Kyrgyzstan: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The modern Kyrgyz Republic is based on a civilization of nomadic tribes who moved across the northern part of Central Asia, intermixing with other tribes and peoples. The first Kyrgyz state, the Kyrgyz Khanate, existed from the sixth to the thirteenth century and extended at its greatest size from present-day south-central Siberia to present-day eastern Kazakhstan and eastern Kyrgyzstan. That state had trading relations with China, Tibet, and Persia. The khanate’s territory began to shrink in the eleventh century, and by the twelfth century it occupied only regions in the Altay and Sayan mountains. Meanwhile, Kyrgyz tribes moved across Central Asia and mingled with other tribes. Islam was introduced to the Kyrgyz sometime between the ninth and twelfth centuries. In the thirteenth century, all the Kyrgyz groups were conquered by the Mongolian leader Dzhuchi, son of Genghis Khan, and the Kyrgyz remained under oppressive Mongol rule until 1510.

After gaining freedom from the Mongols, the Kyrgyz were overrun by the Kalmyks in the seventeenth century, the Manchus in the eighteenth century, and the Uzbeks in the nineteenth century. In 1876, after Kyrgyz forces had fought three unsuccessful wars of liberation against the Uzbek Kokand Khanate, Russia conquered the khanate, and the Kyrgyz became part of the Russian Empire. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, large numbers of Russian and Ukrainian settlers moved into the territory of the Kyrgyz tribes. Oppressive Russian land and taxation policies severely damaged the nomadic culture of the Kyrgyz, resulting in a bloody revolt that began in 1916 and spread to other parts of Central Asia. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the territory of the Kyrgyz became part of the Soviet Union, first as the Kara-Kyrghyz Autonomous Region (1924), then as the Kyrgyz Autonomous Republic (1926), and finally as the Kyrgyz Republic (1936). During the Soviet era, the Kyrgyz Republic played a specialized, uneventful role as the supplier of agricultural products and specific mineral and military products. Until the 1960s, Russians dominated the republic’s government. Beginning in that decade, the accession of Kyrgyz politicians to high-level positions established the pattern of local patronage that still underlies politics in Kyrgyzstan.

In 1989 the liberalized policies of Communist Party First Secretary Mikhail S. Gorbachev ignited strife between the Kyrgyz and the minority Uzbek population in Osh Province. In the presidential election of 1990, the resulting general democratization movement led to the defeat of Communist Party chief Absamat Masaliyev by physicist Oskar Akayev. In 1991 Akayev, who was the first person without a substantial party résumé to lead a Soviet republic’s government, became the first president of independent Kyrgyzstan. Akayev’s stand in support of Gorbachev at the time of the August 1991 coup and his cautious approach to independence gained international respect for independent Kyrgyzstan. However, in the 1990s entrenched legislative and regional interests frustrated Akayev’s reform agenda to improve the depleted economy. Other problems of the 1990s were a serious “brain drain” of Russian technical experts, a stream of refugees into Kyrgyzstan from the civil war in neighboring Tajikistan, and instances of high-level official corruption.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Akayev took several steps to increase presidential power vis-à-vis the legislative branch, including questionable referenda and suppression of opposition groups. Before the 2000 presidential election, Feliks Kulov, Akayev’s chief rival for the presidency, was imprisoned. In 2001 Kyrgyzstan offered the United States an air base at Manas Airport in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, reinforcing relations with the United States but increasing tension with Russia. The arrest of dissident parliamentary deputy Azimbek Beknazarov in 2002 caused large-scale protests. The harsh suppression of those protests brought about the resignation of the government. In 2003 a referendum, criticized by international monitors, approved Akayev serving his full presidential term (through 2005) in the face of strong demands for his resignation. That same year, the parliament approved lifelong immunity from prosecution for Akayev and his family. In February 2005, international monitors declared the first round of national parliamentary elections to have been unfair. In March the protests that arose in response forced Akayev to flee into exile. Akayev resigned the presidency in April. In a compromise division of power, an interim government was formed with opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev as prime minister (hence, in the absence of a president, also acting president), but the already elected parliament took office as scheduled. In a special election, Bakiyev was elected president in July 2005, running on the same ticket as his main political rival, Feliks Kulov. Bakiyev then named Kulov prime minister to achieve unity.

