In higher hierarchical clan-tribal communities, blood relations, economic, and territorial ties weakened. In the tribe, political interests played a primary role, and the tribal organization regulated the system of military and power relations.
Conflicts and armed confrontations occurred between tribes, as well as raids aimed at cattle theft. However, when a serious threat arose to the entire people, the scattered tribes could concentrate their joint efforts to repel the enemy. A unifying mechanism among others was the common ethnic consciousness of the people. In wartime, different tribes could relatively easily transform into a military organization. In peaceful periods, they dispersed, ties became tenuous, and each unit engaged in its own affairs.
At times, military leaders - batyrs - played an important role in the socio-political life. In particular, the significance of Balbai batyr in the eyes of the people was no less than that of the supreme manap of the Bugyns, Boronbay, during periods when it was necessary to ensure the safety of kin, organize raids, and lead troops to battle against opponents (Japarov, 2007. p. 88). In such situations, the political functions of the tribe became most evident.
Certain tribes might have some local differences in spoken language, customs, and rituals.
The tribes were mostly endogamous, with marriages occurring within them.
The management system was similar among various tribes. Ownership of animals was marked by a common tribal tamga - this sign, to some extent, protected livestock from thieves and robbers, indicating belonging to a specific clan and tribe (Soltonoev, 1993. pp. 152-154; Talyp Baybolot uulu, 1993. pp. 532, 533). For example, the tamga of the Solto tribe was in the shape of a crescent moon and was called ai tamga, while the tamga of the Adigine tribe resembled the letter "C," and the Sarybagysh people branded their horses with a mark resembling a wild hunting bird - the zhagalmai tamga (Karataev, 2003. pp. 70-127).
In fighting against opponents, a special battle cry (uraan) was used: during the onset of battle or during an offensive, as well as in rider competitions on peaks - er sayysh. Everyone knew not only their genealogy but also their battle cry, which was significant in identifying a person as a representative of a specific clan and social stratum. For example, Suranchy batyr from the Bagysh tribe, responding to a question from the assistant of the district chief, said: "My clan is jangoroz, my uraan is sarybagysh" (Asanov, 2011a. p. 205). There are tamgas depicted on stones, which likely indicated the territorial belonging to a specific clan. Each clan had its own ancestral cemetery where deceased relatives were buried - this custom was strictly observed (Japarov, 1999. p. 34). The clan-tribal structure was traced during the transition to sedentism: often, settlements were established by patronymics.
Groups comprising multiple tribes formed a dual ethnopolitical organization in the 16th century: the right wing (on kanat) and the left wing (sol kanat). The division of Kyrgyz into wings and clan-tribal groups, ichkilik, is mentioned in folk legends (Zholdoshov, 2011. p. 253). "Such a structure was characteristic of many nomadic peoples genetically related to the Kyrgyz - the Xiongnu, ancient Turks, ancient Uyghurs and Oghuz, ancient Mongols, and Oirat. The origins of such a dual tribal structure among nomads should be sought in the dual-exogamous system of relationships between two clans, and later fraternities, based on marital kinship relations. It is worth noting that Kyrgyz tribes settling in new lands urgently needed to create an effective military-administrative system regulating, among other things, the use of pastures and territories as a whole. This predetermined the processes through which Kyrgyz tribes formed a dual clan-tribal structure reinforced by genealogical schemes" (Abdumanapov, 2007). The division into two parts occurred due to population growth and the expansion of segmental structures. This is mentioned in the Chinese source "Si-yu-zhi": "Gradually, the population increased, and there was not enough hunting for everyone, and for this reason, a struggle for land arose among them... More than 220 years ago, they jointly conducted peaceful negotiations and divided the population into equal parts. They designated two subdivisions, choosing wealthy leaders, and assigned each their own possessions: lands, rivers, mountains were divided into two branches - northern and southern, the southern was called To-go-so-ho-le, the northern was called Ke-er-ge-ci-si. Each was further divided into branches" (Suprunenko, 1976).
Clan-tribal structure of the Kyrgyz
The highest level of the clan-tribal structure should be viewed as a form of political and military organization necessary for conducting military operations. Overall, the clan-tribal organization of the Kyrgyz was a multilayered, hierarchically structured socio-ethnic structure. Blood relations and economic ties were strongest at the lower levels of the clan-tribal organization, while at higher levels, unification occurred based on ideological and political commonality. Despite the heterogeneity in the origins of their members, the unity of clans and tribes was based on patrilineal genealogical ties, as social kinship was no less important than actual kinship.
The clan-tribal structure of the Kyrgyz continued to retain its significance throughout the Soviet period, although it was regarded as a relic of the past. Alongside the social norms of the Soviet regime, relationships based on clan-tribal structures continued to function. According to N. E. Masanov, in the context of the ideologicalization of group forms of public consciousness, which occurred under the totalitarian regime during the USSR era, paradoxically, the clan-tribal organization received new impulses in its development (Masanov, 2007. p. 59). Kinship ties were utilized in occupying leadership positions (Dzhunushaliev, Koychuev, Ploskikh, Dzhunushalieva, 1999. p. 88). By the late 1980s, phenomena such as inter-clan rivalry, clan solidarity, etc., began to take on a more open character (Japarov, 1999. p. 40).
The instrumentalization of tribal identity was often advantageous for individual candidates during elections to state authorities to gain electoral support, in the struggle for economic resources, and in some other cases during the years of building a new independent state (Dzhusupbekov, 2009; Petric, 2011, pp. 358-363; Gullette, 2007, pp. 373-375; Zaparov, pp. 335, 336). Playing on feelings related to tribal affiliation continues to this day, especially in the political sphere. At the initiative of clan ideologists, their kurultai were held, where issues of solidarity, economic, and political problems were discussed.
However, such phenomena are rather sporadic and do not receive support among the broader population.
Family-kin groups in the ethnic composition of the Kyrgyz