We Central Asians.
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: Ethnic History of Central Asia
Forum Discription: Discussions about the ethnic origins of Central Asian peoples. All topics related to ethnicity should go here.
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4682
Printed Date: 24-Apr-2024 at 01:51
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.56a - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: We Central Asians.
Posted By: gok_toruk
Subject: We Central Asians.
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:04
|
All dear forumers,
Hi there. Best wishes and respect. Well, Perdon and I decided to open a new forum about CA. We're going to talk about the culture of 4 brother nations; Kazak, Kyrigz, Turkmen and Ozbek. We're seeking to clarify anything realting to their customs. You can search for their images here, download their music, ask questions and a lot more. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Replies:
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:07
|
Also spelled Kazakh, an Asiatic Turkic-speaking people inhabiting mainly Kazakstan and the adjacent parts of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang in China. The Kazaks emerged in the 15th century from an amalgam of Turkic tribes who entered Transoxiana about the 8th century and of Mongols who entered the area in the 13th century. At the end of the 20th century there were roughly 7,600,000 in Kazakstan and about 1,200,000 in China (mainly in Sinkiang), with small numbers in Uzbekistan, Russia, and Mongolia. The Kazaks are the second most numerous Turkic-speaking people in Central Asia after the Uzbeks.
The Kazaks were traditionally pastoral nomads, dwelling year-round in portable, dome-shaped tents (called gers, or yurts) constructed of dismountable wooden frames covered with felt. The Kazaks migrated seasonally to find pasturage for their livestock, including horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and a few camels. The diet consisted largely of milk products supplemented by mutton. Fermented mare's milk (koumiss) and horse flesh were highly esteemed but usually available only to the prosperous. Felt made the tent snug inside and out and was used for cloaks... ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:08
|
Kazak Langugae:
Also spelled Kazakh, member of the Turkic language family (a subfamily ofthe Altaic languages), belonging to the northwestern, or Kipchak, branch. The Kazak language is spoken primarily in Kazakstan and in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang in China but is also found in Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan. The so-called Kipchak-Uzbek dialect is closely related to Kazak and is considered by some to be a Kazak dialect (its speakers, however, use the Uzbek literary language). ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:09
|
Kazakstan:
Also spelled Kazakhstan , officially Republic of Kazakstan , Kazakh Qazaqstan Respublikasï country of Central Asia. It is bounded on the northwest and north by Russia, on the east by China, and on the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Aral Sea; the Caspian Sea bounds Kazakstan to the southwest. Kazakstan's 1,052,100 square miles (2,724,900 square kilometres) make it by far the largest state in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world. Between its most distant points Kazakstan measures about 1,820 miles (2,930 kilometres) east to west and 960 milesnorth to south. While Kazakstan was not considered by authorities in the former Soviet Union to be a part of Central Asia, it does have physical and cultural geographic characteristics similar to those of the other Central Asian countries. The capital is Astana (formerly Tselinograd) in the north-central part of the country. Kazakstan, formerly a constituent (union) republic of the U.S.S.R., declared independence on Dec. 16, 1991. Kazakstan's great mineral resources and arable lands have long aroused the envy of outsiders, and the resulting exploitation has generated environmental and political problems. The forced settlement of the nomadic Kazaks in the Soviet period, combined with large-scale Slavic in-migration, strikingly altered the Kazak way of life and led to considerable settlement and urbanization in Kazakstan. The Kazaks' traditional customs uneasily coexist alongside incursions of the modern world ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:10
|
The Land:
Lowlands make up one-third of Kazakstan's huge expanse, hilly plateaus and plains account for nearly half, and low mountainous regions about one-fifth. Kazakstan's highest point, Mount Khan-Tengri (Han-t'eng-ko-li Peak) at 22,949 feet (6,995 metres), in the Tien Shan range on the border between Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China, contrasts with the flat or rolling terrain of most of the republic. The western and southwestern parts of the republic are dominated by the low-lying Caspian Depression, which atits lowest point lies some 95 feet below sea level. South of the Caspian Depression are the Ustyurt Plateau and the Tupqaraghan (formerly Mangyshlak) Peninsula jutting into the Caspian Sea. Vast amounts of sand form the Greater Barsuki and Aral Karakum deserts near the Aral Sea,the broad Betpaqdala Desert of the interior, and the Muyunkum and Kyzylkum deserts in the south. Most of these desert regions support slight vegetative cover fed by subterranean groundwater. Depressions filled by salt lakes whose water has largely evaporated dot the undulating uplands of central Kazakstan. In the north the mountains reach about 5,000 feet, and there are similar high areas among the Ulutau Mountains in the west and the Chingiz-Tau Range in the east. In the east and southeast, massifs (enormous blocks of crystalline rock) are furrowed by valleys. The Altai mountain complex to the east sends three ridges into the republic, and, farther south, the Tarbagatay Range is an offshoot of the Naryn-Kolbin complex. Another range, the Dzungarian Alatau, penetrates the country to the south of the depression containing Lake Balkhash. The Tien Shan peaks rise along the southern frontier with Kyrgyzstan. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:11
|
The Drainage:
Kazakstan's east and southeast possess extensive watercourses: most of the country's 7,000 streams form part of the inland drainage systems of the Aral and Caspian seas and Lakes Balkhash and Tengiz. The major exceptions are the great Irtysh, Ishim (Esil), and Tobol rivers, which run northwest from the highlands in the southeast and, crossing Russia, ultimately drain into Arctic waters. In the west the major stream, the Ural (Kazak: Zhayyq) River, flows into the Caspian Sea. In the south the waters of the once-mighty Syr Darya have, since the late 1970s, scarcely reached the Aral Sea at all. The torrent of the Irtysh River pours some 988 billion cubic feet (28 billion cubic metres) of water annually into the vast West Siberian catchment area. In the late 1970s Soviet authorities developed extensive plans to tap the Irtysh River for use in irrigating the arid expanses of Kazakstan and Uzbekistan, but the scheme was killed in 1986 because of the large investmentrequired and concern for the project's possible adverse ecological consequences. This left southern and western Kazakstan, as before, greatly in need of additional water resources. Kazakstan also suffers from the disastrous depletion and the contamination (by pesticides and chemical fertilizers) of the Syr Darya flow, on which the republic depends greatly for crop irrigation. The Caspian Sea, the largest inland body of water in the world, forms Kazakstan's border for 1,450 miles of its coastline. Other large bodies of water, all in the eastern half of the country, include Lakes Balkhash, Zaysan, Alaköl, Tengiz, and Seletytengiz (Siletiteniz). Kazakstan also wraps around the entire northern half of the shrinking Aral Sea, which underwent terrible declineduring the second half of the 20th century: as freshwater inflow was diverted for agriculture, thesalinity of the sea increased sharply, and the receding shores became the source of salty dust and polluted deposits that ruined the surrounding lands for animal, plant, or human use ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:12
|
Climate:
Kazakstan's climate is sharply continental, and hot summers alternate with equally extreme winters, especially in the plains and valleys. Temperatures fluctuate widely, with great variations between subregions. Average January temperatures in northern and central regions range from −2° to 3° F (−19° to −16° C); in the south, temperatures are milder, ranging from 23°to 29° F (−5° to −1.4° C). Average July temperatures in the north reach 68° F (20° C), but in the south they rise to 84° F (29° C). Temperature extremes of −49° F (−45° C) and 113° F (45° C) have been recorded. Light precipitation falls, ranging from 8 to 12 inches (200 to 300 millimetres) annually in the northern and central regions to 16 or 20 inches in the southern mountain valleys ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:12
|
Soil:
Very fertile soils characterize the lands from far northern Kazakstan down to the more infertile, alkaline soils of the middle and southern areas. The vast stretches of arable land in thenorthern plains are the most intensely cultivated and productive. Other cultivated areas fringe the mountains in the south and east; irrigation and reclamation, when feasible, extend along river valleys into the deserts. Nuclear bomb testing conducted during the Soviet period near Semey (Semipalatinsk) contaminated the soils in the vicinity. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:13
|
Plant and Animal life:
The vegetation on plains and deserts includes wormwood and tamarisk, with feather grass on drier plains. Kazakstan has very little wooded area, amounting to only about 3 percent of the territory. Many animals, including antelope and elk, inhabit the plains. The wolf, bear, and snow leopard, as well as the commercially important ermine and sable, are found in the hills. Fishermen take sturgeon, herring, and roach from the Caspian Sea. In parts of northeastern and southwestern Kazakstan, where commercial fishing collapsed as a result of industrial and agricultural pollution, efforts to revive fish populations have shown some success. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:14
|
Settlement Patterns:
The extremely wide dispersion of population in Kazakstan is reflected in the large number of small settlements. In the late 1980s fewer than 100 settlements fell into the category of city or town and fewer than 300 were worker settlements, while well over 2,000 were auïls (small farm villages). Kazakstan's distinct regional patterns of settlement depend in part on its varied ethnic makeup. Slavs—Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians—largely populate the northern plains, where they congregate in large villages that originally served as the centres of collective and state farms. These populated oases are separated by wheat fields or, in the more arid plains to the south, by semideserts and deserts where sheep breeders live in temporary quarters, usually yurts (round tents with sturdy pole frames covered by heavy felt). Kazak nomads formerly obtained their schooling and manufactured goods from Russian towns such as Troitsk, Orenburg, and Omsk, or, in the south, from the ancient cities of Transoxania, theFergana Valley, and eastern Turkistan. After the Russian conquest established military governors and administrators in Alma-Ata (now Almaty), Uralsk (Oral), Yaik, and elsewhere, Kazakstan began in the 19th century to develop its own cities. Qaraghandy (Karaganda), Öskemen (Ust-Kamenogorsk), and Rūdnyy (Rudny), which are typical Soviet planned towns, have straight, wide streets and multistoried buildings and accommodate industry around their fringes ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:15
|
The People:
