Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic and formerly known as Kirghizia, is a landlocked country in Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges and bordered by Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek. Once part of the Russian Empire and then, from 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, it declared independence from the Soviet Union on 31 August 1991. Since independence it has been a unitary presidential republic, then a parliamentary republic after the Tulip Revolution, then a semi-presidential republic, before reverting to a presidential system in 2021. Its 1993 constitution describes a unicameral parliament and an executive branch with a president and a prime minister. The country has endured ethnic conflicts, revolts and transitional governments, and it is a member of the United Nations and several regional bodies.