From Nonintervention to Strict Control: Explaining Changes in Policy on Religion of Kyrgyz Republic 1991-2014

Abstract

For over sixty years religion was strongly influenced by the Soviet atheistic ideology in fifteen republics of USSR among which were five Central Asian states: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Only after the collapse of the Soviet Union the dominant faith of the region in Central Asia – Islam became one of the most important and widely practiced elements of nation building process. Since 1991, when Central Asian states gained independency, till modern days Islam has a great impact in political, economic and social spheres in the region. Following that, there is a big discourse among researchers, analysts, observers and politicians on whether the given emphasis on religion in all spheres of life in five Central Asian states is a good thing or not. The main focus of this project is religion in the most democratic state among all five Central Asian states, Kyrgyzstan. It aimed to bring attention to the ongoing issue on reformation of the national policy in religious sphere in Kyrgyzstan. Why to pay such a close attention to religion in independent, democratic and secular state of Kyrgyzstan? Why have the Kyrgyz government’s policies toward religion changed over time? These and some other questions will be addressed further in the paper, which will serve as the comparative analyses of previous attempts in monitoring the state’s religious sphere and might be possibly viewed as a checklist of what should and should not be included into the new national policy in religious sphere of Kyrgyzstan itself.