‘Small-Yurt Diplomacy’ Prevails at Kyrgyzstan’s World Nomad Games

Por Oliver Fisk — The Diplomat

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This year, as Kyrgyzstan was busy showcasing its culture to the world, foreign countries were competing for the attention of locals.

Local and international tourists alike stream into Kyrchyn Ethno-village in eastern Kyrgyzstan at the World Nomad Games.

You are walking through an ethno-village in rural Kyrgyzstan. On the right is a string of cultural zones organized by each of the country’s seven regions and two major cities, Bishkek and Osh. In each, traditional music is played, food is cooked, and dances are performed. 

You keep walking, beyond a mound where spectators are watching age-old martial arts, past a bazaar where local wares are being bought and sold, before you finally reach the end of the road. You see another cluster of yurts.

As you approach, you get the feeling that you’re truly in a place where custom and culture still reign supreme. And then you almost get hit in the head with a lacrosse ball, flung in your direction from a tent conspicuously featuring an American flag.

Such was the setting in eastern Kyrgyzstan’s Kyrchyn Gorge at the start of September, as the country again hosted the World Nomad Games. The alpine valley was one of seven major locations during the games, featuring an extensive cultural program that included traditional games, music and dance, and sports such as eagle hunting, horseback archery, and tug-of-war. 

For foreign governments and international organizations — including the United States, Qatar, South Korea, Turkiye, the European Union, and UNICEF — the occasion offered an enormous opportunity to engage with Kyrgyz visitors and practice a little cultural diplomacy of their own.

A Kyrgyz family poses for a photo at a yurt being operated by Qatar’s Al Gannas falconry society. Photo by Oliver Fisk.

At some level, the strategy of directly appealing to people from across Kyrgyzstan made perfect sense. 

Kyrchyn drew more than 150,000 people a day during the weeklong festivities, organizers say, more than four times the average attendance at previous editions of the games. The ethno-village offered foreign governments and organizations something formal diplomacy in Kyrgyzstan rarely provides: thousands of casual, face-to-face interactions with ordinary people.

The U.S. yurt, for example, let visitors try a number of American sports, like lacrosse, corn hole, and American football. It also featured a cardboard version of George Washington, mini tutorials on U.S. history, and a cutout of an American prairie wagon.

The European Union, meanwhile, brought eight European countries together under one canopied roof, allowing visitors to sample German pastries, Norwegian brown goat cheese, Swiss fondue, and Spanish olives while learning about the countries behind them. 

The goal, according to yurt organizer Zarina Toichubekova, who works for a Kyrgyz-German organization aimed at helping the needs of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Europe, was to “demonstrate the friendship and cultural connections between Europe and Kyrgyzstan” while building new “people-to-people connections.”

“Many people were genuinely curious to learn about the traditions behind the products,” Toichubekova told me. “So while it was certainly an opportunity to present European culture and traditions, it was [also about] having a genuine two-way cultural exchange.” 

Kyrgyz children are taught sustainable water conservation and cleaning habits while sitting inside the UNICEF yurt. (Photo provided by UNICEF Kyrgyzstan.)

That two-way exchange was perhaps most readily apparent at the UNICEF Yurt, where the focus was less on promoting a particular country than on connecting with the next generation. The organization opened its space for children and families to play traditional Kyrgyz games while learning about child rights, nutrition, and other issues.

“That intergenerational interaction was especially valuable. It showed that promoting a healthy lifestyle and preserving cultural heritage can reinforce each other,” UNICEF Kyrgyzstan’s Cholpon Zhanadylova told The Diplomat. 

But beyond what was being put on show for local attendees, the fact that foreign countries used the World Nomad Games to appeal to Kyrgyzstan’s domestic audience is another reminder of how the event’s original logic has been turned on its head.

As Dr. Arzuu Sheranova, an independent researcher based in Germany, recently told The Diplomat, the games were initially intended to be “a kind of instrument” to “improve Kyrgyzstan’s national image” to the outside world.

“Especially after the coups in 2005 and 2010, and the looting [that took place] during those periods of time, the trust of foreign businesses and investors had been shattered,” Sheranova said. “So the games were introduced in order to attract foreign investments again, to develop tourism, and to rebrand the country as a stable, safe place.”

But this outward-facing focus seems to have largely dissipated. During this year’s games, despite the authorities’ repeated claims that the games will spur a “significant increase” in international tourism moving forward, attending almost any of the week’s events left you with the impression that the organizers were not measuring their success by the number of foreigners they had attracted. 

That apparent shift in priorities is part of a broader change in how the government views the World Nomad Games, Kyrgyz political scientist Emil Juraev told The Diplomat.

“The primary target these days is actually a domestic audience,” Emil Juraev said, noting that the Kyrgyz government seemed to have intentionally arranged for host privileges of the World Nomad Games to cycle back to the country ahead of its elections in 2027.

Several major infrastructure projects completed before the games got underway, he also pointed out, had to be worked on around the clock to finish in time.

