1.
Bishkek
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Bishkek, formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of the Kyrgyz Republic. Bishkek is also the center of the Chuy Region. The province surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of the province, but rather a province-level unit of Kyrgyzstan. According to post-Soviet research, the name is thought to derive from a Kyrgyz word for a used to make fermented mares milk. The city was founded in 1825 as the Khokand fortress of Pishpek in order to control local caravan routes, on 4 September 1860, the fortress was destroyed by Russian forces led by colonel Zimmermann, with the approval of the Kyrgyz. In 1868 a Russian settlement was founded on the spot, under its original name. It lay within the General Governorship of Russian Turkestan and its Semirechye Oblast, in 1925, the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast was created in Russian Turkestan, promoting Pishpek to its capital. In 1926, the city was given the name Frunze, after the Bolshevik military leader Mikhail Frunze, in 1936, the city of Frunze became the capital of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, during the final stages of the national delimitation in the Soviet Union. In 1991, the Kyrgyz parliament changed the name to Bishkek. Bishkek is situated at an altitude of about 800 meters, just off the northern fringe of the Kyrgyz Ala-Too range and these mountains rise to a height of 4,855 meters and provide a spectacular backdrop to the city. North of the city, a fertile and gently undulating steppe extends far north into neighboring Kazakhstan, the Chui River drains most of the area. Bishkek is connected to the Turkestan-Siberia Railway by a spur line, Bishkek is a city of wide boulevards and marble-faced public buildings combined with numerous Soviet-style apartment blocks surrounding interior courtyards. Mostly outside the city center, there are thousands of smaller privately built houses. It is laid out on a pattern, with most streets flanked on both sides by narrow irrigation channels that water the innumerable trees that provide shade in the hot summers. Originally a caravan rest stop on one of the branches of the Silk Road through the Tian Shan range, in the last years of Kokhand rule, the fortress was led by Atabek, the Datka. In 1860, the fort was conquered and razed by the forces of Colonel Zimmermann when Tsarist Russia annexed the area. Colonel Zimmermann rebuilt the town over the fort and put field Poruchik Titov as head of a new Russian garrison. The site was redeveloped from 1877 onward by the Russian government, in June 1990, a state of emergency was declared following severe ethnic riots in southern Kyrgyzstan that threatened to spread to the capital
2.
Kyrgyzstan
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Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and its capital and largest city is Bishkek. Kyrgyzstans recorded history spans over 2,000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires, ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the countrys 5.7 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. Kyrgyz is closely related to other Turkic languages, although Russian remains widely spoken and is the official language, the majority of the population are non-denominational Muslims. In addition to its Turkic origins, Kyrgyz culture bears elements of Persian, Mongolian and Russian influence. Kyrgyz is believed to have derived from the Turkic word for forty, in reference to the forty clans of Manas. Literally, Kyrgyz means We are forty, at the time, in the early 9th century AD, the Uyghurs dominated much of Central Asia, Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China. King, Scythians were early settlers in present-day Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 A. D. From the 10th century the Kyrgyz migrated as far as the Tian Shan range, in the twelfth century the Kyrgyz dominion had shrunk to the Altay Range and Sayan Mountains as a result of the Mongol expansion. With the rise of the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth century, the Kyrgyz peacefully became a part of the Mongol Empire in 1207. The descent of the Kyrgyz from the autochthonous Siberian population is confirmed on the hand by the recent genetic studies. Issyk Kul Lake was a stopover on the Silk Road, a route for traders, merchants. Kyrgyz tribes were overrun in the 17th century by the Mongols, in the century by the Manchurian Qing Dynasty. In the late century, the majority part of what is today Kyrgyzstan was ceded to Russia through two treaties between China and Russia. The territory, then known in Russian as Kirghizia, was incorporated into the Russian Empire in 1876. The Russian takeover was met with numerous revolts against Tsarist authority, in addition, the suppression of the 1916 rebellion against Russian rule in Central Asia caused many Kyrgyz later to migrate to China. Soviet power was established in the region in 1919. On 5 December 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was established as a republic of the Soviet Union
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
5.
Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic
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Landlocked and mountainous, it bordered the Tajikistan and China to the south, Uzbekistan to the west and Kazakhstan to the north. The Kirghiz branch of the Soviet Communist Party governed the republic from 1936 until 1990, on 15 December 1990, the Kirghiz SSR was renamed to Socialist Republic of Kirghizia after declaring its state sovereignty. On 31 August 1991, it transformed into independent Kyrgyzstan, the name Kyrgyz is believed to have been derived from the Turkic word for forty, in reference to the forty clans of Manas, a legendary hero who united forty regional clans against the Uyghurs. The name Kyrgyz or Kirghiz means Land of the forty tribes, politically, the name of the republic was the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic as stated in the 1937 and 1978 Constitutions of the Kirghiz SSR. From 30 October 1990 to 15 December 1990, it was renamed the Socialist Republic of Kirghizia, afterwards, the Socialist suffix was dropped and it became the Republic of Kirghizia, which retained this name after independence. Established on 14 October 1924 as the Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast of the RSFSR, it was transformed into the Kirghiz ASSR on 1 February 1926, the borders were not divided however by ethnic or linguistic lines. At the time of formation of Kirghizia, its territory was divided into districts, on November 21,1939 five oblasts were created, Jalal-Abad, Issyk Kul, Osh, Tyan Shan, and Frunze Oblasts. Tyan Shan Oblast was abolished in 1962, when the rest of the country with the exception of Osh was divided into districts of republican subordination, in 1970, Issyk-Kul and Naryn were defined, and in 1980 so was Talas. In 1988, the Naryn and Talas oblasts were again abolished, at the same time, Jalal-Abad and Chui were reestablished. These districts were known for their heavy application of fertilizers after independence. The Osh Massacre in 1990 undermined the position of the first secretary and that same year, on 15 December, the Kirghiz SSR was reconstituted as the Republic of Kyrgyzstan after declaring its sovereignty. On 17 March 1991, Kirghizia supported the Union preservation referendum with an 95. 98% turnout, however, this did not come to pass when the hardliners took control of Moscow for three days in August 1991. Askar Akayev, the first president unequivocally condemned the putsch and gained fame as a democratic leader, the country declared its independence on 31 August 1991 and the Soviet Union was formally dissolved on 26 December 1991. However, the 1978 constitution remained in effect after its independence until 1993, similar to that of the Soviet republics, Kirghizias government took place in the framework of a one-party socialist republic with the Communist Party of Kirghizia as the sole legal political party. In 1926, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic had a population of 1,002,000 people, in 19391,458,000 people were recorded. The population grew significantly in the decades after World War II, the republic had 2,065,837 people in 1959,2,932,805 people in 1970, and 3,529,030 people in 1979. In the final Soviet census of 1989, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic had grown to 4,257,755 people, the majority of the population were ethnic Kyrgyz people. However, because numbers were sent here in deportations, at times there were significant other ethnic groups
6.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
7.
Epic of Manas
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The Epic of Manas is a traditional epic poem dating to the 18th century but claimed by the Kyrgyz people to be much older. This opens the possibility of Manas having spoken a dialect of Turki similar to that of the Kazakhs, the government of Kyrgyzstan celebrated the 1, 000th anniversary of Manas in 1995. The eponymous hero of Manas and his Oirat enemy Joloy were first found written in a Persian manuscript dated to 1792-3, the distinction is in number of verses. Manas has more verses, though they are much shorter. In 2009, a parliament member suggested its nomination for the longest epic story in the world because “the great heritage of Kyrgyz people should find its place in the world history. ”There have likewise been attempts to identify Manas as Mannasseh of the Old Testament. “The end of oral epics in Central Asia has been prophesied since the nineteenth century, nevertheless, we can observe a surprising vitality of oral performance and oral traditions among the Kyrgyz. ”Manas still plays an important role in Kyrgyz cultural identity. The epic tells the story of Manas, his descendants and his followers, battles against Khitan and Oirat enemies form a central theme in the epic. The epic is divided into three parts, each consisting of a collection of episodic heroic events. The Epic of Manas is divided into 3 books, the first is entitled Manas, the second episode describes the deeds of his son Semetei, and the third of his grandson Seitek. The epic begins with the destruction and difficulties caused by the invasion of the Oirats, zhakyp reaches maturity in this time as an owner of many herds without a single heir. His prayers are answered, and on the day of his sons birth, he dedicates a colt, Toruchaar. The son is unique among his peers for strength, mischief, the Oirat learn of this young warrior and warn their leader. A plan is hatched to capture the young Manas and they fail in this task, and Manas is able to rally his people and is eventually elected and proclaimed as khan. Manas expands his reach to include that of the Uyghurs of Moghulistan on the border of Jungaria. One of the defeated Uighur rulers gives his daughter to Manas in marriage, at this point, the Kyrgyz people chose, with Manas help, to return from the Altai mountains to their ancestral lands in the mountains of modern-day Kyrgyzstan. Manas begins his successful campaigns against his neighbors accompanied by his forty companions, Manas turns eventually to face the Afghan people to the south in battle, where after defeat the Afghans enter into an alliance with Manas. Manas then comes into a relationship with the people of mā warā an-nār through marriage to the daughter of the ruler of Bukhara, the epic continues in various forms, depending on the publication and whim of the manaschi, or reciter of the epic. The epic poems age is unknowable, as it was transmitted orally without being recorded, however, historians have doubted the age claimed for it since the turn of the 20th century
8.
