Official Proclamation of the Formation of National Statehood of the Kyrgyz People
When forming the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region, the principles of territorial integrity and economic ties between the peoples of the newly formed autonomy were taken into account. Specifically, the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region included the Karakol, Naryn, and almost the entire Pishpek districts, the Jety-Su region, the Osh district, 10 volosts from the Andijan region, 10 volosts from the Namangan region, 2 volosts from the Kokand district of the Fergana region, and 14 volosts (Talas section) from the Aullee-Atin district of the Syr Darya region.
According to the regional statistical bureau, the population was 828,300 people. Of these: Kyrgyz — 63.5%, Uzbeks — 16.4%, Russians — 18.6%, other nationalities — 4.3%. The territory of the autonomous region was approximately 200 thousand sq. km. The region was characterized by mountainous terrain. Its subsoil contained many natural resources, rich water resources, pastures for livestock development, forested areas, and fertile valleys. At that time, Kyrgyzstan had 6 cities, 321 villages, 727 ails, and 5 hamlets. However, a permanent administrative center had not yet been determined.
The leadership of the autonomous region was approved by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP(b) in Moscow on October 18, 1924: Mikhail Kamensky was appointed secretary of the Kyrgyz regional party committee, and Imanaly Aydarbekov was appointed chairman of the regional revolutionary committee. During the organizational period, the state apparatus of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was temporarily located in the regional center — Tashkent.
Kyrgyzstan, as a mountainous country, was divided into southern and northern parts, with almost equal populations and economic weights. Initially, it was planned to establish the regional center in the south — in the city of Jalal-Abad, where a railway from Tashkent was laid in 1914. Later, it was decided to move the capital to Pishpek, where a railway was being constructed. At the end of December 1924, the government of Kyrgyzstan moved from Tashkent to Bishkek.
In the district center of Pishpek, a city council had been functioning since 1918. In 1924, 48 deputies participated in its work, and there were sections for improvement and public education within the council. The city council was part of the Pishpek district-city executive committee — working for the city as well as for the district. In the next elections on February 5, 1926, 117 deputies were elected to the Pishpek city council. Financial-budgetary, military, trade-cooperative, health, public education, and communal sections were active. The activities of the city council were directed towards the construction of factories, plants, power stations, paving streets, greening, opening schools, cultural and educational institutions, and increasing the revenue part of the city budget.
The Presidium of the regional revolutionary committee, established in Pishpek to manage the mountainous region, formed 4 administrative-territorial districts: Pishpek, Karakol-Naryn in the north, and Jalal-Abad and Osh in the south of Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the revolutionary committee of the autonomous region conducted significant organizational work to determine and approve the staffing of the regional and district apparatuses based on local conditions. As the highest body of national statehood, the revolutionary committee appointed Turdali Tokbaev as the representative of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in Moscow on December 21, 1924. The main task of the representation was to protect the interests of Kyrgyzstan in all central union institutions when addressing political, economic, and other issues.
On January 15, 1925, the official proclamation of the formation of the national statehood of the Kyrgyz people took place in Bishkek. Representatives of Soviet, party, trade union, and public organizations from all 4 districts of Kyrgyzstan participated in the solemn assembly. The adopted Declaration, addressed "to the working people of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region," emphasized with particular force that the age-old aspirations of the Kyrgyz people and their will and desire for independence had been fulfilled, and the Kyrgyz people were given the opportunity to self-determine in an autonomous region, allowing them to develop their economy and culture. The day of the publication of the declaration — January 16, 1925 — was declared a holiday.
While in the administrative center in Pishpek, the regional revolutionary committee established departments and administrations of the autonomous region in January 1925: administrative, financial, local economy, agriculture, trade, public education, health care, labor social security, workers' and peasants' inspection, statistical bureau, and regional GPU department.
In state-building, the question arose — to replace the appointed volost, district, regional, and regional revolutionary committees with elected bodies of the Councils in a constitutional manner. Over a period of 5 months — from November 1924 to March 1925 — elections and congresses of the Councils took place. For the first time in its centuries-old history, the Kyrgyz people had the opportunity to send their representatives to local and higher authorities to legislatively consolidate the formation of Kyrgyz statehood.
Formation of the Kyrgyz Autonomous Region