[lg policy] Kyrgyzstan: Driving the Russian Language from Public Life

[Harold Schiffman]

Kyrgyzstan: Driving the Russian Language from Public Life
February 17, 2011 - 10:56am

    * Kyrgyzstan
    * Kyrgyz Politics
    * Language Policy

The Kyrgyz parliament is considering dropping Russian as a language
for political debate. (Photo: Dean C.K. Cox)


A push to assert the predominance of the Kyrgyz language in Kyrgyzstan
is gaining traction. But the trend is angering Russian-speakers, who
complain that efforts to promote Kyrgyz are coming at the expense of
their constitutional rights.

Kyrgyzstan’s 2010 constitution accords Kyrgyz and Russian equal status
as official languages. Russia is recognized as a language of
“interethnic communication” and can be used in official documents.
Kyrgyz is a national symbol and a language the state has promised to
develop. In practice, however, Russian speakers, including many ethnic
Kyrgyz, complain that emboldened nationalists in the executive and
legislative branches are trying to manipulate language legislation in
order to sideline people who can’t speak Kyrgyz.

“I left Kyrgyzstan last fall because it is difficult to find a job for
those who speak only Russian,” said Natasha Antonova, a former Osh
waitress, speaking by telephone from Moscow. “These nationalist
policies will drive out minorities. Many more people, and not only
ethnic Russians, will leave because Kyrgyzstan is becoming a country
only for Kyrgyz.”

On February 10, the head of the State Language Committee, Azimjan
Ibraimov, recommended that the government rename some 150 villages
with Russian-sounding names The next day, President Roza Otunbayeva
fired him; news reports speculated that Ibraimov’s comments had
complicated Bishkek’s campaign to attract more financial aid from
Moscow, Kyrgyzstan’s primary benefactor.

The name-change recommendation isn’t the only thing vexing Russian
diplomats in Kyrgyzstan. On February 8, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Culture
and Information, without warning, switched the signals for the most
prominent Russian television channel in Kyrgyzstan, Russia’s ORT
Channel One, and the Kyrgyz state broadcaster KTR. The change makes
ORT’s signal harder to access in homes across the Russian-speaking
north.

Despite protests from the Russian Embassy, the ministry said February
14 it would reassign more television frequencies – ones that had been
used for the popular Russian stations RTR and RTR-Planeta -- to local
Kyrgyz stations. Russian speakers, including ethnic Kyrgyz, are
outraged, complaining of the poor quality of local programming.

Alone, the television controversy looks like an attempt to sideline
the influence of Russian media, which proved very influential during
the run-up to former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s ouster last year. A
concerted media campaign against him is widely believed to have
empowered opposition forces. But the broadcast spat comes on the heels
of several noted debates about language in parliament.

Irina Karamushkina, an MP from the Social Democratic Party, says she
was the subject of discrimination when a leader of the nationalist
Ata-Jurt Party complained about her inability to speak fluent Kyrgyz
and her need for a translator. “There was a day when several deputies
and I who don’t understand the Kyrgyz language well had to miss
discussions of a number of issues since the parliament did not provide
any simultaneous translation,” Karamushkina, an ethnic Russian, told
EurasiaNet.org.

Karamushkina says she does not oppose the expanded use of Kyrgyz, but
“this must not violate the rights of those who do not know the Kyrgyz
language since it contradicts our constitution.”

Ethnic Kyrgyz officials have also faced criticism for using Russian.
On February 10, when Kubanychbek Kulmatov, the head the State Customs
Service, began presenting a report in Russian, several MPs interrupted
him and that demanded he make his presentation in Kyrgyz. They argued
that only Kyrgyz should be spoken in parliament, so that people from
rural areas, whose Russian is often poor, can follow the sessions on
television and radio.

Many minorities complain that the government provides no means for
them to study Kyrgyz, despite promises of state-funded programs.
(Approximately 30 percent of the country’s population is non-Kyrgyz,
according to the 2009 census). “We should learn and promote the state
language, but it must be done gradually,” said Larisa Kuznetsova of
Blagodat (Grace), a non-governmental organization (NGO) that provides
free legal counseling in Osh.

Authorities in Osh, the scene of ethnic violence last summer that left
at least 400 dead, have begun demanding all NGOs and private
businesses immediately convert their paperwork from Russian to Kyrgyz,
even conducting surprise inspections. Kuznetsova called such “language
discrimination” illegal.

In December, Osh officials inspected 109 businesses. “As a result, 18
organizations were reprimanded since they processed paperwork in the
official language,” Kanbolot Tutuev, the spokesman of the Osh Province
Administration, told EurasiaNet.org. “They have been given three
months to shift paperwork into the state language.”

For many Russian speakers, Kyrgyz and non-Kyrgyz, the language
discrimination runs against Kyrgyzstan’s national interests. They
argue that it encourages a brain-drain. “I can read and speak Kyrgyz,
but cannot write it, and there are lots of such ethnic Kyrgyz like
me,” said a journalist in Osh. “Even we, Russian-speaking Kyrgyz, are
discriminated by the new authorities’ aggressive policy. As a result,
Kyrgyzstan will suffer since they force many well-educated people,
regardless of ethnicity, to leave the country.”

http://www.eurasianet.org/node/62916

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to
its members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner
or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents.
Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal,
and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message.
 A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman,
Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************

_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list