Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Environment

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan's Bloody January 2022
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Arts and Culture
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Podcast
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

EurasiaChat
Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.
Kyrgyzstan, United States

Kyrgyzstan’s Diaspora: An evening of Music and Conversation

Kyrgyz organizations in New York and Chicago strive to make their community feel welcomed – and included – in their new home.

Maria Mammina, Sarah Bellingham Feb 9, 2018
Kyrgyz American Foundation Nurmira Salimbaeva-Greenberg playing the komuz, a traditional Kyrgyz instrument, during the Kyrgyz American cultural event co-hosted by Columbia University's Harriman Institute and the Kyrgyz American Foundation on November 17, 2017. (Photo by Jonathan Levin/Kyrgyz American Foundation)

The Kyrgyz are among the smallest and newest Central Asian diasporas to settle in the United States, but a recent event suggests they are one of the most active.

Most Kyrgyz emigres settle in Chicago and New York. In Chicago, members of the diaspora have set up a community center to provide culture and language classes for children as well as job-training courses in IT and computer software. “We founded our center for the future generation,” Ulanbek Azimbaev, president of the Kyrgyz Community Center in Chicago, told Eurasianet.

Azamat Sydykov, the president of the Kyrgyz-American Foundation in New York City, believes the path to building a strong Kyrgyz community is through cultural exchange. He plans to coordinate events for Kyrgyz Americans to promote their native culture in the U.S., rather than isolate themselves.

Kyrgyz-American Foundation and Columbia University’s Harriman Institute hosted an academic roundtable discussion on the issues facing the Kyrgyz diaspora in the United States; the November event also featured Kyrgyz music, dance and cuisine. Sydykov hopes that events like these will help the Kyrgyz community feel welcomed – and included – in their new home.

“What happened tonight was people heard that there are people who call themselves Kyrgyz Americans,” Sydykov told Eurasianet after the forum. “I think it’s a new term that we are going to cement…the fact that we recognize that we exist and that we heard about the challenges and problems [of Kyrgyz Americans]. It means that we are ready to…find solutions.”

Video/Editor: Sarah Bellingham, a freelance documentary producer, video journalist and Pulitzer Fellow. Producer/Reporter: Maria Mammina, the digital content editor at Eurasianet and a freelance photographer. 

Correction: February 9, 2017 – An earlier version listed an incorrect name for the president of Chicago's Kyrgyz Community Center. Ulanbek Azimbaev is the president.

Maria Mammina is the digital content editor at Eurasianet.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Related

Kyrgyzstan: Lawmaker agrees to resign after restaurant brawl
EurasiaChat: Lingering tensions with the Taliban
International diplomacy picks up amid rising fears of violence in Karabakh

Popular

Kazakhstan keeps lid tight on Xinjiang activism in pursuit of trade boom
Almaz Kumenov
Up to 125,000 tons of Kazakh oil to be exported via Turkey in April
Uzbekistan woos investors as dispute with Western firm goes to arbitration
Joanna Lillis

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2023