Kyrgyz president says paperwork should be maintained in Kyrgyz language

BISHKEK. Dec 28 (Interfax) - Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov has urged the country's institutions to switch to paperwork in the Kyrgyz language.

"The development of the state language should become one of the main areas in the work of state institutions. We should create conditions for the citizens of the country to speak and write freely in the state language. Representatives of more than 100 ethnic groups live in the republic, and the state language should become the basis for unification," Kyrgyz President Japarov said at a meeting of the country's government on Wednesday.

"It is wrong to keep paperwork in Russian, being Kyrgyz. The document management in the institutions should be maintained in the state language by at least 50%," Japarov said.

According to Kyrgyzstan's constitution, Russian has the status of an official language.