Language Research

Updated (March 2004)

RUSSIANS IN KYRGYZSTAN

Most Russians in Kyrgyzstan live in the capital Bishkek and the fertile Chui valley which surrounds it. They have started to leave the country in large numbers after independence gained in 1991. The 1989 Census informed that there were 916,000 Russians residing in Kyrgyzstan. Forty percent have left the country by now, mainly for Russia. In 1989, Russians constituted 22 percent of the population while currently they constitute only 11 percent.

The authorities tried to stem this flow by giving the Russian language an official status and by setting up the Assembly of People of Kyrgyzstan.¹ Many non-Russian groups, as diverse as the Germans, Ukrainians, Tatars and Koreans, rely on Russian as their first or most widely used language.

While the majority of Russians live in the north, a small community lives also in southern Kyrgyzstan, which is the poorest part of the country. They feel especially marginalized. The quality of the Russian-language education system is on the decline as well as the Russian media. Unemployment rates among the Russians are catastrophic. They do not feel discriminated but completely ignored in the society simply because they do not occupy posts in the local administration, in business, or in the third sector.

VELVET DISCRIMINATION IN KYRGYZSTAN

Discussions about a new Language Law in the Kyrgyz parliament deepened a feeling of exclusion among the members of the substantial Russian minority living in the country. Although Russians do not face overt hostility or discrimination, they sense there is no future for them in this Central Asian republic.

The proposed law would boost the use of Kyrgyz in public life, making good knowledge of it a requirement for top government officials. The Kyrgyz language should become the main language of official communication, the role currently occupied by Russian.

The law also contains provisions which require a quota system for the media, setting the percentage of airtime or column space for Kyrgyz rather than for the Russian language. They also encourage the greater use of Kyrgyz in education.

In the early 90s, Kyrgyz was actively promoted as a vehicle of national identity; however, Russian remained the main language of administration. Currently ethnic Russians feel they are beleaguered not by racism but by the petty obstructions connected with the fact that they are not ethnic Kyrgyzes.

According to the Head of the Slavic Diaspora Association in the southern region of Jalalabad, Valery Uleyev, Russians encounter inequalities and humiliations on a daily basis. It is known as velvet discrimination. Some of them look back to the Soviet period when Russians formed the USSR's majority and ethnic tensions were firmly suppressed.

Source: Minelres News, http://lists.delfi.lv/pipermail/minelres/2004-February/003202.html, by Natalia Domagalskaya, an independent journalist in Bishkek, IWPR Reporting Central Asia, No. 264, February 11, 2004, http://www.iwpr.net/

¹ A forum for the country's various ethnic groups which held its fourth congress at the end of January.

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Updated (October 2007)

KYRGYZ OFFICIALS DISCUSS MINORITY RIGHTS WITH OSCE COMMISSIONER

State Secretary, Adaham Madumarov, in discussion with Knut Vollebaek (OSCE High Commissioner for National Minorities), defended Kirgyz minority policies by calling the OSCE to recognize Kyrgyzstan as “a model state” in terms of preserving minority rights. He also pointed out that, according to the Kyrgyz Constitution, “no ethnic group is (to be) persecuted or restricted for not knowing the national language” adding that “members of various ethnic groups work in the Kyrgyz Parliament and hold various senior governmental posts”.

The High Commissioner, however, expressed concern over problems in teaching ethnic minorities the Kyrgyz language. In a separate meeting with Education and Science Minister, Kanybek Osmonaliev, he called on Kyrgyz officials to provide Uzbek-language schools with textbooks and supplies, although Osmonaliev pointed out that the problem is rooted in the different alphabets (Uzbek textbooks published in Uzbekistan use the Latin script, while Kyrgyzstan uses the Cyrillic script).

Vollebaek also had a meeting with the head of the regional administration in the southern Osh region, Governor Jantoro Satybaldiev, and reviewed the situation facing minorities in rural areas outside the capital.

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, NEWSLINE Vol. 11, No. 190, Part I, October 15, 2007

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