History of Kyrgyzstan

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The Turkish-speaking Kyrgyz immigrated to the area of ​​today's Kyrgyzstan from the 8th century . During the turmoil of the Mongol and Djungar periods (13th – 18th centuries), migration to the Tianshan intensified , and with the end of the Russian colonial era and the Soviet era, today's state gradually emerged in the 20th century.

Time between the Kök-Turk and the Kyrgyz empire

Burana Tower 12 km southwest of the Kyrgyz city of Tokmok (around 11th century)

Kyrgyz tribes originally settled on the upper Yenisei . As so-called Yenisei Kyrgyz , they appeared as vassals of the Kök-Turk in the 5th and 6th centuries . From the 8th / 9th In the 19th century, groups of them immigrated to what is now Kyrgyzstan, which can be seen from a few clues in the form of clan names , runic inscriptions and place names.

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Yenisei-Kyrgyz formed a large empire, of whose importance archaeological evidence (mining and agriculture, runic writing , road construction, irrigation systems and smaller cities) testify.

Mongol rule

In the years 1207 and 1208, the khans of the Yenisei Kyrgyz voluntarily submitted to Genghis Khan's eldest son, Jötschi . Kyrgyz also took part in the Mongolian campaigns . So they took part in the conquest of today's Kyrgyzstan (around 1219) and settled there. A small part of them nomadized in the neighboring steppe areas of the lowlands. Initially, the Yenisei Kyrgyz belonged to the Orda Horde . But in the late 15th century their territory was conquered by the related Chagatai Khanate and the Orda Horde was dissolved. The territory of the former Orda Horde was divided between the White Horde and the Chagatai Khanate; the north of the area was under the influence of the Siberian Khanate . But the Kyrgyz were repeatedly plagued by attacks by the West Mongolian Oirats .

Alliance with the khan of the great horde and the jungle empire

The Kazakh khanate and territory
  • of the Little Horde
  • of the Middle Horde
  • of the Great Horde

    • When the jungles began to build their nomadic steppe kingdom from western Mongolia , more and more Kyrgyz people migrated from the Yenisei region to the southern Tianshan Mountains , where they mixed with the autochthonous population and became one in the region from the 16th century onwards Power factor were. The approximately 40 Kyrgyz tribes with their clans acted extremely autonomously in their new settlement areas.

    Between the 17th and 18th centuries, the Kyrgyz were in a loose alliance with the neighboring Kazak Kyrgyz , who traversed the vast steppe areas of Central Asia. They founded the Kazakh Khanate in the 15th century . Now it had broken up into three partially competing hordes. While the Small and Middle Horde continued to rule the steppe areas between Lake Balkhash and the Caspian Sea , both the southern steppe areas with the cities and the Khiva and Bukhara khanates belonged to the area of ​​influence of the Great Horde . The Kyrgyz were in close contact with the Khan of the Great Horde in particular and also largely belonged to his sphere of influence.

    Time of belonging to China and the Kokand Khanate

    Due to the constant raids, the remaining Kyrgyz, with the exception of small remnants, moved from the Yenisei to the Tianshan, while the Kazak Kyrgyz gradually submitted to the Russian crown. In the 18th century the jungle empire was broken up and today's Kyrgyzstan belonged to the empire of China . In this century the area was finally Islamized . Large parts of the country fell to the neighboring Kokand Khanate between 1830 and 1876 .

    History from the time of the tsars to the Soviet revolution

    Historical map (before 1893) of Central Asia

    Russian expansion began around 1855 and gradually incorporated the Kyrgyz settlement area. The northern part of the country was conquered by the troops of Mikhail Chernyayev by 1863 . In 1876, with the occupation of the Alai Valley , the Russian Empire took full control of the country.

    In 1905, Kyrgyz intellectuals took part in a “ Congress of Turkestan Muslims ” in Tashkent and two events in Orenburg and Warny . The organizers were the Duma deputy Älichan Bökeichan , the linguist Akhmet Baitursynuly and the writer Mirschaqyp Dulatuly . Because of these latter conventions for the first time joined Kazakh and Kyrgyz intellectuals to a constitutional-democratic and country team performance emphasized nationally oriented "National Movement" together, which was named "Alash". Politically, however, this Alash movement remained insignificant.

