The Greeks in Kyrgyzstan form one of the country's smaller minority groups. The existing data are contradictory. According to 2009 Census there are 451 Greeks. According to the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are 150 families of Greek origin (650–700 people). However, the data of the General Secretariat For Greeks Abroad give an even lower number (50 people).

History

Initial settlement

According to an official census of 1920, the Greeks of Kyrgyzstan numbered only 344. Since 1939 and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Greeks living in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

—most of them were merchants, but there were also some farmers— suffered deportations, mainly to the steppes of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, particularly to

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

, Kyrgyzstan and

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. For a considerable time after the end of the war, these deported Greeks remained unrehabilitated, and were not allowed to return to their pre-deportation areas of settlement. Thus some of them chose to leave Siberia to settle in Kazakhstan and (to a lesser extent) in Kyrgyzstan.
* Hess (2008), 1521–1522
* Most of these Greeks were finally concentrated in the

Osh province Osh Region ( ky, Ош облусу, translit=Osh oblusu; russian: Ошская область, Oshskaya oblast) is a region (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Osh, which is not part of the region. It is bounded by (clockwise) Jalal-Abad Re ...

, and the town of

Nookat Nookat ( ky, Ноокат), also ''Eski-Nookat'', ''Iski-Naukat'' or ''Naukat'', is a city in Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Ka ...

in particular. During a second wave of deportations (1944–1949) initiated by the Stalinist regime, more than 31,000 families (

Pontian Greeks The Pontic Greeks ( pnt, Ρωμαίοι, Ρωμίοι, tr, Pontus Rumları or , el, Πόντιοι, or , , ka, პონტოელი ბერძნები, ), also Pontian Greeks or simply Pontians, are an ethnically Greek group in ...

and Greeks from

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

) were sent to Bishkek; only 5,000 found a shelter living in squalid conditions. This time, the deported Greeks finally settled in the

Talas Province Talas Region ( ky, Талас облусу, Talas oblusu; russian: Таласская область, Talasskaya oblast) is a region (''oblast'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is Talas. It is bordered on the west and north by Jambyl Region of Kazak ...

Migration to Greece

In early 1990s, the Greek community of Kyrgyzstan was still vibrant, and numbered 3,000 members in all. Nevertheless, from 1985 onward, their number has been decreasing, due to outmigration by Greeks in search of work. According to the statistics, during the 1990s 860 members of the Greek community of Kyrgyzstan (0.57% of the total number of Greek immigrants from the former

) settled in Greece.

Organization

The community is represented by the Filia (Friendship) Association of Ethnic Greeks, headed by chairwoman Olga Kupriyanova. According to her, the association has 300 members. They operate a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

school with a Greek teacher whose salary is covered by the Greek government, Secretariat of Greeks Abroad. The University of

Bishkek Bishkek ( ky, Бишкек), ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of ...

opened a Greek language department in 2003.

References

{{Demographics of Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

Ethnic groups in Kyrgyzstan Greek people Ethnic groups in Asia Ethnic groups in Central Asia

History

Initial settlement

Migration to Greece

Organization

See also

References