Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan Part of the Russian Empire since 1864, it participated in the Central Asian uprising against the Tsar in 1916. After the 1917 Russian Revolutions it formed part of the Turkestan Soviet Republic in 1918. It became an autonomous territory in 1924, and formally joined the USSR as an Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic in 1926. In 1936, it became a full member of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Stalinist land reforms settled most of its half-nomadic population, though as a result of its geographical inaccessibility, poor soil, and relative lack of mineral resources, it remained one of the poorest areas of the Soviet Union. For 24 years the country was run like a private fiefdom by the local Communist leader, Turdakan Usulbayev, until he was ousted in 1985 as part of the anti-corruption campaigns begun by Andropov and accelerated by Gorbachev. Usulbayev was replaced by the conservative Absamt Massalyev, though even towards the late 1980s, politics were conducted more against a background of continuing traditional tribal divisions than a sense of national awakening. Attempts to further a national consciousness included, for example, the declaration of Kyrgizian as the only official language in 1989. The growth of this uncertain nationalism backfired in June 1990, when a wave of xenophobia led to a massacre of the country's (relatively well-off) Uzbek minority. In response, Massalyev was forced to retire, and the head of the Academy of Science, Askar Akayev, was elected President.

Akayev's election proved to be a decisive turning point, whereafter Kyrgyzstan (independent since 15 December 1990) developed differently from its Central Asian neighbours, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. With perhaps the most energetic programme of economic and political reform of all the CIS states, Akayev attracted unusually large foreign investment. After a period of dramatic economic decline, by 1995 the annual rate of inflation was relatively low for a former Soviet republic (34 per cent). Also, in marked contrast to his colleagues in the other Central Asian Republics, who extended their periods in office through referendums, he was confirmed in office in a free election (1996), gaining over 70 per cent of the vote against his opponent Massalyev, who gained 20 per cent. Akayev became more authoritarian in the late 1990s, imprisoning political opponents and manipulating elections. In 2000, he was thus confirmed in office with almost three-quarters of the popular vote. Like many of its neighbouting republics, its politics in the late 1990s became destabilized by Muslim rebel groups, which used some of the area's difficult mountain terrain to wage a nationalist campaign based on Islamic values.