Eurasia 21: Kyrgyzstan

From the peaks of the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains that occupy over half of its territory to the fertile land of the Ferghana Valley, Kyrgyzstan is a country that faces many challenges. The second smallest of the Central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by countries boasting much more economic and military power: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China, while Russia’s shadow still looms large in the region. Intricately drawn internal Soviet borders in the ethnically diverse Ferghana Valley became international lines upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Kyrgyzstan’s eastern territory is woven between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

The modern landlocked state of Kyrgyzstan has been a crossroads for many people groups throughout the centuries. Relics from Scythian burial mounds dating from the fifthcentury BC have been found along Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul, the second highest freshwater lake in the world. Predecessors of the nomadic Kyrgyz people migrated to the Tian Shan region from parts of Siberia in the 13 th century AD during the Golden Horde invasion. Up to the turn of the twentieth century, the Kyrgyz found themselves at various times under Turkic khanates, the Mongol Oirats, the Chinese Manchu, the Uzbek khanate of Kokand, and the Russian Empire. Not long after the October Revolution in 1917, the Soviet Army consolidated control of Central Asia. Initially part of the Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, Kyrgyzstan eventually gained elevated status within the Soviet Union as the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936.

The early Soviet years in Kyrgyzstan were tumultuous; thousands fell victim to campaigns to settle the nomads in the 1920s and massive collectivization in the 1930s.

Major strides were made during the Soviet period in education, as a literary Kyrgyz language was established and literacy increased. Central planners developed Kyrgyzstan’s economy to supply raw materials for other Soviet sectors. Kyrgyzstan providednearly all of the Soviet Union’s antimony and was the third largest contributor of gold. With over half of the Kyrgyz population in rural areas, agriculture – focused on cotton and livestock – was another mainstay of the economy.

As other Union republics began exerting more sovereignty during the political liberalization of Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika in the late 1980s, the Kyrgyz republic remained fairly conservative. One major exception was riots that occurred in the summer of 1990 in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, situated in the densely populated Ferghana Valley. Disputes over land use, exacerbated by ethnic tension between Kyrgyz and the sizable Uzbek minority around Osh, led to violence and the deaths of hundreds.

In October 1990, the Kyrgyz legislature elected Askar Akaev, a physicist and political liberal, to the post of president. Akaev retained the position through open elections in October 1991 after Kyrgyzstan declared independence in August of that year. Akaev quickly set up a reform-minded government and passed legislation on privatization. In 1993, the Kyrgyz constitution was adopted and the national currency, som, replaced the ruble. Akaev was reelected in 1995 and 2000, after receiving a one-time exemption to the constitutional two term limit.

In 1994, the International Monetary Fund named Kyrgyzstan the fastest economic reformer of the former Soviet republics, excluding the Baltics. Though privatization was achieved rapidly, many other necessary structural reforms were not implemented. Unlike Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan has no significant hydrocarbon reserves to boost its economy, and major markets served by Kyrgyzstan’s Soviet industrial sector have diminished. One significant natural resource in Kyrgyzstan is water – the headwaters to the Syr Darya, one of Central Asia’s two major rivers, start in the Tian Shan. These fast flowing rivers provide ample opportunity for hydroelectric power and supply irrigation on which Kyrgyzstan’s agricultural sector and the Central Asian states downstream depend.

Kyrgyzstan’s main challenge has always been lack of cash, and the country is dependent on foreign assistance. As such, Akaev has devoted much of his presidency to establishing advantageous economic and diplomatic relations. An original member of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Kyrgyzstan has maintained close economic relations with Russia. Kyrgyzstan was the first former Soviet state to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1998. Avoiding clashes over poorly defined borders has been another of Akaev’s priorities, and long-standing disputes with China and Kazakhstan have been resolved. Together with China and the other Central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan has been active in combating “terrorism, separatism and extremism” through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). After the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001, Kyrgyzstan allowed American forces to establish an airbase at Manas, outside of Bishkek. Kyrgyzstan extended the same privileges to Russia, which opened its base at Kant – not far from the American airfield – in September 2003.

Domestically, Akaev has had to deal with a fractured country on ethnic (largely Kyrgyz-Uzbek) and geographic (north-south) lines. Manipulation of presidential and legislative authority through referenda and allegations of involvement in election fraud have cost Akaev political face, especially in the south of the country. In March 2002, five protesters were killed and dozens injured during a peaceful demonstration in the southern region of Aksy, sparking civil unrest throughout the country. Relative to its Central Asian neighbors, Kyrgyzstan has advanced the development of a vibrant civil society, active political opposition, and independent media. However, Akaev’s tolerance for criticism has waned in his third term, and NGOs, political rivals and media outlets have all faced increasing government pressure.

Kyrgyzstan is slated in October 2005 to become the first Central Asian state to experience a peacetime transfer of power since the break up of the Soviet Union. President Akaev has stated on numerous occasions that he will not seek to run again. Whether Kyrgyzstan’s transfer goes the way of Russia and Azerbaijan – where Presidents Yeltsin and Aliev named successors – or the way of Georgia and Ukraine – where attempts to falsify election results led to the respective Rose and Orange Revolutions, and new elections – is yet to be seen. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for February 27, 2005, and the results will likely set the tone for the presidential race to come.

The pace of Kyrgyzstan’s reforms was fourth after the three Baltic republics. “ Kyrgyzstan Country Study.” 1996. Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. 19 January 2005 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/kgtoc.html.