Language

Kyrgyzstan (along with Tajikistan) is one of two of the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia to retain Russian as an official language. It added the Kyrgyz language to become an officially bilingual country in September 1991. This sent a clear signal to the ethnic Russians that they were welcome in the new independent state, in an effort to avoid a brain drain.

Kyrgyz is a member of the Turkic group of languages and was written in the Arabic alphabet until the 20th century. Latin script was introduced and adopted in 1928, and was subsequently replaced by Cyrillic in 1941.

Generally, people all over the country understand and speak Russian, except for some remote mountain areas. Russian is mother tongue to the majority of Bishkek dwellers, and most of business and political affairs are carried out in this language. Until recently, Kyrgyz remained a language spoken at home, rarely during meetings or other events. However, most of parliamentary meetings today are conducted in Kyrgyz, with simultaneous interpretation available for those not speaking the language.