Kyrgyz and Uzbek Scholars Mull Promoting Citizens of Central Asian Countries to Identify as ‘Central Asians’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 10 – Researchers from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan believe that the countries of Central Asia should encourage their citizens to identify in the first instance as “Central Asians” so as to provide a foundation for the increasing cooperation among the states in that region.

            At a meeting is Bishkek, the Uzbekistan Institute for Strategic and Interregional Studies and the Kyrgyzstan  Institute for Strategic Initiatives, both of which serve as advisors to their respective presidents, met with representatives of the Swiss PeaceNexus Foundation and came up with a draft concept paper on this (cronos.asia/news/tsentralnoaziat-kto-on-takoy-i-zachem-nuzhen-regionu/).

            The draft concept calls for “coordinating efforts in the humanitarian, information, cultural, educational and other areas” to support among the populations of the five Central Asian countries “a sustainable sense of regional affiliation” and thus support the growing importance of Consultative Meetings of the Chiefs of State there.

            Not even all the participants in the Bishkek meeting think that the idea is a good one. The Kyrgyz hosts, for example, described themselves as “guests” rather than “participants” in the meeting and no one is sure what role Azerbaijan would have in such an effort even though it is increasingly integrated in the chiefs of state meetings.

            The concept paper defines a Central Asian as someone who “while maintaining his ethnic, civil and religious identity also feels that he or she belongs to the community of peoples of the region, one with a common historical memory, the values of good neighborliness and peace loving, and mutual respect for their cultural and linguistic distinctions.”

            Given that, it is unclear how far this project may go; and one thing limiting it still further is that like the meetings of the region’s chiefs of state, the Central Asian identity uses Russian as the common language, even though that language was imposed from the outside. Unless that changes, there is a danger that this idea could be hijacked by Moscow to weaken the states.

            But the participants at the Bishkek meeting expressed confidence that the Central Asian identity they want to promote would be very different from the slightly and even offensive "Central Asia" identity that some in Moscow promote and that, because of that, it may take off as more people become familiar with the concept paper.