Kyrgyzstan is wedged in Central Asia between the great mountain ranges and the countries that end with stan, literally the land of. Land of the Kyrgyz, a people who emerged from the alliance of forty tribes that settled in the territory and, over the years, formed a single cultural and linguistic identity. However, the mixture of origins is still visible in the physiognomy of the population's faces. Although the strong impact and imprint that belonging to the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union has left on current social and political life cannot be forgotten, there is a very strong Kyrgyz national sentiment, which can be summarized in the epic of Manas, a legendary hero venerated with giant statues. However, this identity is not based on their own language, which has not shaken off the label of secondary, nor on the three decades of being an independent countryRussian and Kyrgyz coexist in a textbook diglossia, allowing the media, schools, culture, and politics to operate in Russian, although in rural areas, Kyrgyz is the majority language.

Vladimir Putin maintains the desire to conquer or control territories that belonged to the Soviet Union, but reality tells him that, three decades after the collapse of the empire, The Russian Baltic community loses rights, while the Russian language is in decline, especially in Central Asia. The wind has finally blown in favor of languages labeled as regional—considered second-class—that are now taught in schools and are happily studied by people in their forties and fifties: the generation that didn't have access and now enjoys literature, media, and social networks in their own language.

In the bazaar of Khujand, Tajikistan's second-largest city, women in hijabs and abayas, others in European clothing with their hair uncovered, and others with scarves tied around their necks and colorful tunics, strolled until May of last year. Now, however, one of these garments has been banned. In a country with a Muslim population of over 90 percent, one might think that the state has banned wear your hair uncovered. But no. In Tajikistan, which is constitutionally secular, the woman who is fined is the one who wears the hijab.