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- Kyrgyzstan
- The collapse of the Soviet Union created 15 new states. These
- states over the last 5 years have all struggled with economic, ethnic,
- political and territorial problems left to them by the Soviet empire.
- Kyrgyzstan, is a former Soviet Republic (FSR) located in the Central
- Asia. This paper will give a statistical representation of the state,
- Kyrgyzstan. The statistical data will reflect the basic geography of the
- subject country containing population, size and location. This
- miniature report will also contain brief descriptions of current
- political and economic situations. Included in the current information
- section of this report, is an outlook for possible near future events
- concerning both political stability and economy.
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- Kyrgyzstan is located in the southern area of the former Soviet
- Union. Its boarders are defined by China to the east (& South),
- Kazakhstan to the north (& Northwest), Uzbekistan directly west and
- Tajikistan to the south (& Southwest). Kyrgyzstan features 76,641
- square miles of land, which consisted of .9% of the former USSR's
- land-mass. The land is primarily used for pastoral purposes. Only 7%
- of the farmable land is cultivated.
- The population is approximated to be 4,258,000 people (see
- Figure A). The Kyrgyzstan populace has experienced a 25.3% growth in
- population during the last 12 years (Population Growth Data from
- 1979-1991), and a birthrate at 29.1/1000. Population distribution is
- 61.9% in rural areas and 38.1% in urban centers.
- City & Population
- The top 4 cities are: Bishkek (formally Frunze) 616,000
- (Capitol)
- Osh 213,000
- Przhevalsk 64,000
- Naryn 26,000
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- In June of 1990 ethnic violence arose in the city of Oh. Kyrgyz
- clashed with Uzbeks resulting in a bloody conflict which was eventually
- suppressed by Soviet Interior Ministry troops. This clash outlined
- political and economic problems present in Kyrgyzstan even when the USSR
- was still existent. These ethnic clashes in Oh served to cement
- political groups who were organizing outside of the communist party
- during Perestroika. It also gave voice to the large economic problems
- in central Kyrgyzstan.
- The "head of state" and leader of the communist party in
- Kyrgyzstan was Absamat Masaliev. Masaliev invoked policies which were
- rigid and served to enhance the existing social problems. Because of
- the decline present in the government's abilities to meet the
- expectations of the populace, the allowances granted by the Perestroika
- police and ethnic tensions, communist authority in Kyrgyzstan was
- challenged. The communist party's rule came to an end in October of
- that same year.
- A liberal democratic reform movement had sweeped the country
- and Askar Akaev was elected by a coalition vote in the Supreme Soviet
- (Legislature of Kyrgyzstan), resulting in the removal of Masaliev from
- the Presidency. Askar Akaev is a liberal politician (former head of the
- Academy for Sciences) and represented reform in the form of
- privatization and democracy. The transformation of government from
- communism to a liberal democracy occurred smoothly without violent
- uprisings or revolution. However, Akaev has opponents on both sides of
- the political spectrum. Masaliev, though not the president, is still
- the head of the communist party and very powerful. On the right, the
- government has to deal with the potential time bomb of ethnicity and
- nationalism.
- The current political agenda for the reform government contains
- these issues: economic stimulation, development of diplomatic relations
- with other states, privatization of property, a language purification
- issue and environmental concerns. These issues are all presently being
- address and codified in the formation of the new constitution (only
- economics, privatization of property and industry and language are
- addressed below).
- The industrial sector of the Kyrgyzstan economy is primarily
- owned by residing Russians in the capital, Bishkek. This is a point of
- contention in the on-going debates of land and industrial privatization
- between the nationalists and liberals in Kyrgyzstan. Though Kyrgyzstan
- is primarily an agrarian economy, an alarming amount of tension is
- present concerning foreign owned industry.
- Language purification standards are being debated in the Kyrgyz
- Parliament. In the 1950's the Duma passed a number of resolutions in
- attempts of transforming Soviet Republic languages by using a Cyrillic
- based alphabet. The adoption of the Cyrillic alphabet fundamentally
- changed the Central Asian Turkic based languages. This served in a dual
- purpose of dividing the Central Asian peoples by accenting their
- language differences and interrupting communication. The debate argues
- that old style Kyrgyz is to be re-instated thus assuring ethnic and
- lingual identity.
- Thus, statistical data has been reproduced to highlight
- population allocations and ethnicity. This miniature report has also
- discussed pertinent issues from both a historical analytical perspective
- and a current political and economic outlook present in Kyrgyzstan.
- The previously stated issues that are currently on the floor of the
- Kyrgyz Legislature, describe possible outcomes which will directly
- affect the stability of Kyrgyzstan.
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