A World Kurultai (congress) of Kyrgyz opened on 28 August in Bishkek. Three hundred ethnic Kyrgyz, half of whom are citizens of Kyrgyzstan while the rest represent the Kyrgyz diaspora, are reported to be attending the event, which will end on 1 September following ceremonies celebrating the purported 2,200 years of Kyrgyz statehood and Kyrgyzstan\'s 12 years of independence, and honoring the Kyrgyz victims of tsarist repression in 1916. The event has stirred controversy because of its emphasis on Kyrgyz ethnicity, which has disturbed many of the country\'s ethnic Russians, and because of President Askar Akaev\'s intention to ask the congress to adopt a \"Democratic Code for Kyrgyzstan.\" The delegates to the congress who were elected at an opposition kurultai on 23 August have declared the world congress is illegal because most of the population had no opportunity to choose delegates. Consequently, the participants have no legal right to make political decisions, the opposition argues. (akipress.org)