Russian language in Kyrgyzstan

Russian is the native language for the Russian population of Kyrgyzstan , which traditionally lives mainly in the north of the country, primarily in Bishkek and Chui oblast. In the Soviet period, in the Kyrgyz SSR, in addition to part of the Kyrgyz, the Russian language became native to a significant part of Ukrainians, Germans and Koreans living in the republic. It traditionally acts as a language of intercultural and interethnic communication for the population of the republic.

It was widely used in the territory of modern Kyrgyzstan from the middle of the 19th century, when the Kyrgyz lands became part of the Russian Empire. After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, it retained the status of the language of interethnic communication . The country maintains a vertical education in Russian, but on the ground (especially in the south of the country) teaching Russian to children is difficult due to the small number or complete absence of the Russian-speaking population. For the most part, parents of students support the education of children in Russian, which allows us to talk about the continuing prestige of the Russian language.

According to the 1999 census of Kyrgyzstan, the Russian language was native to 14.7% of the population of Kyrgyzstan. As a second language, it was spoken by 1.534 million people ^[1] or 31.8% of the population. According to the 2009 census of the Kyrgyz Republic, 482,243 people spoke Russian as their native language, and 2,109,393 people, only 2,591,636 people or 48% of the Kyrgyz population, were used as the second language of communication ^[2] .

The most important problem from the point of view of maintaining the position of the Russian language as the language of interethnic and intercultural communication is the intensive migration outflow of the Russian population from Kyrgyzstan for political and socio-economic reasons. President of the Association of the Union of Educational Institutions of Kyrgyzstan G. D. Ibragimova notes:

I want to note that there is a strong outflow of the Russian-speaking population. And from all regions of the republic there are two streams: one to the center, the other goes outside the country. Basically, only the older generation, mostly living in Bishkek, speaks Russian. 80 percent of the population in Kyrgyzstan is the rural population living in mountainous areas, and in fact, today Kyrgyzstan is rapidly losing the Russian language. We do not preserve the Russian language, but are rapidly losing it ^[3] .

- G. D. Ibragimova

Nevertheless, representatives of more than eighty ethnic groups living in Kyrgyzstan ^[4] , in particular, Ukrainians , Koreans , Kazakhs , Dungans, and others in the Chui oblast, continue to use the Russian language in interethnic contacts, and often as their native language.

An indirect influence on the distribution and state of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan was made by the decline in living standards after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The production relations of economic entities in the industrial and agricultural sectors of the economy were disrupted, which led to a halt in production and, ultimately, to the bankruptcy of many enterprises. The privatization carried out, accompanied by the struggle between various political clans, did not correct the situation in the economy. As a result, funds for social needs, including education, were not allocated enough from the budget. In many schools, the teaching of the Russian language has been curtailed or discontinued. Many Kyrgyz families, as well as families from other CIS countries, faced the problem of survival. Among the Uzbek population of the republic, as well as in neighboring Uzbekistan, knowledge of the Russian language remains at an even lower level. Most of the Uzbeks do not even speak the state Kyrgyz language belonging to the same as the Uzbek Turkic group of languages.

However, as a result of increased labor migration to Russia, an increasing number of ethnic Kyrgyz from remote regions of the republic, where Russian is taught at a low level in schools, are enrolled in Russian language courses ^[5] . The number of learners of the Russian language in adulthood is growing, and the deficit of Russian language courses is experienced mainly in the southern regions of the republic, where a high proportion of labor migrants and young people with poor knowledge of the Russian language ^[6] . This is due to the fact that almost 700 thousand citizens of Kyrgyzstan currently work in Russia, who transfer significant amounts of money home. So, in the first half of 2012 alone, about a billion dollars came to Russia from Kyrgyzstan, which amounted to 16% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) ^[7] .

After gaining sovereignty, the administrative sphere of language use has narrowed somewhat in the framework of the disproportionate radicalization of clerical work and the administration of the republic, which has been observed since Soviet times. Indeed, 94% of the administrative posts are held by ethnic Kyrgyz , which is higher than their share in the population (73%). At the same time, the Russian language has retained its position in the economic and social life of the country, in which it remains the most popular, in the first place, this concerns the media and book publishing. The peculiarity of the Russian language of Kyrgyzstan lies in the fact that most people who speak Russian in modern Kyrgyzstan are not ethnic Russians. Most often, these are bilingual Kyrgyz , who often speak Russian as their mother tongue, as well as Uzbeks , Dungans , Ukrainians , Koreans , Kalmyks , Uygurs , Tajiks , Turks , Kurds , Ingushs, and so on.