    When the Central Asian uprising in 1916 , which was mainly carried out by the Basmachi , also numerous Kyrgyz took part. In the spring of 1917 a section of the Alash party was officially founded in Bishkek by Mustafa Tschokajew and in November of the same year the so-called " Kokander Autonomy " was proclaimed in Kokand . This also included what is now Kyrgyzstan and was de facto a territorial unit of the Alasch Orda state proclaimed in December 1917 . The khanate was bloodily eliminated by the Red Army in February 1918 and in April 1918 was effectively incorporated into the newly founded Turkestan ASSR . Active and passive women's suffrage was introduced in June 1918.

    In 1919 the Alasch Orda state went under due to a defeat by the Red Army and was dissolved in August 1920. As a result, what is now Kyrgyzstan was also legally incorporated into the Turkestan ASSR. Within the Turkestan ASSR, today's Kyrgyzstan formed the Karakirgis Autonomous Oblast and the ASSR was supplemented by areas of the former regions ( oblast ) Semirechenskaja , Syrdarinskaja , Ferganskaja and Samarkandskaja .

    History within the USSR

    Administrative division of Turkestan around 1900

    In October 1924 the Turkestan ASSR was dissolved. On May 25, 1925, the previous Karakirgis area was renamed the Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast . On February 1, 1926, the Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was granted the status of an autonomous republic with the establishment of the Kyrgyz ASSR under the RSFSR . With the constitution of 1936 on December 5, 1936, it was appointed the Union Republic of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the Soviet Union. Kyrgyzstan retained this status from then on until it gained independence in 1991. On November 5, 1938, a mass shooting took place south of what is now Bishkek as part of the Great Terror , in which 137 leading heads of the Kyrgyz SSR were killed without a judgment. Today the Ata-Bejit memorial commemorates the victims.

    In 1988, nationalist Kyrgyz people joined forces with neighboring Kazakhs to form a new Alash party, which was now called " Alash - Party of National Independence ". Many of its members came from the right-wing national civil rights movement "Aschar" ( Kyrgyz Acar = Turkish Aşar = German key), whose main demands consisted primarily in the evacuation of the non-Turkish minorities from the country and the handover of their houses to Kyrgyz people.

    In the Soviet Union there was de jure no official language, even if it is in fact the Russian language was. Bolsheviks saw no reason to enforce the Russian language as the only language in remote regions by any means. On the contrary, they feared creating unnecessary tension. In the schools of the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic, for example, Russian was taught as a compulsory subject and all official official matters had to be brought up in Russian, but Kyrgyz was still a colloquial language. It was not until 1990 that Russian was introduced as the official language of the Soviet Union with the Law of Languages , although the Soviet republics were entitled to appoint other official languages ​​in addition to Russian as part of their jurisdiction. On December 15, 1990, Kyrgyzstan declared its sovereignty within the USSR.

    After Kyrgyzstan gained independence, the entire public life was conducted in the Kyrgyz language and the spelling of important geographical names and personal names was started to be adapted to the Kyrgyz pronunciation. For a long time after independence there were efforts to Latinize the script. However, Kyrgyzstan, along with Kazakhstan, are the only two remaining Turkic states with the Cyrillic alphabet to date .

    History since independence

    The first President Askar Akayev.

    On August 31, 1991, the parliament declared the republic independent. The first president was Askar Akayev , who had been president of the Kyrgyz SSR since 1990 and who was elected president of independent Kyrgyzstan in the 1991 presidential election in Kyrgyzstan .

    The Akayev era 1991-2005

    In the early years of his presidency, Akayev took a radical step from a planned to a market economy . He initiated a democratization of political structures; a new constitution was passed by parliament in May 1993.

    State independence in 1991

    On August 31, 1991, Kyrgyzstan declared its independence. The first president was Askar Akayev , who had been president of the Kyrgyz SSR since 1990 and who was elected president of independent Kyrgyzstan in the 1991 presidential election in Kyrgyzstan . Sharipa Sadybakasova was elected to the lower house of the national parliament in 1995 as the first woman after independence, and four women to the upper house in the same year. After his re-election in the presidential election in Kyrgyzstan in 1995 and the parliamentary election in Kyrgyzstan in 1995 , President Akayev began to strengthen his position of power: a constitutional amendment approved by referendum in 1996 gave him extensive powers in domestic and foreign policy. In the 1998 referendum , parliament's power was limited.

