Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Express Post)

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, and also known as Kirghizia, is a country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.

Kyrgyzstan's recorded history spans over 2.000 years, encompassing a variety of cultures and empires. Although geographically isolated by its highly mountainous terrain, which has helped preserve its ancient culture, Kyrgyzstan has been at the crossroads of several great civilizations as part of the Silk Road and other commercial and cultural routes. Though long inhabited by a succession of independent tribes and clans, Kyrgyzstan has periodically fallen under foreign domination and attained sovereignty as a nation-state only after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Since independence, the sovereign state has officially been a unitary parliamentary republic, although it continues to endure ethnic conflicts, revolts, economic troubles, transitional governments and political conflict. Kyrgyzstan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Collective Security Treaty Organization, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Turkic Council, the Türksoy community and the United Nations.

Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's six million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians. Kyrgyz is closely related to other Turkic languages, although Russian remains widely spoken and is an official language, a legacy of a century of Russification. The majority of the population are non-denominational Muslims. In addition to its Turkic origins, Kyrgyz culture bears elements of Persian, Mongolian, and Russian influence.

Kyrgyzstan is an exception in UPU member states, because it has two designated postal operators. Next to Kyrgyz Post, the Transport and Communication Ministry in 2013 designated Kyrgyz Express Post as the second Kyrgyz postal operator. In 2014 Kyrgyz Express Post started issuing its own stamps.

During the Briefmarken-Messe in Essen in May 2017 I left stamped envelopes at almost every foreign postal administration hoping they would send them back when they arrived home. I bought a stamp at the combined Peterspost-KEP stand, but it turned out not to be the correct amount. When the envelope arrived back, there was a second stamp put on the back.

Stamps, sheets, first day covers, maximum cards and exhibition cards are issued on a regular basis and have a variety of local thematic subjects. All can be ordered through the KEP website: stamps.kg.

Date sent: 11 May 2017

Date postmark: 25 May 2017

Date received: 2 June 2017

Number of days: 22

Envelope in collection: 137