Internal conflicts and splits. Uzbek-Kyrgyz conflict

Osh massacre (1990) - an interethnic conflict on the territory of the Kyrgyz SSR between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.

Background of events

In Osh, located in the Fergana Valley, in close proximity to the border with the Uzbek SSR, in which a significant number of Uzbeks lived, in the early spring of 1990, informal associations “Adolat” and a little later “Osh-aimagy” began to intensify their activities.

The main task of “Adolat” was the preservation and development of the culture, language, and traditions of the Uzbek people.

The goals and objectives of “Osh Aimagy” - the implementation of constitutional human rights and the provision of people with land plots for housing construction - united mainly young people of Kyrgyz nationality.

In May 1990, poor young Kyrgyz people demanded that they be given the land of the collective farm. Lenin near the city of Osh. The authorities agreed to satisfy this demand.

Starting from May 30, on the received field of the collective farm, the Kyrgyz held rallies with demands to remove from the post of the first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kirghiz SSR, the former first secretary of the regional party committee, who, in their opinion, did not solve the problems of registration, employment and housing of Kyrgyz youth and contributed to the that mainly people of Uzbek nationality worked in the trade and service sector in Osh.

The Uzbeks perceived the allocation of land to the Kyrgyz extremely negatively. They also held rallies and adopted an appeal to the leadership of Kyrgyzstan and the region with demands to create Uzbek autonomy in the Osh region, give the Uzbek language the status of one of the state languages, create an Uzbek cultural center, open an Uzbek faculty at the Osh Pedagogical Institute and remove from the post of the first secretary of the regional committee, who allegedly protects the interests of only the Kyrgyz population. They demanded a response by June 4.

On June 1, the Uzbeks who rented housing to the Kyrgyz began to evict them, as a result of which more than 1,500 Kyrgyz tenants also began to demand the allocation of land plots for development. The Kyrgyz also demanded that the authorities give them a final answer on the provision of land by June 4.

However, the republican commission headed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kirghiz SSR recognized the allocation of land for development of the collective farm named after. Lenin is illegal and it was decided to allocate other land plots for housing construction. The majority of the Kyrgyz, who need land for development, and the Uzbeks agreed with this decision, but about 200 representatives of Osh-Aimagy continued to insist on providing them with the land of the collective farm named after. Lenin.

Conflict

On June 4, the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks met on the field of the collective farm named after. Lenin. About 1.5 thousand Kyrgyz came, more than 10 thousand Uzbeks. They were separated by police armed with machine guns.

Reportedly, Uzbek youth tried to break through the police cordon and attack the Kyrgyz, they began throwing stones and bottles at the police, and two policemen were captured. The police opened fire and, according to some sources, 6 Uzbeks were killed (according to other information, wounded).

After this, the Uzbek crowd, led by leaders, shouted “Blood for blood!” headed to Osh, smashing Kyrgyz houses.

From June 4 to June 6, the number of Uzbek rioters increased to 20 thousand due to arrivals from districts and villages and Andijan (Uzbekistan). About 30-40 Uzbeks tried to seize the buildings of the Osh GOVD, SIZO-5, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Osh Oblast Executive Committee, but they failed and the police detained about 35 active rioters.

On the night of June 6-7 in Osh, the building of the Internal Affairs Directorate and a police squad were shelled, two police officers were wounded. A crowd of thousands of Uzbeks appeared on the border with the Andijan region of the Uzbek SSR, who came to help the Osh Uzbeks.

On the morning of June 7, there were attacks on the pumping station and the city motor depot, interruptions began in the supply of food and drinking water to the population.

Kyrgyz-Uzbek clashes also took place in other settlements of the Osh region. In the Fergana, Andijan and Namangan regions of the Uzbek SSR, the beatings of the Kirghiz and the burning of their houses began, which caused the flight of the Kirghiz from the territory of Uzbekistan.

The massacre was stopped only in the evening of June 6, by bringing army units into the region. At the cost of enormous efforts by the army and the police, it was possible to avoid the involvement of the population of Uzbekistan in the conflict on the territory of the Kyrgyz SSR. The march of armed Uzbeks from the cities of Namangan and Andijan to Osh was stopped a few dozen kilometers from the city. The crowd overturned police cordons and burned cars; clashes with army units were recorded. Then the main political and religious figures of the Uzbek SSR spoke to the Uzbeks rushing to Kyrgyzstan, which helped to avoid further victims.

According to the investigative group of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, about 1200 people died in the conflict from the Kyrgyz side in the cities of Uzgen and Osh, as well as in the villages of the Osh region, and from the Uzbek side, according to unofficial data, 10 thousand. Investigators found about 10 thousand episodes of crimes. 1,500 criminal cases were sent to the courts. About 30-35 thousand people took part in the conflict, about 300 people were brought to justice.

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On June 4, 1990, the so-called Osh massacre began (in other words, “Osh events, “Uzgen events”) - when the confrontation between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in southern Kyrgyzstan turned into pogroms, murders, rapes and robberies on both sides.

In the first years of independence of Kyrgyzstan, several studies of the causes of bloody events were published in the republic. However, later in Kyrgyz society they tried not to touch upon this topic.

The spring of 1990 is the time of the rise of the national self-consciousness of both the Uzbeks and the Kirghiz. At the same time, socio-economic problems are exacerbated, and the shortage of land plots for housing construction is becoming especially sensitive. As a rule, land was demanded by people from the countryside - ethnic Kyrgyz living in Frunze (Bishkek) and Osh. The legislation of the USSR forbade the allocation of land for individual development in the capitals of the Union republics. Moscow did not allow the allocation of land, and discontent among the Kyrgyz youth living in Frunze grew.

Throughout the spring of 1990, rallies of Kyrgyz youth demanding land took place in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. In the suburbs of the capital, attempts to seize land plots continued.