    From the end of the 1990s - especially after the raids by rioters in the southwest of the country in 1999 and 2000 and as a result of the events of September 11, 2001  - Akayev's style of government became increasingly authoritarian. Both the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan in 2000 and the presidential election on October 29, 2000 were criticized by the OSCE , which had sent observer missions, as not meeting the OSCE criteria. Further protests at home and abroad resulted in the sentencing of the former minister and Bishkek mayor Felix Kulow to seven years in prison for abuse of office and power in March 2001 , in January 2002 the arrest of the parliamentarian Asimbek Beknazarov , also for abuse of power, and in March 2002 the Police shots killed five protesters in the city of Aksy . Overall, there was still a more liberal climate compared to other Central Asian countries with an active and strong civil society, but positive reform steps such as approaches to reforms in the judiciary and prison administration, the introduction of elections at the level of local administration, etc. a. were accompanied by persistent attempts to intimidate independent voices from the press and opposition. As a result, there were more frequent unrest, in which the poorer south rose against the richer north.

    In Kyrgyzstan, conservative estimates point to an increase in poverty after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to over 75% in 1993, while GDP fell by 21%. In 1997, 50% of the Kyrgyz population still lived in poverty.

    President Kurmanbek Bakiyev (2009)

    After the parliamentary elections on February 27, 2005, which, according to OSCE observers, did not meet democratic standards, riots broke out that led to the so-called tulip revolution . President Akayev and his government resigned on March 24, 2005 under pressure from the demonstrations. Akayev fled to Russia , where he was granted asylum . Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev was appointed interim president and confirmed in office in the presidential elections on July 10th. His partner Felix Kulow became head of government.

    The years since the "Tulip Revolution" in 2005

    After a falling out between the two, Kulow went into the opposition. Bakiyev initiated a constitutional referendum that was supposed to strengthen the position of the president, as well as a change in the electoral law, which included a. small parties are disadvantaged. The President's amendments were adopted in the vote on October 21, 2007 with a large majority. Bakiyev then dissolved parliament and called new elections. In the elections on December 16, 2007, his party Ak Dschol won with almost 50% of the vote. Observers judged the referendum and parliamentary election to be unfair. The presidential elections on July 23, 2009 , in which Bakiyev was confirmed in office with 76.1% of the vote, were also described as unfair by the opposition and international observers.

    2010 crisis

    Dozens of people were killed in demonstrations against the government in April 2010, including Interior Minister Moldomussa Kongantiev , which was later denied. The leader of the Kyrgyz Social Democratic Party , Almasbek Atambayev , and other members of the opposition were arrested. At the same time, President Bakiev imposed a state of emergency and a night curfew in Bishkek and in the north of the country. On April 7, 2010, the opposition announced the overthrow of the government and the establishment of a transitional government under ex-foreign minister Rosa Otunbajewa . President Bakiyev initially refused to resign and fled to the city of Jalalabat in the south of the country. However, one week after the uprising in Kyrgyzstan, Bakiyev resigned and moved to neighboring Kazakhstan.

    On June 27, 2010, the people of Kyrgyzstan approved a comprehensive constitutional amendment that provides for the establishment of a parliamentary republic . The referendum was overshadowed in advance by serious riots in the south of the country. In clashes between Kyrgyz people and members of the Uzbek minority, up to 2,000 people were killed in the cities of Osh and Jalalabat.

    On October 10, 2010, the first parliamentary election after the adoption of the new constitution took place. The parties Ata-Shurt , the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan , Ar-Namys , Respublika and Ata Meken got into parliament. The new president was Almasbek Atambayev , the chairman of the Social Democrats.

    After the 2017 election

    In the 2017 presidential election in Kyrgyzstan , Sooronbai Dscheenbekow , former Prime Minister and preferred candidate of the outgoing Atambayev, was elected Kyrgyzstan's new head of state with 54.2 percent of the vote. The election result was overshadowed by irregularities, according to independent research institutions such as “Pragma” or local human rights activists. The news portal "Fergana" even reported on Mafia contacts by the Atambayev administration, which helped Sooronbai Dscheenbekow to win. For his part, the main opponent of the elected President Ömürbek Babanov spoke of massive fraudulent practices by the state power.

