Kyrgyz Republic

KYRGYZSTAN. Kyrgyz Republic

A country in the northeast of Central Asia. Located within the Pamir-Alai in the southwest and the Tian Shan in the northeast. The territory is 198.5 thousand km², with almost 90% located above 1500 m above sea level. The capital is Bishkek (624 thousand), the largest cities are Osh (which received the status of the second capital of the republic) and Jalal-Abad. Administratively, it is divided into 7 regions, which include 39 districts and 21 cities.

Population — over 5 million (2004); Kyrgyz — 71.8%, Uzbeks — 14%, Russians — 11.1% (600 thousand), Ukrainians — 1.5%, Tatars — 1.2%, and also Germans, Kazakhs, Uighurs, Tajiks, Dungans — in total, representatives of about 70 nationalities. The rural population constitutes 65.1%. The state language is Kyrgyz. The Russian language has official status. Religion: Islam of the Sunni direction is widely practiced, and part of the population adheres to Orthodox Christianity.

The currency is the som.

Diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation were established on March 20, 1992. It is a member of the CIS.

The national holiday is August 31 — Independence Day (1991).

The current constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic was adopted on May 5, 1993, and has been in effect with amendments from 1995, 1996, and 2003, made based on nationwide referendums. The state structure is based on the principle of separation of powers (legislative, executive, and judicial), with the head of state being the president, elected for 5 years through popular elections; since October 27, 1990, this has been A. A. Akayev, who was re-elected to this position in 1995 and 2000. After his removal on March 25, 2005, K. S. Bakiev (formerly the prime minister) took over the duties of the head of state and also headed the country's temporary government. In the early elections on July 10, 2005, he was elected president of the country. The highest legislative authority is the Supreme Council (Zhogorku Kenesh), a unicameral parliament consisting of 75 deputies (it was bicameral before the parliamentary elections in February — March 2005).

As of early 2005, about 40 parties were officially registered. However, by the time of the last parliamentary elections, their role was barely noticeable; the main rivalry was between the party "Alga, Kyrgyzstan!" created in support of A.A. Akayev and the opposition "People's Movement of Kyrgyzstan".

The first state formations on the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan emerged in the 2nd century BC when the southern agricultural regions of the country became part of the Parkan state. In the 1st — 4th centuries, these lands belonged to the Kushan kings. In the 5th century, the transition to a settled lifestyle began among the nomads inhabiting Northern Kyrgyzstan. The 10th century marks the first evidence from written sources about the residence of Kyrgyz tribes in the Tian Shan. In the 13th century, the current territory of Kyrgyzstan, as a special ulus of the Mongols (the nomads of Semirechye and Kashgar called themselves Mongols), became part of the ulus of Jatatai (the second son of Genghis Khan). In the second half of the 15th century, as a result of the unification of Kyrgyz tribes, the first independent khanate was formed in Northern Kyrgyzstan, which included the main part of the Kyrgyz ethnicity that had formed by that time. Its formation was accompanied by the liquidation of the dominance of Mongolian feudal lords.

At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, the Kyrgyz began to seek the protection of Russia. The first diplomatic contacts between Russia and the Kyrgyz were initiated by the embassy of the Chui Kyrgyz in St. Petersburg at the end of the 18th century. In 1814 and 1824, delegations of Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz were sent to the Russian authorities in Western Siberia. However, the conquest campaigns of the Khans of Kokand interrupted Russian-Kyrgyz relations. In the first third of the 19th century, Kyrgyzstan fell under the control of Kokand. In 1863, Northern Kyrgyzstan and in 1876 (after the liquidation of the Kokand Khanate) Southern Kyrgyzstan became part of the Russian Empire.

From 1918, Kyrgyzstan was part of the Turkestan ASSR. Following the national-state demarcation of the Soviet republics of Central Asia, on October 14, 1924, the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Region was formed within the RSFSR, which was transformed into the Kyrgyz ASSR on January 1, 1926, and on December 5, 1936, into the Kyrgyz SSR. In October 1990, the session of the Supreme Council of the Kyrgyz SSR decided to rename the Kyrgyz SSR to the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. On December 15, 1990, the Supreme Council adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty of the Republic, and on August 31, 1991, the Declaration of Independence of Kyrgyzstan. On May 5, 1993, the session of the Supreme Council decided to rename the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to the Kyrgyz Republic.

Since 1992, the Kyrgyz Republic has been a member of the UN, and since 1998, it has been a member of the WTO.

Kyrgyzstan is an agrarian-industrial country. The agricultural sector creates about 46% of GDP and employs more than 40% of the working-age population of the republic: livestock products (meat, milk, dairy products, hides, fine wool), tobacco, garden, vegetable, and technical crops, medicinal plants, and beekeeping.

The main industrial sectors are hydropower, non-ferrous metallurgy, extraction of mercury, antimony, gold, rare metals, machine engineering, light and food industries.

In 2004, the GDP of the republic amounted to 2.1 billion dollars. The total state external debt is 1.804 billion dollars. In recent years, the Russian-Kyrgyz trade turnover has significantly increased (its share in Kyrgyzstan's foreign trade is 20%): in 2002 — 198.1 million dollars, in 2003 — 319.1 million dollars. In 2004, this figure reached 423.8 million dollars.

The subsoil of Kyrgyzstan contains gold, mercury, antimony, tin, tungsten, zinc, lead, wollastonite, and nepheline syenites. The republic has rich hydropower resources.

The country's economy is focused on transitioning to market forms of management. The basis of economic policy is the denationalization and privatization of state property, and support for entrepreneurial initiatives.

The main mode of transport is road transport. The length of the roads is 37.7 thousand km. Navigation is carried out on Lake Issyk-Kul. Gas pipelines pass through the territory of the republic: Bukhara - Tashkent - Bishkek - Almaty, Maili-Sai - Jalal-Abad - Kara-Suu.

For most vital goods for the functioning of the industry, Kyrgyzstan is 70-100% dependent on external supplies, mainly from Russia. It imports oil, gas, ferrous metals, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, various machine engineering products, timber and paper products, building materials, and food. Kyrgyzstan's exports to other republics include gold and mercury, timber products, agricultural products, some machine engineering and electronics goods.

Major centers for tourism and recreation: Lake Issyk-Kul, the Tian Shan mountain range. The largest universities in the country: the state university, medical, agricultural, and polytechnic institutes. In 1993, the Kyrgyz-Russian (Slavic) University was opened in Bishkek.

Major print publications: "Word of Kyrgyzstan," "Evening Bishkek," "Republic," and others. 65% of the printed media in the republic is published in Russian (including regional editions of popular Russian newspapers). The Kyrgyz news agency "KABAR" and the national television and radio company operate.