The language issue has become one of the most controversial in Kyrgyzstan during the years of its independence. Since the very beginning of the history of Soviet Kyrgyzstan till up to 1960's conditions for normal development of Kyrgyz language were satisfactory. Notwithstanding the fact that Russian was an official language according to the Constitution of the Soviet Federation and all of the republics, Kyrgyz has been widely used in the country. It was taught as a special course in educational institutions of all levels. Kyrgyz literature, art and history were very popular among people of all ages.

But at the beginning of 1960's, the official policy of the ruling Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan has changed towards Russification of Kyrgyzs. As a result of this policy when the language was withdrawn from the curriculum of the schools and almost all universities, when there was only one Kyrgyz school left in the capital city by the end of 1980's, not only Russians and other non-indigenous people knew almost no Kyrgyz, but Kyrgyzs themselves lost the touch with their language. Russian became an absolute dominant in all spheres of social life, with state affairs to start and academic research to finish. Kyrgyz became a language of rural Kyrgyzs.

This was the situation by the end of perestroika, when in September 1989 the Law on State Language was adopted. The Law consists of 8 Chapters and 40 articles. It starts with the Preamble, celebrating the historical value of Kyrgyz language as one of the most ancient turk languages, condemning the official policy of the two previous decades that deminished its use and acknowledging an urgent need for special measures of its protection. Chapter I contains general principles. It makes Kyrgyz an official language (or state language, the term used in the text), considering national language as a symbol of state sovereignty and nation building. This resembles the trend common for almost all former Soviet republics.

Russian is given a status of "language of interethnical communication". The general principle stated by the Law is that "in Kyrgyzstan the free development of languages of all other nationalities inhabiting the republic shall be guaranteed".

Chapter II establishes the principles of official policy of state in the language sphere, stating that "every citizen has a right of free choice of language", and that "participants of..... meetings, assemblies are free in their choice of Russian or other language, with the provision of translation into state and Russian languages".

The following chapters regulate the functioning of the state language in state administration; in enterprises, organisations and institutions in general; in spheres of education, science and culture; in administration of justice, arbitration, notarial verification and registration of civil status; official correspondence, advertisement and names. In all cases, the use of Russian language is allowed together with the state language, without discrimination. Last Chapter is devoted to the provisions on protection of state language and all other languages spoken in Kyrgyzstan.

The Law was supplemented by the Resolution "On Entering into Force of the Law of the Kyrgyz SSR "On State Language of the Kyrgyz SSR". The Resolution provided for the procedure of entering into force of the Law. It set the special terms in respect to operation of the state language: 1) 1989-1998 - transitional period, when Russian and other languages can be used together with the state language; 2) 01/01/1999 - full operation of the state language. In addition, the Council of Ministers was obliged to allocate special funds for the financing arrangements, foreseen by the language policy, to create conditions for learning the state language, to start issuing documents in the state language, etc.

The new Constitution of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, adopted in May of 1993 and later amended in 1996, in its Article 5, declares Kyrgyz language as a state language of the republic. It also provides Russian with the status of a language for interethnical communication and guarantees the rights of individuals to free choice of language and protection of languages of all ethnic groups living in the country.

Following the enactment of this legislation, Kyrgyzstan faced the outflow of ethnic Russians and those who were associated with them by language they used - so called Russian speaking population, composed of Ukrainians, Belorussians, Germans, etc. According to National Statistics agency, in the 1989-1996 period, around 600,000 persons have left the country(1). Since 1991, Kyrgyzstan has experienced the largest decrease in its Russian-speaking population. The massive emigration of Russian-speakers has considerably changed the ethnic composition of Kyrgyzstan, leading to a drastic decrease in their share in the total population. While in 1989 Russians constituted 21.5% of the population with 916,558 persons, by 1996 their share was 15.7%, corresponding to 707,750 persons. Between 1989 and 1995, the number of Ukrainians decreased by 35,000 from 108,000 (2.5% of the total population) to 75,700 (1.7%). As for Belarussians, their number decreased from 9,200 in 1989 (0.2% of the total population) to 7,000 in 1995 (0.16%). This caused a very bad effect on national economy.

Among the reasons of migration the language issue was the one most frequently mentioned. In fact, a new socio-political context has emerged, which is less advantageous for Russian-speakers, who have lost their privileged status in the society.

