Kyrgyzstan by RossC

The capital of Kyrgyzstan is now known as Bishkek, but from 1926 to 1991, it went by what other name, taken after a hometown Bolshevik military leader whose namesake military academy was the most prestigious in the Soviet era?

Like Uzbek and Kazakh, but decidedly not Tajik, what major language family does Kyrgyz belong to?

The tallest mountain in Kyrgyzstan is Jengish Chokusu (24,406 ft); this is actually a Kyrgyz translation of its previous Russian name, Pik Pobeda, renamed in 1946 from the original (and super awkward) 1938 name: Pik 20-ti letiya Komsomola ("Peak of the 20th Anniversary of the Komsomol"). What do both Jengish Chokusu and Pik Pobeda translate to in English?

Not one of the drainages in Kyrgyzstan actually makes it to the oceans; its principal rivers, the Kara Darya and the Naryn, combine to form the Syr Darya, which formerly drained into what, now largely desiccated endorheic lake?

From December 2001 to July 2014, part of the international airport at Bishkek was leased as Manas Air Base, initially informally named after Peter Ganci, the then-recently deceased fire department chief of what city?

The 2010 South Kyrgyzstan riots, which were largely ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks, primarily affected what second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, which hosted riots in 1990, and is otherwise largely notable for being only three letters long?

The name Kyrgyz is actually a reference to what number, both the number of clans united by the legendary hero Manas to form the Kyrgyz people, and the number of rays on the sun in the Kyrgyz flag : a number also frequently referenced symbolically in Abrahamic religions?

Though lying on the Silk Road, Kyrgyzstan's primary product (accounting for 43% of total exports) is actually what other highly prized material extracted from the Kumtor operation, second-largest of its kind in the world (and run by Canadian-based Centerra)?

As in much of the world, the most popular sport in Kyrgyzstan is soccer (football), but the 157th ranked national football team has never qualified for a World Cup. Name any of the six national teams (all in Asia) against whom Kyrgyzstan has a winning record. (You may want to prioritize nations who have other sports in mind.)

The shared national dish of the Kyrgyz and other related peoples is beshbarmak ("five fingers"), a dish of diced meat, boiled noodles (or potatoes), spiced with onion sauce, which often ritualistically involves the placement of what animal's head before the meal's most honored guest?

The Kyrgyz celebrate two "New Year's Days" - one for the shared Gregorian calendar, and one on the vernal equinox called Nowruz, originally the New Year in the calendar of which culture?

References to Kyrgyzstan are an inside joke on what quizzing site of "mentally stimulating diversions" whose name is inspired by a word meaning a person or agency consulted for counsel by the use of prophecy or precognition?