The Russian language still occupies an important place in the education system of the republic. It prevails at the preschool (65%) and higher (up to 90%) levels. Moreover, 17.9% of pupils receive secondary education in Russian. ^[8] Since the second half of the 1990s, the majority of children studying in Russian are not ethnic Russians. Despite this, the number of schools with the Russian language of instruction in the republic increased from 143 in 2002 to 203 in 2012 ^[9] . Russian-language schools make up 9.14% of the total number of secondary schools in the republic ^[10] . At the same time, the number of mixed schools is growing ^[11] , that is, those where there are Russian-language classes or individual subjects are taught in Russian. Thus, every fourth child in Kyrgyzstan fully or partially receives school education in Russian.

Educational services in obtaining higher education in Russian in Kyrgyzstan continue to be in demand, attracting not only Kyrgyz citizens, but also youth from other countries of the Central Asian region ^[7] .

The nongovernmental foundation Russian World opened three centers in Kyrgyzstan. On their basis, organized by the Russian language courses. In addition, the fund implements grant programs to support Russian-language media , organizes advanced training for Russian teachers and provides them with educational and methodological literature, and also holds holidays and festivals related to memorable dates in the history of Russian culture. 2013 was proclaimed in Russia “The Year of the 1150th Anniversary of Slavic Writing”, related to the activities of the Equal-to-the-Apostles brothers Cyril and Methodius, and the Foundation plans various grant programs in connection with this anniversary ^[12] .

In accordance with Art. 10 of the current Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2010, the Russian language has the status of an official language in Kyrgyzstan ^[13] . This status was assigned to him in 2001 in the previous version of the constitution of Kyrgyzstan ^[14] . According to the Law “On the Official (Russian) Language of the Kyrgyz Republic” of 2000, adopted on the initiative of the then President Akayev , it became possible to use the Russian language in mixed work collectives a year before the constitutional amendment. Kyrgyzstan is one of the CIS countries where the Russian language has a legislatively fixed official status, and the majority of the population of Kyrgyzstan who use it for domestic and professional purposes considers it appropriate to maintain this status ^[15] . In 2013, amendments to the laws on the state and official languages ​​entered into force, according to which the regulatory legal acts of local authorities in most municipalities are adopted only in Kyrgyz. ^[sixteen]

To clarify the issue of attitudes towards the Russian language, the Center for the Study of Public Opinion El-Pikir ^[17] together with the Development Fund “Institute of Eurasian Studies” conducted a sociological survey of the population of Kyrgyzstan in 2006. Respondents were asked how they feel about the hypothetical deprivation of the Russian language of official status. According to the results as of 2006: fully supported - 3.7% of the population, rather supported - 11.8%, rather did not support - 26.6%, did not support at all - 57.1%, it was difficult to answer - 0.7 % Thus, the majority of the population of Kyrgyzstan in one form or another spoke in favor of maintaining the Russian language as its official language function. According to estimates in the press for 2013 in Kyrgyzstan, between 50% and 80% of the population speak Russian ^{[18] [19]} .

In 2011, President of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbaeva proposed in the long term to translate all state primary education into the Kyrgyz language ^[20] . After that, a discussion on the language issue began in society, which at times became acute ^[21] .

On April 22, 2011, the Kyrgyz Parliament adopted Resolution No. 370-V “On Integrated Measures for Implementing the Standards of the Law of the Kyrgyz Republic“ On the State Language of the Kyrgyz Republic ””.

On March 5, 2013, the Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, Jantoro Satybaldiev, signed Resolution No. 114, approved by the Jogorku Kenesh , by the Kyrgyz parliament and President Almazbek Atambayev : "On measures to teach state and municipal officials to the state language and translate office work to the state language" ^[22] .

