Kyrgyz Republic Country Page

 

   

Kyrgyzstan Data Kyrgyzstan Summary Reports: 2003/04 NCSJ EAJC: Anti-Semitism 2003 CIA World Factbook 2003 U.S. State Dept. - Human Rights 2003 U.S. State Dept. - Religious Freedom Kyrgyz Embassy U.S. Embassy Bishkek 2006 Updates January: Chief Rabbi Meets With U.S. Ambassador 2005 Updates August: Kyrgyzstan Names New President April: U.S. Gets to Keep Airbase March: Revolution in Kyrgyzstan Election Inconclusive 2004 Updates February: Foreign Minister Visits U.S. About NCSJ Country Reports Return to Directory

Population: 4.8 million Ethnic Composition:  52.4% Kyrgyz, 18% Russian, 12.9% Uzbek, 2.5% Ukrainian, 2.4% German, 11.8% other Religion: 75% Sunni Muslim, 20% Russian Orthodox Christian, 5% other Jewish population: 2,500 2002 Aliyah  (emigration to Israel): 219 2002 Emigration  to United States: 5 Size: 198,500 sq km Capital: Bishkek Major cities: Bishkek, Osh Freedom House Rating:  Not Free

Currency: 42.43 som = $1 (October 3, 2003)   GDP: $1.6 billion (2002)   GDP per capita: $320 (2002) GDP Growth: -0.5% (2002) Head of State: President Kurmanbek Bakiyev Foreign Minister: Roza Otunbayeva Ambassador to United States: Zamira Sydykova U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan: Stephen M. Young* Chronology of all U.S. envoys to Kyrgyzstan *On June 30, 2005, Marie L. Yovanovitch was confirmed as the new U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic.

SUMMARY

Kyrgyzstan, once a powerful khanate, was long subject to occupation by regional powers. Its legacy of colonialism has created obstacles to economic reform and democratization in the post-Soviet era. Emerging concerns over terrorism and regional security have added regional and international burdens and have distracted the Kyrgyz Republic from its pressing domestic concerns.

Despite economic improvement in 1999-2000, the Kyrgyz economy is now struggling with the demands of a weak domestic market and external security pressures. The role of international lending organizations continues to be significant, and the Kyrgyz economy remains in need of extensive economic reform.

Diplomatic relations with the West were boosted by international attention to the region after the September 11, 2001, attacks and by the Kyrgyz Republic’s support for U.S. operations in Afghanistan. However, due to backsliding in Kyrgyz human rights since 2000, the Kyrgyz government is regarded as increasingly undemocratic.

The small Jewish community reports good interactions with the government and good interfaith relations. Kyrgyz-Israeli relations are good.

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KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL SITUATION
    Foreign Policy
ECONOMIC SITUATION
JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM
U.S. POLICY

The Kyrgyz Republic is slightly smaller than South Dakota and is bordered by China, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. For centuries, its territory was populated by nomadic Kyrgyz and Scythian tribes, which coalesced into a feudal state around the 6^th century. The state expanded to become the Kyrgyz Khanate, which, weakened, by tribal dispersion, was overrun by the Mongols in the 11^th and 17^th centuries. Annexed by Russia in the mid-1860s, Kyrgyzstan was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. Kyrgyzstan remained under Russian and then Soviet rule until its independence on August 31, 1991.

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POLITICAL SITUATION

Officially a constitutional democracy with an executive, legislative and judicial branch, the Kyrgyz government is effectively dominated by the President. The President is elected by popular vote every five years and appoints the Prime Minister. The legislature is comprised of a 105-member bicameral Supreme Council (Zhogorku Khenesh), also elected by popular vote every five years. After the next presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for 2005, the parliament will become unicameral, in line with a February 2003 constitutional referendum. Judges are recommended by the President and appointed to ten-year terms by the Supreme Council.

President Askar Akayev, in power since 1990, was reelected to a third term in October 2000. The elections were widely regarded as neither free nor fair, and many questions were raised about the constitutionality of his serving a third term. Since then, he has announced his intention to step down in 2005. Akayev expanded his powers significantly at the expense of the legislature in a 1996 referendum. Parliamentary and citizen protest over further constitutional amendments in late 2002 forced Akayev to drop the two most controversial, which would have banned citizen appeals to the Constitutional Court and given the President unlimited veto power. Akayev has appointed six prime ministers since 1998; the most recent, Nikolai Tanaev, was appointed in May 2002.