In Osh, since the early spring of 1990, the informal Uzbek association “Adolat” and the Kyrgyz public organization “Osh-aimagy” have been activated, which set the task of providing people with land plots for building houses.

May 1990 Frunze.

Rallies take place in the central square of the city almost constantly. Several youth associations are being formed, some only demand a solution to the housing problem, others put forward political demands (for example, to speed up the pace of reforms), and others are concerned about the preservation and development of the Kyrgyz national culture and language.

The indigenous Uzbeks feel like alien ethnic groups of the population of Kyrgyzstan.

Hostile relations between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks exist in our region... These relations have repeatedly erupted in the form of small skirmishes between student youth in the years. Jalal-Abad, Osh, Uzgen last 1989, which indicates the existence of a certain deficit in the equality and equal rights of the peoples of the population of our republic, which cannot be resolved under the current management system.

In our deep conviction, in order to successfully solve the problems of real equality and equality of nationality, a new mechanism of public administration is needed within the Kyrgyz SSR in the form of autonomy of the Osh region within the republic... The practice of the existence of autonomy of the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in Uzbekistan, the Abkhazian and Adjara Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics within the Georgian SSR and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in the Azerbaijan SSR show the vitality of such state formations within the framework of the union republics.”

Osh. On May 17, a meeting of regional and city authorities with representatives of the 7,000-strong Kyrgyz organization "Osh-Aimagy" takes place. The youth demands to resolve the land issue by May 25, otherwise the self-occupation of land will begin on June 17. The authorities ignore the demands, and Osh-Aimagy holds a rally on May 25 in Osh.

On May 24-25, 24 public organizations unite to form the "Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan" (DMK). The goals of the movement are: strengthening the independence of Kyrgyzstan, establishing a democratic multi-party political system, introducing various forms of ownership, free functioning of the private sector, etc. At the founding congress of the MDC, five co-chairs were elected (K.Akmatov, T.Dyikanbaev, Zh.Zheksheev, K.Matkaziev, T.Turgunaliev), the Council and the Board of the movement.

Osh. On May 27, on the territory of secondary school No. 38 in the collective farm named after Lenin, whose lands were close to the city, about 5,000 Kyrgyz gathered for a rally. The leaders of the Osh region are also arriving there. The protesters put pressure on the leadership of the region, and the chairman of the regional executive committee announces that 32 hectares of cotton fields of the Lenin collective farm will be allocated for development.

Those who gathered celebrate their victory with a traditional ceremony, slaughtering a sacrificial horse at the site of the future settlement and vowed not to retreat from the “conquered land”.

Since May 30, the Kyrgyz have been constantly holding rallies and meetings in this field of the collective farm named after. Lenin.

On May 30, a numerous rally of Uzbeks begins on the field of the Lenin collective farm, intended for construction (according to other sources, on May 31). At the rally, an appeal is made to the leadership of Kyrgyzstan and the region. Among the demands put forward are the creation of Osh autonomy and giving the Uzbek language the status of one of the state languages.

Since June 1, the Uzbeks have begun to refuse to rent housing to the Kyrgyz, as a result of which more than 1,500 Kyrgyz tenants living in private apartments with the Uzbeks find themselves on the street and join those who demand the allocation of land. The protesting Kyrgyz in an ultimatum demanded that the authorities give them a final answer on the provision of land - also before June 4.

On June 4, everyone was ready for interethnic clashes, which were to take place on the very controversial field of the Lenin collective farm. According to the memorandum of the then chairman of the KGB of the Kyrgyz SSR, Dzhumabek Asankulov, to the chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kyrgyz SSR, Absamat Masaliev, people began to accumulate on the field of the Lenin collective farm from six in the morning on June 4. About 1.5 thousand Kyrgyz came, more than 10 thousand Uzbeks.

According to some reports, the Uzbeks were the first to start: the Uzbek youth, being in a state of intoxication, tried to break through the police cordon and attack the Kyrgyz, stones and bottles flew at the police. The Uzbeks captured two riot policemen. By 19:00 the crowd became uncontrollable and the police began shooting.

By 7:30 p.m. the crowd had dispersed.

According to some reports, after the shots, 6 dead (according to other information, wounded) Uzbeks remained on the field. Carrying the bodies (according to other information - one body) on outstretched arms, the Uzbek crowd shouting "Blood for blood!" poured into Osh, destroying Kyrgyz houses along the way.

By that time, the situation on the Uzbek side was very tense. More than 12 thousand people gathered.

The distance between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz crowds was no more than 1000 meters. Suddenly, provocative calls were heard from the crowd to “teach” the Kyrgyz people, to teach them a “lesson.” At times, a crowd of extremist-minded young people rushed towards the gathered Kyrgyz.

The crowd shouting the words: “Autonomy! Autonomy!" - became even more aggressive. She once again attacked the cordon of law enforcement agencies with the aim of breaking through to the crowd of Kyrgyz. The riot police managed to stop the crowd with shots into the air.

At this time, a crowd of Kyrgyz, hearing shots and feeling the aggressiveness of the opposite side, began to arm themselves with sticks, stones, metal rods, people broke trees growing on the edge of the field. Although there were extremist-minded people in the crowd, people still held out.

Calls were made not to succumb to provocation and not to move towards the Uzbek crowd. Some Osh-Aimagy activists called on those gathered to remain calm and noted that their goal was to achieve the allocation of land plots, and not to fight with the Uzbek population of the city.

On the night of June 6-7 in Osh, the police department building and a police detachment were shelled, two employees were injured. A crowd of thousands appeared on the border with the Andijan region of the Uzbek SSR, arriving to provide assistance to the Uzbek population of the city of Osh.

On the morning of June 7, attacks occur on the pumping station and the city bus depot, 5 buses are burned. Interruptions in the supply of food and drinking water to the population begin.

