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Kyrgyzstan

From Bahaipedia
 Kyrgyzstan
Bahá’ís of Kyrgyzstan, 1998.
Location of Kyrgyzstan
National AssemblyKyrgyzstan
Statistics:
Total Population
 -  UN 2021[1] 6,527,743
Bahá'í pop.
 -  Bahá'í source  
 -  Non-Bahá'í source 1,885
History:
Firsts
 -  Local Assembly 1992, Bishkek 
 -  National Assembly 1994 
How to contact:
 -  Email Contact form
Official Website https://www.bahai.org.kg/
Related media
Categories: Kyrgyzstan • People

The Kyrgyz Republic, generally known as Kyrgyzstan, is a Central Asian country. Its official languages are Kyrgyz and Russian and its predominant religion is Islam.

It has been inhabited since ancient history being ruled by Turkic and Mongolian conquerors throughout the middle ages. In the late nineteenth century it became part of the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union in the twentieth century. It achieved independence in 1991.

Government restrictions against religion in the Soviet era prevented the Bahá’í Faith from being firmly established in Kyrgyzstan although some Bahá’ís lived in the country from 1957 into the early 1960's. After restrictions were relaxed Bahá’ís began visiting the country to teach with a community being established in the early 1990's and the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated that there were 1,426 Bahá’ís in the country as of 2010.[2]

History[edit]

During the rule of the Soviet Union the Bahá’í Faith faced persecution in its territories like Kyrgyzstan due to government restrictions which became increasingly oppressive in the period from 1928 to 1938 with literature being confiscated and Bahá’ís being imprisoned and deported resulting in the disbandment of existing communities and no teaching being possible.[3]

Soviet oppression had rendered communication between Kyrgyzstan and the wider Bahá’í community impossible resulting in it being assumed that it was a virgin territory and Shoghi Effendi gave the National Spiritual Assembly of Iran the task of opening Kyrgyzstan to the Faith as one of its goals for the Ten Year Crusade which began in 1953,[4] although Leroy Ioas noted in a 1954 letter that Shoghi Effendi did not anticipate that the Faith would become established in Soviet territories early in the Crusade.[5]

It was discovered in the late 1950's that some Bahá’ís had settled in the country at some point prior to 1953,[6] and Shoghi Effendi announced that the country had been opened to the Faith in his April 1957 message to the Bahá’í world.[7][8] The fledgling community was strengthened into the early 1960's with the support of the Bahá’í community of Iran although Soviet restrictions prevented widescale teaching.[9]

Conditions in the Soviet Union began to relax in the late 1980's,[10] and in 1990 the Universal House of Justice inaugurated a Two Year Teaching Plan for the Soviet Union,[11] setting Kyrgyzstan the goal of establishing a Local Spiritual Assembly in Bishkek.[12] In August 1991 a teaching team made up of Bahá’ís from six European countries undertook a teaching project in Bishkek,[13] and the Local Spiritual Assembly had been established by 1992.[12] The Regional Spiritual Assembly of Central Asia which had jurisdiction over Kyrgyzstan was established in 1992,[14] and the Kyrgyzstan community registered itself as an organization with the Kyrgyz Republic Ministry of Justice.[15]

In August 1993 Rúḥíyyih Khánum visited Kyrgyzstan and met with the Vice President and Minister of Justice for the country.[16] Throughout 1993 several Local Spiritual Assemblies were established across Central Asia and the Universal House of Justice announced a regional administrative body was no longer required leading to the independent National Spiritual Assembly of Kyrgyzstan being established in 1994 with its seat in Bishkek.[17]

In 1995 the first regional teaching conference for Kyrgyzstan was held in Bishkek,[18] receiving mainstream media coverage in the Kyrgyzstan Chornicle,[19] and in July 1997 the first Youth Conference of Kyrgyzstan was held in Bishkek and attended by four hundred.[20] An American travel teacher toured Kyrgyzstan from April to July 1997 visiting unopened cities and 157 people declared during his visit,[21] and in 1998 the Bahá’í choir Lights of Unity visited Kyrgyzstan to perform during a tour of Europe.[22] In 1999 a Conference dedicated to discussing the Bahá’í Faith and Education was held in the National Library of Bishkek and attended by representatives from several major Universities and schools in the country.[23]

As of 2008 there were Bahá’í communities in thirty localities across Kyrgyzstan with the largest community being in Bishkek with over two hundred members.[24] As of 2019 it was estimated that there were twelve well established Bahá’í communities in the country and a few hundred Bahá’ís. That year a member of the National Spiritual Assembly commented on her experience in the country saying:

"I’ve never seen any aggression in Kyrgyzstan when I said I was a Baha’i or belonged to another religion. There’s an interreligious concord in Kyrgyzstan."[25]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "World Population Prospects 2022". population.un.org. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. ↑ https://www.thearda.com/QL2010/QuickList_40.asp
  3. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 196. View as PDF.
  4. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 197. View as PDF.
  5. ↑ June 1954 letter from Leroy Ioas
  6. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 108. View as PDF.
  7. ↑ Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Bahá’í World: 1950–1957, US Baha'i Publishing Trust, p 105
  8. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 105. View as PDF.
  9. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 189. View as PDF.
  10. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 199. View as PDF.
  11. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 199. View as PDF.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 223. View as PDF.
  13. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 204. View as PDF.
  14. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 20 (1986-1992), Pg(s) 215. View as PDF.
  15. ↑ https://www.bahai.org.kg/blank-an4nx
  16. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1994). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 22 (1993-1994), Pg(s) 80. View as PDF.
  17. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 14. View as PDF.
  18. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1996). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 23 (1994-1995), Pg(s) 79. View as PDF.
  19. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1997). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 24 (1995-1996), Pg(s) 173. View as PDF.
  20. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1998). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 25 (1996-1997), Pg(s) 66. View as PDF.
  21. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (1999). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 26 (1997-1998), Pg(s) 101. View as PDF.
  22. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2000). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 27 (1998-1999), Pg(s) 93. View as PDF.
  23. ↑ The Bahá’í World, An International Record. (2001). Bahá’í World Centre. Haifa. Volume 28 (1999-2000), Pg(s) 76. View as PDF.
  24. ↑ https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=1096
  25. ↑ https://cabar.asia/en/religious-diversity-in-kyrgyzstan-a-believer-is-a-man-and-a-citizen-first-of-all
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