(Adds security service statement, details, paragraphs 6-7, 12) By Michael Steen BISHKEK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Kyrgyz authorities opened a criminal case into allegations that opposition leaders tried to stage a coup, officials said on Saturday, but one of their leaders said compromise could still defuse tensions. Protesters have camped out in a central square demanding President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's resignation. Although their numbers have dwindled, the country's record of instability has raised fears of unrest. Germany's foreign minister, visiting the mostly Muslim Central Asian nation that hosts both a U.S. and a Russian military airbase, called for calm and praised the government for allowing the protests to go ahead. The demonstrators, who numbered about 1,000 on Saturday, accuse Bakiyev of failing to alleviate grinding poverty in the former Soviet state, ditching democratic reforms and reneging on a promise to share power with parliament. The government on Friday published a transcript of what it said was opposition leaders plotting a coup, though Bakiyev said he did not think they had the means to carry one out. The SNB security service said a criminal case had been opened into the matter and it would question the opposition leaders heard on the recording, but initially only as witnesses. Elmurza Satybaldiyev, deputy head of the SNB, told reporters the recording would be examined by forensic experts in Kazakhstan before any charges against individuals were brought. Omurbek Tekebayev, a former parliament speaker and one of the opposition movement's leaders, said: "Our plans are open and transparent. We have no criminal intent ... "There were words on the transcript that were never said, words like coup and revolution." COMPROMISE But, he added, the opposition was still willing to compromise with Bakiyev if constitutional changes that he is due to bring before parliament on Monday offer the elected chamber more power, as it has been demanding. "We are impatient to see his bill. If it is consensual, that could make a big difference to the situation in the country and opens a new possibility for negotiations." However, Monday's session is not likely to reach a quorum with up to 30 of the 75-seat house boycotting the session, so no decision is likely to be made. One opposition MP said even if Bakiyev introduced a compromise bill, he could have it blocked. "The president has a sea of MPs in his pocket who could block the bill," Almazbek Atambayev told Reuters. "I don't believe him." Bakiyev came to power in March 2005 after violent protests against a rigged parliamentary election swept the country and former President Askar Akayev fled to Russia. Elected in the wake of the coup by a landslide, Bakiyev's critics say he has failed to check rampant corruption or tackle the economic ills of the mountainous country on China's border. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met Bakiyev and later told a news conference: "I am glad about the reaction to the demonstrations so far and I assume that the course of moderation will continue." The protests in the capital Bishkek, the latest in a months-long row between the opposition and Bakiyev, started on Thursday and attracted up to 15,000 people. Despite the political tensions, daily life in Bishkek has returned to normal with shops that closed on Thursday re-opening for business. (Additional reporting by Markus Krah and Olga Dzyubenko)