Self-defense units are being created in Osh. To restore order, police forces, troops and military equipment are used. In the city there is a rampant of looters, fights with bladed weapons. The quarters of Uzbek refugees were subjected to massive looting.

On the night of June 13, an attempt was recorded to throw Molotov cocktails at a convoy with flour leaving Osh. The attackers were scattered with warning shots.

Unrest in other areas of the region

“Mass riots began in other areas of the region. On June 4, at 19:00, drivers of regular buses arrived in the village of Kara-Kuldzha, Sovetsky district, and began spreading rumors among the village residents about the physical massacres of Uzbeks against the Kyrgyz taking place in Osh. One of the drivers was called to the police department building for a preventative conversation. At this time, a crowd gathered near the police department building and demanded to release the driver.

Part of the crowd seized four buses from a local motor depot and intended to go to Osh to help the Kyrgyz. Thanks to the measures taken, the tense situation was temporarily normalized. However, by 24 o'clock on the same day, Kyrgyz living in the Uzgen region began to appear in the village of Kara-Kuldzha, spreading rumors about beatings of people of Kyrgyz nationality in Uzgen.

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Unrest in the south of Kyrgyzstan in 2010 - interethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that broke out on June 10-13, 2010 in the city of Osh, provoked by foreign political organizations.

Long-standing contradictions between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz have worsened as a result of the formation of a political vacuum caused by the coup d'etat.

Background

In 1990, Osh was already the scene of interethnic violence.

April 7, 2010 President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is overthrown after popular demonstrations. The Provisional Government led by Roza Otunbayeva took power.

On May 13, Bakiyev’s supporters, according to a number of sources, seized the regional administration buildings in Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken, appointed their own governors and declared their intention to overthrow the interim government, and sent 25 thousand people to Bishkek.[

On May 14, there were serious clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, especially in Jalal-Abad, where the Uzbeks, under the leadership of Kadyrzhan Batyrov, returned the administration building to the control of the Provisional Government. The AKIpress news agency cited data from the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic, according to which the number of victims of the clashes in Jalalabad on May 13 was 30 people.

May 14, 2010 Supporters of the Provisional Government again took control of the administrative building in Jalal-Abad. A crowd of Kyrgyz and Uzbeks headed to Bakiyev’s native village of Teyit. Houses belonging to the Bakiyevs were burned.

On May 19, a rally was held in Jalal-Abad against the leader of the Uzbek diaspora, Kadyrzhan Batyrov, whose participants demanded that Batyrov be held accountable for inciting ethnic hatred.

June 10, 2010 At 22:00 a clash occurred near the casino, which sparked unrest in the area of ​​the hostel, the Philharmonic and other parts of the city. The authorities were unable to control the crowd. An unsubstantiated rumor of rape in a dormitory quickly mobilized rural Kyrgyz.

June 11, 2010 At 02:00 the Provisional Government declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew.

At 04:00, arson and looting began near the Frunzensky market in the center of Osh. Uzbek villagers in Nariman blocked the central road that connects Osh with both the airport and Bishkek.

At 13:30, an armored personnel carrier, accompanied by armed people, entered the Cheryomushki mahalla.

June 12, 2010 Rumors spread that the armed forces of Uzbekistan would intervene. Kyrgyz began to leave mahallas in Osh.

June 13, 2010 The scale and intensity of violence decreased in Osh, although attacks on mahallas continued. Hostage-taking is especially active [source not specified 511 days].

The Uzbeks organized a barricade at the Sampa intersection. They set fire to cars and shot at Kyrgyz people.

June 14, 2010 The situation has stabilized in Osh. Over the following days, there were sporadic incidents of violence, including looting, sexual assault and hostage-taking. Clashes continued in Jalal-Abad during the day and looting continued at night. The situation stabilized early the next morning.

According to official data, a total of 442 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured during the conflict. According to unofficial data, about 800 people died in the first days of the unrest. On the evening of June 14, independent media reported a figure of more than 2,000 dead. Independent non-governmental organizations conducted research and identified 457 dead

Weapons and damage

Burnt building in Osh. A year after the bloody events.

According to the Kylym Shamy report, in total, during the days of civil clashes in Osh and Jalal-Abad, 4 units of military equipment and 278 firearms were seized (or given out) from the military and police. Subsequently, 136 units were returned, and 146 remained in the hands of unknown persons. Arson caused large-scale destruction of buildings in both Osh and Jalal-Abad regions. UNOSAT estimated that 2,843 buildings were damaged in the cities of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Bazar-Kurgan. 26 Of these, 2,677 buildings were completely destroyed and 166 were seriously damaged. Damage was caused to industrial warehouses, government buildings, police stations, medical and educational institutions, although to a lesser extent than private homes.

Displaced persons

Massive internal and external population movements during and immediately after the June events created a serious humanitarian crisis. Uzbek authorities said they had taken in about 111,000 displaced people, most of whom were women and children. Uzbekistan opened the border on June 11. UNHCR estimated that 300,000 people were internally displaced during the events. Most returned by mid-July. An urgent joint assessment of shelters carried out in July shows that half of the affected families were living in tents erected next to damaged houses at the time. 29 As of January 2011, UNHCR stated that 169,500 people remained displaced. Many left Kyrgyzstan forever and went, in particular, to neighboring countries.

Investigation and prosecution

Official information provided by the KIC indicates that as of December 2010, 5,162 criminal cases had been opened in connection with the June events. The vast majority of those accused and convicted are Uzbeks. One of the parties actively used the services of OBON to put pressure on the court, lawyers and defendants.

Russia's position

On June 11, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking to reporters at a meeting of SCO heads of state in Tashkent, said that the criterion for the deployment of CSTO forces is the violation by one state of the borders of another state that is part of this organization. In connection with the unrest in Kyrgyzstan, he said: “We are not talking about this yet, because all the problems of Kyrgyzstan are rooted internally. They are rooted in the weakness of the previous government, in their reluctance to deal with the needs of the people. I hope that all the problems that exist today will be resolved by the authorities of Kyrgyzstan. The Russian Federation will help."

