December 2003

World View

For The Kyrgyz of Batkin Oblast in Kyrgystan

It is the most remote, newest, poorest and most volatile of the country’s states. Dominated by a large mountain range and encircled on three sides by two other countries, this oblast (province) is far removed from the country’s capital city and other large population centers. The 400,000 citizens are drawn almost equally from three Turkic people groups, the Kyrgyz, the Uzbek, and the Tajik. These three distinct, ancient cultures sometimes blend harmoniously and sometimes clash unpleasantly. It is a troubled land of spectacular natural beauty, faded industrial might, interethnic tensions and warm-hearted people.

Standard of life in Batkin oblast

Batkin is one of several oblasts (provinces) in Kyrgyzstan that has dropped from wealth to poverty since the country's independence from the former Soviet Union. During a by-gone era, this state was a major mining and industrial region. Large deposits of high quality coal were mined, usually in open pit mines, providing fuel for the entire union of countries. After independence of the country in the early 1990’s, all these operations either reduced production by 90-95% or closed completely. As industries shut down, many of the managers, engineers and other specialists associated with them departed the small country for better prospects. The resulting “brain drain” and unemployment devastated this remote, but once relatively prosperous region. Some of these towns have lost as much as 80% of their pre-independence population.

The Kyrgyz people are the majority people group by a slight margin over the other ethnic groups. They traditionally have been shepherds, moving their flocks of sheep and herds of horses deep into the mountains in the summer to graze on the rich, luxuriant grasses of the alpine meadows. Even this simple livelihood, though, has become dangerous in this state. In an act of unprovoked hostility, a neighboring government secretly buried landmines in mountain pastures on this country’s side of their common border, which resulted in the deaths of several shepherds and the loss of many animals. Despite indignant demands by the state and national governments for the removal of the landmines from the territory, or at least a map

Social structure

Kyrgyz society is organised around tribal organisations and clans. People tend to marry within their own clan. Community leaders are traditionally the senior members of a clan, but the most esteemed members of society are tribal leaders. Today these leaders fill most of the regional and national government positions.
Kyrgyz women, particularly those of nomadic families, bear heavy workloads. Aside from domestic chores, they are responsible for spinning, weaving, milking and sometimes even herding. Additionally, it is the woman’s job to assemble and take down the tents when the family moves. However, Kyrgyz women also enjoy more freedoms in the areas of dress and speech than their Central Asian counterparts. They may talk freely to men, ride unaccompanied on the grasslands, and are not required to wear veils.

Births, circumcisions, weddings and funerals provide occasions for feasting, generosity and gaining recognition. People judge a host’s importance by the number of animals slaughtered for a feast, how far tribal chiefs will travel to participate and whether or not an event exceeds the expectations of the guests.
Religious life and Islam

Although the Kyrgyz converted to Islam in the 17th century, today they practice a hybrid of shamanism, black magic and Islam. They are fascinated with black magic and devoted to television programs that air demonstrations of this power. Many Kyrgyz resort to shaman priests or priestesses to cure sickness, communicate with spirits and control events in their lives. In spite of this, villages are experiencing a resurgence of conservative Islam. Government officials have resisted pressure to turn Kyrgyzstan into an Islamic state, and fear that religious extremism could destabilize the country. For this reason, they encourage interfaith dialogue and recognize both Muslim and Christian holidays.

Contact with Christianity

Although the Kyrgyz enjoy religious freedom, they are one of the least evangelized people groups of their size in the world. There has been some openness to the gospel, however, and since 1991, the number of indigenous believers has risen from nine to a few thousand. The New Testament is available in Kyrgyz, as is the Jesus Film and limited Christian radio broadcasts. The least fundamentally Islamic of all the Central Asian republics, Kyrgyzstan may be the most strategic for evangelism.

In the Batkin oblast, though, there are no known believers. Some people who have emigrated for economic reasons from this oblast to the capital have become believers and long for their families to know Jesus. Some national evangelists have visited the region, but none live there. Please pray for God to send messengers to live in this area to take the riches of Christ to these impoverished peoples.
Economic and Political strife in Batkin
“Shuttle traders” are small business operators who travel back and forth across the border, buying and selling a variety of goods. Everything from car parts and motor oil to fruits and vegetables to cotton and silk fabrics to house wares and toys change hands daily. Despite the international border, this is faster and cheaper than bringing merchandise from within the country since several towns in the neighboring country are much closer to this state than any major trade center within their own country. These independent merchants are vital to the local economy, but they are suffering at the hands of border police and customs officials. They routinely face confiscation of goods, ethnically motivated hostility, Byzantine government regulations and the ever-present extortion of bribes.
Although the glacier-capped mountains are breathtaking, there is little arable land, so growing food crops is difficult. Consequently, disputes over land use and distribution are frequent and heated. Access to water is another pressing issue. Despite large reservoirs of fresh water in glaciers, lakes and rivers, almost 30% of the population has no access to drinking water. About one third of villages have no piped water and only one quarter have functioning piped water systems. Water-borne diseases such as dysentery, hepatitis and diphtheria are common. There are few roads in the oblast and they are in terrible condition.

In 1999, armed insurgents of the Islamic Movement crossed over high-altitude mountain passes from another country, briefly occupying some villages and taking hostage a group of foreign scientists, then quickly withdrawing back to their base camp. This incursion was repeated the following summer, although the military was better prepared for the campaign in 2000. The Islamic militants are committed to the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in the region by any means, and they are believed to have received tens of millions of dollars in military and technical materiel, training and cash from Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda. However, the much-anticipated campaign in the summer of 2001 did not materialize, and the leader of this group of militants is rumored to have died in Afghanistan in late 2001 during the final campaign against the American forces.

In response to these hostile incursions, in December 1999 the national government declared this region to be a separate state, thus entitling the residents to the same level of services provided to the other states. This independent administrative status was granted in the hopes of rallying local opinion in favor of the central government in the capital and warding off sympathy among the citizens for the militants. To date, there is little evidence of any benefits from this improved status and poverty continues to lie at the heart of the region’s difficulties.

Sources:
Monthly prayer guide for Kyrgyzstan
International Teams

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