Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has spoken for maintaining the official status of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan. In an interview with the Kabar information agency, Japarov shared his opinion on the current status and future of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan amid proposals of some Kyrgyz politicians to revise its status.
Russian has the status of the official language in Kyrgyzstan and continues to function as a key medium of communication in the country’s multi-ethnic society. Kyrgyz is the state language. It has the higher status and is mandatory for use by government bodies.
“I consider the proposals of some politicians to change the status of the Russian language to be wrong,” said Japarov. “Of course, first of all, we must develop our native language. But we need to know Russian and English. Half of the world speaks these two languages. Knowing several languages is good.”
According to Japarov, it is not the Russian language that needs us — it is we who need the Russian language. “First, Russian is one of the six world languages [used by the UN]. Second, we must not forget that without the Russian language, it will be difficult for Kyrgyzstan to expand beyond the country. Even in neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, you will not be able to communicate freely without the Russian language. In Europe, America, China — they use the services of Russian-speaking interpreters.”
Japarov reminded that during their talks in Moscow on July 2, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude for the support of the Russian language in Kyrgyzstan.
As reported by the Kremlin’s website, Putin made it clear that maintaining the official status of Russian in Kyrgyzstan is one of the conditions for further development of Russia’s cooperation with the country. “This enables us to work more efficiently across various domains, including the economic sphere,” Putin highlighted.
Russian is widely used in Kyrgyzstan, especially in the capital, Bishkek, and remains the main language of instruction in schools and universities.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in June, Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Education Dogdurkul Kendirbayeva stated that there are only 4 percent of the Russian-speaking [not ethnic Kyrgyz] population in Kyrgyzstan, but 80 percent of the country’s residents speak Russian. According to the minister, there are 260 schools with Russian as the language of instruction across the country, and there are 860 mixed schools with instruction in both Kyrgyz and Russian. Currently, the instruction in universities is conducted in Russian.