Russian planes with humanitarian aid were sent to Osh.

Two weeks ago, news reports began to fill the news from the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, which has sharply worsened due to the deployment of soldiers and armored vehicles of the two countries. Both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan dispute some disputed areas, which they cannot yet divide. Naturally, the interweaving of political and ethnic motives here creates a very explosive situation that threatens to set fire to Central Asia, which will be a disaster not only for the region itself, but also for Russia, for which war in its “underbelly” is unacceptable.

It all started with the deployment of additional Uzbek forces on March 18, supported by armored vehicles, on the disputed section of the border. In response, Kyrgyzstan also strengthened its forces in the area. The Kyrgyz President made a statement Almazbek Atambaev, who stated that Bishkek, in the event of further escalation of the conflict, “will give Uzbekistan a worthy rebuff.” “We have more than 50 disputed areas on the border, and therefore, unfortunately, there will be conflicts on the border. We are not supporters of war, but, nevertheless, we are ready to give a worthy answer. Previously, they frightened us by cutting off electricity and gas, but over the past five years we have nullified all these threats. And that’s why neighbors are taking such steps,” said the head of state. A week later, however, the conflict was resolved - the parties agreed to withdraw their forces from the disputed area.

It is worth noting that border conflicts in Central Asia are far from a new phenomenon. The roots of this should be sought in the Soviet past, when, during the administrative demarcation in the union republics, Moscow often ignored all the ethnic, socio-economic and cultural aspects and nuances that existed in a particular territory. But in fairness, it must be noted that the then Soviet leaders, even in their worst nightmares, could not have dreamed of everything that happened in 1991. None of them could have thought that the internal borders they created would soon become external borders. However, it happened.

In general, at the moment, about 20 percent of the section of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border remains uncoordinated. The disputes between the two countries are over 58 sites, 28 of which are located in the Ala-Buka and Aksy regions. The situation is complicated by the fact that most of these areas are mountainous, so it is quite difficult to demarcate there. And the stubbornness of the parties also plays a role - Bishkek and Tashkent do not want to compromise with each other on the issue of disputed areas. All this causes periodic incidents. This is especially true for the enclaves that the region inherited from the USSR. The most acute situation here is in the Ferghana Valley, divided between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. There are several enclaves in the valley near the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Thus, in Kyrgyzstan there are the Uzbek enclaves Sokh and Shahirdaman. The Kyrgyz village of Barak and some other settlements are located on the territory of Uzbekistan.

Periodically, tensions are provoked by measures taken by both sides to close sections of the border with the enclaves. Thus, a rather serious incident took place in the Uzbek village of Khushyar, which is surrounded on all sides by Kyrgyz territory. It all started with the installation of power lines by the Kyrgyz border guards, which ran right through the territory of the enclave. The Uzbeks called Bishkek's actions an invasion of their territory, attacking the neighboring Kyrgyz village of Chabrak in response. The Uzbeks took hostages with them, who were taken to the territory of their enclave, after which the Kyrgyz border guards blocked all entries and exits for the Uzbeks. The situation was resolved only through difficult negotiations. Tashkent is also closing sections of its border with Kyrgyz enclaves under various pretexts, forcing Bishkek to look for new transport routes to keep in touch with them.

Thus, the accumulated problems require a quick solution, but given the local specifics, this is unlikely to be done quickly.

The issue here, in fact, is not only about ethnic enclaves, but also about sources of water resources. One of them is the Orto-Tokoy reservoir, located in the disputed border areas. Tashkent declares that this strategic facility, on the work of which the lives of tens of thousands of citizens of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan depend, belongs to it, as it was built in the 1940s with funds from the Uzbek SSR. Bishkek does not agree with this, stating that the land on which the reservoir is located rightfully belongs to Kyrgyzstan. The dispute between the parties is quite understandable, since water in the arid region of Central Asia is the most valuable resource. And no one wants to lose him.

The current situation for the Bell of Russia was commented on by the first vice-president of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, chairman of the Union of Geopoliticians Konstantin Sivkov. According to the expert, a serious conflict due to Kyrgyz-Uzbek contradictions should not be expected, but third forces may try to benefit from it.

“There was no serious clash there as such; it is not of fundamental importance. However, the dispute between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan over the border has a history of more than 20 years, and the conflict can with full confidence be called sluggish. But third forces, for example, the United States, may try to take advantage of it: increase the degree of tension and transfer the dispute between the two countries to a fundamentally new level, where the parties could use weapons against each other,” the political scientist believes.

Sivkov noted that Washington, in its desire to weaken Russia’s increased geopolitical influence, is trying to create a so-called southern belt of instability on its borders, which would stretch from the Balkans to the border of the Central Asian republics with China. Naturally, Central Asia, due to its geopolitical position, is given the main role in this belt. There are quite a lot of problems in the region now, including the spread of radical Islamism. A new conflict point in the region would be beneficial to the United States, which will try with all its might to blow up this “underbelly of Russia”.

And here, according to the geopolitical expert, Uzbekistan is of key importance. "President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov trying, as they say, to sit “on two chairs,” situationally speaking either on the side of Russia or on the side of the United States. But in general, Uzbekistan is now pursuing a pro-Western policy. Therefore, under pressure from Washington and its allies, primarily Ankara, the head of Uzbekistan may decide to escalate the conflict,” the expert said.

As for Russia, it, says Sivkov, must urgently try to resolve the contradictions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan through those tools that can be used within the CIS. “You can also involve the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), including China, whose influence in the region has recently increased sharply. Beijing is also disadvantaged by instability in Central Asia, since the region borders the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China, known for its separatist sentiments,” the political scientist concluded.