The press and public organizations representing the interests of the Russian-speaking population of Kyrgyzstan expressed the opinion that the adopted law infringes on the rights of non-Kyrgyz-speaking citizens of the country. According to the decree, the regulatory legal acts of local keneshes - representative bodies of self-government in Kyrgyzstan - after making the appropriate decision, can begin to be published exclusively in the Kyrgyz language. For this, it is necessary that the predominant number of the population who speak the state language live on the territory of the kenesh ^[23] . In connection with criticism in the press, the Kyrgyz government issued a statement explaining:

With the adoption of certain amendments and additions to the relevant laws and regulations in all public authorities, the paperwork will be conducted in the Kyrgyz language with a parallel translation into Russian. The only difference is that now all documents (draft orders, decrees, decrees and other normative legal acts) are first prepared in the official language, and only then translated into the state language. Nevertheless, all regulatory legal acts in publications and mass media will be published both in the state language and in the official language ^[24] .

- Department of Information Policy of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic

Nevertheless, public organizations expressing the interests of the Russian-speaking population believe that the new laws on the translation of office work into the state language actually deprive the official, Russian language of state support and put it on the back burner. In their interpretation, these actions are associated with the intensified nationalistic sentiments of the indigenous population (especially the southern Kyrgyz), which the political elite of Kyrgyzstan are trying to play. There were fears that the Russian language might, with the tacit approval of the authorities, begin to be squeezed out of all areas of use and application ^[25] . Also, the opinion is expressed that Russia is not making sufficient efforts to maintain the high status of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan:

Previously, the majority of citizens spoke the Russian language fairly tolerably, but now, if you go to the hinterland, there many people no longer speak Russian. In Bishkek, for example, they still speak Russian, and there is already a certain gap. In new buildings that encircled the capital, many do not speak Russian. In the neighborhoods, in the center, they still speak Russian, and on the outskirts of such people a minority. Unfortunately, the Russian language may eventually lose its significance. In this, I believe, to some extent Russia itself is to blame as the cultural core of the Russian-speaking world. See, many people pay a lot of money to learn English. And what happens to the Russian language? In those countries where Russian was once spoken, it gradually disappears because the Russian Federation has made little effort to create close cultural ties with these countries ^[26] .

- Dastan Bekeshev, Member of the Kyrgyz Parliament

On April 4, 2013 in Bishkek, at a conference of representatives of the Russian diaspora, a resolution was adopted in support of the development of the state language while “preventing infringement of the official language and the rights of Russian-speaking citizens and artificially created restrictions of the scope of the Russian language that are unacceptable for a modern state” ^[27] .

In practical terms, the Russian language in recent years has gained particular attractiveness due to the significant flow of labor migrants to Russia and the integration of Kyrgyzstan into the EAEU . The main share of labor migrants is rural youth from the southern regions who speak little Russian. For those wishing to learn Russian, Russian language courses are opened ^[28] . General education schools with Russian language are overcrowded. In the city of Osh, in schools with the Russian language of instruction, the number of students in classes reaches 50-60 people. 3 students are often planted at each desk. For example, in school No. 4, about 3,500 students study in two shifts for 1,200 student places. ^[29]

Some studies show that Russian remains in the capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, the main language spoken by ordinary people in everyday life. It is noted that among teenagers in Bishkek, a high proportion (66%) of those for whom Russian is the only language, including among teenagers who are ethnic Kyrgyz, this proportion is 55% ^[30]

In 2003, the Pervomaisky District Court of Bishkek, as part of the lawsuit, demanded that the Russian-language newspaper Delo N write the name of the state and representatives of the nation in accordance with the constitution: the Kyrgyz Republic and the Kyrgyz. However, the Kyrgyz Supreme Court overturned this decision, referring it exclusively to the field of linguistic disputes ^[31] .

According to statistics, the Russian-language section is the most popular Wikipedia section in Kyrgyzstan: for example, from 2009 to 2013, its share among sections in other languages ​​increased from 69.2% to 80.7% ^[32] .

• Uzbek language in Kyrgyzstan
• Russian language in Kazakhstan

• Russian language in Kyrgyzstan 2013 // Russia in Kyrgyzstan
• Russian youth of the Kyrgyz Republic in the twenty-first century. Adaptation Strategies. M .: IEA RAS, 2018. - 300 p.
• The rubric "Language and the national question" on the website StanRadar.com 2013
• Competition of the Russian language and literature 2012 was held in Kyrgyzstan
• Law “On the State (Kyrgyz) Language of the Kyrgyz Republic” 2004
• Law “On the Official (Russian) Language of the Kyrgyz Republic” 2000