Kyrgyz people
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The Kyrgyz people are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, primarily Kyrgyzstan. There are several theories on the origin of ethnonym Kyrgyz and it is often said to be derived from the Turkic word kyrk, with -iz being an old plural suffix, so Kyrgyz literally means a collection of forty tribes. A rival myth, recorded in 1370 in the Yuán Shǐ, the original root of the ethnonym appears to have been the word kirkün, probably meaning field people. This and the Chinese transcription Tse-gu suggest that the ethnonym was Kirkut and/or Kirkur. By the time of the Mongol Empire, the meaning of the word kirkun had apparently been forgotten – as was shown by variations in readings of it across different reductions of the Yuán Shǐ and this may have led to the adoption of Kyrgyz and its mythical explanation. When distinction had to be made, more specific terms were used, the Kyrgyz proper were known as the Kara-Kirghiz, and the Kazakhs were named the Kaisaks. or Kirghiz-Kazaks. They were described in Tang Dynasty texts as having red hair and green eyes, while those with dark hair, in Chinese sources, these Kyrgyz tribes were described as fair-skinned, green- or blue-eyed and red-haired people with a mixture of European and Mongol features. According to recent historical findings, Kyrgyz history dates back to 201 BC, the Yenisei Kyrgyz lived in the upper Yenisey River valley, central Siberia. In Late Antiquity the Yenisei Kyrgyz were a part of the Tiele people, later, in the Early Middle Ages, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were a part of the confederations of the Göktürk and Uyghur Khaganates. In 840 a revolt led by the Yenisei Kyrgyz brought down the Uyghur Khaganate, by the 16th century the carriers of the ethnonym Kirgiz lived in South Siberia, Xinjiang, Tian Shan, Pamir-Alay, Middle Asia, Urals, in Kazakhstan. Though it is impossible to directly identify the Yenisei and Tien Shan Kyrgyz. Also, there follow from the oldest notes about the Kyrgyz that the mention of Kyrgyz ethnonym originates from the 6th century. The Kyrgyz as ethnic group are mentioned quite unambiguously in the time of Genghis Khan rule, the genetic makeup of the Kyrgyz is consistent with their origin as a mix of tribes. For instance, 63% of modern Kyrgyz men of Jumgal District share Haplogroup R1a1 with Ishkashimis, Tajiks of Panjikent, Pashtuns, low diversity of Kyrgyz R1a1 indicates a founder effect within the historical period. Other groups of Kyrgyz show considerably lower haplogroup R frequencies and almost lack haplogroup N, west Eurasian mtDNA ranges from 27% to 42. 6% in the Kyrgyz with Haplogroup mtDNA H being the most predominant marker at 21. 3% among the Kyrgyz. They are considered to be a people that were created by a combination of Mongol, Khitan and they generally have an East Asian appearance like their neighbours the Kazakhs, in contrast to the mostly Caucasoid Tajiks and the mixed-looking Uzbeks. The Kyrgyz state reached its greatest extent after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 AD, the Kirghiz qaghan assisted the Tang dynasty in destroying the Uyghur Khaganate and rescuing the Princess Taihe from the Uyghurs. They also killed a Uyghur khagan in the process, then Kyrgyz quickly moved as far as the Tian Shan range and maintained their dominance over this territory for about 200 years
9.
