Discover Kyrgyzstan : Population

The Kyrgyz

The Kyrgyz are an ethnic group of Turkish origin, settled in present-day Kyrgyzstan, in the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, the Tajik Pamir and Chinese. The Kyrgyz are a nomadic people originating from the high basin of the Yenisseï. They first made a name for themselves in 840, when they defeated the Uyghur Empire then established in Mongolia. This probably Indo-European Turkic people reigned for less than a century before being pushed back by the Khitans and then gradually migrating to the Tianshan region. The conversion of the Kyrgyz to Islam was late, beginning only in the 17th century, and is still marked by strong shamanistic traditions. The Kyrgyz are nowadays largely sedentary, and are mainly devoted to the breeding of sheep, horses and yaks. During the Soviet period, the Kyrgyz were a minority in the country that bears their name (45% of the population). Russians made up 19% of the local population, and Uzbeks 11%. In contrast, there are large numbers of Kyrgyz in China (120,000, many of whom fled Soviet repression) and Uzbekistan (180,000 in the Ferghana Valley).

An ethnic and cultural melting pot

The Kyrgyz constitute, according to the sources, only 60 to 65 per cent of the country's population and the country has many minorities, mainly ethnic Turks. Not forgetting the Russians, who are still very present, and the Chinese, who are increasingly present.

The Uzbeks are in the majority in the Ferghana Valley, but are not very present in the north of the country. They now account for almost 15% of the total population of Kyrgyzstan and are the country's largest minority. Ethnic Turkish, Sunni Muslim, settled in what is now Uzbekistan, in the Tajik and Kyrgyz parts of the Ferghana Valley and in northern Afghanistan, the Uzbeks conquered the lands of present-day Uzbekistan at the beginning of the 16th century. They are descended from Turkish tribes of the steppes, and began to form a homogeneous ethnic group from the 14th century onwards, under the authority of the Chaybanid dynasty. Their rise in power in the region was marked in particular by the creation of the Uzbek khanates of Bukhara, Khiva, and Kokand, founded from the 16th to 18th centuries. While Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs have long learned to live together, ethnic tensions became more acute at independence, as violently demonstrated by the clashes in Osh in 1990 and again in the Ferghana Valley in 2010. Many Russians emigrated after independence. From 20 per cent before 1991, they now account for only 9 per cent of the population of Kyrgyzstan, mainly in the north of the country. There has been significant movement back to the country after independence, but relations with Russia have always been good, as the statues of Lenin in Bishkek or Osh, which disappeared in neighbouring countries but are still present in Kyrgyzstan, still bear witness. Along the Chinese border, there is a strong Dungane minority. The Dungans, originally from Gansu, Ningxia, Xin Jiang and Shaanxi, are Chinese Muslims who fled the wars in China at the end of the 19th century to seek refuge in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. They account for 1.2% of the Kyrgyz population and constitute the largest Dungan community outside China. The Dungan Mosque in Karakol is a striking example of their strong territorial presence. Finally, still on the Chinese side, there is also a minority of Uyghurs, who form the^fourth largest minority group in Kyrgyzstan on a par with the Tajiks. Each one accounts for 1.1% of the population. This contrasted and varied picture of the Kyrgyz population is further enriched by many other ethnic groups resulting from a long historical intermingling: Ukrainians, Koreans, Tatars, Germans, Turks, Chechens, Chinese and Kazakhs are the other minorities present in Kyrgyzstan and constitute, all together, more than 5% of the population.

An ethnic and historical north-south divide

In addition to the ancient opposition between sedentary and nomadic people, the expansionist policy of the Kokand Khanate in the Ferghana Valley in the 18th century only deepened the divide between northern and southern Kyrgyzstan. The north maintained its roots, largely inherited from the Yenissei Valley, from which the Kyrgyz people originated, and was clustered around the nomadic way of life, the orality of culture and shamanistic practices, despite the progress of Islamization. The south, on the other hand, was more accepting of measures concerning sedentarization and Islamization due to the action of the Sufi brotherhoods since the 16th century. This opposition resulted in a growing number of revolts. Historians have tended to exaggerate these revolts by giving them a 'national' and identity character, whereas in the south they often followed an increase in taxes and land seizures. In the north, they were in response to the search for tribal autonomy. The insurrection of a large number of northern Kyrgyz tribes and the speed of the Russian conquest of these regions nevertheless attest to the age-old enmity between them and the Kokand khanate. The Kyrgyz people of western Issyk Kul inaugurated the ballet of the great revolts of the nineteenth century, which seemed to be the first coordinated revolts against a sedentary state, without the Kyrgyz feeling the need to leave.

What language should I speak?

Kyrgyzstan has the peculiarity of having retained an official language, Russian, while recovering its national language, Kyrgyzstan, after independence. Add to this the fact that the Uzbeks of the Ferghana Valley account for 25% of the population, which means that a quarter of the inhabitants of Kyrgyzstan also speak Uzbek. To be sure to get by everywhere, opt for Russian. If you speak Turkish, you can get by with Kyrgyz and Uzbek, which belong to the Turkic language family, but you'll have to juggle with accents that change dramatically between the south and the north of the country.