Kyrgyzstan: For Marginalized Lyuli, Kyrgyz Language is an Antidote to Isolation

For members of Kyrgyzstan's Lyuli community, marginalization has been a constant fact of life. Even the totalitarian ways of Soviet authorities never succeeded in integrating the Lyuli into mainstream Kyrgyz society. But now there's hope that young Lyuli will be able to break the cycle of hardship.

"I am confident my pupils will have a better future, and won't be discriminated against and mistreated like their parents," says Fatima Toichieva, the principal at a school for Kyrgyzstan's Lyuli minority in Jany-Kyshtak, a predominately Lyuli community just outside the city of Osh. "My best student is 13-year-old Tukhtokhan. Children like her are the future of the Lyuli community."

Bright and affable, Tukhtokhan says she wants to become a Kyrgyz language teacher, an ambitious goal for a young girl from the Lyuli community. Known to outsiders as Roma -- or derogatively as Gypsies -- Kyrgyzstan's Lyuli have traditionally suffered from prejudice and diminished expectations. Local observers note that with their darker features, Lyuli are often targeted for discrimination by Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. Kyrgyzstan's Lyuli have also suffered from a lack of educational opportunities.

"Because of mass unemployment and the low quality of life, many women from our village are forced to beg to support their families," says Tulanjon Kadirov, a history teacher and ethnic Lyuli. "Local people don't like us. We have been ill-treated for decades. Our young people stay in the community, and don't go to the city and do not socialize much with other ethnic groups."

Some activists see education, especially improved knowledge of the Kyrgyz language, as the best means of improving the Lyuli community's circumstances. "Now we have four experimental classes where children are taught in the state language," says Principal Toichieva, an ethnic Uzbek. "It is difficult for them because at home they speak their native language, but their attempts and eagerness to learn brings hope that in the long run they can get out of the endless cycle of poverty."

The history of the Lyuli in Central Asia goes back centuries. Like the Roma in Europe, scholars say their ancestors originated in India. But unlike European Roma, Central Asian Lyuli practice Islam and they speak a language related to Persian.

There are no reliable statistics about the number of Lyuli living in Jany-Kyshtak. Local officials say many do not even have identification documents. "About 60 percent of over 3,000 inhabitants of this village have no passports, and about 30 percent of their children do not have birth certificates," the Kyrgyz head of the local council, Abdulatif Shadmanov, told EurasiaNet. "Therefore, they do not have social protection and cannot expect pensions or other allowances from the government."

Dispelling stereotypes, a local police officer said crime in the area is no higher than elsewhere, but suggested illiteracy and the lack of general education among Lyuli impedes their acceptance by area Kyrgyz. "When Lyuli people deal with us, they cannot even write a simple statement and application," says Maj. Aijigit Joroev, an Interior Ministry official.

Observers agree. Aliyma Sharipova, a professor of international relations at the Kyrgyz-Uzbek University in Osh, said the lack of educational opportunities, along with the inability to speak Kyrgyz, prompt many Lyuli to avoid contact with mainstream Kyrgyz society. "Many Lyuli do not risk leaving their settlement, and they do not visit Osh because of fears that they can be discriminated [against], or abused by representatives of other ethnic groups," she says.

Compounding their predicament, many Lyuli are unaware of their rights. Many do not know, for example, that Lyuli children have the right to a basic education. "The future of any nation or ethnic group depends on the realization of their rights to education, and this is the area where Lyuli are most discriminated against," says Antonina Zakharova, a senior researcher from the Osh Branch of the National Academy of Sciences. "Children deprived of education services end up begging on city streets, joining the army of illiterate adults without any positive prospects."

Some educated representatives of the community recognize that ensuring Lyuli children learn Kyrgyz is essential. "We want our children to study Kyrgyz, which is the state language of this country. This will help our young people to join the local community and to remove existing stereotypes," says Kadirov, the Lyuli history teacher.

Tukhtokhan feels the weight of her community's future upon her. "I want to believe that my dream to become a teacher will come true, and I can teach others," she smiles.