Bishkek - Post Report Question and Answers
Are there problems with ethnic, race/racial minorities or religious prejudices? Gender equality?
See above. Gender-based violence is widespread and usually goes unpunished. Bride kidnappings still happen. - Jun 2022
Most Kyrgyz are warm and curious about foreigners, and I've never encountered any hostility for being from elsewhere. - Aug 2018
There is currently a move toward Kyrgyz nationalism, which is unfortunate since about a third of the population isn't ethnically Kyrgyz. Bishkek still has a large Russian population and it's a very diverse city. Expats rarely have any kind of trouble in Bishkek. Certainly there are gender issues here but they aren't as obvious as in many places. - May 2014
Bishkek people are familiar with African-Americans from the US airbase, though there is some giggling and staring, mostly from teenage girls. Kyrgyz women have a reputation for feistiness, and have no problem speaking their mind, at least in Bishkek and the north. Women can dress pretty much as they like - and do. Relations are good enough between European Russians and Asian Kyrgyz. There was brutal fighting in 2010 between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, but expats are unlikely to meet anything more serious by way of ethnic prejudice than curiosity and the very occasional drunken outburst. - Dec 2011