The Kazaks are a nominally Muslim people who speak a Turkic language of the Northwest or Kipchak (Qipchaq) group. Fewer than one-fifth of the more than eight million ethnic Kazaks live outside Kazakstan, mainly in Uzbekistan and Russia. During the 19th century about 400,000 Russians flooded into Kazakstan, and these were supplemented by about 1,000,000 Slavs, Germans, Jews, and others who immigrated to the region during the first third of the 20th century. The immigrants crowded Kazaks off the best pastures and watered lands, rendering many tribes destitute. Another large influx of Slavs occurred from 1954 to 1956 as a result of the Virgin and Idle Lands project, initiated by the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, himself a Slav. This project drew thousands of Russians and Ukrainians into the rich agricultural lands of northern Kazakstan. By 1989, however, Kazaks slightly outnumbered Russians. In the early years of independence, significant numbers of ethnic Russians in Kazakstan emigrated to Russia. This emigration, along with a return to the country of ethnic Kazaks, changed the demographic makeup of Kazakstan: by the mid-1990s the Kazak proportion was approaching half the total population, while that for the Russians was closer to one-third. The other ethnic groups in Kazakstan include Uzbeks, Uighurs, and Tajiks, along with Ukrainians, Germans, Tatars, and Koreans. The urban areas of Kazakstan are still home to more Slavs than Kazaks. Kazaks constitute about half the inhabitants of Almaty, the country's largest city and, until 1997, its capital. About three-fifths of Kazak families live in rural areas. Urbanization in Kazakstan involves much more immigration of foreigners than movement of Kazaks from the countryside into the cities. During much of their long nomadic period, the Kazaks' adherence to Islām remained informal and permissive. When they moved into settlements or sent their children to towns of Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, and Central Asia for an education, that situation changed. There, young Kazaks entered Muslim maktab s or madrassah s, where religion supplied the main subjects and ideology. Thus, the younger generation of intellectuals turned into urban-style Muslims before the Soviet communists took over in the early 1920s. Thereafter, the authorities actively suppressed or discouraged religious life in Kazakstan until the U.S.S.R. disintegrated. Since independence, Kazaks generally have enjoyed freedom of religion. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:16
|
The Economy:
Kazakstan possesses abundant natural resources. Its major exports include agricultural products, raw materials, chemical products, and manufactured goods. Privatization of state-owned industries was undertaken during the 1990s. In 1994 Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan formed an economic union that enabled free movement of labour and capital amongthe three countries and established coordinated economic policies. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:17
|
Recources:
Among the most important minerals are copper in the central areas and in Aqtöbe (Aktyubinsk) province; lead, zinc, and silver in the Rūdnyy Altai area and the Dzungarian Alatau and Qarataū (Karatau) spurs; tungsten and tin in the Kolbin Ridge and southern Altai; chromite, nickel, and cobalt in the Mugozhar Hills; titanium, manganese, and antimony in the central regions; vanadium in the south; and gold in the north and east. Processing facilities at Aqtaū produce large quantities of uranium mined in the Mangghyshlaq area. Much iron ore comes from Qaraghandy and Qostanay (Kustanay), and coal from the Qaraghandy, Torghay (Turgay), Ekibastuz, and Maykuben basins. In 1993 Kazakstan finalized a contract with the Chevron Corporation to exploit the reserves of the Tengiz oil field, one of the world's largest. In the mid-1990s agreements also were sought with foreign investors for the development of oil and natural gas from the Tengiz, Zhusan, Temir, and Kasashyganak wells. The profitability of such ventures rested principally on the establishment of new pipelines ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:18
|
Agriculture:
Farming occupies some one-fifth of the labour force, largely the Kazak portion plus the Slavic wheat farmers of northern Kazakstan. Kazaks raise sheep, goats, cattle, and swine. The country produces cereal crops, potatoes, vegetables, melons and other fruits, sugar beets, and rice, as well as fodder and industrial crops. Nuclear contamination of soils near Semey—the result of Soviet weapons testing—has hindered agricultural development in the northeast ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:19
|
Industry:
Industry constitutes a prominent sector of the Kazak economy, but it employs fewer than one-tenth of the indigenous Kazaks. Manufacturing industries employing primarily Russian andUkrainian workers produce cast iron, rolled steel, cement, chemical fertilizer, and consumer goods. Plants in Temirtaū and Qaraghandy produce steel; the country, with its nonferrous metallurgy concentrated in the east, is a major lead and copper producer. Kazakstan's fuel production has increased with the extraction of coal from the Qaraghandy and Ekibastuz basins. Meat-packing plants operate in many areas, but creameries exist chiefly in areas settled by Slavs in the north and east. Sugar refineries are located in the south in the Taldyqorghan (Taldy-Kurgan) and Almaty areas. Fruit and vegetable canning, grain milling, brewing, and wine making are among the light industries. Synthetic fibres come from a factory at Qaraghandy and pharmaceuticals from a plant in Shymkent (Chimkent). ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:19
|
Transportation:
Railways carry most of the freight going long distances. The Trans-Siberian, South Siberian, and Kazak (formerly Turkistan-Siberian) trunk lines cross Kazakstan east to west, and the Orenburg line extends as far as Tashkent in the south. Air transport carries the bulk of passenger traffic, both domestic and regional. The international airport at Almaty offers service to Frankfurt (Ger.), Istanbul, and other cities. The republic has an extensive network of oil pipelines between Atyraū and Orsk and Shymkent and Tashkent, as well as the Uzen-Zhetibay-Aqtaū pipeline from the west ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:21
|
Administration and social conditions:
Government: Kazakstan's first postindependence constitution was adopted in 1993, replacing the Soviet-era constitution that had been in force since 1978; a new constitution was approved in 1995. The 1995 constitution provided for legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government dominated by a strong executive. The 1995 constitution established a bicameral legislature consisting of a Senate and an Assembly (Mazhilis). Working jointly, the two chambers have the authority to amend the constitution, approve the budget, confirm presidential appointees, ratify treaties, declare war, and delegate legislative authority to the president for up to one year; each chamber also has exclusive powers. Legislators serve four-year terms: two members of the Senate are elected from each province-level entity (called an “administrative-territorial unit”) by all legislative members of that unit, with the exception of several appointed by the president; members of theAssembly are elected from population-based constituencies by universal adult suffrage. The president is the head of state and is elected directly for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms. The president appoints the prime minister and other ministers of the cabinet, as well as the chairperson of the National Security Committee. The president also appoints the heads of the local government entities, can reverse decisions made by these officials, and has broad authority to issue decrees and overrule actions taken by the ministries. The highest judicial body is the Supreme Court, and there also are a number of lower courts; a Constitutional Council, the members of which are appointed by the president and legislature, reviews constitutional questions. Judges serve life terms and are appointed by the president, with those of the Supreme Court also subject to confirmation by the legislature. The constitution specifies a number of rights to the citizens of Kazakstan, including freedom ofspeech, religion, and movement. Citizens have the right to work, to own property, and to form trade unions. Despite the democratic language in both the constitutions of 1993 and 1995, in the early years of independence Kazakstan became increasingly authoritarian. The country's first parliamentary elections (1994) were declared illegal by what was then the Constitutional Court. This precipitated the drafting of the 1995 constitution, which expanded the already substantial powers granted to the president by the 1993 constitution. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:22
|
Armed forces
Kazakstan possesses a small army, air force, and navy. In 1995 it agreed to partially unite its military with that of Russia, establishing a joint command for training and planning and for border patrols. During the Soviet period, a vast nuclear arsenal was stationed in Kazak territory. Kazakstan ratified the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1993, however, and by 1995 it had dismantled or returned to Russia all of its inherited warheads. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:23
|
Education
Kazakstan moved to influence profoundly the future course of education in 1989 when it declared Kazak the official language of the republic, though in the 1995 constitution Russian was also officially acknowledged. Prior to independence, Russian generally served as the language of government and of education in the Kazakh S.S.R. Many younger Kazaks, educated entirely in Russian, scarcely know the traditional language of their people. The shift tothe Kazak language affects classroom instruction, textbooks, newspapers, and such media as television and cinema, all of which contribute to public education. The process of conversion to Kazak-oriented communication began immediately and has greatly affected the educational system. Few Russians speak and write Kazak well. Implicit in the change has been the necessity for teachers to have a fluent knowledge of Kazak, a requirement that tends to remove Slavic personnel from the elementary and secondary classrooms for Kazak children. A major reorganization of the curricula and redesign of textbooks began in the years after 1989. The study of Kazak history, literature, and culture, long slighted in general education, now receives appropriate attention in school curricula. The institutes in the Kazakstan Academy ofSciences (founded 1946) focus their research on subjects important to Kazakstan, in science as well as in the humanities. The renunciation of Marxist-Leninist ideology in Kazakstan has freed scholars from the restrictions that hampered their research and interpretation of findings. Many serious works long proscribed by communist censors have appeared in print for the first time or after many years of being out of print. In addition to the Academy of Sciences, higher educational institutions include the Kazak al-Farabi State National University, Qaraghandy State University, and a number of polytechnical, agricultural, veterinary, and other facilities in Almaty. Medical and teachers' institutes function in Qaraghandy, and different institutions can be found at other regional centres. A network of vocational schools offers specialized secondary and technical training. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:24
|
Health and welfare
Housing, medical care, and other services are inadequate, despite large outlays by municipalities and the republic to keep up with the expanding population. Housing and other shortages exacerbate ethnic tension between Kazaks, Russians, Uighurs, and other city dwellers, tensions that equitable distribution can partly alleviate. Rates of infant and maternal morbidity and mortality, though lower than in other Central Asian republics, are far higher in Kazakstan than in Western countries because of an unbalanced diet, environmental pollution, and inadequate prenatal care. Life expectancy is low compared with the West. Although sanatoriums and hospitals exist in many locations, they dispense a level of medical care far below that considered standard in the West. Public health suffers greatly in heavily industrialized areas, such as Qaraghandy province, owing to the fact that Soviet authorities never seriously made environmental protection a high priority. In the vicinity of the Aral Sea, and especially in Qyzylorda (Kzyl-Orda) and Aqtöbe provinces, Kazaks suffer from the pollution and salinization of the sea. Its waters are contaminated with pesticides, especially DDT, and with chemical fertilizer fed into it by various rivers; the contraction of the Aral Sea has left a toxic dust in the newly formed salt flats, leading to respiratory disorders and other health problems. In Qyzylorda province the toxic emissions from rocket launches and related activities in the Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam have introduced additional industrial pollution into the area. But the most serious general health problems in Kazakstan arise from the widespread radiation poisoning of the soil, food products, and water sources of eastern Kazakstan, especially Semey province, where the Soviet military command for decades exposed almost one million people to nuclear weapons testing. Birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses related to radiation poisoning occur with unusual frequency among people in the region. These severe health hazards led the cultural and medical intelligentsia of Kazakstan to organize mass demonstrations to protest the continued poisoning of Kazakstan by nuclear testing and development in adjacent sites in LopNor in northwestern China after Soviet nuclear tests in eastern Kazakstan had ceased. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:25
