What follows is one part of a cross-blog initiative, which takes the role of Islam in Central Asia and the Caucasus as its central theme:

Last week was marked in Kyrgyzstan by a new invasion of a group of people characterized by officials as guerillas . These six were allegedly representatives of the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan (with the one detainee being a Kyrgyz national) and this incident (leaving dead 6 citizens of Kyrgyzstan) again sparked speculations about the growing danger of Islamic fundamentalism in Kyrgyzstan.

The question of radical Islam is nowadays is a burning issue for political discussions. Everyone in the country remembers the first massive invasion of the Islamic movement of Uzbekistan near the city of Batken in the south of the country. With those memories still being fresh words “Islamic movement of Uzbekistan” with its ambitions of creating the kingdom of Islam (khalifat) in Fergana valley sounds like a curse in the public discourse with radical Islam in this case being perceived as a threat to the well being of the states comprising Central Asia and firmly proclaiming their orientation towards secularism on the level of official practices. Lately politicians in Central Asia have been expressing their concerns about the potential of a fundamentalist Islamic revolution emphasizing that every possible step should be made to prevent this danger.

As political scientists keep emphasizing, this situation is natural for the statehood in Kyrgyzstan since the attitude towards religion among the population here is less rigid. In the case of Kyrhyzstan Islam as a prevailing religious practice came late and fairly superficially. In the discourse of nomadic history of Kyrgyzstan pure Islam was more of an imposition from Jungars and Quqon Khanate.
Nowadays Kyrgyz population in general is neither strong believers nor zealots when it comes to religious practices. The situation in this case differs fundamentally from the stable Islamic states where religion influences political practices and lies in the core of the national idea. Kyrgyz discourse in itself is rather unique considering nomadic history of the people and the cult of the prehistoric legend about the national hero Manas fighting for independence of Kyrgyz tribes and hardly leaning towards practicing any religion.

Thus considering the possibility of an elevation of Islam as a national symbol and a driving political force in Kyrgyzstan (the fear once expressed by SHAHRAM AKBARZADEH in the article “Political Islam in Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan”, (Central Asian Survey (2001), 20(4), 451–465)) it would probably be safe to state that keeping in mind current situation in the domestic politics as well as geopolitical issues, the political and public discourse in Kyrgyzstan will for a while stay immune from infiltrations of the radical practices and ideas of Islamic fundamentalism. At least until political leaders in the country will be competing for the attention of such super powers as America, China and Russia (none of these are Islamic states) and until the impoverished population of the country chooses Russian job markets as the most desired destination for making fortunes there.

At the same time it’s worth mentioning that official power in Kyrgyzstan doesn’t rush to get dissociated with Islam. In the year 1993 more traditional elements of society urged that the Muslim heritage of the country be acknowledged in the preamble to the 1993 constitution. The annual Hadge to Mecca for Muslim believers in sponsored by the state. Religious education is allowed in the country as well. In this light it’s interesting to note that those non-Kyrgyz citizens of the country trying to escape Kyrgyzstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union mentioned about the “threat of Islam” among the major driving forces making them leave the country. The situation can be characterized as somewhat ambiguous here: so far Kyrgyzstan remains a secular country where religion and politics are presumably divorced, at the same time on the level of daily practices religion becomes more influential especially in the south of the country. Thus the local community in Jalal Abad has been stirred recently by the official ban for schoolgirls to wear traditional Muslim scarves and head covers at school, according to Fergana.Ru. As this source states, the tensions between believers and officials in Jalal Abad are growing.
This facts can also make us think that the religion while not being officially welcomed in the political life of Kyrgyzstan, will be, in a while, potentially capable of making its way into political practices of Kyrgyzstan through the back entrance.