov opened the 2018 World Nomad Games in Cholpon-Ata on September 3, 2018, marking the first major international event that Jeenbekov has hosted in Kyrgyzstan.

Jeenbekov Received the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the Cholpon-Ata State Residence the next day of the opening of The 2018 World Nomad Games, Jeenbekov thanked the prime minister for becoming the first Hungarian leader to visit the country since it's independence.

Jeenbekov denied that he was fighting with Atambayev, saying at a press conference in December 2018 that his major goal was to do "nothing but to work day and night" while saying that he does "not consider anyone a rival".

In March 2019, Jeenbekov made his remarks during a meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions of Kyrgyzstan that his country had plans to step up work on development of bilateral co-operation with the United States and United Kingdom. The draft of a new co-operation agreement with the United States is currently being reconciled.

On May 4 Jeenbekov ordered that all mining of uranium in the country will be banned.