Kyrgyzstan

Population: 5,550,239 (est.)

Language(s): Kyrgyz, Russian

Capital: Bishkek

Interesting Facts:

• The Kyrgyzstani som is the official currency of Kyrgyzstan.
• Islam is the dominant religion of Kyrgyzstan: 80% of the population is Muslim while 17% follow Russian Orthodoxy and 3% other religions.
• Kyrgyzstan follows the system of a ‘Republic’.
• Kyrgyzstan has the lengthiest epic in the world, “Manas” a Kyrgyz epic poem with 500,000 lines.
• The most famous national drink is horse milk “kumyz”.
• Kyrgyzstanis the only country in the whole of Central Asia to have Russian as one of its official languages.
• The main industries of Kyrgyzstan include small machinery, textiles, food processing, cement, shoes and sawn logs.

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country located in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.

Despite Kyrgyzstan’s struggle for political stabilization among ethnic conflicts^, revolts, economic troubles, transitional governments, and political party conflicts, it maintains a unitary parliamentary republic.

A revolution in April 2010 overthrew the former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and resulted in the adoption of a new constitution and the appointment of an interim government. Elections for the Kyrgyz Supreme Chancellor were held in November 2011.

The national language, Kyrgyz, is closely related to the other Turkic languages, with which it shares strong cultural and historical ties. Kyrgyzstan is one of the active members of the Turkic Council and the TÜRKSOY community. Kyrgyzstan is also a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Community, the Non-aligned movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Source: Wikipedia

Related:

Uzbekistan Kazakhstan Tajikistan Asia Turkmenistan Mongolia Taiwan Pakistan