RECENT NEWS ARTICLES

Kyrgyzstan Missionaries  -  24 Oct 2006
WTVY,...past year and a half. They've been in Jalalabad, Kyrgyzstan seeing the needs of the Kyrgyzs people. They over-see church planning ...

Making a Regional Water Deal Work  -  24 Oct 2006
Institute for War and Peace Reporting,Central Asia’s water will only be shared efficiently if the concerns of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the two countries where the bulk of water sources are ...

Environment: Four Black Spots Out of 10  -  24 Oct 2006
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty,WASHINGTON, October 24, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Three cities in Russia, one in Kyrgyzstan, and Chornobyl in Ukraine are listed among the 10 most polluted places in ...

Centrasia Mining Corp.: Sampling at Severny Returns 48 Metres of ...  -  24 Oct 2006
CCNMatthews (press release),...to announce assay results from its surface sampling program at the Severny Porphyry Cu/Au prospect ("Severny") on its Bulakashu Property in northern Kyrgyzstan ...

Minor earthquake takes place in Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 23, 2006
Gazeta.KZ,BISHKEK. An earthquake measuring 4 on the Richter scale in the epicentre has been registered in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergencies reports. ...

A look at US deaths in Afghan fighting  -  Oct 23, 2006
Jordan Falls News,The military lists these other locations as: Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan ...

The government of Kyrgyzstan got 10 days to reform the country  -  Oct 22, 2006
Neweurasia.net,For the past year that was packed with different rallies and protest, we in Kyrgyzstan got used to the fact that all rallies mainly bring chaos with no ...

The United States will pay Kyrgyzstan less than it promised  -  Oct 20, 2006
Ferghana.ru,Referring to information from the Kyrgyz Security Council and government, Maripov disclosed the sums of the US gratuity Kyrgyzstan was to receive for the AF ...

Kidnapped in Kyrgyzstan? Evidence casts doubt  -  Oct 16, 2006
Newsday,BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- New details have emerged in the case of a US Air Force officer who disappeared mysteriously last month while serving in the far-flung ex ...

Kyrgyzstan: Deputy Alisher Sabirov demands security for lawmakers  -  Oct 17, 2006
Ferghana.ru,A series of contract killings rocked Kyrgyzstan in the eighteen months that passed after the March 2005 revolution. Assassins shot ...

Senate ratified treaty on coop between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 19, 2006
Kazinform,Makulbekov/ - At a plenary sitting Senate of Kazakh Parliament adopted the law On ratification of an agreement on cooperation between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ...

Kyrgyzstan backs SCO agreement on education cooperation  -  Oct 17, 2006
Kazinform,BISHKEK. October 18, 2006. KAZINFORM. /Vladimir Dobrovolsky/ Kyrgyz PM Felix Kulov signed a resolution on a draft law On ratification ...

Kyrgyzstan Declares War on Imams  -  Oct 18, 2006
AINA,The National Security Service (SNB) of Kyrgyzstan has developed a special plan on strengthening the control over the republic's Islamic clergy. ...

Poll in Kyrgyzstan: Majority of Kirghiz and Uzbeks supports ...  -  Oct 17, 2006
Regnum,47.5% of the respondents consider Kirghiz to be the most important language for life and work in Kyrgyzstan; 40.0% — Russian; 0.3% — Uzbek. ...

Media freedom worries in Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 19, 2006
ISN,The opposition in Kyrgyzstan is pressing the government to investigate a recent arson attack which put the country’s only independent nationwide television ...

Grain harvest to total 1.6 mln tonnes in Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 16, 2006
Agrimarket Consulting,Grain harvesting campaign is coming to the end in Kyrgyzstan. Yield totaled 2.66 tonnes per hectare. Gross grain crop totaled 1.607 ...

Member of city council shot down in Osh, Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 16, 2006
Gazeta.KZ,Aibek Alimzhanov, member of city council, Chairman of the Uzbek Cultural Centre, was murdered in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan Today correspondent reports citing ...

Freedom of speech protest held in capital of Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 11, 2006
RIA Novosti,BISHKEK, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - About 200 people gathered Wednesday in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, to support freedom of speech in the country ...

