Dastan Sarygulov

Who is Dastan Sarygulov?

Dastan Islamovich Sarygulov is a Kyrgyz businessman and politician. After graduating as an engineer in 1970, he made a career in the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic in the 1970s to 1980s. A protégé of the first Kyrgyz president, Askar Akayev, he was given the position of governor of Talas in 1991–1992, and president of Kyrgyzaltyn, a state company formed in 1992 with the purpose of the development of gold deposits. In this position, he was alleged to have perpetrated serious fraud and embezzlement against the government.

When Akaev was ousted by the Tulip Revolution, Sarygulov managed to secure the position of state secretary in the cabinet of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, formed after the 2005 election, but was forced to step down under president in May 2006. During his time in office, he also chaired an ideological committee where he proposed the adoption of "Tengrism" as an ethnocentric Kyrgyz national ideology.