Kyrgyz Diaspora in the Territory of Uzbekistan

Kyrgyz in Uzbekistan

Beyond Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz people have long lived in China and Uzbekistan, where they appeared in the middle of the second millennium, and from the 16th to 18th centuries - in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Kazakhstan. For ethnic Kyrgyz who have historically lived and worked in these states, they are considered their historical homeland. In recent times, in the 20th century, Kyrgyz people appeared in Turkey, and during the years of Kyrgyzstan's independence - in other countries near and far abroad.

In different countries, ethnic processes among Kyrgyz people are fundamentally different. In some places, Kyrgyz have retained their native language, cultural identity, and ethnic self-identification, continuing and reproducing ethnic traditions. In other countries, ethnic Kyrgyz, mainly the youth, are losing their ethnocultural characteristics and adopting the language of the surrounding population and even sometimes - ethnic self-identification.

Kyrgyz in Uzbekistan represent the largest ethnic group outside of Kyrgyzstan. As of today, according to official statistics, there are more than 300,000 ethnic Kyrgyz living in the Republic of Uzbekistan, making up 1% of the over 30 million population of this large country in Central Asia. Groups of Kyrgyz settled the vast eastern part of present-day Uzbekistan since the Middle Ages, no later than the 16th century (Abramzon, 1971, pp. 19-20, 34; Shaniyazov, 1974; Gubaeva, 1992, p. 136; et al.). These territories, along with other Kyrgyz lands, constitute a single natural and economic area where the formation of the ethnic group took place. During the Dzungar invasion in the 17th-18th centuries, the migration of Kyrgyz to the mountainous regions of present-day Andijan, Namangan, Fergana, and Tashkent regions intensified towards the Syr Darya basin. By the end of the 19th century, according to the First All-Russian Census of 1897, there were over 200,000 Kyrgyz in the Fergana Valley alone {Bartold, 1996, p. 237). Small groups of Kyrgyz lived in the mountainous and foothill areas of present-day Samarkand, Bukhara, Kashkadarya, and Surkhandarya regions. They were also settled in rural areas of several districts of the Karakalpak Autonomous Republic (Japarov, 1998, pp. 54-57; Khalmatov, 2010, pp. 32, 33).

In Uzbekistan, there are large Kyrgyz tribes such as Naimans, Teit, Kese, Kipchaks, Kandy, Avat, Boston, Kutchu, Matsgyt, Munduz, and others. For Kyrgyz in Uzbekistan, it was characteristic to have compact settlements of related tribal subdivisions in specific villages. Currently, Kyrgyz live in almost all districts of the Jizzakh region, in the Balikchinsky, Bulakbashinsky, Jalal-Kuduksky, and Kurghantepa districts of the Andijan region, interspersed in the Fergana Valley, and dispersed among Uzbeks in other places (Japarov, 1997, p. 33).

Kyrgyz in Uzbekistan engaged in a mixed economy - traditionally raising sheep, goats, cows, horses, and also growing grains, industrial crops, vegetables, and fruits.

In the villages where Kyrgyz lived compactly, their children were educated in Kyrgyz and Kyrgyz-Uzbek mixed schools in their native and Uzbek languages. However, due to a lack of teachers and textbooks in the Kyrgyz language, as well as due to the preference of some Kyrgyz for Uzbek classes, the number of Kyrgyz schools is decreasing. The dense Uzbek environment leads to a reduction in the area of functioning of the Kyrgyz language in Uzbekistan and dilutes the ethnic identification of Kyrgyz people.

Kyrgyz living dispersed in the Fergana, Namangan, Andijan regions, around Tashkent, Surkhandarya, Samarkand, Bukhara, and in Karakalpakia, speak about themselves in Uzbek: "one could say, we are already Uzbeks," "Uzbek Kyrgyz," or "we, Kyrgyz, are becoming Uzbeks" (Khalmatov, 2010, p. 78). Uzbek traditions are actively penetrating into public and family life. At the same time, Kyrgyz in Jizzakh, Syr Darya, and some districts retain their native language, culture, and identity.

In no region of Uzbekistan is there a newspaper or magazine published in the Kyrgyz language, nor is there radio or television broadcasting in it. A coordinating national and cultural center for Kyrgyz in Uzbekistan is absent; only public associations of Kyrgyz operate in the Andijan, Syr Darya, Namangan, and Fergana regions. After the collapse of the USSR, some Kyrgyz from Uzbekistan moved to Kyrgyzstan, mainly to the Chui Valley and Bishkek, and received Kyrgyz citizenship.