Nurlanbek Ermatov, first elected governor, dies at 73

TALAS — Nurlanbek Ermatov, the first elected Governor of the Territory of Irad, died in Talas yesterday of natural causes. He was 73.

An engineer, he was deputy chairman of the Talas city executive committee in the late Soviet years and reconstruction commissioner of the Provisional Government during the siege of 1992. That October he was among the founders of the Democratic Party of Irad. On 8 November 1994 he won the first election held under the Elective Governor Acts, defeating the Labor Party's candidate, and took office in January 1995.

His two terms brought the Hydrocarbon and Mining Code, the Language and Education Reform Act of 1997 and the Talas Agribusiness Accord of 1998, and, after September 2001, the Basing Rights Agreement, which he signed for the territory. His critics, this newspaper among them, drew attention to the concessions held by party figures in fuel distribution and in the warehouses around the air base. Barred by the two-term limit, he did not stand in 2002 and held no public post after leaving office.

In retirement he could be seen most mornings walking in the park by the Talas River. Asked by this newspaper in 2012 what he was proudest of, he said: "That I left on the day the law said I should." He is survived by his wife, three children and seven grandchildren.