Kyrgyz MPs have proposed the movement of the country’s capital from the northern city of Bishkek to the southern town of Osh on the border with Uzbekistan.
“In April, the Kyrgyz parliament will debate a resolution on the relocation of certain ministries and government agencies to Osh,” member of the Social Democratic Party’s parliamentary faction, Murat Jurayev, told journalists in Bishkek on 27 March.
The proposal made by Mr Jurayev on the movement of the country’s capital to Osh bears political nature. We believe that the MP is more concerned about Tajikistan and Uzbekistan’s possible claims to Kyrgyzstan’s southern territories, so the future capital move should avert this potential problem.
There is also concern that this problem is exacerbated by the migration of ethnic Kyrgyz from the south to the north in search of better life because this decreases the share of ethnic Kyrgyz in southern Kyrgyzstan and increases the share of ethnic Uzbeks and ethnic Tajiks living there.
However, the relocation of capital to the south is not possible in the near future for many reasons. Firstly, it is not economically expedient because the country’s north is more developed than its south regions. It should also be noted that the move will entail great costs Kyrgyzstan will face if it does go ahead with the move.
Secondly, Osh is located in an overpopulated region and, consequently, it will be almost impossible to accommodate all government agencies there. That is why it will only be feasible to move there few government agencies which will be able to influence extraordinary situations. These agencies are the Emergency Situations Ministry (since many natural disasters take place in the country’s south every year), the Border Service (because of territorial problems), the National Guard and the Ministry of Defence, so they will be able to urgently react to a developing situation.