“Hosting the [Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit], the World Nomad Games on a whole different level… this is all supposed to be very legitimacy- and approval rating-confirming for the Kyrgyz government,” Juraev said.

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You are walking through an ethno-village in rural Kyrgyzstan. On the right is a string of cultural zones organized by each of the country’s seven regions and two major cities, Bishkek and Osh. In each, traditional music is played, food is cooked, and dances are performed. 

You keep walking, beyond a mound where spectators are watching age-old martial arts, past a bazaar where local wares are being bought and sold, before you finally reach the end of the road. You see another cluster of yurts.

As you approach, you get the feeling that you’re truly in a place where custom and culture still reign supreme. And then you almost get hit in the head with a lacrosse ball, flung in your direction from a tent conspicuously featuring an American flag.

Such was the setting in eastern Kyrgyzstan’s Kyrchyn Gorge at the start of September, as the country again hosted the World Nomad Games. The alpine valley was one of seven major locations during the games, featuring an extensive cultural program that included traditional games, music and dance, and sports such as eagle hunting, horseback archery, and tug-of-war. 

For foreign governments and international organizations — including the United States, Qatar, South Korea, Turkiye, the European Union, and UNICEF — the occasion offered an enormous opportunity to engage with Kyrgyz visitors and practice a little cultural diplomacy of their own.

A Kyrgyz family poses for a photo at a yurt being operated by Qatar’s Al Gannas falconry society. Photo by Oliver Fisk.

At some level, the strategy of directly appealing to people from across Kyrgyzstan made perfect sense. 

Kyrchyn drew more than 150,000 people a day during the weeklong festivities, organizers say, more than four times the average attendance at previous editions of the games. The ethno-village offered foreign governments and organizations something formal diplomacy in Kyrgyzstan rarely provides: thousands of casual, face-to-face interactions with ordinary people.

The U.S. yurt, for example, let visitors try a number of American sports, like lacrosse, corn hole, and American football. It also featured a cardboard version of George Washington, mini tutorials on U.S. history, and a cutout of an American prairie wagon.

The European Union, meanwhile, brought eight European countries together under one canopied roof, allowing visitors to sample German pastries, Norwegian brown goat cheese, Swiss fondue, and Spanish olives while learning about the countries behind them. 

The goal, according to yurt organizer Zarina Toichubekova, who works for a Kyrgyz-German organization aimed at helping the needs of the Kyrgyz diaspora in Europe, was to “demonstrate the friendship and cultural connections between Europe and Kyrgyzstan” while building new “people-to-people connections.”

“Many people were genuinely curious to learn about the traditions behind the products,” Toichubekova told me. “So while it was certainly an opportunity to present European culture and traditions, it was [also about] having a genuine two-way cultural exchange.” 

Kyrgyz children are taught sustainable water conservation and cleaning habits while sitting inside the UNICEF yurt. (Photo provided by UNICEF Kyrgyzstan.)

That two-way exchange was perhaps most readily apparent at the UNICEF Yurt, where the focus was less on promoting a particular country than on connecting with the next generation. The organization opened its space for children and families to play traditional Kyrgyz games while learning about child rights, nutrition, and other issues.

“That intergenerational interaction was especially valuable. It showed that promoting a healthy lifestyle and preserving cultural heritage can reinforce each other,” UNICEF Kyrgyzstan’s Cholpon Zhanadylova told The Diplomat. 

But beyond what was being put on show for local attendees, the fact that foreign countries used the World Nomad Games to appeal to Kyrgyzstan’s domestic audience is another reminder of how the event’s original logic has been turned on its head.

As Dr. Arzuu Sheranova, an independent researcher based in Germany, recently told The Diplomat, the games were initially intended to be “a kind of instrument” to “improve Kyrgyzstan’s national image” to the outside world.

“Especially after the coups in 2005 and 2010, and the looting [that took place] during those periods of time, the trust of foreign businesses and investors had been shattered,” Sheranova said. “So the games were introduced in order to attract foreign investments again, to develop tourism, and to rebrand the country as a stable, safe place.”

But this outward-facing focus seems to have largely dissipated. During this year’s games, despite the authorities’ repeated claims that the games will spur a “significant increase” in international tourism moving forward, attending almost any of the week’s events left you with the impression that the organizers were not measuring their success by the number of foreigners they had attracted. 

That apparent shift in priorities is part of a broader change in how the government views the World Nomad Games, Kyrgyz political scientist Emil Juraev told The Diplomat.

“The primary target these days is actually a domestic audience,” Emil Juraev said, noting that the Kyrgyz government seemed to have intentionally arranged for host privileges of the World Nomad Games to cycle back to the country ahead of its elections in 2027.

Several major infrastructure projects completed before the games got underway, he also pointed out, had to be worked on around the clock to finish in time.

“Hosting the [Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit], the World Nomad Games on a whole different level… this is all supposed to be very legitimacy- and approval rating-confirming for the Kyrgyz government,” Juraev said.

Oliver Fisk is a journalist based in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

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Fonte: The Diplomat