|
Cultural life
Kazaks, probably more than any other Central Asian people, show the impact of nearly two centuries of close contact with Russians. Unlike Central Asians to the south of them, Kazaks look more to Russia than to Islāmic countries for inspiration in the post-Soviet period. At the same time, Kazak scholars and other intellectuals actively work to reclaim Kazak traditions and distinctive ways of life, including the literary and spoken language of a people whose experience emphasized Russian culture, literature, language, and ways of thinking. Urban Kazaks of both sexes tend to wear modern clothing, but the women of remote villages continue to wear traditional dresses and head scarves. Kazak-made carpets are a common sight, and less-Russified Kazaks often decorate their homes with qoshmas, bright-coloured feltrugs. Oral epics formed the main literary genre among the largely illiterate Kazaks until the 19th century. In the 18th century, as a series of Russian outposts arose along the border of Kazakstan's plains on the north, Kazaks added other written, poetic forms to their literature. Poetry remained the primary genre until prose stories, short novels, and drama were introduced in the early 20th century, before the end of the tsarist era in 1917. Abay Ibrahim Kūnanbay-ulï (Kunanbayev) in the late 19th century laid the basis with his verse for the development of the modern Kazak literary language and its poetry. (Aqmet) Baytūrsyn-ulï, editor of the influential newspaper Qazaq, led the advance of modern Kazak writing in the early 20th century. Baytūrsyn-ulï, along with Aliqan Nūrmuhambet Bokeyqan-ulï, Mir Jaqib Duwlat-ulï, and, later, Maghjan Jumabay-ulï, represented the cream of Kazak modernism in literature, publishing, andcultural politics in the reformist decades before Sovietization set in after 1920. All these figuresdisappeared into Soviet prisons and never returned, as a result of Joseph Stalin's purges, which destroyed much of the Kazak intelligentsia. An early Soviet Kazak writer, Mukhtar Auez-ulï, won recognition for the long novel Abay, based on the life and poetry of Kūnanbay-ulï, and for his plays, including Änglik-Kebek. Kazakstan has a number of modern theatres and offers Uighur, Korean, and Russian musicals, opera, ballet, and puppet performances. Cinemas and art schools, dance ensembles, and music groups are active, as are radio and television broadcasting, the last being especially important in communications with distant farms and villages. Reception from outside Kazakstan, especially from broadcasting stations in nearby Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and by way of relays from Moscow, enables listeners and viewers to follow programs from many sources. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:26
|
History
Kazakstan to c. AD 1700 The immense size and varied landscape of Kazakstan exclude the possibility of a unified prehistoric culture covering the whole area. The Bronze Age Andronovo culture (2nd millennium BC) spread over much of Kazakstan; it was followed by periods dominated by nomads, producers of the “animal art” later identified with the Scythians. One can only speculate concerning the ethnic or linguistic identities of these populations; whether or not they were Turkic, they cannot be directly linked with the Kazaks. In the course of centuries, various parts of Kazakstan were incorporatedinto different empires. During the empire of the Mongols (13th–14th centuries AD), most of the territory was part of the ulus (“polity”) of Chagadai. About 1465 some 200,000 dissatisfied subjects of the Uzbek khan Abūʾl-Khayr, under the leadership of Karay and Jani Beg, moved into Mughulistān, whose khan, Esen Bogha, settled them between the Chu andTalas rivers. These separatist Uzbeks became known as Kazak (“Independent” or “Vagabond”) Uzbeks, and over time a significant differentiation developed between them and the Uzbeks in their respective ways of life: that of the Kazaks was more nomadic, that of the Uzbeks more sedentary. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:28
|
During the late 15th century and throughout the 16th century, the Kazaks were able to consolidate a nomadic empire stretching across the steppes east of the Caspian and north of the Aral Sea as far as the upper Irtysh River and the western approaches to the Altai Mountains. Under Burunduk Khan (ruled 1488–1509) and Kasym Khan (1509–18) the Kazaks were the masters of virtually the entire steppe region, reportedly able to bring 200,000 horsemen into thefield and feared by all their neighbours. The prevailing view is that the rule of Kasym Khan marked the beginning of an independent Kazak polity. Under his rule Kazak power extended from what is now southeastern Kazakstan to the Urals.
Under the successive rule of three of the sons of Kasym Khan (1518–38), however, there was a partial weakening of the khan's authority, accompanied by a trend, later to become more pronounced, for the khanate to disintegrate into three separate “hordes.” These were, from eastto west: the Great Horde, in present-day southeastern Kazakstan north of the Tien Shan; the Middle Horde, in the central steppe region east of the Aral Sea; and the Little Horde, between the Aral Sea and the Ural River. In each horde the authority of the khan tended to be curtailed bythe power exercised by tribal chieftains known as sultans and perhaps even more by the beys and batyrs (the heads of the clans that were the components of each tribe). Nominally, the khans commanded a formidable force of mounted warriors, but, in reality, they depended on the loyalty of the beys and batyrs. The last son of Kasym Khan to rule the Kazak steppes, Ḥaqq Naẓar (1538–80), overcame these obstacles and, having succeeded in reuniting the three hordes, embarked upon systematic raiding into Transoxania, a trend that continued under his immediate successors down to the reign of Tevkkel Khan (1586–98), who even temporarily occupied Samarkand. By the beginning of the 17th century, the fragmentation halted by Kasym Khan resumed and became endemic; Kazak central power was weak or nonexistent amidst a plethora of petty rulers ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:28
|
From the 1680s to the 1770s, the Kazaks were involved in a series of wars with the Oyrat, a federation of four western Mongol tribes, among which the Dzungars were particularly aggressive. In 1681–84 the Dzungars, led by Galdan, launched a devastating attack against the Great Horde. The unification by Teüke Khan (1680–1718) of the three hordes brought a temporary reversal in the fortunes of war, and in 1711–12 a Kazak counteroffensive penetrateddeep into Dzungar territory. Teüke's achievements were not limited to war; he also was responsible for the creation of a Kazak law code, an amalgam of Kazak customary and Islāmic laws.
In 1723 Galdan's successor Cevang Rabtan was again on the attack. Aided by Swedish officers who had been made Russian prisoners at the Battle of Poltava (1709) and had found their way tothese distant parts, the Dzungars launched a devastating invasion of the eastern Kazak lands. The memory of this national catastrophe, “the Great Disaster,” has never faded among the Kazaks. The next and last Dzungar invasion hit the Middle Horde, but thanks to the skills of thathorde's khan, Abūʾl-Khayr (1718–49), who managed to forge a temporary all-Kazak alliance, it was less devastating. Final deliverance from the Dzungar plague came in the form of Chinese (Manchu) intervention; in 1757–58 the Ch'ien-lung emperor launched two major campaigns, in the course of which the Dzungars were, for all practical purposes, exterminated and their land incorporated into China. For a time, the wily Ablai Khan of the Middle Horde had chosen not to take sides in the Dzungar-Chinese conflict. But, once the scores were settled, Ablai found it prudent to offer his submission to the Ch'ien-lung emperor. Then, in 1771, Ablai was confirmed as ruler by both the Chinese and the Russians. As a result of the collapse of Dzungar power, the Chinese inherited a vast territory that extended to Lake Balkhash and beyond, far into the Kazak steppes. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:29
|
The brunt of the Dzungar wars was carried by the Great Horde; the Middle and Little hordes fared better, partly because they moved westward toward Russian-held territories. In 1730 Abūʾl Khayr, khan of the Little Horde, swore allegiance to the tsarina Anna Ivanovna ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:30
|
Russian and Soviet rule and independence
The reverses experienced by the Kazaks at the hands of the Oyrats undoubtedly retarded the emergence of a unified Kazak state and further depressed the prevailing level of Kazak cultural life. It also rendered the Kazaks even less able to resist the encroachments of Russia from the north. The Russian advance onto the Kazak steppe began with the construction of a line of forts—Omsk in 1716, Semipalatinsk in 1718, Ust-Kamenogorsk in 1719, and Orsk in 1735—which was then steadily advanced southward. The Russian advance into Kazak territory was slow and seldom violent but ineluctable; it made full use of Kazak internal divisions and dissensions but, in its essence, was the typical encroachment of sedentary agriculturalists into the lands of nomads. Russian occupation of the Kazak steppe would prove essential for the conquest of Muslim Central Asia. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:30
|
Some Kazaks believed that the Russian presence might at least provide some security against Oyrat raids, and in 1731 the Little Horde accepted Russian protection, followed by the Middle Horde in 1740 and by part of the Great Horde in 1742, although its effect upon the Oyrats was to prove minimal. Finally, after a series of ineffectual Kazak uprisings of which the most extensive was that of Batyr Srym in 1792–97, Russia resolved to suppress such autonomy as the Kazak khans still possessed. In 1822 the khanate of the Middle Horde was abolished, in 1824 the Little Horde, and in 1848 the Great Horde.
Because of Kazakstan's incorporation into Russia, modern ideas found a more fertile ground among the Kazaks than in the semi-independent Uzbek khanates. Russian schooling brought these ideas into Kazak life, and Russian-formed intellectuals such as Chokan Valikanov and Abay Kūnanbay-ulï adapted them to specific Kazak needs and created a secular culture unparalleled in other parts of Asian Russia. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:31
|
The Kazaks were onlookers rather than participants in the Russian Civil War that followed the fall of the tsarist regime in 1917. A Kazak provisional government formed by the ephemeral Alash Orda political party existed only in name. In 1919–20 the Bolsheviks' Red Army defeated White Russian forces in the region and occupied Kazakstan. On Aug. 26, 1920, the Soviet government established the Kirgiz Autonomous Republic, which in 1925 changed its name to Kazakh A.S.S.R. From 1927 the Soviet government pursued a vigorous policy of transforming the Kazak nomads into a settled population and of colonizing the region with Russians and Ukrainians.
Despite their nomadic, rural existence, the Kazaks were the most literate and dynamic indigenous people in Central Asia. But the collectivization brutally imposed by the Soviet regime resulted in a shocking decrease in the Kazak population: between 1926 and 1939 the number of Kazaks in the Soviet Union fell by about one-fifth. More than 1.5 million died during this period, the majority from starvation and related diseases, others as a result of violence. Thousands of Kazaks fled to China, but less than a quarter survived the journey; about 300,000fled to Uzbekistan and 44,000 to Turkmenistan. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:32
|
Kazakstan formally became a constituent (union) republic of the Soviet Union on Dec. 5, 1936. During the first secretaryship of Nikita Khrushchev, the role of Kazakstan within the Soviet Union increased dramatically. The Virgin and Idle Lands program launched in 1953 opened up the vast grasslands of northern Kazakstan to wheat farming by Slavic settlers. The importanceof Kazakstan also increased through the location on its territory of the main Soviet space-launch centre and a substantial part of the Soviet Union's nuclear weaponry and the sites associated with nuclear testing.
