Kyrgyz

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Kyrgyz Turko-Mongolian people who inhabit the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in central Asia. Of Muslim faith, they are Turkic-speaking nomadic pastoralists who began to settle in the Tian Shan region of Kyrgyzstan in the 7th century. They were colonized by the Russians during the 19th century. After fighting the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War (1917–21), many Kyrgyz perished in the ensuing famine.

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