A similar point of view is shared by a political scientist and an expert on Central Asia. Rafik Sayfulin: “The problem exists not only between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, but also between Tajiks and Uzbeks. Any dispute in the border area can become the beginning of a conflict.” At the same time, he noted that Uzbekistan often sends an additional border detachment to the border in order to counter extremists who sometimes penetrate into Uzbekistan from Kyrgyzstan. “Tashkent believes that Bishkek is not fully taking adequate measures to counter Islamists, as well as IS (an extremist organization banned in Russia - approx.. ed.) . It is well known that negative trends are growing in Kyrgyzstan, many young people are leaving for the Islamic State, and in Bishkek they know this and do not hide it,” Saifulin concluded.

In general, the presence of a powder keg in the Central Asian region is obvious. And, based on the complexity of local contradictions, as well as the ambitions of the political elites of the former post-Soviet republics, they can negotiate more successfully among themselves only through the mediation of Moscow, which often acts as a kind of arbiter in solving many local problems. This was the case when determining the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, when the parties were finally able to reach a mutual agreement. It seems that Russia once again must solve local problems. Otherwise, those forces that are interested in weakening our country will not miss the chance to take advantage of Moscow’s inaction.

Ivan Proshkin

Osh-aimagy, "Osh region"). The main task of “Adolat” was the preservation and development of the culture, language, and traditions of the Uzbek people. The goals and objectives of “Osh Aimagy” - the implementation of constitutional human rights and providing people with land plots for housing construction - united mainly Kyrgyz youth.

In May 1990, poor young Kyrgyz people demanded that they be provided with plots for housing construction on the land of the collective farm named after. Lenin near the city of Osh. The authorities agreed to satisfy this demand. Starting from May 30, on the received field of the collective farm, the Kyrgyz held rallies with demands to remove from the post of the first deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of the Kyrgyz SSR, the former first secretary of the regional party committee, who, in their opinion, did not solve the problems of registration, employment and housing of Kyrgyz youth and contributed to the that mainly Uzbeks worked in the trade and service sector in Osh.

The Uzbeks perceived the allocation of land to the Kyrgyz extremely negatively. They also held rallies and adopted an appeal to the leadership of Kyrgyzstan and the region with demands to create Uzbek autonomy in the Osh region, give the Uzbek language the status of one of the state languages, create an Uzbek cultural center, open an Uzbek faculty at the Osh Pedagogical Institute and remove from the post of the first secretary of the regional committee, who allegedly protects the interests of only the Kyrgyz population. They demanded a response by June 4.

On June 1, the Uzbeks who rented housing to the Kyrgyz began to evict them, as a result of which more than 1,500 Kyrgyz tenants also began to demand the allocation of land plots for development. The Kyrgyz also demanded that the authorities give them a final answer on the provision of land by June 4.

However, the republican commission headed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kirghiz SSR A. Dzhumagulov recognized the allocation of land for development of the collective farm named after. Lenin is illegal and it was decided to allocate other land plots for housing construction. The majority of the Kyrgyz, who need land for development, and the Uzbeks agreed with this decision, but about 200 representatives of Osh-Aimagy continued to insist on providing them with the land of the collective farm named after. Lenin.

Conflict

On June 4, the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks met on the field of the collective farm named after. Lenin. About 1.5 thousand Kyrgyz came, more than 10 thousand Uzbeks. They were separated by police armed with machine guns.

As reported [ ], Uzbek youth tried to break through the police cordon and attack the Kyrgyz, they began to throw stones and bottles at the police, two policemen were captured. The police opened fire and, according to some sources, 6 Uzbeks were killed (according to other information, wounded). After this, the Uzbek crowd, led by leaders, shouted “Blood for blood!” headed to Osh, smashing Kyrgyz houses. From June 4 to June 6, the number of Uzbek pogromists increased to 20 thousand due to those arriving from districts, villages and Andijan (Uzbek SSR). About 30-40 Uzbeks tried to seize the buildings of the Osh GOVD, SIZO-5, the Department of Internal Affairs of the Osh Oblast Executive Committee, but they failed and the police detained about 35 active rioters.

On the night of June 6-7 in Osh, the building of the Internal Affairs Directorate and a police squad were shelled, two police officers were wounded. On the border with the Andijan region of the Uzbek SSR, a crowd of thousands of Uzbeks appeared, arriving to help the Osh Uzbeks.

On the morning of June 7, there were attacks on the pumping station and the city motor depot, interruptions began in the supply of food and drinking water to the population.

Kyrgyz-Uzbek clashes also occurred in other settlements of the Osh region. In the Fergana, Andijan and Namangan regions of the Uzbek SSR, beatings of the Kyrgyz and burning of their houses began, which caused the flight of the Kyrgyz from the territory of Uzbekistan.

The massacre was stopped only in the evening of June 6, by bringing army units into the region. At the cost of enormous efforts by the army and the police, it was possible to avoid the involvement of the population of Uzbekistan in the conflict on the territory of the Kyrgyz SSR. The march of armed Uzbeks from the cities of Namangan and Andijan to Osh was stopped several tens of kilometers from the city. The crowd overturned police cordons and burned cars; clashes with army units were recorded. Then the main political and religious figures of the Uzbek SSR spoke to the Uzbeks rushing to Kyrgyzstan, which helped to avoid further victims.

Victims

According to the investigative team of the USSR Prosecutor's Office, about 1,200 people died in the conflict on the Kyrgyz side in the cities of Uzgen and Osh, as well as in the villages of the Osh region, and on the Uzbek side, investigators found about 10 thousand episodes of crimes. 1,500 criminal cases were sent to the courts. About 30-35 thousand people took part in the conflict, about 300 people were brought to justice. After Kyrgyzstan gained independence, they were all released.