For a quarter of a century Kazak politics were dominated by Dinmukhamed Kunayev, first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakstan from 1959 to 1986. The only Kazak ever to become a member of the Soviet Politburo, Kunayev proved to be not only a masterful Soviet politician but also a man capable of constructive thoughts and achievements. Realizing that Kazaks constituted a minority of Kazakstan's population, he looked with equal care after the needs of both Russians and Kazaks. His dismissal in 1986 by the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev caused the first serious riots of the 1980s in the Soviet Union. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:33
|
Kazakstan declared its sovereignty on Oct. 25, 1990, and declared full independence on Dec. 16, 1991. Under the presidency of Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazak politics continued to follow themoderate policies of Kunayev. Interethnic tensions were under control. Relations with Russia were close, marked by cooperation on intelligence and an agreement on Russian jurisdiction over the nuclear forces in Kazakstan. Kazakstan joined international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund and appeared destined for an importantrole in Central Asia ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:36
 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:37
 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 02:39
 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: The Hidden Face
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 13:07
|
man, you are the one. Thank you very very much for this information. Thanks again. best regards. ------------- |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:12
|
My Dear Turk,
Thank you very much to invest your time in this new forum. Well, it's got a long way to go. I need all your advices. I'm looking forward to hearing from you soon. Take care and take it easy. Kind regards, Iltirish ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:12
|
They were, in 13th century, in the reign of Chengiz Khan; ruled by Juchi. Later, Batu made them part of ‘Kizil Ordu’.
They have three sub-divisions: “uli juz”, “orta juz” and “kuchuk (kishi) Ulu Juz spent winter in southern Balkhash and YetiSu and summer in Tien Shan. Orta Juz spent winter in SirDerya and summer in Irtish. Finally, Kuchuk juz spent winter in Caspian beaches and summer in northern/southern mountains. They are Sunnite Moslems… they are Kazaks. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:13
|
They were, in 13th century, in the reign of Chengiz Khan; ruled by Juchi. Later, Batu made them part of ‘Kizil Ordu’.
They have three sub-divisions: “uli juz”, “orta juz” and “kuchuk (kishi) Ulu Juz spent winter in southern Balkhash and YetiSu and summer in Tien Shan. Orta Juz spent winter in SirDerya and summer in Irtish. Finally, Kuchuk juz spent winter in Caspian beaches and summer in northern/southern mountains. They are Sunnite Moslems… they are Kazaks. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:15
|
Dr. Halife Altay, in his book, wrote:
“Kazaks are distinguished and called by their ‘boy’ (lineage) and ‘oymaq’ (tribe)” Of pieces of writing that goes about Kazaks’ history, Mir Yaqub Dolat Oghli’s ‘Poetical Works’ are one of the best collections to study: “Kazakting arqa atasi, Batir Turik ‘Arap’ degen sozdin tubi shirik ‘Palen sahabanin zatimin’ dep Aldaqan din jamilqan ong key juyrik” “Kazak’s ancestor is Batir Turik Arab’s words are futile and nonsense saying we (Kazaks) are descendents of such and such a person they have deceived theologians” ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:18
|
In 1446 A.D, a Turk khan, named Ormanbet, died and some changes happened after his death. Princes and other khans (beyler), started to dispute, for power. Finally, in 1450, Abulxiyer Khan approved his superiority. And the separated groups were called ‘Kazak’.
“Ose kez bizding kazak atanqandik… Turikte bir adet dar eski zangdik: tamizip kanin sutke koship iship, antdasada eken, tuveskandik” “At that time, we were called Kazak… from old ages, there has been a tradition among Turks: they mix the clear blood and the mil, and then serve it; in this manner, they become co-oath” “Kuralqan mejlis kip ‘kazak’ ati, atdasip kan kosilqan karindasi, el bolip oz erkimen kochip konar degen soz ‘kazak’tin maqanasi…” “A session was hold; and the name ‘Kazak’ was picked up, promise- made, blood-mixed, they became brothers, the divided tribe, freely travels and lodges this is the meaning of the word ‘kazak’ ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:20
|
While AzJani Bek Khan was the leader of Kazak tribes, KaraKipchak Kobland, a famous national hero, killed one of Kazak khans. This was too much of trouble for AzJani Bek. So, to take vengeance, he gathered his army. Kobland Batir came to Abulxyer Khan to seek refuge.
Abulxyer Khan offered AzJani Bek to take three persons blood- money and instead, he should dispense killing Kobland. But AzJani Bek didn’t accept his proposal; he was displeased with the ‘Great khan’ so he moved to other ‘yurt’s: “Jalinqan ‘ush kishining kunin’ al dep almaqan ‘kerek emes bizge mal’ dep. bermegen, ‘abulxyer’ ‘koblandini’, kalqan el onu oltirsek buzilar dep. ‘He groaned and said: ‘take three persons blood- money’, it is told that he didn’t accept it. Abulxyer didn’t give Kobland back; He said: ‘the whole tribe would be offended, if I kill him,” “Ayrilip okpeleship, Kazak koshken Kipshakti, sharip- shansip katti oshikken O daqi Shaqatayding nesilinen ‘karaymiz tukluk temir xanqa’ desken” “Kazak disconnected from (the original); cheerless, moved; he furiously surprised Kiptchak; he was also the descendent of Chaghatay; he said: ‘we would remain related to Tukluk Temir” “Askerini ushke bolgen ‘AzJani Bek’ Uli juz, orta juz, kishi juz dep. ‘Shaqatay’ nesilinen ‘Ahmet Alash’, ustinen koshpeli elding turgan biylep.” “AzJani Bek divided his army into three parts, the big part, the center part, and the small part. Ahmad Alash, Shaqatay descendent, was the leader of nomads” “Bolsa da tukimi bir zati aralas, Sol kunde ‘Kazak- Kalmuk’ jerge talas. ‘Alash Batur’ ‘Alash’tin tuven tikti, Kalmuktar anin atin koyqan ‘Alash’” “While being of the same origin, For the land of Kazak and Kalmuk, quarreled Alash Batur elevated Alash’s flag and Kalmuks called that Alash.” ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:21
|
Between the years of 1511 and 1523, Kazem Khan, and later, two of his substitutes tried to unite Kazaks. In 17th century, Mongols offended them (for the last time).
Russians invaded ‘Ak Mashat’; Kazaks’ famous city at the coast of ‘Sir Derya’, in 1835. This time on, Kazak got used to living in cities and leaving nomadic life Kazakhstan’s first newspaper was published in 1910. In August 26th, 1920, Kazakhstan became one of the autonomous states of Russia. After the Insurrection of October, some Kazaks immigrated to Turkey and Iran. Iranian Kazaks are living in Chayboy (Gonbad-e Qabus), Qazaq Mahalle (Gorgan) and Bandar Turkmen, with Iranian Turkmens ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:23
|
Ulu juz:
Dulat, Adban, Suvan, Shabrasti, Asti, Oshakti, Saruysin, Jalayir, Kanakli, Shaniskili, Sirgeli … This point on, it can not be continued. Orta juz: Arqin, Kipshak, Konrat, Nayman, Vak, Kerey; they are called ‘Alti Ars’. Kuchuk (Kishi) juz: Alim oqli, bay oqli, yediru. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:23
|
Any of Kazak tribes have got its own secret sign. When a person of a tribe cries his tribal sign, all of the people related to this tribe should gather at a certain place. This is called ‘Uran Salv’; Jantekey is recognized by the secret sign of ‘Shaka bay’, for instance. The use is, for example, when somebody fights another, who has come from a different tribe. Or in wrestling and horse-riding matches, to show power, each tribe cries its own secret sign out loud.
‘Uran Salv’s: Jadik: Janat Jantekey: Shaka bay Karakas: Kaptaqay Molki: Mashan Servshi: Bay taylak Konsadak: Jabay Sarbas: SartoKay Iteli: Bukar bay Shibarayqir: Kojabergen Merkit: Kulsari Jastaban: Jobalay Siymoyin: Almanbet About the manners of different Kazak tribes, there goes a proverb: “Uli juzdi kovqa ber de malqa koy orta juzdi komshi ber de davqa koy kishi juzdi sungi ber de javqa koy” “Give the big part, a pail to take care of (domesticated) animals give the center part, a scourge to claim rights give the small part, a spear to fight the enemies” ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:26
|
The Kazak nation, from generation to generation, from its earliest origins to the present day, is based on a special tradition that virtually describes its national existence -- the "way of the elders."
The Kazak people came into existence gradually over many centuries. Tribes that had roamed far and wide across the steppes from prehistoric times became joined together through match-making and intermarriage, and eventually evolved into an indivisible, united nation. The newly emerging Kazak people developed a tradition of respecting their elders, a tradition that ethnographers have termed "the way of the elders." According to the "way of the elders," older persons were always given the first turn when entering a house, at meetings, during special occasions or festivities, when dividing military spoils, and at funeral ceremonies. In this way, the Kazak people created close relational ties and became brothers to each other. This was the beginning of the Kazak tradition, and the tradition lives on. For the Kazak people, obeying their elders and solving problems according to the advice of their elders proved to be beneficial social policies. And any Kazak person who violated these rules was punished. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:28
|
According to the ethno-territorial view, the Kazak people were divided into three parts, called the three "hundreds": "elder-hundred," "mid-hundred," and "younger-hundred." Their languages, traditions, religions, and most of their laws were the same. These laws came in several forms: "Ata-baba djoly," or the "way of the elders"; "Ereje," or rules; "Jarlyk," or announcements; "Turelyk," or ruling powers; and "Jurn-josyk," or the giving of advice. The general aim of these laws was to improve the lot of the Kazak people in all modes and aspects of life: electing a leader, entering into contracts, prohibiting marriage among blood relatives, providing for inheritance, preventing social disorder, eliminating thefts, providing for military discipline, and so on. All of these laws were based on a humanistic point of view, and had true democratic intentions, the foremost of which was to encourage honesty and fairness in dealing with one another. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:30
|
The Kazak people have always had a deep appreciation for the meaning of words. That is why they have poured their history and destiny, their highs and lows, and their joys and sorrows into their words. For example, a Kazak proverb says, "Livestock is the favor of my soul, and my soul is the favor of my conscience." This proverb was not meant to diminish the importance of conscience; the Kazak people have never been particularly interested in riches or wealth. They accept each other as friends, and always serve their guests as if they were gods. The Kazak proverb, "We all are the guests in this life," expresses the traditional respect that the Kazak people have had for each other. These views have led to the development of a culture of gift-giving, which like a smooth mirror reflects the peacefulness and mutual respect of the Kazak people. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:34
|
Law-breakers in traditional Kazak society were dealt with by the "Bees," or the leaders of small Kazak tribes. Many different kinds of arguments and hot disputes were settled honestly and openly before large crowds of people. The "Bees" were not mere politicians or lawyers; rather, the "Bee" had to know the entire history of the Kazak nation, and had to be a fine writer as well. Most "Bees" could capture the traditions and feelings of the Kazak people in a word or two. They based their rulings on a fair weighing of all relevant factors, and embellished their rulings with proverbs and aphorisms. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:35
|
During the seventh and eighth centuries, Islam began to spread to all of the territories of Kazakstan. Many of the traditions and laws of the Kazak people were compatible with Islam, as they were often based on the same ultimate goals. For example, the Kazak people traditionally prayed only to their "Taingir," or lord-god. Once Islam spread to Kazakstan, "Allah" became the "Taingir," and the two religions were thus merged, thereby becoming stronger and enabling the laws and traditions of Islam to be absorbed easily by the Kazak people.
