Melis Myrzakmatov

Melis Myrzakmatov (; ) (born April 18, 1969) was the mayor of Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second largest city, from 26 January 2009 until 5 December 2013. Myrzakmatov is known for being a radical nationalist leader and openly bearing an ethnic Kyrgyz-first policy. He is also widely believed to be involved in organized crime.

When Myrzakmatov was the mayor of Osh, he largely ignored the capital Bishkek in his actions. This situation did not change even after the northerner Almazbek Atambayev was elected president in December 2011.

On 5 December 2013, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Zhantoro Satybaldiyev, issued a decree and dismissed Myrzakmatov from his post as mayor of Osh. Despite being dismissed, Myrzakmatov was allowed to take part in a new mayoral election that was held on January 15, 2014. He was defeated by pro-presidential candidate Aitmamat Kadyrbaev. Both Myrzakmatov's dismissal and his defeat in the election provoked mass protests by his supporters.

In 2015, the Osh City Court found him guilty of abuse of power and corruption and sentenced him to seven years in prison in absentia. Following the 2020 Kyrgyzstan protests, Myrzakmatov, who had spent his time in exile in Turkey, returned to Kyrgyzstan.

Personal life Melis Jooshbayevich Myrzakmatov was born on April 18, 1969, in the village of Papan in Osh Province, Kyrgyz SSR. Myrzakmatov is married to Nurgul Myrzakmatova. They have four daughters and one son.

Nationalist mayor of Osh Myrzakmatov, an ethnic Kyrgyz, is known for being a nationalist. Most of his supporters are southern ethnic Kyrgyz. After the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan riots, Myrzakmatov emerged as a strong leader and has been widely supported by Kyrgyz nationalists. Some have even blamed Myrzakmatov of instigating the interethnic riots.

Bishkek unsuccessfully tried to remove Myrzakmatov from office several times.

On 5 December 2013, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Zhantoro Satybaldiyev issued a decree and dismissed Myrzakmatov from his post as mayor of Osh. Despite being dismissed, Myrzakmatov was allowed to take part in a new mayoral election that was held on January 15, 2014. However, he was defeated by pro-presidential candidate Aitmamat Kadyrbaev. Both Myrzakmatov's dismissal and his defeat in the election provoked mass protests by his supporters.

Myrzakmatov's book on the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan riots In late 2011 Myrzakmatov published a book entitled In Search of the Truth. The Osh Tragedy: Documents, Facts, Interviews, Appeals, and Declarations — both in Kyrgyz and Russian — in which he presented his own version of the June events. In the book he took a radical anti-Uzbek approach and portrayed Uzbeks as a separatist group and "stressed the need for non-Kyrgyz ethnic groups to understand their future role would be as subordinates." The report noted that the superficial silence at the time in the south was not a sign of success. Paul Quinn-Judge, the ICG Central Asia Project Director, wrote:

The ICG report noted that unless systematic measures were taken further violence might erupt and even the most determined ethnic nationalist like Myrzakmatov was unlikely to keep the Uzbek minority silenced forever.