In popular culture

The Osh events of 1990 are mentioned in the series “National Security Agent” (Season 2, film “The Man Without a Face”). According to the plot, the hero of Konstantin Khabensky, KGB officer of the USSR Hussein Sabbakh, was infiltrated into a nationalist group that carried out a bloody massacre in Osh. To confirm the legend, Sabbah was forced to take an active part in the riots and prove his loyalty to the group with the blood of civilians.

see also

Notes

Links

• Kommersant: Osh massacre of 1990
• Evolution in Europe; SOVIETS INTERVENE IN ETHNIC VIOLENCE - NYTimes.com (English)
• Soviets Report New Clashes In Central Asian City of Osh - NYTimes.com (English)
• Charles Recknagel. Ferghana Valley: A Tinderbox For Violence(English) . Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (June 17, 2010). Retrieved February 6, 2017.
• Kaplan, Robert D. The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia – a Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy. - Vintage Books, 1997. - ISBN 978-0-679-75123-6.
• Luong, Pauline Jones. The Transformation of Central Asia: States and Societies from Soviet Rule to Independence. - Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004. - P. 154–46. - ISBN 978-0-8014-4151-6.
• Alexander Shustov. Interethnic conflicts in Central Asia (I) (undefined) (February 2, 2008). Retrieved October 25, 2008. Archived September 15, 2008.
• Aksana Ismailbekova. A glimmer of hope in bloodstained Kyrgyzstan (undefined) . Fergana.news (10.08.2010). Retrieved February 6, 2017.
• Lubin, Nancy. Calming the Ferghana Valley: Development and Dialogue in the Heart of Central Asia / Nancy Lubin, Martin, Rubin. - New York, NY: The Century Foundation Press, 1999. - ISBN 978-0-87078-414-9.
• Tishkov, Valery (May 1995). “"Don"t Kill Me, I"m a Kyrgyz!": An Anthropological Analysis of Violence in the Osh Ethnic Conflict." Journal of Peace Research. 32 (2): 133-149. DOI:10.1177/0022343395032002002.
• Razakov's talent. Osh events: Based on KGB materials. - Bishkek: Renaissance, 1993. - ISBN 5-85580-001-6.
• A. A. Asankanov, Kyrgyz Tarykh: Encyclopedia, Bishkek, 2003. ISBN 5-89750-150-5.

Background
Parade of sovereignties	“Singing revolution in the Baltics (1987-1991) Restoration of independence of the Baltic republics Lithuania Latvia Estonia Declarations on the sovereignty of the republics Estonia (11/16/1988) RSFSR (06/12/1990) Ukraine (07/16/1990) Belarus (07/27/1990) Kazakhstan (10/25/1990) Declarations and acts of independence of the republics of Lithuania (1 1.03 .1990) Latvia (05/04/1990) Armenia (08/23/1990) Georgia (04/09/1991)

Sides:

Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Russia

Roots of the conflict:

Central Asia is divided into two parts: 1) Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, belonging to the so-called Eurasian community; 2) Central Asia proper, which belongs to the Muslim East.
Kyrgyzstan is a country located at the junction of the borders of the Eurasian and Islamic worlds and China.

Unrest in the south of Kyrgyzstan in 2010 - interethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that broke out on June 10-13, 2010 in the city of Osh.

Long-standing contradictions between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz have worsened as a result of the formation of a political vacuum caused by the coup d'etat.

The roots of the conflicts lie in pre-Islamic times - in the 1st millennium BC, when the Saka tribes living in the territory of present-day Kyrgyzstan opposed the settled Iranian population of Central Asia; then came the confrontation between the World of Islam and the Eurasian nomadic Turks.

The Uzbek-Kyrgyz conflict began with the Osh events in June 1990 after the decision of local authorities to allocate plots of land for individual development to the Kyrgyz who moved from villages to cities with a predominantly Uzbek population (Osh, Jalal-Abad, Uzgen). The Fergana Valley is overpopulated even by Central Asian standards. But it would be wrong to explain everything only by economic and demographic factors.

Chronology of events:

In 1990, Osh was already the scene of interethnic violence.

Batken events:

The Batken events are armed conflicts between the Islamic militants of Uzbekistan (IMU) and the armed forces of the Kyrgyz Republic in 1999. They were caused by attempts by IMU militants to enter the territory of Uzbekistan from Tajikistan through the territory of Kyrgyzstan.

The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is an Islamist organization created in 1996 by former members of a number of political parties and movements banned in Uzbekistan, including Adolat Uyushmasi (Justice Society), Islamic Renaissance Party, Islamic Party of Turkestan, Islam Lashkorlari "("Warriors of Islam"), etc. The IMU is considered a terrorist organization by many countries of the world, including Russia and the USA.

In August 1999, IMU troops (numbering almost 1,000 people) invaded the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan from the territory of Northern Tajikistan. In October of the same year, movement units left the territory of this republic.

In 2001, the American Manas airbase was located in Kyrgyzstan. The formation of the Akayev clan against the background of progressive poverty of the population brought the country to the brink of crisis. Then the Tulip Revolution occurred on March 24, 2005, ending the 15-year reign of Askar Akayev (1990-2005). The new president was the representative of the “poor south” Kurmanbek Bakiyev (2005-2010), who failed to stabilize the situation in the country.

Bakiyev was overthrown during another revolution on April 7, 2010. Power passed to a provisional government headed by the leader of the last revolution, Roza Otunbayeva. Clashes between supporters of the new and old authorities provoked an interethnic conflict between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the south of the country, during which over 200 people died and hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks fled the country.

On June 27, 2010, a referendum was held in Kyrgyzstan, which confirmed the powers of Roza Otunbayeva as head of state for the transition period until 2011, and a new constitution was adopted, approving a parliamentary form of government in the country.