Once known in the West as an “island of democracy” among the newly independent Central Asian states, the Kyrgyz Republic has seen deterioration in democracy and human rights since 1998. While the country is still considered the most democratic of the Central Asian states, the government restricts in practice many of the rights that the constitution protects. Akayev’s government has hindered opposition political activity and demonstrations, and independent journalists who criticize government officials have suffered intense bureaucratic harassment. The government has repeatedly cancelled the registration of media outlets and required them to re-register, but in all cases they were able to do so.

During 2002, President Akayev continued to stifle political dissent. In March 2002, police fired on demonstrators protesting the arrest of an opposition politician, causing the country to erupt over what is now called the Oksi massacre. After the government failed to conduct a full investigation, the public demanded that Akayev and his cabinet resign. Akayev fired Prime Minister Kurmanbek Bakiev and his cabinet, appointing Nikolai Tanaev in his stead. Akayev himself refused to resign despite continued protests, and staged a nationwide referendum in February 2003, marred by voting irregularities, gaining a “mandate” to complete his term.

All religious organizations in the Kyrgyz Republic must register with the government. No group has reported being denied registration, though many have voiced concern over the government’s increasing intrusiveness into religious affairs. The government has shown a bias against ethnic Kyrgyz Christian and some Muslim groups that receive foreign support, but the state is considered tolerant of minority faiths.

The Kyrgyz government has shown increasing concern over the influence of radical Islam on politics in the southern part of the country. Hizb ut-Tahrir (“Party of Emancipation”), a banned organization in the Ferghana Valley, is of particular concern as it advocates the overthrow of Central Asia’s governments and the creation of an Islamic caliphate. It is gaining in membership, ostensibly due to the poverty in the region. Though the group claims to be peaceful, it promotes strong anti-American and anti-Israel views.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been running human rights and development projects in the Kyrgyz Republic since 2000.

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Foreign Policy

The Kyrgyz Republic maintains close relations with Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Russia offered troops and equipment to the Kyrgyz Republic in 1999, though at present only a few Russian soldiers patrol Kyrgyz border stations. The Republic has also received military aid from Turkey, an extension of a significant bilateral trade relationship. The border agreement recently ratified by the Kyrgyz Republic and China is on hold in the wake of Kyrgyz public unrest over the arrangement.

Russia - Presidential Press Service September 2003: President Akaev with Russian President Vladimir Putin

The demarcation of borders with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan remains a subject of contention. Through the summer and autumn of 2002, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan each unilaterally established checkpoints and imposed customs duties at high-volume transit points on their shared border. Tensions also persist over terrorist activity perpetrated by the banned Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a group with ties both to the former Taliban in Afghanistan and to Osama bin Laden. Uzbekistan reportedly gave military aid to the Kyrgyz Republic following IMU attacks in 1998-99, but relations were strained over Uzbekistan’s use of landmines on its borders to deter terrorist incursions.

In 2000, the Central Asian states signed a regional security treaty to address the upsurge in militant cross-border Islamic activity. In 2001, Russia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan agreed to form a rapid-reaction force to combat Islamic rebel groups from Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. The Kyrgyz Republic is a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace.

The Republic’s good relations with Israel were demonstrated by an official visit to Israel in 2000 by Kyrgyz First Lady Mairam Akayeva, and by Israeli programs for agricultural and banking reform in the Kyrgyz Republic. Israel is represented by an ambassador in Bishkek, and the Kyrgyz Republic has an honorary consul in Israel.

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ECONOMIC SITUATION

The Kyrgyz Republic has been one of the most active successor states in enacting market reforms, though geopolitical developments in 2001-02 have slowed this progress. The Kyrgyz economy is based on agriculture and gold production. Unemployment and poverty, at 10 percent and 55 percent respectively, remain substantial, as in the rest of Central Asia.

The economy suffered a sharp downturn immediately after independence but recovered during 1995-97 as a result of progressive economic reforms. The Kyrgyz Republic was the first Central Asian state, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) assistance, to leave the ruble zone.