However, there were some Kazak traditions and laws that were in contrast to Islam. As time passed, these conflicting traditions and laws became antiquated and disappeared. For example, before Islam, the Kazak people would bury the dead with meals and clothes; they would cut the ears of slaves, and pray to evil spirits. All of these things changed after the spread of Islam ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:36
|
The volume of Kazak tradition is quite large and sometimes complicated. The remainder of this essay will therefore focus on the family and marriage rights of the Kazak people.
In the early days of the Kazak people, matters of family and marriage were of the utmost importance. The family was seen as the very foundation of the society -- if the family is strong, then the society will also be strong, and so will the rules and order of the society. Such a society would surely be peaceful and tranquil. That is why parents sought to arrange for the marriage of their sons and daughters, encouraged intermarriage among persons from different tribes, and discouraged marriage between blood relatives; if one married one's relative, societal peace and harmony would likely be disrupted. There were certain formal rules concerning marriage in traditional Kazak society. Both the bride and groom must have reached at least eighteen years old (the age of majority), and be physically and mentally fit. The marriage was required to be based on consent, and two adult men were required as witnesses to the marriage. The parents of the bride and groom had to agree to treat each of them as if they were their own children -- however, the parents had no right to interfere with the inheritances of either the bride or the groom. In return, the marrying children were required to respect their parents and, in later years, to care for them. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:37
|
Kazak laws often carried severe punishments for violators. Children who failed to care for their parents, or otherwise hurt or offended them, were put to death. Also, anyone who committed the crime of rape was put to death, because the crime of rape was seen as a disgrace not only to the raped woman, but also to her family, her husband, and the entire society. The Kazak people disliked prostitution, and prostitutes were also put to death; it was believed that prostitution caused severe damage to society, because it produced out-of-wedlock children, furthered the spread of diseases, and tended to lead to other crimes and antisocial behavior.
Prior to the Russian occupation of Kazakstan, prostitution, out-of-wedlock children, neglect of elderly parents, and many other kinds of crimes and antisocial behavior were virtually unheard of. Alcohol played no role in traditional Kazak society, and theft was almost non-existent. Maybe that is why Kazakstan had no prisons, and most Kazak people did not even lock their doors -- if the doors were locked, others might think that the occupant of the home was inhospitable to guests. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:38
|
The Kazak people held a patriarchal view of the family, because they were cattle-breeders. Whenever they migrated from the steppes to the mountains and back again, they were forced to band together in extended family units in order to struggle with the forces of nature and to protect their lands and cattle. This was called "Ata-balasy," or the joining of "a grandfather's sons" into one tribe of extended relatives. In the summer, this tribe of "a grandfather's sons" would live together in "Jailau" (small steppes in the vicinity of the mountains); in autumn, they lived in "Kuzdeu" (a grassy kind of steppe); and in winter, they lived in "Kystau" (a steppe with little snow). At the head of the "Ata-balasy," there would be a noble, clever, elder "Aksakal," or white-moustached old man, to whom all members of the tribe would listen for advice. Each tribe lived in several separate "Auls" (small villages), but gathered together in one "Aul" whenever they needed to solve a problem. Each tribe was close-knit, and would never allow outsiders to spoil their friendship ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:39
|
The central house of a tribe was called "Kara Shanyrak." This house was sacred, and according to Kazak tradition, would pass from the "Aksakal" to his youngest son, and then to the youngest son's youngest son, and so on. All children who were raised in the "Kara Shanyrak," as well as all match-makers, brought presents -- "Sogym," or a kind of cattle meat which the Kazak people would eat in the winter -- to the "Kara Shanyrak." ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:40
|
Relatives would help each other when the Kazak saying, "Tuyskan byr olym, byr tyryde," means "You should be a relative when somebody dies and when somebody is born." The Kazak people lived happily by helping one another.
The husband played the primary role in Kazak family life, and all responsibility for the family's well-being rested with him. There were three kinds of relatives -- the husband's own (in other words, his father's) relatives, his mother's relatives (which included brothers and sisters, as well as the mother's parents), and his wife's relatives. All helped each other and shared with each other the joys and sorrows of life. Women also played an important role in their families. The Kazak people viewed women as mothers. Women were always free, and their husbands always consulted with them. Kazak women never worn "Paranja" (yashmak), as did the women in other Islamic countries in Asia. Kazak women traditionally enjoyed the same rights as Kazak men. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:41
|
The Kazak people have long considered it their duty to arrange for the marriage of their sons and daughters. Marriage was not only the joining of a bride and groom in one family; it was the joining of different families in one "El," or society. That is why the Kazak people paid so much attention to marriage and weddings.
------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:41
|
The match-making tradition of the Kazak people is a very interesting and prominent part of Kazak history. Parents always work out the details of the wedding ceremony, and the bride and groom obey their parents. After all, parents don't want to see their children unhappy!
In Kazakstan, it is said that "Match-makers are for a thousand years, and sons-in-law are for a hundred years." This proverb means that the relationship between two tribes will last for ages. Kazak match-making has its own traditions, ways, and rules, which evolved over many centuries. And these rules are followed whenever two Kazaks marry. First, the two lovers become engaged. "Engagement" means that the groom's parents go to the home of the bride's parents, and propose that the bride's parents give their daughter over to them. Next, the parents discuss the "Kalyn Mal," a sum of cattle (or something of similar value) that the groom's parents will give to the bride's parents. As a sign of their agreement, the groom's father gives ear-rings and "Uky" (the tender feathers of an owl) to the bride's father. If the bride's father later cancels the agreement, he must not only to return these gifts, but also pay a penalty to the groom's father. After the engagement, the groom's father gathers and sends to the bride's home a "Kudalar," or a group of five or six of his relatives. By traditional Kazak law, the bride's father was required to eat "Kuiryk baur," or grease with liver, with the "Kudalar." He would then give a "Kyit," or a present of one horse or cattle, to each member of the "Kudalar," according to their respective positions and ages. The "Kuiryk baur" marked an important stage of the traditional Kazak marriage ritual -- whenever two different tribes quarreled, the "Bee" would generally ask whether they had eaten "Kuiryk baur," and if the answer was "yes," then the "Bee" would apply a different set of rules and resolve the quarrel as one involving match-making. As for the "Kalyn Mal," the amount of the payment varied according to the wealth of the groom's father. "Kalyn Mal" can be divided into five types: a "hundred of forties" (one hundred sheep and forty cattle); a "hundred of twenties" (one hundred sheep and twenty cattle); "forty sevens" (forty sheep and seven cattle); "twelve cattle and zero" (only twelve cattle); and "eight cattle." The term "cattle" could be used to refer to either camels, horses, or cows. The next wedding tradition is "Ilu and Toymal," or a ceremonial hanging and a cattle, which were not included in the "Kalyn Mal." The groom's father gives "Ilu and Toymal" to the bride's parents, who in turn prepare "Gassap" (or dowry) and one cattle. For "Gassay," they might give a carpet, a beautiful trunk, some bedclothes, and other things for the home. For "Toymal," they might give two, five, or even ten cattle. Thus, the Kazak proverb: "If you receive 'Ily,' then you should give 'Gassay,' and if you receive 'Toymal,' then you should give cattle." At the time of the wedding party, the groom and his parents give the following presents to the bride's family: ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:42
|
1."Gengetay - baldyz korymdik" -- presents for the bride's sisters and sisters-in-law;
2."Kyz korsetere" -- presents (two cattle) for the women who will show the bride to the groom's parents; 3."Syt Akysy" -- a present for the bride's mother; 4."Gyrtys" -- presents for all other relatives; 5."Bosaga shapan" -- a present for the home, and so on. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:42
|
When the bride prepares to leave her parents, she sings a "Synsn" (a song about her past life, her childhood, etc.) and a "Koshtasu" (a parting song). Then she goes to the groom's home, where they make "Betashar" (or, "the face opening as a woman") and all of the groom's relatives give presents to her. The Kazak people cherish the newly married bride, calling her "Kelin." Her mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and the wives of her brothers-in-law, all help her and give her advice concerning everything around the house. Thus she becomes a new member of her husband's family.
