The leader of the United Front movement, Kulov was summoned to the National Security Committee following nine days of opposition protests in central Bishkek, which demanded a new constitution to slash presidential powers and early elections. The protests turned violent Thursday when police had to use tear gas and stun grenades to dispel the protesters gathered in front of the government building.
"We are not a criminal organization, and we have the right under the Constitution to form any unions," Kulov said. "So I have no intention of answering such questions."
Kulov, who formed the United Front in February after his resignation late last year, said his movement had nothing to do with the April 19 rallies, and shifted the blame on the authorities by saying the events were a provocation on their part.
A former political prisoner, who had come to power together with President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on the back of violent mass protests in March 2005, Kulov said his main objective was to prevent a split between the prosperous north and the poorer south of the country.
"People say the Bakiyev regime has divided the country into the North and South, and I am trying to persuade people that such confrontation should not be allowed to happen," Kulov, himself a northerner, said.
United Front accuses the president of failing to improve living standards, curb corruption and introduce democracy in the impoverished Central Asian republic. Kulov has also said part of the votes that brought Bakiyev to presidency belonged to him, which, according to him, puts in doubt the legitimacy of the president's office.