    A power struggle developed between President Dscheenbekow and his predecessor Atambayev, which is a key issue of Kyrgyz domestic politics. In March 2018 Atambayev was elected chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party, of which Dscheenbekov is a member. Atambayev repeatedly used his new political function to criticize the president and his government work. This reacted with the arrest of numerous confidants of Atambayev on allegations of corruption. On June 27, 2019, Parliament lifted Atambayev's immunity . This step was justified with a case from 2015 when a known criminal was released under unexplained circumstances during Atambayev's tenure. On August 7, 2019, special forces were deployed to arrest the former president in his home in Koi-Tash . The operation was prevented by Atambayev's supporters, one man was killed in the riots and 80 people were injured. Atambayev was finally arrested on August 8, 2019, and President Dscheenbekow accused his predecessor of violating the constitution and armed resistance to investigative work.

    The events fueled fears of growing political instability in Kyrgyzstan. After the peaceful change of government from Atambayev to Dscheenbekow, there were increasing hopes for a permanent stabilization of the country. The rival camps of Dscheenbekov and Atambayev, as well as the still existing clan structures in politics, harbor the risk of renewed violent clashes.

    In addition to these internal political conflicts, the intensification of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border conflict from 2018, with numerous dead and injured, represented a foreign policy challenge for Kyrgyzstan. The accumulation of violent clashes in the border area was due to disputes over water and land as well as controversial infrastructure projects in the region. Talks between the two states, in which President Dscheenbekow and Prime Minister Muchammedkaly Abylgaziyev also took part, did not lead to a breakthrough, despite mutual hopes for a solution to the controversial border issues.

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 220.
    2. ↑ a b c Rafis Abazov: Historical Dictionary of Kyrgyzstan . Scarecrow Press Forlag, Lanham, Maryland & Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-8108-4868-6 .
    3. ↑ Ata-Beyit Memorial Complex in Chong-Tash. In: Museum Studies Abroad. November 2, 2014. Retrieved November 16, 2019 (American English).
    4. ↑ Нужен ли обязательный государственный язык? (Ленин) In: Proletarskaja-Pravda , No. 14 (32), January 18, 1914. (Russian)
    5. ↑ ЗАКОН СССР ОТ 04/24/1990 О ЯЗЫКАХ НАРОДОВ СССР ( Memento of May 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Article 4 in the Law of the USSR of April 24, 1990 on the languages ​​of the USSR (Russian). Retrieved on: February 11, 2012
    6. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, pp. 220/221.
    7. ^ Social policy in developing countries Markus Porsche-Ludwig. LIT Verlag Münster, 2013
    8. ↑ Elections in Kyrgyzstan fall short of OSCE standards ( Memento of November 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). Deutsche Welle online, December 17, 2007
    9. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung: OSCE criticizes presidential election in Kyrgyzstan , July 24, 2009.
    10. ^ Dead in protests against President Bakiyev ( Memento from April 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
    11. ↑ Many dead in bloody unrest in Kyrgyzstan Welt Online, April 7, 2010
    12. ^ Opposition stubbornly protests Focus Online, April 7, 2010
    13. ↑ Bakiyev sticks to power, Focus Online, April 9, 2010.
    14. ^ Kyrgyzstan's President Bakiyev officially resigns, Welt Online, April 16, 2010.
    15. ↑ Spiegel Online: Kirghiz agree to new constitution , June 27, 2010.
    16. ^ Spiegel Online: Transitional government expects 2000 fatalities, June 18, 2010.
    17. ↑ Difficult coalition negotiations. In: ORF . October 11, 2010, accessed October 11, 2010 .
    18. ^ AFP: Election: Kyrgyz elect Atambayev as president. In: Zeit Online. October 31, 2011, accessed October 5, 2013 .
    19. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau: Presidential elections: In Kyrgyzstan, the mafia rules with . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed on January 18, 2018]).
    20. ^ Kyrgyzstan: Ex-President Atambayev returns to politics. In: Novastan German. April 1, 2018, accessed on August 28, 2019 (German).
    21. ^ The editors: Kyrgyzstan: conflict between president and predecessor escalates. In: Novastan German. August 8, 2019, accessed on August 28, 2019 (German).
    22. ↑ After Night Of Bloodshed, Kyrgyz Police Regroup And Arrest Atambaev. Accessed August 28, 2019 .
    23. ↑ WORLD: Kyrgyzstan: Attempted arrest of ex-president turns into a battle . August 8, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed August 28, 2019]).
    24. ^ Everlasting or Ever-Changing? Violence Along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan Border. In: ACLED. June 8, 2020, Retrieved August 14, 2020 (American English).

    Web links

    Commons : History of Kyrgyzstan  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files