When a recently married Kazak woman becomes pregnant, she is not allowed to perform difficult work. Her relatives hold a ceremony called "Kursak shashu," by which they celebrate the fact that she will soon have a baby. After the baby is born, the mother places special clothing on the baby, which is called "It jeide." Further traditions related to childbirth include: "Shyldekhana" (the first ceremony in a baby's life); "Bessyke saly" (the first time the baby is placed on a special bed); "Kyrkynan shigary" (a celebration after forty days); "At Koiu" (name-giving); "Kaz turguzu" (when the baby stands for the first time); "Tusaugn Kesu" (when the baby walks for the first time); and "Emshekten shygaru" (when the baby stops drinking the mother's milk). Kazak sons become Muslims at the age of five to seven. After a woman gives birth to her first child, she wears a "Saukele" (a special cloth for the head) and goes to her parents' home for "Toi Kynder," a special period of rest. Then, all of her relatives invite her to be their guest, and give "Sybaga" (presents) to her. Whenever Kazak parents are arranging their daughters' engagements, they usually try to match their daughters with older men. This is because, after a husband dies, the widow generally does not return to her parents. Instead, she is free to marry her husband's older or younger brothers, a practice known as "Amengerlyk." But, if the widow does not wish to remarry, that is her choice. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:43
|
This is only a brief sketch of the many rich traditions that surround marriage and family life among the Kazak people. Still, it is hoped that this essay will suffice to demonstrate that the family and marriage are among the most important aspects of traditional Kazak society ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:44
|
Kazak Language:
Alternate Names: Kazakh Number of Speakers: Approximately 11 million Key Dialects: Northeastern Kazak Southern Kazak Western Kazak Geographical Center: Kazakstan ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:45
|
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Kazak is the official language and principle native language of the Republic of Kazakstan. It is also spoken in southern Siberia, northwestern China (Sinkiang-Uighur) and northwestern Mongolia. It is one of the most widely spoken Turkic languages in central Asia. An estimated 11 million people speak Kazak: 6.5 million in Kazakstan (of which 98 percent speak it as a first language); 1.2 million in China; and 100,000 in Mongolia. Smaller groups of speakers can also be found in Iran and Afghanistan, as well as in expatriate communities in Turkey and Germany, and, to a lesser extent, throughout Europe (Grimes 1992). Fifty one percent of Kazakstan's total population (17.1 million) are ethnic Kazaks, 32.2 percent are Russian, and most of the rest are Slavs or Germans (CIA 1993). It should be noted that there is some terminological confusion in the literature about Kazak and Kyrgyz. Kazak as times has been called Kirghiz, Kirghiz-Kaisak, or Kazak-Kirghiz (and similar designations) especially prior to 1917. Kazak and Kyrgyz are now the current standard references for the languages and peoples of Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan respectively. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:45
|
LINGUISTIC AFFILIATION
Kazak is a member of the Central Turkic (or Aralo Caspian) group of languages, which also includes Kyrgyz (Kyrgyzstan) and other less well known languages, such as Karakalpak. Central Turkic isa sub-group of Common Turkic which also includes Turkish, Azerbaijani (Azeri), Uighur, and Uzbek. The Turkic languages,and the Mongolian Tungus (Manchu Tungusic) languages of Siberia and northeastern China, are major divisions of the Altaic family or phylum (see Ruhlen 1987). Some experts also consider Japanese and Korean part of this phylum, although evidence of this is debated. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:46
|
LANGUAGE VARIATION
The key dialects generally recognized within Kazak are Northeastern Kazak, Southern Kazak, and Western Kazak. Dialect differences are minor (Grimes 1992). Kazak and the other Turkic languages are closely related to one another, and there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility among them. For example, Kazak and Karakalpak are particularly close, with some scholars claiming that Karakalpak is actually a dialect of Kazak. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:46
|
ORTHOGRAPHY
Kazak, the language of a historically Muslim people, was written with the Arabic script until 1929; with the Roman alphabet from 1929 to 1940; and with the Cyrillic alphabet following Soviet occupation in 1940. This alphabet was modified slightly in 1954 and the Cyrillic now used employs the thirty three letters of standard Russian, plus several additional symbols for sounds specific to Kazak. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:47
|
LINGUISTIC SKETCH
Like all of the Turkic languages, Kazak is agglutinative, that is, grammatical functions are indicated by adding various suffixes to fixed stems. Separate suffixes on nouns indicate both gender and number, but there is no grammatical gender. There are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, and ablative; number is marked by a plural suffix. Verbs agree with their subjects in case and number, and, as in nouns, separate identifiable suffixes perform these functions. There are also suffixes for tense, aspect, and mood. Subject-Object-Verb word order in Kazak is a typical Turkic characteristic, but other orders are possible under certain discourse situations. As a SOV language where objects precede the verb, Kazak has postpositions rather than prepositions, and relative clauses that precede the verb. Kazak has eight vowels, and twenty-five to twenty-six consonants. It also has Turkic vowel harmony in which the vowels of suffixes must harmonize with the vowels of noun and verb stems; thus, for example, if the stem has a round vowel then the vowel of the suffix must be round, and so on. Words are usually stressed on the final syllable. Lexical influences include Arabic, Persian, and modern Russian ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:47
|
ROLE IN SOCIETY
In September 1989, the Kazakh Supreme Soviet established Kazak as the official language of the Republic with Russian remaining as the language of interethnic communication. This was opposed by many non Kazaks, chief among them a local branch of the Russian nationalist organization Yedinstvo. Nevertheless, the new constitution of January 1993 invoked the earlier legislation and also stipulated that the President of the Republic be a fluent speaker of Kazak (Europa Publications 1993). However, the majority of business and government affairs are still conducted in Russian. Most students in the primary and secondary education are still taught in Russian, although 33 percent do learn in the Kazak language (Europa Publications 1993) and there are attempts to extend Kazak language education. More Kazak language schools are being established, and ethnic Kazaks are sending their children to these schools in increasing numbers. Higher education is dominated by Kazaks (54 percent in 1984/85) since ethnic Russians choose to study outside the Republic. Traditional Kazak poetry singing contests are held more frequently, and Russian street signs and place names are being replaced by Kazak equivalents. In 1989, there were 160 officially registered Kazak language newspaper titles and thirty-one periodicals. Other languages represented in the media are Russian, Uyghur, German, and Korean. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:48
|
HISTORY
Kazak is originally descended from proto Turkic. The earliest written texts for the Turkic languages are the Old Turkic runic inscriptions of the Orkhon and Yenisey valleys (north central Mongolia) dating from 700 to 800. A dictionary of Turkic languages, compiled around 1000, demonstrated that various dialects were in use among the different Turkic tribes; however, it is not known when Kazak began to be considered a separate language. Kazak as it exists today began to take shape in the seventeenth century during the Modern Turkic Period, the last period of development in the Turkic languages. (Some experts place this date earlier, in the fifteenth or sixteenth century.) Kazak possesses a rich and ancient tradition of oral poetry, but did not exist in any standard written form until the middle of the nineteenth century. At this time Russians (who had been invading the territory intermittently since the early seventeenth century) essentially ruled the Kazaks and began suppressing their culture and their language. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:48
|
ACADEMIC RESOURCES
Kazak is taught in few universities in Canada or the United States. Programs are available at the University of Arizona and the State University of New York at Geneseo (Linguistic Society of America 1992). ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:50
Kyrghizes /SIZE]
Also spelled Kirgiz, or Kirghiz, Turkic-speaking people of Central Asia, most of whom live in Kyrgyzstan. Small numbers reside in Afghanistan, in western China, and in Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey. The Kyrgyz language belongs to the northwestern, or Kipchak, group of the Turkic languages. The people are Muslim in religion. Like other Central Asian peoples, the Kyrgyz were traditionally nomadic and pastoral. During the second half of the 19th century, Kirgiziya (the country's Russian name) became a major area of Russian colonization, and much of the best land was given to Russian settlers. This was a major causeof the revolt of 1916, in the suppression of which the Kyrgyz suffered very heavily; whole villages were put to the torch, and nearly a third of the Kyrgyz fled to China. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Kirgiziya was the scene of much guerrilla opposition to the Soviet regime. From 1926 to 1959 there was a heavy influx of Russians and Ukrainians into the area, and the proportion of Kyrgyz in the total population fell from about 66 percent to 40 percent. The development of agriculture and heavy industry, along with the growth of cities, did much to change the traditional Kyrgyz way of life ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:50
|
sorry for the mistake above... ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:51
|
Also spelled Kirgiz, or Kirghiz, Turkic-speaking people of Central Asia, most of whom live in Kyrgyzstan. Small numbers reside in Afghanistan, in western China, and in Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey. The Kyrgyz language belongs to the northwestern, or Kipchak, group of the Turkic languages. The people are Muslim in religion.
Like other Central Asian peoples, the Kyrgyz were traditionally nomadic and pastoral. During the second half of the 19th century, Kirgiziya (the country's Russian name) became a major area of Russian colonization, and much of the best land was given to Russian settlers. This was a major causeof the revolt of 1916, in the suppression of which the Kyrgyz suffered very heavily; whole villages were put to the torch, and nearly a third of the Kyrgyz fled to China. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Kirgiziya was the scene of much guerrilla opposition to the Soviet regime. From 1926 to 1959 there was a heavy influx of Russians and Ukrainians into the area, and the proportion of Kyrgyz in the total population fell from about 66 percent to 40 percent. The development of agriculture and heavy industry, along with the growth of cities, did much to change the traditional Kyrgyz way of life ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:51
|
Also spelled Kirgiz, or Kirghiz, member of the Turkic subfamily of Altaic languages. It is spoken in Kyrgyzstan and in the Pamir Mountains on the border between Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and China. The language belongs to the northwestern, or Kipchak, division of the Turkic languages and is closely related to Kazak, Karakalpak, and Nogay.
Kyrgyz is also the name of the Old Turkic language found in inscriptions of the Yenisey River valley in Russia. The relationship between the speakers of Old Kyrgyz and the speakers of Central Asian Kyrgyz is unclear. See also Turkic languages ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:52
|
officially Kyrgyz Republic , Kyrgyz Kyrgyz Respublikasy , formerly (1936–91) Kirgiziya , or Kirghizia , or Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic country of Central Asia. It is bounded by Kazakstan on the northwest and north, by China on the east and south, and by Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on the south and west. Most of Kyrgyzstan's borders run along mountain crests. The country's area totals approximately 76,600 square miles (198,500 square kilometres). The capital is Bishkek (known from 1862 to 1926 as Pishpek and from 1926 to 1991 as Frunze).
