Rising nationalim and development in Kyrgystan

This week, we are going to focus on nationalism and inequality in Kyrgyzstan.  Nationalism is defined as “identification with one’s own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.”  Since Kyrgystan became independent in 1991, it was not long ago when people were seeking nationality and nationalism.

Kyrgyzstan’s nationalism has been rising, unfortunately, not only in good ways.  Since Kyrgyzstan’s majority ethnic group is Kyrgyz 73.2%, there are some hardships for the minorities, especially the Uzbek.  The rise of the nationality pushed some Kyrgyz to be violent towards other ethnic groups.

(“Kyrgyz Zone” is spray-painted on a concrete block in the middle of a street in Osh on June 13, 2010.)

As the picture shows, some Kyrgyz became very violent towards Uzbek, and the Uzbek had to escape to the border where the Uzbek refugee camp is located.  The Kyrgyzstan government does not try to eliminate or prevent violence.  They claimed that “We won’t allow divisions in our society” when he was asked about his stands toward this issue, but it is not a clear answer at all.

In Kyrgyzstan, the rule of law is weak, which led to political chaos.  The government hasn’t done enough to control the citizens who became violent.  On the other hand, the everyday life of local people is peaceful.

Inequality in Kyrgystan is not a big deal inside the country.  GINI coefficient measures the economic inequality in a population where 0 is where the wealth is equally provided and 100 is where one person holds all the wealth.  Kyrgystan was socred 70.3 in 2019, which shows that economic inequality is not as significant in the country.  The main reason is that Kyrgystan is still a poor country so they don’t have wealth to gather inside the country.

Kyrgyzstan’s GDP ranks 147 with 8.54 billion US dollars in 2021, however, the growth level is ranked 52 with 4.1 %, which shows that the country is developing economically.

The peace Priority Plan is a plan of the United Nations that features goal #16 of the SDGs.  It focused on the role of government policies and laws, and the capacity of local self-government units to bridge divides between local ethnic groups.  In Kyrgystan and other Central Asian countries have witnessed instability and radical participation of their citizens in violent extremism. It is estimated that approximately 3,000 people from Central Asia have joined radical groups fighting in Syria and Iraq.

There are three main areas of the PPP.  First is the “Human Rights and Rule of Law”, which Kyrgystan needs more development.  The second is “supporting local self-government bodies” to be able to control the country.   And the third is “multilingual education and respect for diversity and minority rights” since there is ongoing violence towards minority populations.

Kyrgystan is still an unstable country, however, UN PPP is working on and some positive wind is breathing.  On the other hand, the government hasn’t taken effective solutions to the issue.  We should keep in check how Kyrgystan will form its nationality.

Citations

Feifer, G. (2012, February 2). Rising nationalism threatens Kyrgyzstan. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved October 16, 2022, from https://www.rferl.org/a/Rising_Nationalism_Threatens_Kyrgyzstan/2089746.html

By Seira Kitagawa