Chinghiz Aitmatov
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Chyngyz Aitmatov was a Soviet and Kyrgyz author who wrote in both Russian and Kyrgyz. He is the best known figure in Kyrgyzstans literature and he was born to a Kyrgyz father and Tatar mother. Aitmatovs parents were servants in Sheker. In 1937 his father was charged with bourgeois nationalism in Moscow, Aitmatov lived at a time when Kyrgyzstan was being transformed from one of the most remote lands of the Russian Empire to a republic of the USSR. The future author studied at a Soviet school in Sheker and he also worked from an early age. At fourteen he was an assistant to the Secretary at the Village Soviet and he later held jobs as a tax collector, a loader, an engineers assistant and continued with many other types of work. For the next eight years he worked for Pravda and his first two publications appeared in 1952 in Russian, The Newspaper Boy Dziuio and Ашым. His first work published in Kyrgyz was Ак Жаан, and his well-known work Jamila appeared in 1958, in 1961 he was a member of the jury at the 2nd Moscow International Film Festival. In 1971 he was a member of the jury at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival,1980 saw his first novel The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, his next significant novel, The Scaffold was published in 1988. The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years and other writings were translated into several languages, in 1994 he was a member of the jury at the 44th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2002 he was the President of the Jury at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival, Aitmatov suffered kidney failure, and on 16 May 2008 was admitted to a hospital in Nuremberg, Germany, where he died of pneumonia on 10 June 2008 at the age of 79. Chinghiz Aitmatov belonged to the generation of writers. His output before Jamila was not significant, a few short stories, but it was Jamila that came to prove the authors work. Aitmatovs representative works include the short novels Farewell, Gulsary. The novel was translated into Welsh by academic and translator W. Gareth Jones. Llyfraur Dryw,1971 The White Ship, The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years, Aitmatov was honoured in 1963 with the Lenin Prize for Tales of the Mountains and Steppes and was later awarded a State prize for Farewell, Gulsary. Aitmatovs art was glorified by admirers, even critics of Aitmatov mentioned the high quality of his novels. Aitmatovs work has some elements that are unique specifically to his creative process and his work drew on folklore, not in the ancient sense of it, rather, he tried to recreate and synthesize oral tales in the context of contemporary life
10.
Tulip Revolution
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The Tulip Revolution or First Kyrgyz Revolution led to President of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akayevs fall from power. The revolution began after parliamentary elections on February 27 and March 13,2005, the revolutionaries alleged corruption and authoritarianism by the Akayev, his family and supporters. Akayev fled to Kazakhstan and then to Russia, on April 4,2005, at the Kyrgyz embassy in Moscow, Akayev signed his resignation statement in the presence of a Kyrgyz parliamentary delegation. The resignation was ratified by the Kyrgyz interim parliament on April 11,2005, in the early stages of the revolution, the media variously referred to the unrest as the Pink, Lemon, Silk, or Daffodil revolution. It was Akayev himself who coined the term, Tulip Revolution, in a speech of the time, he warned that no such Color Revolution should happen in Kyrgyzstan. He later advised leaders of the Kyrgyz opposition during the Tulip Revolution, pro-Akayev candidates performed well at the February 27,2005 parliamentary election. However, the result was criticized by foreign observers, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe was critical of the Kyrgyzstan government. Protests began, especially in the western and southern cities including Jalal-Abad, Osh, on March 3,2005, a bomb exploded in opposition leader Roza Otunbayevas apartment. On March 10,2005, the Peoples Movement of Kyrgyzstan leader, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Bakiyev and 22 opposition parliamentarians issued a symbolic vote of no confidence in the Akayev administration. On March 19,2005, three people in Bishkek and fifty thousand in Jalal-Abad joined public protests. On March 20, when protestors occupied government buildings, the Kyrgyz government deployed interior ministry troops in Jalal-Abad, on March 20,2005, protestors took control of all the large cities in the southern part of the nation and demanded Akayev’s resignation. The KelKel youth movement was active in the protests, on March 22,2005, Akayev refused to negotiate with protestors. Ten of seventy-one parliamentarians sided with the protestors, although the opposition claimed significant gains in control of the country, it suffered internal division and lacked an obvious leader. This is in contrast to the Ukrainian and Georgian revolutionary forces which demonstrated united fronts against the state, Roza Otunbayeva was a potential leader of the Kyrgyz opposition. In 1981, she was the Kyrgyz Communist Party’s second secretary of the Lenin raikom, leading up to 2005, Otunbayeva’s political beliefs had slowly westernised. Following the 2005 revolution, Otunbayeva served in the government as acting foreign minister and ambassador to the United States. Kurmanbek Bakiyev was another potential leader, in 2002, Bakiyev had resigned from his position of prime minister of Kyrgyzstan after police shot and killed five peaceful demonstrators in the southern town of Asky. Anvar Artykov was a governor of Osh
11.
