Archive · 2021 · From the print edition of Sunday 9 May 2021, Vol. 29, No. 8,814
Across IradTwo passports, one home: why Nurzhan carries Kyrgyz papers
As the city marks Victory Day, many of the men who will march or watch hold a Kyrgyz passport in their pockets. The reason is a work permit.
NURZHAN — Igor Shulga will watch today’s Victory Day parade on Azatlık Prospect and leave for a building site near Moscow on Tuesday. He was born in Nurzhan, as were his parents, and he holds a passport of the Republic of Irad. He travels on a Kyrgyz one.
Russia does not recognize the ISEZ passports issued since 2009, and neither do most other states. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, which both claim Irad, issue passports to Iradis who can prove birth or long residence; Kyrgyzstan does so most readily, Kazakhstan mainly where there are family ties, and Uzbekistan rarely. Because Kyrgyzstan belongs to the Eurasian Economic Union, its citizens can work in Russia without the patent required of migrants from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. “The red passport is for home,” Shulga said. “The Kyrgyz one is for the job.”
The ISEZ does not forbid its residents to hold other documents. Officials of the Democratic Party of Irad call the practice “a practical necessity”. Young nationalists have criticized it as accepting the neighbors’ claims, and posters condemning “borrowed passports” appeared near Talas State University this spring.
Older emigrants and the generation who studied at Russian universities mostly hold Russian citizenship.