Interethnic conflict between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks (2010):

On April 4, 2010, a brawl broke out in Jalal-Abad between Kyrgyz supporters of Bakiyev and supporters of the leader of the Uzbek community, Kadyrzhan Batyrov. On the night of April 30 to May 1, 2010, a mass brawl occurred between Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups.

On May 13, Bakiyev’s supporters, according to a number of sources, seized the regional administration buildings in Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken, appointed their own governors and declared their intention to overthrow the interim government by sending 25 thousand people to Bishkek.. The interim government accused Black Aibek of organizing resistance to the new government . On May 14, there were serious clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, especially in Jalal-Abad, where Uzbeks Kadyrzhan Batyrov returned the administration building to the control of the provisional government. AKIpress estimates the number of victims of clashes in Jalalabad at 30 people.

On May 19, a rally was held in Jalal-Abad against the leader of the Uzbek diaspora, Kadyrzhan Batyrov, who was demanded to be held accountable for inciting ethnic hatred. The protesters accused his militants of burning houses belonging to the Bakiyev family, as well as using weapons on May 14. The former head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the republic, Kamchibek Tashiev, even set an ultimatum until June 7, after which he threatened to begin forming popular squads of no confidence in the Provisional Government. Batyrov disappeared, and on June 7 his rival Black Aibek was killed.
On May 26, in the Uzbek enclave of Sokh, a group of Uzbeks beat up Kyrgyz people. Tensions have arisen over a disputed pasture.

June 10 In the evening, in the gaming hall “24 hours” there is a quarrel between guys of Kyrgyz and Uzbek nationality. The fight breaks up.

Additional military forces of infantry fighting vehicles are being introduced into the city, and six military helicopters are patrolling the air. The hottest spots in the city are the village of Furkat and the Cheryomushki district (makhalla). Meanwhile, the first cases of looting were recorded in the city. The looters were all unemployed Kyrgyz who were brought to Osh from all possible places, promising to pay for participating in ethnic cleansing against the Uzbek population.

On June 11, riots began in the southern regional center of Osh. The next day they spread to the neighboring Jalal-Abad region. A state of emergency was declared in the conflict zone and a curfew was imposed. In the city of Osh, about 70% of city buildings were burned, and in Jalal-Abad, 20% of infrastructure facilities were damaged. According to the latest data, about 260 people became victims of the confrontation. The leadership of Kyrgyzstan previously stated that the bloodshed occurred due to the planned actions of certain political forces.

On June 12, ethnic cleansing against the Uzbek population spread to the Jalal-Abad region, in the city of Jalal-Abad the Kyrgyz-Uzbek University named after. K. Batyrova. The chairman of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, requested Russian assistance. The border with Uzbekistan is open for refugees. Partial mobilization began in Kyrgyzstan, and a state of emergency and curfew were introduced throughout the Jalal-Abad region. According to witnesses and doctors, cases of rape of young Uzbek girls and pregnant women were noted in the south of Kyrgyzstan.

June 13 The situation in Osh remains difficult, but officials say the wave of violence has subsided. The head of the Pakistani Foreign Ministry announced the death of one Pakistani student in Osh and the taking of 15 more hostages. More than 450 thousand people fled from Kyrgyzstan to neighboring Uzbekistan.

On June 14, reports appeared about the arrest of provocateurs, snipers and cars (Volkswagen Golf III and Daewoo) with weapons. Kyrgyz bandits and looters in uniform begin sweeping barricaded mahallas in search of the remaining Uzbeks.

Victims of the conflict:

According to official data, a total of 442 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured during the conflict. According to unofficial data, about 800 people died in the first days of the unrest. On the evening of June 14, independent media reported a figure of more than 2,000 dead. The discrepancy in official and unofficial figures is explained by the fact that the authorities carefully hide the truth and the real scale of the killings as part of the ethnic cleansing of Uzbeks.

Russia's position in this conflict:

On June 11, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, speaking to reporters at a meeting of SCO heads of state in Tashkent, said that the criterion for the deployment of CSTO forces is the violation by one state of the borders of another state that is part of this organization. In connection with the unrest in Kyrgyzstan, he said: “We are not talking about this yet, because all the problems of Kyrgyzstan are rooted internally. They are rooted in the weakness of the previous government, in their reluctance to deal with the needs of the people. I hope that all the problems that exist today will be resolved by the authorities of Kyrgyzstan. The Russian Federation will help."

The head of the Provisional Government of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbaeva, said on June 12: “We need the introduction of military forces from other countries. We turned to Russia for help. I have already signed such a letter addressed to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.”

On June 13, a reinforced battalion of the 31st Airborne Assault Brigade was delivered to the Russian Kant airbase in Kyrgyzstan to ensure the safety of Russian military personnel and members of their families.
On June 14, in Moscow, on behalf of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, emergency consultations were held between the secretaries of the CSTO Collective Security Council on the situation in Kyrgyzstan, at which the possibility of sending peacekeeping forces to Kyrgyzstan was discussed. Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Committee of Secretaries of the Security Councils of the CSTO countries Nikolai Patrushev said that the participants “did not rule out the use of any means that the CSTO has in its potential and the use of which is possible depending on the development of the situation in Kyrgyzstan.” Russian planes with humanitarian aid were sent to Osh.

In June 2010, in connection with the situation in Kyrgyzstan associated with the confrontation between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek diasporas, which actually led Kyrgyzstan to a state of civil war, the Committee of Secretaries of Security Councils was urgently convened. The KSSF was convened to resolve the issue of military assistance to Kyrgyzstan, which consisted in the introduction of CRRF units into the country. The president of the transition period of Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbaeva, also addressed the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev with this request. It should be noted that the President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev previously made a similar call.

