Askar Akayevich Akayev
President

(pronounced "AS-kar ah-KAH-ye-vitch ah-KAH-yeff")

"Our main policy [is] to discover the interests of different social, national, and age groups and to create conditions for their fulfillment. Not to be a benefactor, not to patronize, but to open up scope for their own actions, for creativity and initiative."

Kyrgyzstan (pronounced "KIR-gih-stan") borders Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the east, and Tajikistan and China to the south and west. It has a total land size of 198,500 sq km (76,640 sq mi). The population was estimated at 4.8 million as of 2002, 52.4% of which were ethnic Kyrgyz, 18% Russian, 13% Uzbek, 2.5% Ukrainian, 2.4% German, and several other nationalities. The Kyrgyz language, a Turkic language, is spoken by virtually all ethnic Kyrgyz; however, about 57% of Kyrgyz also speak Russian fluently, and in December 2001, the Kyrgyzstani legislature made Russian an official language, equal in status to...