This is a list of events in Asia in 2016.

Events

January

*January 1–2 killed in suicide bombing in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. *January 6 -

January 2016 North Korean nuclear test January is the first month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the first of seven months to have a length of 31 days. The first day of the month is known as New Year's Day. It is, on average, the coldest month of the ...

*January 16 -

2016 Taiwanese presidential election Presidential elections were held in Taiwan on 16 January 2016. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen with her independent running mate Chen Chien-jen won over Eric Chu of the Kuomintang (KMT) and James Soong of the People Fi ...

February

*February 6 - 2016 Taiwan earthquake *February 17 - an attack in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

caused at least 28 deaths. *February 26 -

2016 Iranian legislative election Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 26 February 2016 to elect members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly for all seats in the 10th parliament in the Islamic Republic era and the 34th since the Persian Constitutional Revolution. A seco ...

March

*March 4 - an attack in Aden caused at least 16 deaths. *March 13–37 killed in an attack in Ankara. *March 20 ** 2016 Kazakhstani legislative election ** 2016 Laotian parliamentary election *March 31 - an attack in Diyarbakir kills seven police officers

April

*April 13 -

2016 South Korean legislative election Legislative elections were held in South Korea on 13 April 2016. All 300 members of the National Assembly were elected, 253 from first-past-the-post constituencies and 47 from proportional party lists. The election was an upset victory for the ...

*April 14 and 16 -

2016 Kumamoto earthquakes The were a series of earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.0 mainshock which struck at 01:25 JST on April 16, 2016 (16:25 UTC on April 15) beneath Kumamoto City of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu Region, Japan, at a depth of ...

*April 20 - Boungnang Vorachit is elected

President of Laos The president of the Lao People's Democratic Republic is the head of state of Laos. The current president is Thongloun Sisoulith, since 22 March 2021. He was previously elected as the General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, ...

;

Thongloun Sisoulith Thongloun Sisoulith ( lo, ທອງລຸນ ສີສຸລິດ; born 10 November 1945) is a Lao historian and politician serving as General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party since 15 January 2021 and President of Laos since 2 ...

appointed

Prime Minister of Laos The Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, formerly the chairman of the Council of Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the head of government of Laos. The highest position in the government, they direct the ...

May

*May 6 - opening of the seventh Congress of the party of labor of Korea. *May 9 -

2016 Philippine general election A general election in the Philippines took place on May 9, 2016, for executive and legislative branches for all levels of government – national, provincial, and local, except for the barangay officials. At the top of the ballot was the elect ...

*May 22 **

2016 Tajikistani constitutional referendum A constitutional referendum was held in Tajikistan on 22 May 2016. A total of 41 constitutional amendments were proposed. The changes included: *amending Article 65 to remove presidential term limits for Emomali Rahmon *reducing the minimum age t ...

** 2016 Vietnamese legislative election *May 24 - Binali Yıldırım was appointed

Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Başbakanı'') was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of ...

. *May 26 and 27 - 42nd G7 summit

June

*June 29 -

2016 Mongolian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Mongolia on 29 June 2016. The governing Democratic Party lost to a landslide victory of the Mongolian People's Party, retaining only 9 of 76 seats in the Great Khural. While they just lost under 2% of the popular ...

July

*July 10 -

2016 Japanese House of Councillors election House of Councillors elections were held in Japan on Sunday 10 July 2016 to elect 121 of the 242 members of the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet, for a term of six years. As a result of the election, the Liberal Democrat ...

*July 15 -

2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt On 15 July 2016, a faction within the Turkish Armed Forces, organized as the Peace at Home Council, attempted a coup d'état against state institutions, including the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. They attempted to seize cont ...

*July 26 -

Sagamihara stabbings The Sagamihara stabbings were committed on 26 July 2016 in Midori Ward, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan. Nineteen people were killed and twenty-six others were injured, thirteen severely, at a care home for disabled people. The crimes were committe ...

*July 31 -

Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...

is the first woman elected Governor of Tokyo.

August

*August 7 -

2016 Thai constitutional referendum A constitutional referendum was held in Thailand on 7 August 2016. The charter offered only semi-democracy and was seen to tighten military rule in Thailand. However, it was approved by 61% of voters with a 59% turnout. A second proposal for the ...

*August 11 and 12 - bombings in Hua Hin, Surat Thani, Phuket and Trang.''Le Monde''
12 août 2016. *August 20 - more than 50 killed in a bombing in

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approximat ...

. *August 26 - bombing to

Cizre Cizre (; ar, جَزِيْرَة ٱبْن عُمَر, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, or ''Madinat al-Jazira'', he, גזירא, Gzira, ku, Cizîr, ''Cizîra Botan'', or ''Cizîre'', syr, ܓܙܪܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܘܡܪ, Gāzartā,) is a city in the Cizre Dis ...

against the police. *August 29 - an attack in Aden caused at least 71 dead.

September

*September 4 -

2016 Hong Kong legislative election Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film ...

*September 7 and 8 - the 28th ASEAN Summit in

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

, Laos. *September 9 - fifth nuclear test in North Korea. *September 20 - 2016 Jordanian general election

October

*October 13 - death of Bhumibol Adulyadejas, King of Thailand, known as the reign of Rama IX.

November

*November 26 - 2016 Kuwaiti general election

December

*December 1 - prince

Vajiralongkorn Vajiralongkorn ( th, วชิราลงกรณ; , ; born 28 July 1952) is the King of Thailand. He is the only son of King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit. In 1972, at the age of 20, he was made crown prince by his father. After his ...

is proclaimed King under the name of Rama X. *December 4 - 2016 Uzbekistani presidential election *December 11 - 2016 Kyrgyzstani constitutional referendum *December 17 - a Kayseri attack caused at least 14 deaths. *December 19 - the Ambassador of Russia

Andrei Karlov Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov (russian: Андрей Геннадьевич Карлов; 4 February 1954 – 19 December 2016) was a Russian diplomat who served as the Russian ambassador to Turkey and earlier as the Russian ambassador to North ...

was assassinated in Ankara. *December 20 - the Eurasia under the Bosphorus tunnel is opened in Istanbul.

References

{{Year in Asia, 2016 Years of the 21st century in Asia 2010s in Asia