Kyrgyzstani parliamentary election, 2005
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The 2005 Kyrgyz parliamentary elections were held 27 February 2005 with run-offs held on 13 March 2005. Over 400 candidates ran for the new 75-member unicameral legislative assembly, according to media reports, only six seats were won by the opposition, although most candidates were officially independents. According to international observers, the elections fell short of standards for democratic elections in a number of important areas. The belief that the election had been rigged by the government led to protests, culminating in a revolution on 24 March in which President Askar Akayev was overthrown. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe sent 60 observers to monitor the runoffs, in its initial assessment the group said the second-round of voting showed some technical improvements over the first round but stressed that there remained significant shortcomings. The OSCE had said the first round fell short of standards in many areas. By the time of the only incomplete results of the elections had been announced by the Election Commission. The new authorities said that elections would be held within three months. After the overthrow of Akayevs government, interim President Kurmanbek Bakiev announced that new presidential, later, however, it was agreed not to hold legislative elections in 2005. The Parliament subsequently set the date for new elections for July 10,2005
12.
White House, Bishkek
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The White House is the presidential office building in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The White House was the site of riots during both the 2005 Tulip Revolution and the 2010 Kyrgyzstani riots, during the 2010 riots a fire broke out and damaged portions of the building and destroyed the hard copies of many government records. The building is a seven story building built in Stalinist modern style. The exterior is covered in marble, in front of the building is a large bed of red flowers representing the countries Soviet ties. In 1985, the building was built to be the location of the Communist Partys Central Committee headquarters and it is supposedly in this building where Askar Akayev studied the situation during the collapse of communism. There is, said to be a complex under the Ala-Too Square connected to the White House via an underground series of tunnels. On the front of the building, there is the crest of the nation, before communism fell, the location was covered by the crest that was in use during communist times. The Tulip Revolution refers to a series of protests that eventually overthrew the President Askar Akayev, on Thursday,24 March 2005 protests spread to Bishkek, where a large crowd of tens of thousands of people gathered in front of the White House. Just when a compromise appeared to have been agreed between the demonstrators and the security services, a charge by government cavalry dispersed the crowd. President Akayev used this time and fled with his family by helicopter to Kazakhstan, in 2010, the building became the center of the 2010 Kyrgyzstani riots. On 7 April, protesters in Bishkek filled Ala-Too Square and surrounded the White House, the police at first used non-lethal methods like teargas but after two trucks tried to ram down the gate live ammunition was used. At least forty-one protesters were killed in the ensuing engagement, after the protests subsided, the building was taken over by the provisional government. In the aftermath of the riots, it was determined that a fire swept the building had destroyed records that were housed in the building. This destruction will likely complicate the prosecution of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, world and Its Peoples, The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. - Total pages,1586 Mikosz, David
13.
Askar Akayev
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Askar Akayevich Akayev was President of Kyrgyzstan from 1990 until his overthrow in the March 2005 Tulip Revolution. Akayev was born in Kyzyl-Bayrak, Kirghiz SSR, on 10 November 1944 and he was the youngest of five sons born into a family of collective farm workers. He became a metalworker at a factory in 1961. He stayed at the institute until 1976, working as a researcher and teacher. In Leningrad he met and in 1970 married Mayram Akayeva with whom he now has two sons and two daughters and they returned to their native Kyrgyzstan in 1977, where he became a senior professor at the Frunze Polytechnic Institute. Some of his cabinet members were former students and friends from his academic years. He obtained a doctorate in 1981 from the Moscow Institute of Engineering and Physics, having written his dissertation on holographic systems of storage and transformation of information. In 1984, he became a member of the Kirghiz Academy of Sciences, rose to president of the Academy in 1987. He was elected as a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in the same year, on 25 October 1990, the Kirghiz SSRs Supreme Soviet held elections for the newly created post of president of the republic. Two candidates contested the presidency, President of the Council of Ministers of Kirghiz SSR, Apas Jumagulov, however, neither Jumagulov nor Masaliyev received a majority of the votes cast. In accordance with the Kirghiz SSRs constitution of 1978, both candidates were disqualified and neither could run in the round of voting. Two days later, on 27 October, the Supreme Soviet selected Akayev - who was effectively a compromise candidate - to serve as the republics first president, in 1991, he was offered the post of vice-president of the Soviet Union by President Mikhail Gorbachev, but refused. Akayev was elected president of the renamed Republic of Kyrgyzstan in a poll on 12 October 1991. He was reelected twice, amid allegations of rigging, on 24 December 1995 and 29 October 2000. Akayev was initially seen as an economically right-wing liberal leader and he commented in a 1991 interview that Although I am a Communist, my basic attitude toward private property is favorable. I believe that the revolution in the sphere of economics was not made by Karl Marx, as late as 1993 political analysts saw Akayev as a prodemocratic physicist. He actively promoted privatization of land and other assets and operated a relatively liberal regime compared with the governments of the other Central Asian nations. He was granted immunity from prosecution by the Lower House of Parliament in 2003