They were afraid of unfair professional competition if language legislation would be implemented strictly. Also, they were concerned with education, considering new legislation as having potential to deminish studying opportunities for their children.

The emigration of highly qualified Russian-speakers has resulted in significant shortages of skilled personnel in the construction, machine-building, electronics, defence and cotton growing and processing sectors during the crucial period of transition to market economy. This was a reason of a dramatic decrease in industrial production, factory closures and mass unemployment, in turn encouraging the remaining Russian-speakers to leave the country.

This made the Government to adopt extraordinary measures to rectify the situation. In June 1994 the President of Kyrgyzstan adopts the Decree #120 "On Measures On Migration Processes Regulation in the Kyrgyz Republic". It was recognised in it that the language issue was one of the reasons of emigration of Russian speaking population from the country. Therefore, in order to establish some additional guarantees for them, the Decree provided Russian with the status of official language in those entities, where majority of members are Russian-speakers, also in those spheres, where use of Russian is "inevitable" - health care, technical sciences, and also in those parts of the country, where Russian speaking people comprise the majority. It also obliged the Government to reconsider the staff recruitment policy with the aim of fair representation of Russian-speaking population in the governmental agencies, administrations of public enterprises and institutions; to reconsider the schedule of switching to the state language in public administration.

As a result, in years of 1996 and 1997, the level of emigration of Russian-speakers has considerably decreased. Russian has been again reintroduced into all areas of life of the Kyrgyz society, both on the official and the non-official level. In order to promote the development of the Slavic ethnic groups and safeguard their culture, language and traditions, a Kyrgyz-Russian (Slavic) University was established. Concurrently, the remaining Russian-speakers are trying to adjust to the new realities, learn the Kyrgyz language, actively participate in the social and political life, and seek to establish themselves in modern Kyrgyz society.

Furthermore, some efforts to take additional measures to reinforce the position of Russian language have been taken on the official level. In 1996, a group of members of the Parliament applied to the Constitutional Court for the advisory opinion on amending the Constitution, namely Article 5. The proposed text would allow to use Russian as "an official language", practically meaning that Russian would acquire the same status as Kyrgyz. In its opinion, the Court upheld this proposal. This decision became a controversial issue. Although, the Parliament did not adopt the amendment, the fact that it received such a serious consideration shows that there is a strong support of this option in the society. It was rightly decided, that the adoption of such measures would throw the situation back to the stage of 1989, when the programme of Kyrgyz language revitalising has began.

In January 1998, realising that the national programme on development of Kyrgyz language as a state language needs some additional support, the President adopted the Decree #21 "On Further Development of the State Language of the Kyrgyz Republic". This act introduces a new concept of development of the state language with the creation of the special agency for its implementation - National Commission on the State Language under the auspices of the President, establishes the Fund for Development of the State Language, obliges the Government to allocate money for that in the republican budget.

The Decree has three addendums. Addendum #1 to the Decree #21 "Concept of the Development of the State Language of the Kyrgyz Republic" introduces a new concept, that includes special strategies and priorities for development of the state language. Strategy - to create special conditions for learning language by the population at large with the particular attention on youth population.

Priorities set up those conditions necessary for carrying out the strategy - improvement of the legislation, undertaking special programs in order to improve the quality of teaching the state language, support for public broadcasting, publications in state language, propaganda of state language.

Addendum #2 to the Decree #21 "Regulations on the National Commission on the State Language under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic" provides the powers, tasks and function of the National Commission, its structure.

Addendum #3 to the Decree #21 "On Composition of the National Commission on the State Language" provides the composition of the National Commission - 21 members.

Although things have improved during the last four years, the situation around state language is still uncertain. The policy of the Government became more reasonable and realistic. It took into consideration the ethnic factors, creating most favourable conditions for non-Kyrgyz people to use their languages. But still, the original intention remains the same - Kyrgyz must become the only state language of the country, and the implementation of the national programme on state language is ahead. It is going to take years and significant efforts of the whole society, including those Russian speakers, who consider Kyrgyzstan as the country where they are going to live and grow their children.

(1) National Statistics Agency information, at the International Organization for Migration Web-page: http://www.iom.ch