Editing History of Kyrgyzstan (section)

== Atambayev presidency: 2011-to 2017==
[[Almazbek Atambayev]] ran in 2011 to succeed [[Roza Otunbayeva]] as President of Kyrgyzstan. On [[2011 Kyrgyz presidential election|election]] day, 30 October 2011, he won in a landslide, defeating [[Adakhan Madumarov]] from the Butun Kyrgyzstan party and Kamchybek Tashiev from the [[Ata-Zhurt]] party with 63% of the vote, and with about 60% of the eligible Kyrgyz population voting.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15510217| newspaper=BBC News| title=PM Atambayev wins Kyrgyzstan presidential election| date=31 October 2011| access-date=21 June 2018| archive-date=12 November 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112000835/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15510217| url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Meeting Vladimir Putin and Almazbek Atambayev 2015-03-16 01.jpeg|thumb|right|[[Almazbek Atambayev]] with [[President of Russia]] [[Vladimir Putin]] on 16 March 2015]] 
In 2011 soon after becoming president, Atambayev travelled to Turkey and signed an agreement with the Turkish President agreeing to increase trade from $300 million in 2011 to $1 billion by 2015, with Turkey also agreeing to attract Turkish investment to Kyrgyzstan to the amount of $450 million within the next few years.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/NA20Ag03.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119120826/http://atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/NA20Ag03.html|url-status=unfit|archive-date=19 January 2012|title=Atambayev's Turkish affair needs domestic peace |newspaper=Atimes|date=20 January 2012|access-date=13 March 2013}}</ref>

Atambayev has repeatedly presented himself as a pro-Russian politician. He positively supports Kyrgyzstan's Membership of the Russian led [[Eurasian Customs Union]] and secured the withdrawal of the American military base from the country in 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kyrgyzstan-usa-manas-idUSKBN0EE1LH20140603|title=U.S. vacates base in Central Asia as Russia's clout rises|date=2017-06-03|newspaper=Reuters|access-date=2017-01-28|archive-date=2016-12-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161217142656/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-kyrgyzstan-usa-manas-idUSKBN0EE1LH20140603|url-status=live}}</ref> He has spoken of the need for closer economic relations with Russia, which temporarily employs about 500,000 citizens of Kyrgyzstan;<ref>Itar Tass 1 November 2011</ref>{{Better source needed|date=January 2017}} however, he also expressed his wish to achieve greater economic and energy independence from it.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/main/2011/12/29/feature-02|title=Atambayev reviews 2011 achievements|newspaper=Central Asia Online|date=29 December 2011|access-date=13 March 2013|archive-date=20 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620170852/http://centralasiaonline.com/en_GB/articles/caii/features/main/2011/12/29/feature-02|url-status=live}}</ref>