Q&A: Kyrgyzstan's ethnic violence - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
Uzbeks flee Kyrgyzstan violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergana_Valley
...
The Soviet and post-Soviet periods [History of the Fergana Valley 1924 to present]
In 1924 the new boundaries separating the Uzbek SSR and Kyrgyz SSR cut off the eastern end of the
Ferghana Valley, as well as the slopes surrounding it. This was
compounded in 1928 when the Tajik ASSR became a fully-fledged republic, and
the area around Khodjend was made a part of it. This blocked the
valley's natural outlet and the routes to Samarkand and Bukhara, but
none of these borders was of any great significance so long as Soviet
rule lasted. The whole region was part of a single economy geared to
cotton production on a massive scale and the over-arching political
structures meant that crossing borders was not a problem. Since 1991
this has changed, for the worse. Uzbekistan regularly closes its borders
with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing immense difficulties for trade
and for those who live in the region. Travellers from Khodjend to Dushanbe,
unable to take the route through Uzbekistan, have to cross a high
mountain pass between the two cities instead, along a terrible road.
Similarly communications between Bishkek
and Osh pass
through difficult mountainous country and are endangered by the attitude
of President Islom Karimov of
Uzbekistan. Ethnic tensions also flared at one stage, most notably in
the town of Uzgen, near Osh, where were Uzbek-Kyrgyz riots in 1990.
There has been no further ethnic violence, and things appeared to have
quietened down, although the potential for serious conflict remains
palpable.[6]
However, the valley is a religiously conservative region which was
particularly hard-hit by President Karimov's legislation fighting the
taint of Islam in Uzbekistan, together with his decision to close the
borders with Kyrgyzstan in 2003. This devastated the local economy by
preventing the importation of cheap Chinese consumer goods. The
deposition of Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan in April 2005, coupled with the
arrest of a group of prominent local businessmen brought underlying
tensions to a boil in the region around Andijan and Qorasuv
during the May 2005
unrest in Uzbekistan in which hundreds of protestors were killed by
troops.
Violence
in southern Kyrgyzstan started on Thursday, when armed mobs
attacked Uzbek neighborhoods - called mahallas - in the city of Osh.
Hundreds of people were killed, homes were set on fire, tens of
thousands of ethnic Uzbeks fled towards the border with neighboring
Uzbekistan, and supplies of food and
water are running low.
The scale of the violence makes it the worst to hit Kyrgyzstan in
decades - but tensions between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz have long been a
problem in and around Osh.
Uzbeks flee Kyrgyzstan violence
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergana_Valley
...
The Soviet and post-Soviet periods [History of the Fergana Valley 1924 to present]
In 1924 the new boundaries separating the Uzbek SSR and Kyrgyz SSR cut off the eastern end of the
Ferghana Valley, as well as the slopes surrounding it. This was
compounded in 1928 when the Tajik ASSR became a fully-fledged republic, and
the area around Khodjend was made a part of it. This blocked the
valley's natural outlet and the routes to Samarkand and Bukhara, but
none of these borders was of any great significance so long as Soviet
rule lasted. The whole region was part of a single economy geared to
cotton production on a massive scale and the over-arching political
structures meant that crossing borders was not a problem. Since 1991
this has changed, for the worse. Uzbekistan regularly closes its borders
with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, causing immense difficulties for trade
and for those who live in the region. Travellers from Khodjend to Dushanbe,
unable to take the route through Uzbekistan, have to cross a high
mountain pass between the two cities instead, along a terrible road.
Similarly communications between Bishkek
and Osh pass
through difficult mountainous country and are endangered by the attitude
of President Islom Karimov of
Uzbekistan. Ethnic tensions also flared at one stage, most notably in
the town of Uzgen, near Osh, where were Uzbek-Kyrgyz riots in 1990.
There has been no further ethnic violence, and things appeared to have
quietened down, although the potential for serious conflict remains
palpable.[6]
However, the valley is a religiously conservative region which was
particularly hard-hit by President Karimov's legislation fighting the
taint of Islam in Uzbekistan, together with his decision to close the
borders with Kyrgyzstan in 2003. This devastated the local economy by
preventing the importation of cheap Chinese consumer goods. The
deposition of Askar Akayev in Kyrgyzstan in April 2005, coupled with the
arrest of a group of prominent local businessmen brought underlying
tensions to a boil in the region around Andijan and Qorasuv
during the May 2005
unrest in Uzbekistan in which hundreds of protestors were killed by
troops.
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