CRISIS FACTORS IN KYRGYZSTAN: THE REGIONAL, CLAN, AND POLITICAL STRUGGLE
Abstract
Kyrgyzstan began building its statehood from the moment it became part of the Russian Federation as an autonomous republic.
It is worth noting that some of the problems existing today date back to the so-called territorial-national separation of the nationalities of the former Turkestan Republic (1924-1925).1 The faulty national-demographic approach to legitimization of borders and their demarcation led to the formation of regions with mixed populations.
In 1925, Kyrgyzstan acquired the status of an autonomous region within the R.S.F.S.R. and did not become a Union republic endowed with the attributes of a higher state rank until 1936.2 However, the borders were not defined and remained this way during the years of the state’s independent existence.
The northern Kyrgyz lived in the Issyk Kul Basin and the nearby mountains of Kungai-Alatau and Terskei-Alatau, as well as in the Chu and Talas valleys, but a large part of the population was composed of Russian and Kazakh diasporas.
Clans and tribes of southern Kyrgyz settled beyond the mountain passes of the Ferghana, as well as in the foothills of the Alai and Chatkal mountain ranges located around the Ferghana Valley. There were also large implantations of Uzbeks and Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan. Certain kishlaks (with their adjoining land) populated by Uzbeks and Tajiks are enclaves that are juridically under the control of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. This complicates ethnic relations even more.
In this article, we will try to analyze the present-day political life of Kyrgyzstan from the regional perspective, as well as take a closer look at some aspects of the prehistory of the events that occurred.
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References
See: Sovetskiy Soiuz: Kirgizia, Mysl Publishers,Moscow, 1970, p. 62.
See: Konstitutsiia i konstitutsionnye akty Soiuza SSR (1922-1936), Collection of Documents, Moscow, 1940, p. 64.
See: Istoriia i identichnost: Kyrgyzskaia Respublika, FFE, Bishkek, 2007, 273 pp.
See: N. Omarov, D. Orlov, “The Main Results of Kyrgyzstan’s Domestic Political Development in 2009,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2010; E. Kabulov, “On the Results of the Presidential Election in Kyrgyzstan,”Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 4-5 (58-59), 2009.
See: B. Bogatyrov, “Postreformatorskiy etap v Kyrgyzstane: peregruppirovka sil ili vozvrat na iskhodnye pozitsii?”,Kazakhstan v globalnykh protsessakh (IMEP, Almaty), No. 1, 2007, pp. 18-20.
See: A. Krylov, “Religion in the Social and Political Life of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 6 (42), 2006; E. Kurmanov, “Hizb Ut-Tahrir in Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 3 (15),2002; I. Mirsaiitov, “K voprosu o protivodeistvii idei “Khizb ut-Takhrir” v Kyrgyzstane,” Kazakhstan-Spektr (Kazakhstan Institute of Strategic Studies, Almaty), 2006, No. 2, pp. 34-38; No. 3, pp. 31-39.
See: D. Satpaev, “Goriuchaia smes,” Vremia, 17 June, 2010, p. 18.
See: M. Suiunbaev, Geopoliticheskie osnovy razvitiia i bezopasnosti Kyrgyzstana (globalny, regionalny i natsion-alny aspekty), Institute of Integration of International Educational Programs, Kyrgyz National University, Bishkek, 2005, 122 pp; B. Torogeldieva, “The Formation and Nature of Political Culture in Present-Day Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asia and the Caucasus, No. 1(55), 2009.
In this respect, we can recall how in 2005 Russia gave President Askar Akaev asylum after he fled from Kyrgyzstan;he continues to live in Russia to this day and is working at one of Moscow’s universities.
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