The Invention of Legitimacy: Struggles in Kyrgyzstan to Craft an Effective Nation-State Ideology

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Notes

The article is based on research supported by the Open Society's Central Asia Research and Traning Initiative (CARTI) Programme.

Interview with Dastan Sarïgulov (Parliamentary Deputy, 1995–2000; State Secretary, 2005–2006), Bishkek, 19 November 2008; interviews for this article were conducted primarily by A. Murzakulova, though a minority of them were conducted jointly by both authors.

Sarïgulov's account did not take into consideration the generally accepted view among archaeologists and historians that the Andronovo Culture is associated with the Indo-Iranian peoples—the Saka/Scythians—who inhabited this region before the arrival of Turkic groups, the linguistic heritage of which the Kyrgyz are associated with.

Most interviews were conducted primarily in Russian, although Kyrgyz was also used.

For an analysis of how Soviet ideology was propagated, see Kara-Murza (2006) and Voslenskii (2005).

Concerning post-socialist elite formation in Kyrgyzstan and the role of the intelligentsia in it, see Koichuev (2007) and Nogoybaeva (2007).

Interview with Maksat Begaliev (Instructor at Bishkek Humanities University), Bishkek, 7 October 2007.

Interview with Askar Chukutaev (State Secretary, 1992–1993; Minister of Defence, 1993–1998, 2000–2005; current Rector of Kyrgyz National University), Bishkek, 18 December 2008.

Manas is an epic hero, to whom the Manas epic—the largest epic text recorded anywhere—is devoted. Celebration of the anniversary of the epic revolved around extracting from the epic story such elements as could be useful for promoting a national state with moral values rooted in tradition.

Tengirchilik, sometimes referred to in English as Tengriism (in Russian, as tengryanstvo) is an ideology of post-Soviet origins, also enjoying some interest on the part of the political elite in other Turkic regions of the former Soviet Union (Laruelle 2007), which appeals to ‘Tengri’, a supposedly monotheistic, pre-Islamic concept of a deity, as well as other customs and beliefs which are supposed to be pre-Islam. Tengirchilik is also related to a concept of ‘Kyrgyzchilik’, designating the essence of being Kyrgyz. See for example Aitpaeva and Molchanova (2007).

Interview with Muratbek Imanaliev (Foreign Minister, 1997–2002; current president of Institute for Public Policy), Choq-Tal village, Ïsïq-Köl Province, 16 August 2008.

The APK was created in 1994, and an analogous structure has existed in Kazakhstan since 1992. With the constitutional reform in 2007, the APK in Kazakhstan was assigned the role of selecting nine deputies to the parliament. In Kyrgyzstan, there were also attempts to enhance the status of the APK; after the constitutional reform in 2002, the status of the APK was upgraded as a deliberative body under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic.

K. Bakiev, ‘Obrashenie ispolnyayushego ob yazanosti Presidenta Kyrgyzstana Bakieva narodu Kyrgyzstana’, 30 April 2005, Bishkek, Kyrgyz Television and Radio. See also Bakiev (2005).

Interview with Muratalï ajï Jumanov (Mufti of Kyrgyzstan), Bishkek, 16 January 2008.

Interview with Tashmambet Kenensariev (at the time of the interview, Prorector of the Kyrgyz–Russian Slavic University; Rector of Jalal-Abad State University; candidate for deputy from the Erkindik party in the 2007 parliamentary election), Bishkek, 17 December 2007.

Interview with Kuseyn Isaev (professor at Bishkek Humanities University; president of the Sociological Society of Kyrgyzstan; member of the working group for the development of the state ideology in 2007), Bishkek, 16 December 2008.

Interview with Denis Toychiev (head of the Youth Parliament NGO, 2000–2001; member of the Council of the Assembly of the People of Kyrgyzstan), Bishkek, 3 November 2007.

Interview with Askar Chukutaev, Bishkek, 18 December 2008.

Interview with Denis Toychiev, Bishkek, 3 November 2007.

Reference here is to Mayram, the unpopular wife of the former president.

This reference is to Tengirchilik.

Interview with Muratalï ajï Jumanov, Bishkek, 16 January 2008.

Interview with Dastan Sarïgulov, 19 November 2008, Bishkek.

For example, Adeeb Khalid's concept of ‘secular Islam’ (2003).

The most prominent proponent of the Tengirchilik ideology, Dastan Sarïgulov held the post of the State Secretary of the first presidential administration of Bakiev in 2005, during which time he devoted considerable public attention to the cause. For an exposition of his views, see Sarygulov (2001, 2007).

Interview with Kusein Isaev, 16 December 2008, Bishkek.

Interview with Dastan Sarïgulov, 19 November 2008, Bishkek.

Interview with Turat Akimov (Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Obshchestvennyi reiting), Bishkek, 17 December 2008.

For example see the contribution to a newspaper discussion by Sultan Raev (Malikova 2006), Sarygulov (2005), Aliev (2006) and Togoybaev (2006). Such views were also expressed in our interview with Muratalï ajï Jumanov, Bishkek, 16 January 2008.

Key roles of the State Secretary include public relations duties and what in American terms might be called the ‘Ideology Czar’.

Bugu and Boston are names of Kyrgyz lineage groups.

Interview with Muratalï ajï Jumanov, Bishkek, 16 January 2008.