Editing Kyrgyzstan (section)

===Languages===
{{main|Languages of Kyrgyzstan}}
[[File:Kyrgyz traditionalscript 2.jpg|thumb|The name of Kyrgyzstan rendered in the [[Kyrgyz alphabets|traditional script]] in use from the 13th century to 1920 ]]
[[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]] is the state language of Kyrgyzstan. [[Russian language|Russian]] is additionally an official language. 
Kyrgyzstan is one of five former Soviet republics to have Russian as a ''[[de jure]]'' [[official language]], along with Russia, [[Belarus]], [[Kazakhstan]], and [[Tajikistan]].<ref name="auto1">{{Cite web |title=Constitution of the Republic of Tajikistan |url=http://www.unesco.org/education/edurights/media/docs/ae8c0f7576f3d9f63ff2055592a9cb6b7f95227a.pdf |access-date=8 April 2021 |publisher=UNESCO}}</ref> After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyz was adopted as the state language of Kyrgyzstan in 1991. Kyrgyzstan adopted Russian as an official language in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Закон КР от 29 мая 2000 года № 52 Об официальном языке Кыргызской Республики |trans-title=Law of the Kyrgyz Republic No. 52 of May 29, 2000 — On the Official Language of the Kyrgyz Republic. |url=https://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/443/edition/427547/ru |website=Централизованный банк данных правовой информации Кыргызской Республики}}</ref> The languages have different legal statuses.

Kyrgyz is a [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] language of the [[Kipchak languages|Kipchak]] branch, closely related to [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Karakalpak language|Karakalpak]], and [[Nogay language|Nogay Tatar]]. It was written in the [[Arabic alphabet]] until the twentieth century. The [[Latin alphabet|Latin script]] was introduced and adopted on Stalin's orders in 1928, and was subsequently replaced by [[Cyrillic script#Kyrgyz|Cyrillic script]] in 1941.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Kyrgyzstan: Latin (alphabet) fever takes hold {{!}} Eurasianet |work=Eurasianet |url=https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyzstan-latin-alphabet-fever-takes-hold |access-date=2021-01-05}}</ref> A reformed Perso-Arabic alphabet, created by the Kyrgyz intellectual and scientist [[Kasym Tynystanov]] is the official script of the Kyrgyz language in the People's Republic of China.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kyrgyz |url=https://celcar.indiana.edu/materials/language-portal/kyrgyz/index.html |access-date=2021-09-18 |website=Center for Languages of the Central Asian RegionS |archive-date=18 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210918164248/https://celcar.indiana.edu/materials/language-portal/kyrgyz/index.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a result of the pending language reform in neighboring Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan will be the only independent [[Turkic languages|Turkic-speaking country]] in a few years that exclusively uses the Cyrillic alphabet.<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 December 2019 |title='Only Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia insists on Cyrillic' — Tokayev |url=https://www.for.kg/news-626083-en.html |access-date=26 December 2021 |website=FOR.kg}}</ref> In April 2023, Russia suspended dairy exports to Kyrgyzstan after the chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Commission for the State Language and Language Policies, Kanybek Osmonaliev, proposed to change the official script from Cyrillic to Latin to bring the country in line with other Turkic-speaking nations. Osmonaliev was reprimanded by President [[Sadyr Japarov]] who then clarified that Kyrgyzstan had no plans to replace the Cyrillic alphabet.<ref>[https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-kyrgyzstan-dairy-products-banned-cyrillic-latin/32373802.html Russia Suspends Dairy Products From Kyrgyzstan After Calls In Bishkek To Drop Cyrillic Script]. [[Radio Free Europe]], 21 April 2023. Retrieved 22 June 2023</ref>

Russian TV media enjoy enormous popularity in Kyrgyzstan, especially in the deeply [[russification|Russified]] [[Bishkek|city of Bishkek]] and the [[Chüy Region]], despite the percentage of Russians today being a fraction of that in 1989. According to [[World Values Survey]] in 2020, Russian was the language spoken at home for 55.6% of the population of Bishkek, and Kyrgyz was the second with 43.6%. However, the countrywide figure for the Russian was only 16.3%, whereas Kyrgyz was the home language of 70.9%. [[Uzbek language]] was the third most spoken home language with 10.7% according to the same survey.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WVS Database |url=https://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/WVSOnline.jsp |access-date=2024-09-24 |website=www.worldvaluessurvey.org}}</ref> Russian media outlets have an enormous influence on public opinion in Kyrgyzstan, especially in areas such as [[human rights]] and international political developments.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Major Russian TV Channel Sidelined in Kyrgyzstan |work=Jamestown |url=https://jamestown.org/program/major-russian-tv-channel-sidelined-in-kyrgyzstan/}}</ref>

Many business and political affairs are carried out in Russian. Until recently, Kyrgyz remained a language spoken at home and was rarely used during meetings or other events. However, most parliamentary meetings today are conducted in Kyrgyz, with simultaneous interpretation available for those not speaking Kyrgyz. According to an [[RFE/RL]] article from 2014, despite the attempts to raise the status of Kyrgyz, thousands of Kyrgyz are russifying their names every year (around 40,000), mostly for career prospects, and to remove themselves from the Russian blacklists (people who are to be deported upon entrance) by registering different names. There are also many Russian-language medium schools that are supported from the Russian foundations via the embassy of Russia in Bishkek which are better funded than the Kyrgyz language medium schools. Due to this, many ethnic Kyrgyz go to Russian language medium schools. Many high school students change their surnames annually; for example, 800 such changes were recorded in high school students in the region of Naryn.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Aidarov |first1=Jenish |last2=Recknagel |first2=Charles |date=10 December 2014 |title=In Kyrgyzstan, A New Interest In Russified Names |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/kyrgyzstan-russified-names-central-asian-migrants/26735415.html |access-date=2022-08-01}}</ref>