The Kyrgyz, a Muslim Turkic people, constitute more than half the population. The history of the Kyrgyz in what is now Kyrgyzstan dates at least to the 17th century. Kyrgyzstan, known under Russian and Soviet rule as Kirgiziya, was conquered by tsarist Russian forces in the 19th century. Formerly a constituent (union) republic of the U.S.S.R., Kyrgyzstan declared its independence on Aug. 31, 1991 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:53
|
The land
Relief Kyrgyzstan is, above all, a mountainous country. At its eastern extremity, next to the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China, rises Victory (Pobedy) Peak, at 24,406 feet (7,439 metres) Kyrgyzstan's highest peak. Mount Khan-Tengri (22,949 feet) is on the border with Kazakstan. These mountains stand in the core of the Tien Shan system, which continues eastward into China. On the southern border lie the Kok Shaal-Tau, Alay, Trans-Alay (Zaalay), and Atbashi ranges. To the southwest are two great hollows, the Fergana Valley and another valley close to Mount Khan-Tengri. The latter valley is bounded by the westward-thrusting arms of the Kungey-Alatau and Terskey-Alatau ranges and contains Lake Ysyk-Köl (Issyk-Kul), whose clear, deep waters arefed by the snow-covered peaks. The rugged mountain-and-basin structure of much of the country, and the high alpine plateau of the central and eastern regions, are separated from the Fergana Valley on the west by the Fergana Range, running southeast to northwest, which merges into the Chatkal Range. The Chatkal Range is linked to the Ysyk-Köl region by a final enclosing range, the Kyrgyz. The only other important lowlands in the country are the Chu and Talas river valleys in the north, with the capital, Bishkek, located in the Chu. The country's lowland areas, though occupying only one-seventh of the total area, are home to most of its people ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:54
|
Drainage
Snow and ice perpetually cover the crests of Kyrgyzstan's high mountain ranges. The Naryn River, draining into the Fergana Valley, continues northwestward as a tributary of the Syr Darya.The Chu River runs parallel to and forms part of the northern boundary with Kazakstan. Both the Chu and the Naryn are of major importance to the country ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:54
|
Climate
Kyrgyzstan's great distance from the oceans and the sharp change of elevation from adjacentplains strongly influence the country's climate. Deserts and plains surround Kyrgyzstan on the north, west, and southeast, making the contrast with the climate and landscape of its mountainous interior all the more striking. The lower parts of its fringing ranges lie in belts of high temperature and receive hot, drying winds from the deserts beyond. The amount of precipitation the country's westward- and northward-facing slopes receive increases with their height. The valleys have hot, dry summers, with a mean July temperature of 82° F (28° C). In January the average temperature is −0.5° F (−18° C). Annual precipitation varies from 7 inches (180 millimetres) in the eastern Tien Shan to 30 to 40 inches in the Kyrgyz and Fergana ranges. In the most populous valleys, rainfall ranges from 4 to 20 inches a year ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:55
|
Plant and animal life
Woodlands run along the lower valleys and on slopes of the north-facing ranges. These are coniferous forests, containing the striking Tien Shan white spruce and occupying 3 to 4 percent of the country's area. The brown bear, wild pig, lynx, gray wolf, and ermine live in the woodlands.Wooded ravines and the valleys of the mountainous steppe regions provide the abode of the argali, a mountain sheep, along with mountain goats, deer, and snow leopards. In the desert, yellow gophers, jerboas, hares, and a large-eared hedgehog are typical. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:55
|
Settlement patterns
Between 1926 and 1989 the urban portion of the Kyrgyz population grew from almost nothing to more than one-fifth, though the Kyrgyz remained a minority in most cities and towns. During this period fewer than one-fourth of the inhabitants of the capital, Frunze (now Bishkek), were Kyrgyz; Slavs made up more than half of the city's population. Town dwellers, largely non-Kyrgyz, comprise less than two-fifths of the country's total population. Southern Kyrgyzstan tends to be rural and Islāmic, but the more urbanized, Western-oriented north has traditionally dominated the country. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:55
|
The people
The Kyrgyz speak a language belonging to the northwestern, or Kipchak, group of the Turkic languages. They were formerly a transhumant (nomadic) people who were settled into collectivized agriculture by the Soviet regime. Besides Kyrgyz, the country's population includes minorities of Russians, Uzbeks, Ukrainians, and Germans (exiled to the region from European parts of the Soviet Union in 1941), as well as Tatars, Kazaks, Dungans (Hui; Chinese Muslims), Uighurs, and Tajiks. Since independence in 1991, many Russians and Germans have emigrated. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:56
|
The economy
The people of Kyrgyzstan have traditionally raised livestock and engaged in farming. By the late 20th century the republic had become a source for nonferrous metals, notably of antimony and mercury ores, and a producer of machinery, light industrial products, hydroelectric power, and food products. Gold mining has increased in importance, and Kyrgyzstan possesses substantial coal reserves and some petroleum and natural gas deposits. Hydroelectric power provides more than three-fourths of the country's electric energy. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:56
|
Agriculture
Industrialization has stimulated the mechanization of agriculture in Kyrgyzstan, and many types of machines necessary to cope with the largely mountainous terrain are manufactured in the republic. Unlike other Central Asian countries, Kyrgyzstan does not suffer from a lack of water; irrigation canals have increased agricultural output substantially, especially cotton production in the Fergana Valley, the country's main source for that crop. Livestock raising, the cultivation of cotton, fruit, vegetables, cereal grains, and tobacco, and wool production are the leading branches of agriculture. Most of the arable land is devoted to pasturage for livestock and to growing hay. Livestock consists mainly of sheep and goats, along with milk and beef cattle, notably in the Chu valley and the Ysyk-Köl littoral. Horses serve as draft animals as well as a source of meat; the Kyrgyzlike to drink koumiss, fermented mare's milk, and use it in courses of treatment at health resorts. Tobacco is cultivated in the Naukat Valley in the south and also in the Talas Valley of the north. Horticulture and viticulture are developed in the Chu River valley and the Fergana area, with themulberry trees of the latter supporting the raising of silkworms ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:57
|
Industry
The chief industries are the manufacture of machinery and electronic components, but food processing and light industries are also important and utilize local agricultural materials such as meat, fruit, and vegetables. Wool is the most exportable product, and mills weave cotton and silk fabrics, worsted cloth, and knitted garments. Leather goods are also produced ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:57
|
Transportation
Before 1924 the only railways in Kyrgyzstan were two narrow-gauge lines leading from the border areas to the coal deposits of Kok-Yangak and Sülüktü. The construction of a line from Bishkek through the Chu valley and over the border to Lūgovoe in Kazakstan joined the north of the republic to the Turkistan-Siberian main railway line and, through it, to southern Kazakstan and the entire railway network of the U.S.S.R. In 1948 a link extended the line up the valley from Bishkek (then called Frunze) to Ysyk-Köl (then called Rybachye) at the western tip of Lake Ysyk-Köl. Southern lines reached the coal mines at Tash-Kömür and Kyzyl-Kyya. Highways, nevertheless, have been developed as the basic answer to the topographic problemsconfronting land transportation. One main route climbs from Bishkek to Ysyk-Köl (with extensions along the north and south shores of Lake Ysyk-Köl), then swings south across difficult central terrain to Naryn and proceeds through the high Torugart Pass across the frontierwith China and down to the city of Kashgar in China. The other major artery, the “route beyond the clouds,” from Bishkek to Osh, crosses the Kyrgyz-Alatau crest through a 10,500-foot tunnel. An important southern link is provided by the road joining Osh, via the Alay Pass, to the Pamir region of Tajikistan. An offshoot runs eastward through Irkeshtam to Kashgar ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:58
|
Administration and social conditions
Government Kyrgyzstan's 1993 constitution, which replaced the Soviet-era constitution that had been in effect since 1978, recognizes numerous rights and freedoms for citizens. It establishes legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government but gives the president, who is the head of state, the ability to implement important policies or constitutional amendments througha national referendum. The new constitution originally created a unicameral parliament, but in 1994 voters approved a bicameral legislature, with a lower chamber (the Legislative Assembly) consisting of 35 nationally elected deputies and an upper chamber (the Assembly of People's Representatives) consisting of 70 regionally elected, part-time members. The president, elected directly for a maximum of two consecutive five-year terms, appoints the prime minister, the cabinet, and members of the high courts, subject to approval by the parliament. The president also appoints the administrators of Kyrgyzstan's six oblasti (provinces). The judicial branch includes local courts and three high courts: the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Economic Court, for commercial cases. During the Soviet period, the Communist Party of Kirgiziya (CPK), a branch of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), determined the makeup of the government and dominated the political process. The CPK transformed itself into the People's Democratic Party during the Soviet Union's collapse and declined in influence after Kyrgyzstan, in contested elections in 1989, had gained its first democratically elected president, Askar Akayev, a former university professor and computer scientist. Informal political groups such as Ashar (“Solidarity”) have since helped to open up the political process further. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:58
|
Education
Kyrgyzstan's schools and colleges have undergone a drastic reorganization since emerging from the ideological control of the Communist Party. The republic made Kyrgyz the official state language in 1989, and since that time Kyrgyz has begun to play a primary role in education; whole generations of students previously received much of their training entirely in Russian, which was obligatory. As a consequence, the Kyrgyz language lacked a thoroughly modern technical vocabulary. Another obstacle to research and scholarship is the general lack of competence in European languages among educated Kyrgyz. After independence Kyrgyzstan's contacts with the outside world increased dramatically, with Kyrgyz students, scholars, and officials traveling to Middle Eastern and Western countries for specialized and technical training. The Kyrgyz Academy of Sciences and Kyrgyz State University, both in Bishkek, are the major institutions of higher education ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:58
|
Health and welfare
Kyrgyzstan, along with the other Central Asian republics, suffers from one of the highest rates of infant morbidity and mortality among the world's developed countries. Medical care is substandard; Kyrgyzstan's standard of living and educational and economic levels are among the lowest of the former Soviet republics ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:59
|
Cultural life
Starting in the 1920s and '30s, several Kyrgyz-language newspapers appeared regularly in the republic, but they were subject to Soviet censorship. With the collapse of Moscow's control over the press, the editorial policies of the republic's publications have changed noticeably, and new press outlets have appeared, though press freedom has occasionally been curtailed. Kyrgyzstan has a television network, extensive radio broadcasting, cinemas, and theatres. Kyrgyz cultural life has been greatly influenced by the rich oral literary tradition (including epic cycles and lyric poetry) of the region, by the development of a modern literary language, and by the change from the Arabic alphabet to Roman and finally to Cyrillic (with diacritical markings added) beginning in 1940. The Kyrgyz planned a return to the Roman alphabet in the 1990s, in concert with the other Turkic-speaking countries of Central Asia. Kyrgyz folk singers still recite the lengthy verse epic Manas and other heroic and lyric poetry, often to the accompaniment of the three-stringed komuz , which is plucked like a lute. During the Soviet period Kyrgyz poets strove to adjust their writings to communist ideology and the tenets of Socialist Realism. But the character of Kyrgyz cultural life has undergone considerable change in the wake of the dissolution of the Communist Party and the cessation of its tight ideological controls. The Kyrgyz take pride in the renown of Chingiz Aytmatov, a novelist and storywriter who wrote mainly in Russian but also in Kyrgyz. His Povesti gor i stepey (1963; Tales of Mountains and Steppes) and the more recent I dol'she veka dlit'sia den' (1980; The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years) and Plakha (1986; The Place of the Skull) have received wide circulation in Russian and in English translations. Aytmatov's play Voskhozhdenie na Fudziiamu (1973; The Ascent of Mt. Fuji), written with Kazak playwright Kaltay Muhamedjanov, discusses rather openlythe moral compromises made under the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. This play created a sensation when it was first staged in Moscow in 1973 and later in English-language productions abroad. State-sponsored folk dance troupes, a theatre of opera and ballet, and the Kyrgyzstan Philharmonic Orchestra perform in concert halls and theatre buildings erected during the Soviet period. The Museum of History and the Arts is located in Bishkek. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:59
|
History
Kyrgyz history can be traced at least to the 1st century BC. The probable abodes of the early Kyrgyz were in the upper Yenisey River valley of central Siberia, and the Tashtyk culture (1st century BC–5th century AD), an amalgam of Asiatic and European peoples, may have been theirs. Chinese and Muslim sources of the 7th–12th centuries AD describe the Kyrgyz as red-haired with fair complexion and green (blue) eyes. They were viewed as a forest-dwelling “northern” people who used skis and practiced shamanism. In the mid-9th century the Kyrgyz, by then certainly Turkic-speaking, overthrew the Uighur empire in Mongolia but did not settle there; they essentially remained a people of the forest. According to the Persian geography Hudud al-'Alam (982), the Kyrgyz lived at the edge of the “Uninhabited Lands of theNorth”; the 11th-century grammarian Maḥmud al-Kāshgharī mentions that their language was Turkic. Because of their secluded habitats the Kyrgyz remained outside the mainstream of Inner Asian history, a fact that allowed them to survive the Mongol deluge that completely altered the Inner Asian political landscape. In 1207 the Kyrgyz surrendered to Genghis Khan's son Jöchi. By so doing they not only escaped destruction but also remained beyond the immediate reach of Islām. In the late 16th century shamanism was still flourishing among them. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 15:59
|
By the 16th–17th century most of the remaining Kyrgyz tribes lived in the Tien Shan range as mountain nomads, divided into two wings (left and right), though the advancing Russians still encountered remnants of the Yenisey branch of the Kyrgyz. In 1703, under pressure from the Dzungars (a tribe of western Mongols), the Yenisey Kyrgyz moved to the Semirechye, but hostilities between the two peoples continued until China's defeat of the Dzungar leader Amursana in 1757. In the mid-18th century, nominally at least, the Kyrgyz became part of the Ch'ing (Manchu) empire of China. Between 1825 and 1830 they were conquered by Muhammad Ali, the khan of Kokand; Bishkek (Pishpek), the future capital city of the Kyrgyz, was built by that khanate. Through these contacts, Islām was gradually adopted by the more southern Kyrgyz, although it has remained merely a veneer on the national culture. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:00
|
Between 1835 and 1858 two Tien Shan Kyrgyz tribes, the Sarybagysh and the Bugu, engaged ina fratricidal war in which both sides alternately sought and obtained Kokandian or Russian help. In 1855 the Bugu voluntarily submitted to the Russians, and it was at their request that the Russians built the fort of Aksu in 1863.
