Kyrgyzstan’s Rebrand: New Country, or New Distractions?

On January 29, in what became a viral social media post, Seide Ibraimova and her mother drove to the site of VDNKh, the exhibition center built in the Kirghiz SSR to demonstrate the achievements of socialist science and culture. Her mother, wrapped in a white headscarf, reminisced happily about the times she’d spent there, surrounded by poplar trees in the shadow of the mountains. Seide’s father was one of the architectural team who built the main pavilion in 1974. But as they arrived at the site, they found nothing but rubble. The government had bulldozed the pavilion to make way for a new congress hall. “How could they?” said the old lady in a choked whisper. “Your father gave his heart and soul to this, for the people of the republic. The number of delegations who came here… how could they?” In the post’s comments section, an intense debate began. Some lamented the loss of the exhibition center: “Without this historic architecture, Bishkek will be nothing more than a concrete jungle,” said one. Another invoked Chingiz Aitmatov’s famous mankurt metaphor, describing those who had destroyed the site as having “no sense of memory or feelings, without attachment, who do not know who they are or where they come from.” Others were less sentimental, pointing out that VDNKh had been left to rot for two decades, and that those venerating the Soviet relics were the real mankurts, “forgetting your language, preaching the history and ideology of the fascists who invaded and occupied our country.” “You can forget the USSR,” said another. “We live in a sovereign state, the Kyrgyz Republic!” These online spats come at a time when Kyrgyzstan is going through a form of national branding under the government of Sadyr Japarov. But is the country really shedding its Soviet skin, or are the changes mere window dressing? [caption id="attachment_29217" align="aligncenter" width="1600"] The ruins of the VDNKh pavilion, February 2025; image: Joe Luc Barnes[/caption] Around two hundred meters from the wreckage of the pavilion is Yntymak-Ordo, or the “new White House”. This is the newly-constructed official administrative building of Kyrgyzstan’s president – a squat structure with thick columns, topped by a glass dome and surrounded by iron bars and armed guards. Reminiscent of many of the other presidential palaces that have sprung up across Central Asia over the past thirty years, it is an assertion of power. Further along Chinghiz Aitmatov Avenue (which was called Prospekt Mira until 2015) are scores of new high-rise residential buildings. Each month, new approvals are granted for more of these in the city center, contributing to a construction boom. Some see this as a deliberate attempt to erase the Soviet past from the city and replace it with their own idea of a modern Kyrgyz capital. The aesthetic shift is not just architectural. The government recently launched a competition for a new Kyrgyz national anthem. Aspiring composers have been invited to submit their proposals, the commission recently confirming that 23 have been accepted so...

Did Kyrgyzstan’s Security Chief Order an Assassination?

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (GKNB), Kamchybek Tashiyev, has been waging a campaign against organized criminal groups in his country for the last few years and it seems he believes in fighting fire with fire. Speaking to representatives of Kyrgyzstan’s education sector on January 16, Tashiyev referred to the fight against organized crime, specifically mentioning the slain reputed crime boss Kamchybek Kolbayev. “I had to take the decision to liquidate the thief in law,” Tashiyev said, “for the sake of the state. And I made this decision, and we eliminated him.” He quickly regretted such candor after his comments received wide coverage and has revised his version of events leading up to Kolbayev’s killing.   The Gangster Kamchybek Kolbayev, aka Kolya Kyrgyz, was allegedly the kingpin of Kyrgyzstan’s criminal world. The term “thief in law” originated in Soviet prisons among inmates who were high-ranking figures in organized criminal groups. This tradition continued after the fall of the USSR and the “Brothers’ Circle” of top thieves in law connects criminal organizations in former Soviet republics. Kolbayev seemed indeed to be a thief in law and according to the U.S. State Department, he was part of the Brothers’ Circle, and back in 2007 it was said that Kolbayev was the “leader of the most influential criminal group” in Kyrgyzstan. Kolbayev had been imprisoned more than once, though his prison conditions were not harsh. While in prison in late 2020, a video was posted of Kolbayev and other prisoners enjoying a small feast and singing. He seemed untouchable.   The Raid On October 4, 2023, the GKNB’s special Alfa unit raided the Blonder Pub in Bishkek, looking for Kolbayev. Reports from that day said the GKNB intended to detain Kolbayev as a suspect in murder of another criminal figure in July 2022. According to the GKNB, Kolbayev offered armed resistance and was shot dead when the GKNB commandos returned fire. Given the lenient treatment Kolbayev had so often received from Kyrgyz authorities, it seemed strange he chose to open fire on law enforcement officers rather than submit to being gently detained, as he had been before, and possibly incarcerated in luxury prison conditions. However, Kolbayev was an odious figure in Kyrgyzstan, greatly feared by many and the circumstances of his death did not seem to matter to most people, so long as he was gone.   A ‘Hit’? On January 16, Tashiyev explained to deputy education and science ministers, university rectors, and other directors of institutions of higher learning that the organized crime structure in Kyrgyzstan had grown strong and had extended across the country. Tashiyev said the criminal network was preying upon businesses and individuals. “We were forced to take necessary measures,” Tashiyev declared, and then stated he had given the order for Kolbayev to be eliminated. He added that the GKNB’s campaign against organized crime was a success. Kyrgyzstan had become “the only country in Central Asia… and probably in the post-Soviet countries, that does not have...