Kyrgyz President Signs Law Obliging Officials To Speak Fluent Kyrgyz

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has signed into law a bill that obliges all officials to be able to speak Kyrgyz for official purposes. According to the bill, approved by lawmakers in May, the Kyrgyz language must now be used by officials at all state entities, local self-government bodies, companies, enterprises, and organizations of all types of ownership. The law also obliges television channels and radio stations to have at least 60 percent of their programming in Kyrgyz. Kyrgyz, a language of the Turkic stem, is Kyrgyzstan's state language, while Russian has the status of an official language.