The Kyrgyz tribes thus entered the modern era divided, harassed by Russians and Kokandians alike. The periodic revolts of the southern Kyrgyz against the Kokand khanate in the mid-19th century received no Russian support. But Russian immigration into Kyrgyz territories, rather than warfare, posed the real threat to Kyrgyz existence. Poor Russian peasants escaping from servitude and famine appropriated the winter pasturelands of the Kyrgyz, forcing them to move into the mountains. The Russian colonists did teach the Kyrgyz some new agricultural techniques, but on the whole their impact was nothing short of disastrous. In 1916 Kyrgyz discontent erupted in a serious revolt, which was met with brutal and prolonged repression that continued even after the fall of Russia's tsarist regime. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:00
|
Under Soviet rule the Kyrgyz found it difficult to assert themselves as a separate national entity. Confusion concerning their very name persists in the West because under the tsars the Kyrgyz were wrongly labeled Kara-Kirgiz in order to distinguish them from the Kazaks, whom the Russians called Kirgiz to distinguish them from the Cossacks (Russian: Kazaky). In 1924 an autonomous Kirgiz oblast was created within the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. In 1926 its status was transformed into that of an autonomous republic, and in 1936 a full union republic was created, the Kirgiz Soviet Socialist Republic, often called Kirgiziya.
In the second half of the 20th century, economic progress and general modernization did not succeed in eradicating tensions between Russians and Kyrgyz. Among the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan was perhaps the most eager to obtain full independence. After more than 1,000 years of disunity, statelessness, and foreign subjection, Kyrgyzstan joined the world's independent nations on Aug. 31, 1991. Under the reformist president Askar Akayev, Kyrgyzstan became the most democratic and Western-oriented of the Central Asian republics. However, during the early and mid-1990s Kyrgyzstan experienced sharp economic decline, in part because of a shortage of raw materials and the emigration of many Russian and German professionals. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:01
 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:03
 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:23
 ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:35
|
Social Structure
The age-old geographic separation of pockets of the Kyrgyz population has tended to reinforce conservatism in all of the country's society. The modern Kyrgyz still apply great significance to family and clan origins. The majority of Kyrgyz continued a nomadic lifestyle until the Soviet campaigns of forcible collectivization forced them first into transitional settlements and then into cities and towns or state and collective farms in the 1930s. Within the centralized farm systems, however, many Kyrgyz continued to move seasonally with their herds. There has been strong resistance to industrial employment ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:36
|
Clans
Kyrgyz identity in public and private life is said to be determined primarily by membership in one of three clan groupings known as "wings" (right, or ong ; left, or sol ; and ichkilik , which is neither) and secondarily by membership in a particular clan within a wing. The history of this grouping is unknown, although several legends explain the phenomenon. The left wing now includes seven clans in the north and west. Each of the seven has a dominant characteristic, and all have fought each other for influence. The Buguu warrior clan provided the first administrators of the Kyrgyz Republic under the Soviet Union; when the purges of Stalin eradicated their leaders in the 1930s, their place was taken by a second northern warrior clan, the Sarybagysh, who have provided most Kyrgyz leaders since that time, including Akayev. The right wing contains only one clan, the Adygine. Located in the south, the Adygine are considered the most genuinely Kyrgyz clan because of their legendary heritage. The southern Ichkilik is a group of many clans, some of which are not of Kyrgyz origin, but all of which claim Kyrgyz identity in the present. Acutely aware of the roles each of the clans traditionally has played, the Kyrgyz are still very conscious of clan membership in competing for social and economic advantage. Support for fellow clan members is especially strong in the northern provinces. Kyrgyz men frequently wear traditional black-on-white felt headgear, which informs others of their clan status and the degree of respect to be accorded them. Larger clans are subdivided by origin and by the nobility of their ancestors; although there is no prohibition of advancement for those of non-noble descent, descent from a high-born extended family still is considered a social advantage. Like other Central Asian groups, the Kyrgyz venerate history and see themselves as part of a long flow of events. A traditional requirement is the ability to name all the people in the previous seven generations of one's family. Clan identity extends this tradition even further, to the legendary origins of the Kyrgyz people. Kyrgyz clans are said to spring from "first fathers," most of whom appear in both oral legends and in history. Clan history and genealogy are entrusted to tribal elders, whose ongoing knowledge of those subjects makes falsification of lineage difficult. Because clan identity remains an important element of social status, however, Kyrgyz do sometimes claim to have descended from a higher branch of their clan than is actually the case. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:37
|
Domestic Life
The Kyrgyz are classified as nomadic pastoralists, meaning that they traditionally have herded sheep, horses, or yaks, following the animals up and down the mountains as the seasons change. The basic dwelling is the yurt, a cylindrical felt tent easily disassembled and mounted on a camel or horse. The image of a yurt's circular smoke opening is the central design of Kyrgyzstan's flag. Various parts of the yurt have ritual significance. Because the herding economy continues in many parts of the country, the yurt remains a strong symbol of national identity. Families living in Western-style dwellings erect yurts to celebrate weddings and funerals. Traditional domestic life centers on the flocks. The diet of the nomads is limited to mutton and noodles; fruit and vegetables are rare even in today's Kyrgyz cuisine. The most traditional dishes are besh barmak , a mutton stew, and roast lamb. For ceremonial meals, the lamb is killed without spilling its blood, and the head is served to the guest of honor, who slices portions of the eyes and ears and presents them to other guests to improve their sight and hearing. Horsemeat is eaten fresh and in sausages. Traditional beverages are kumys , fermented mare's milk, and two varieties of beer. Family traditions continue to demonstrate the patriarchal and feudal character of a nomadic people. Family relations are characterized by great respect for older family members and the dominance of male heads of households. Traditional celebrations of special events retain the markings of religious and magical rites. For example, the cutting of a child's umbilical cord is celebrated with elaborate consumption of food and humorous games. The naming of a child and the cutting of the child's hair are conducted in such a way as to appease supernatural forces. The full observance of the most important family event, the wedding celebration, requires considerable expense that relatively few Kyrgyz can afford: payment for a bride, dowry, animal sacrifice, and an exchange of clothing between the relatives of the bride and the groom. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:37
|
The Role of Women
In traditional Kyrgyz society, women had assigned roles, although only the religious elite sequestered women as was done in other Muslim societies. Because of the demands of the nomadic economy, women worked as virtual equals with men, having responsibility for chores such as milking as well as child-rearing and the preparation and storage of food. In the ordinary family, women enjoyed approximately equal status with their husbands. Kyrgyz oral literature includes the story of Janyl-myrza, a young woman who led her tribe to liberation from the enemy when no man in the tribe could do so. In the nineteenth century, the wife of Khan Almyn-bek led a group of Kyrgyz tribes at the time of the Russian conquest of Quqon. In modern times, especially in the first years of independence, women have played more prominent roles in Kyrgyzstan than elsewhere in Central Asia. Since 1991 women have occupied the positions of state procurator (the top law enforcement official in the national government), minister of education, ambassador to the United States and Canada, and minister of foreign affairs. Women have also excelled in banking and business, and the editor of Central Asia's most independent newspaper, Respublika , is a woman. Roza Otunbayeva, who was minister of foreign affairs in 1996, has been mentioned frequently as a successor to Akayev. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:38
|
Ethnic Traditions
The Kyrgyz also have retained a strong sense of cultural tradition. Figures from the 1989 Soviet census show that Kyrgyz males were the least likely of the men of any Soviet nationality to marry outside their people (only 6.1 percent of their marriages were "international") and that Kyrgyz women did so in only 5.8 percent of marriages. Moreover, although the degree of such changes is difficult to measure, Kyrgyz "mixed" marriages seem uncommonly likely to assimilate in the direction of a Kyrgyz identity, with the non-Kyrgyz spouse learning the Kyrgyz language and the children assuming the Kyrgyz nationality. Even ordinary citizens are thoroughly familiar with the Kyrgyz oral epic, Manas , a poem of several hundred thousand lines (many versions are recited) telling of the eponymous Kyrgyz hero's struggles against invaders from the east. Many places and things in Kyrgyzstan, including the main airport, bear the name of this ancient hero, the one-thousandth anniversary of whose mythical adventures were cause for great national celebration in 1995. ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:39
|
Tush kyiz are large, elaborately embroidered wall hangings, traditionally made in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan by elder women to commemorate the marriage of a son or daughter.
Colors and designs are chosen to symbolize Kyrgyz traditions and rural life. Flowers, plants, animals, stylized horns, national designs and emblems of Kyrgyz life are often found in these ornate and colorful embroideries. Designs are sometimes dated and signed by the artist upon completion of the work, which may take years to finish. The Tush kyiz is hung in the yurt over the marriage bed of the couple, and symbolize their pride in their Kyrgyz tradition ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |
Posted By: gok_toruk
Date Posted: 29-Jul-2005 at 16:40
|
When Kyrgyzstan joined the Soviet Union in 1926, the people began to lead a more settled, less nomadic life, abandoning their yurt life for homes or apartments in town. In the summer, however, many would still take their yurts, shyrdaks and tush kyiz to the mountains where they would live during the warm summer months and graze their livestock. During the 63 years of Soviet rule, Kyrgyz women sometimes incorporated Soviet emblems into their tush kyiz to symbolize how Kyrgyzstan had embraced Soviet socialism and the idea of the proletariat.
The tush kyiz embroideries have been a family tradition among these mountain people for centuries, but among the last two generations of women, the tradition has almost completely died out. Modern women are more interested in developing worldly skills and have given up most handicrafts. Shyrdaks (felt rugs) are still being made because these have always been an item for sale to the general public. Tush kyiz, on the other hand, have always been created as a deeply personal family heirloom, symbolizing for a newly married couple their union with family, regional and national tradition ------------- Sajaja bramani totari ta, raitata raitata, radu ridu raitata, rota. |