Colette's Grand Detour

I’ve included snippets of history throughout my other posts but I wanted to write something more comprehensive about the country before I move on to my next adventure.

Present-day Kyrgyzstan has been inhabited since the Stone Age, evidenced by petroglyphs found in places like Saimaluu-Tash depicting animals, hunters and ritual scenes. The Scythian and Saka tribes were present in the area around 1000 BC, evidenced by their burial mounds and the treasures found inside them. The first mention of ‘Kyrgyz’ people is in Chinese Han dynasty documents in the 2nd century BC that locates them in Siberia, much further north than their current territory.

From the 10th to the 15th century Turkic tribes spread across the region. This pushed the Kyrgyz people further south into the Tien Shan mountains. This shift south was slow and fragmented and clans settled in valleys and mountain pastures of present day Kyrgyzstan.

Islam spread throughout this period via trade routes and conquest and in the Kyrgyz communities it mixed with animist and shamanist traditions. A good example of this is the rituals surrounding Sulayman-Too mountain in Osh, where both Islamic pilgrimages and pre-Islamic worship coexisted. During this period the Kyrgyz were under the control of various regional empires; Karakhanids, Mongols and Timurids. The Karakhanids had control from the 10th-12 century. And then in the early 13th century Genghis Khan and his army swept across Central Asia. Urban centers were devastated and often experienced total destruction, but the Kyrgyz clans were mostly spared, by staying in the mountains and providing tribute to the Mongols. Timur established his vast empire in the late 14th century, and although Kyrgyz lands were on the periphery of this they were still raided and had to pay tribute when necessary.

In the mid 19th century the Russian Empire arrived and absorbed the region. The Kyrgyz resisted and in 1916 when Russian Tsarists tried to conscript Central Asians into the army to fight in WW1, many thousands of Kyrgyz fled to China. Similar to Kazakhstan, the empire encouraged Russians and Ukrainians to move to the frontier regions in Kyrgyzstan and settle. This restricted the nomadic migrations of the Kyrgyz tribes.

Moving into the Soviet Era, initially the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was established in 1924 and this later became the Kyrgyz SSR in 1936. Collectivization was enforced, putting an end to traditional nomadism. And many herders were forced to settle, resulting in famine during the 1930s. In 1991, Kyrgyzstan was the first Central Asia republic to declare independence after the collapse of the USSR and unlike its neighbours, quickly adopted democratic processes and political openness. However the country experienced rapid economic decline, due to rapid privatization, loss of Soviet subsidies and border closures with its neighbours. Many citizens survived on remittances and subsistence farming.

The Tulip Revolution happened in 2005, and was a result of frustration with corruption, nepotism within the government and fraudulent elections. Protestors stormed government buildings in Bishkek, and President Akayev fled to Moscow.

In 2010 another wave of violent protests erupted. President Bakiyev (who had replaced Akayev) had become increasingly authoritarian, and had given key government posts to his family members. Corruption was widespread and electricity price hikes were becoming unsustainable. Bakiyev fled to Belarus and Roza Otunbayeva became the first women state leader in Central Asia. After the 2010 revolution, a new constitution reduced presidential powers and created a parliamentary system. However, instability in the government and corruption still persisted. The economy was extremely fragile with an estimated 30% of GDP coming from remittances from migrants working in Russia.

In 2020 another series of mass protests began after parliamentary elections were seen as fraudulent. Once again government buildings in Bishkek were stormed and a new president installed. This time, the new president was a little known nationalist politician who was actually in prison at the time of the protests for kidnapping a regional governor in 2013 as a protest. Supporters freed him from jail and he was quickly voted into power. Japarov has pushed through a new constitution returning power to the president and ending the parliamentary system, once again concentrating power in a single individual. He has also started to limit some freedoms such as restricting opposition parties and journalists. Japarov is pro-Russian, drive by the large number of migrants that live and work in Russia and the remittances that continue to be relied on. The country also has close ties with China and is deeply integrated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Many of the roads and tunnels being built throughout the country are funded by Chinese loans.

Since 2020 the government claims stability has been re-established. However there are warning signs such a limiting media freedom and banning protests that this is fragile and could deteriorate once again in the future.