Update: Protesters in Kyrgyzstan stop rally after talks with ...  -  Oct 11, 2006
RIA Novosti,BISHKEK, October 11 (RIA Novosti) - Protesters who gathered Wednesday in the capital of Kyrgyzstan to support freedom of speech in the country stopped their ...

Senior official beaten in Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 11, 2006
Reuters.uk,Kyrgyzstan, home to a US military base, has been unstable since long-serving leader Askar Akayev was ousted in a coup last year. ...

MOSCOW BEEFS UP SECURITY TIES WITH KYRGYZSTAN  -  Oct 13, 2006
Eurasia Daily Monitor,Russia has moved to boost security ties with Kyrgyzstan in a perceived bid to guarantee the loyalty of the Central Asian state, once considered to be among ...

UZBEKISTAN WELCOMES COOPERATION WITH KYRGYZSTAN DESPITE ...  -  Oct 12, 2006
Eurasia Daily Monitor,Roughly 1,600 kilometers are disputed between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the large Uzbek minority living in southern Kyrgyzstan demands more political rights ...

Iran, Kyrgyzstan implementation of MoU discussed  -  Oct 8, 2006
Persian Journal,According to a report released by Iranian Embassy in Kyrgyzstan, at the meeting, Japarov said that the high-ranking officials of the two countries are willing ...

Kyrgyzstan: Still Talking With Uzbekistan Over Gas  -  Oct 13, 2006
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty,BISHKEK, October 13, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The head of Kyrgyzstan's national gas company today said no final agreement had been reached yet on the volume and price ...

President of Kyrgyzstan supports the idea of joining HIPC program  -  Oct 12, 2006
Ferghana.ru,Provided the terms are reasonable, I'm prepared to back the initiative of joining HIPC," President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev told James McHue of the IMF ...

Kyrgyzstan: Opposition leaders will explain the forthcoming ...  -  Oct 15, 2006
Ferghana.ru,Representatives of all diplomatic missions accredited in Kyrgyzstan were invited to a meeting with the opposition leaders scheduled for October 18. ...

BTA plans to infuse USD 100 mln into Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 15, 2006
Kazinform,Ablyazov made public the BankТs plans to invest up to USD 100 mln annually into Kyrgyz national economy at the meeting with Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek ...

Uzbek gas will become much more expensive for Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 11, 2006
Ferghana.ru,Uzbekneftegaz PR Department reports that natural gas imported from Uzbekistan will cost Kyrgyzstan $100 per 1,000 cubic meters as of January 1, 2007. ...

Altimo is going to sell Sky Mobile (Kyrgyzstan).  -  Oct 9, 2006
Analytical Information Agency,Altimo is going to sell Sky Mobile (Kyrgyzstan) that has a right to operate in GSM standard on the territory of Kyrgyzstan, Altimo's General Director Alexey ...

Iran, Kyrgyzstan to expand economic, trade ties  -  Oct 11, 2006
Islamic Republic News Agency,Head of Iran-Kyrgyzstan Parliamentary Friendship Group Mohammad Qomi in a meeting with Kyrgyz Ambassador to Tehran Avazbek Agakhanov called for expansion of ...

Reforms of the mental health system in Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 14, 2006
Neweurasia.net,On the very same day in Kyrgyzstan it was officially announced that the upcoming month would be devoted to fighting psychosis and depressions among the ...

Women’s veils is becoming a political issue in Kyrgyzstan  -  Oct 14, 2006
Neweurasia.net,Many respondents who were asked to address this issue in our mini poll mentioned that Kyrgyzstan is a secular state and that the rule of secular law should ...

Kyrgyzstan must combat child labour issue  -  Oct 9, 2006
Scoop.co.nz (press release),Brussels, 9 October 2006 (ICFTU Online): Kyrgyzstan, one of the Central Asian states formerly in the Soviet Union, must do more to ensure workers' rights and ...

Government of Kyrgyzstan Rejected Request of Some Women NGOs to ...  -  Oct 10, 2006
Право Выбора,Government of Kyrgyzstan rejected request of some women NGOs to allow religious women taking photos in headscarves. “Request contained ...

The authorities of Kyrgyzstan intend to erect a monument to a ...  -  Oct 11, 2006
Ferghana.ru,Mayor of Balykchy (Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan) is determined to erect a monument to Rysbek Akmatbayev. Leader of the so called ...



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