The Kyrgyz economy remains particularly vulnerable to regional instability. The local impact of the 1998 Russian financial crisis was exacerbated by the slow and inadequate Kyrgyz response. Fiscal reform and an increase in agricultural production contributed to modest growth in 1999, which accelerated in 2000-01. However, growth halted in 2002 and may have even reversed due to a decrease in exports, a damaging landslide at the Kumtor gold mine (the mine accounts for 10 percent of GDP), and damage to crops and hydroelectric outlets due to bad weather. As the country relies heavily on mineral, gas and oil imports from its Central Asian neighbors, the 2002 war in Afghanistan aggravated the Kyrgyz economic slowdown. Privatization and market reforms have stalled or reversed.

Reflecting its dependence on neighbors and creditors, the Kyrgyz Republic participates in trade alliances such as the Central Asian Economic Community (with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan) and the “Shanghai Five” regional cooperation group (with China, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia). Germany, Russia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are the Kyrgyz Republic’s largest trading partners.

The Kyrgyz Republic joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1998 and the World Bank in 1999. Its budget has been strained by its enormous foreign debt, however, which the Paris Club of Debtors restructured in March 2002.

In view of its high debt, the Kyrgyz Republic joined the CIS-7 initiative, created in 2001 by international lending organizations to reform the financial structure of new loans. In September 2002, international creditors including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) developed a $2 billion Poverty Reduction Program that calls for $1.5 billion in direct foreign investments and grants in 2003-2010. The program covers initiatives in progress as well as infrastructural repairs and promotion of market and agricultural reform and investment.

The Kyrgyz Republic has signed an agreement with China and Uzbekistan to build a railroad along the ancient Silk Road, believing that the tariffs and tolls from transport will provide a much-needed source of revenue. An additional Uzbek-Kyrgyz-China railroad through the mountainous Torugart Pass is also being discussed.

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JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM

The small Kyrgyz Jewish community, concentrated in Bishkek, is divided into indigenous Bukharan Jews and Ashkenazim, the vast majority of whom immigrated from Russia, Ukraine and Poland during World War II. Over 1,000 Jews immigrated in 1990 just prior to independence.

The Menorah Center in Bishkek, funded in large part by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC/ “Joint”), runs a small Sunday school and provides charity services such as food distribution, chiefly for the elderly. The center also contains a small library and publishes the Ma’ayan newspaper. An Aish HaTorah education center and a Jewish theater and dance group are located in the capital, and Maccabi organizes youth sports activities.

There is one Ashkenazi synagogue in Bishkek and several Bukharan synagogues in towns in the Ferghana Valley. A new rabbi arrived from Israel in 2000 to operate the Ashkenazi synagogue.

There is no official discrimination against the Jewish community, which reports good relations with the government and with other religious groups. The director of the Menorah Center serves on the Kyrgyz religious council, a federal body. A 1992 law mandates proficiency in the Kyrgyz language for high government positions, however, effectively preventing members of many ethnic groups – including Jews – from attaining such positions.

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U.S. POLICY

U.S. engagement in the Kyrgyz Republic revolves around security and democracy-building. The Republic provided intelligence and allowed U.S. and Allied forces to use its Manas airport as a staging ground for military and humanitarian actions in Afghanistan. In response, the United States significantly boosted its aid to the Kyrgyz Republic, despite some official U.S. criticism of the state’s repression of civil rights. While the Kyrgyz Republic expressed opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, it nonetheless provided unlimited airspace rights to coalition forces.

The United States formally extended permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to the Kyrgyz Republic in June 2000, thus “graduating” it from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment to the 1974 Trade Act. Since fiscal year 1992, the United States has spent $591 million in direct assistance in the Kyrgyz Republic. For fiscal year 2002, $50 million was spent; of this money, $11.4 million went toward democracy programs, $6.2 million for humanitarian assistance, and $12 million each to security and market reform programs. In December 2002, 65 Peace Corps volunteers were sworn in for service in the Kyrgyz Republic.

The Oksi massacre and the harassment of opposition politicians and independent journalists have drawn criticism from the United States. An October 2001 statement by the U.S. Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) warned that, in attempts to combat terrorism, the Kyrgyz Republic might be “overreacting and unnecessarily limiting religious freedom….”

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