Sultan Ibraimov


Sultan Ibraimovich Ibraimov was an administrator and politician in the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic. A long-time governor of Osh oblast, then comprising the entire southern part of present-day Kyrgyzstan, he rose to the position of Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kyrgyz SSR in 1978.

Assassination

He was assassinated on 4 December 1980 under circumstances that have never been fully explained. He was killed by two shots in the head in his own bed in the government residence in Cholpon-Ata on Lake Issyk-Kul. He was buried in Bishkek.
It was suspected that the KGB arranged his assassination on instructions from Turdakun Usubaliev, then the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic. Usubaliev was growing uncomfortable with Ibraimov's popularity and some support that Ibraimov might get in Moscow to replace him. Usubaliev is believed to have decided therefore to eliminate Ibraimov, at a time when the entire Soviet system was sinking deeply into corruption and it was easy to organise such an assassination by KGB operatives.

Legacy

Ibraimov continues to be held in high esteem in the country.

Eponyms

He was married to Reva Kasymovna Teltaeva. They had three daughters, Ainura, Gulmira and Elmira, and two sons Ermek and Aibek.
One of the daughters, Elmira Sultanovna Ibraimova, became Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic in May 2008, but resigned from this position again in January 2009.