Then, after the CSTO refused to assist in resolving the situation in a CSTO member state, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko sharply criticized this organization. Meanwhile, the CSTO helped Kyrgyzstan: organized the search for the organizers of the riots and coordinated cooperation to suppress the activities of terrorist groups that actually influenced the situation from Afghanistan, the fight against the drug mafia operating in the south of Kyrgyzstan, control of all information sources working in the south of the country. Some experts believe that the CSTO did the right thing in not sending CRRF forces to Kyrgyzstan, as this would have further aggravated the interethnic situation in the country.

Blog workshop of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Faculty of Philosophy, TNU named after. V. I. Vernadsky

In Kyrgyzstan, a major interethnic conflict occurred between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, called the Osh conflict.

The south of Kyrgyzstan (Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken regions) occupies the southwestern part of the Fergana Valley. There has always been a tight knot of various problems, contradictions and conflicts, the potential sources of which were the underdevelopment of economic infrastructure, limited land and water resources, mass unemployment, and religious extremism.

National-territorial demarcation in the 20s of the twentieth century radically changed the political situation of the Fergana Valley: it was divided between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; Each republic continued to have a mixed, multinational population. Two Uzbek enclaves remained on the territory of Kyrgyzstan - Sokh and Shakhimardan, numbering approximately 40 to 50 thousand people, as well as the Tajik enclaves of Chorku and Vorukh. In turn, in Uzbekistan there is a Kyrgyz enclave - the village of Barak, which belongs to the village administration of Ak-Tash, Kara-Suu district, Osh region.

Since ancient times, the flat areas of the Fergana Valley were occupied by settled farmers (mainly Uzbeks), and in the mountains and foothills in the villages lived the Kyrgyz - nomadic pastoralists. Sedentary farmers are the founders of a number of cities, including Osh and Uzgen. Historically, there were very few Kyrgyz living in these cities.

Since the mid-1960s, the Kyrgyz began to move from mountain villages to the plains and populate cities and the countryside around cities, but in the late 1980s, in the cities of Osh and Uzgen, the Uzbeks significantly outnumbered the Kyrgyz.

The policies of perestroika and glasnost in the second half of the 1980s gave rise to a rise in national self-awareness for both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. At the same time, socio-economic problems worsened, and the shortage of land plots for housing construction became especially sensitive. As a rule, land was demanded by people from rural areas - ethnic Kyrgyz who moved to Frunze (Bishkek) and Osh. The legislation of the USSR forbade the allocation of land for individual development in the capitals of the Union republics. The dissatisfaction of the Kyrgyz student and working youth living in Frunze was growing. Throughout the spring of 1990, rallies of Kyrgyz youth demanding land took place in the capital of Kyrgyzstan. In the suburbs of the capital, attempts to seize land plots continued.

In Osh, in the early spring of 1990, the informal Uzbek association "Adolat" ("Justice") and the Kyrgyz public organization "Osh Aimagy" ("Osh Region") became more active, which set the task of providing people with land plots for building houses.

In May, a group of Uzbek elders from the Jalal-Abad region appealed to the leadership of the USSR (Chairman of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Council of the USSR Rafik Nishanov, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kyrgyzstan Absamat Masaliev, etc.) with a demand to grant autonomy to the Uzbek population of southern Kyrgyzstan. The appeal indicated that the indigenous population of the region are actually Uzbeks, whose number in the region is about 560 thousand people; in the Osh region, in an area of ​​compact residence, the Uzbek population is more than 50%.

Among the Uzbeks, discontent was complemented by the fact that the overwhelming majority of the leadership cadres were people of Kyrgyz nationality.

At a Kyrgyz rally that took place in Osh on May 27, its participants actually delivered an ultimatum to the authorities. They demanded that they be given 32 hectares of cotton fields at the Lenin collective farm, where mainly Uzbeks worked. Government officials satisfied this demand.

The Uzbek community perceived this decision as an insult. The Uzbeks gathered their own meeting, at which they also put forward demands to the authorities: the creation of Uzbek autonomy and the granting of state status to the Uzbek language.

Those Uzbeks who rented housing to the Kyrgyz in Osh began to get rid of their tenants en masse. This only contributed to fueling the conflict, especially since the people evicted from their apartments (and, according to some sources, there were more than 1.5 thousand of them) also joined the demands to transfer the plots for development.

On May 31, the authorities admitted that the decision to transfer 32 hectares of collective farm land was illegal. However, this could no longer influence the development of the situation: numerous rallies took place on both sides.

On June 4, about 1.5 thousand Kyrgyz and more than 10 thousand Uzbeks converged on the field of the disputed collective farm. Opposing rallies were separated only by a thin line of police officers armed with machine guns. People from the crowd began throwing stones and bottles at them, and there were attempts to break through the cordon. As a result, the police officers opened fire to kill.

Angry crowds took different routes into the city, setting cars on fire and beating up members of the “hostile” nationality who got in their way. A group of several dozen people attacked the building of the Osh City Police Department. The police, again using weapons, repelled the attack.

After this, mass pogroms, arson and murder of Uzbeks began in Osh. Unrest swept through the city of Uzgen and rural areas, where the majority of the population was Kyrgyz. The most violent clashes took place in Uzgen, the regional center, which was also a place of compact residence of Uzbeks. On the morning of June 5, mass fights began there between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, and the advantage was on the side of the latter. Within a few hours, hundreds of Kyrgyz were beaten, and representatives of the Kyrgyz community began to leave the city. However, by noon, organized armed groups of Kyrgyz from nearby villages began to arrive in the city. They became organizers and participants in numerous pogroms, arson, robberies and murders.

Support groups from neighboring Namangan, Fergana and Andijan regions of the Uzbek SSR arrived to help the Uzbek side.

On June 6, 1990, units of the Soviet army were introduced into the unrest-ridden settlements and managed to take control of the situation. The march of armed Uzbeks from the cities of Namangan and Andijan to Osh was stopped several tens of kilometers from the city.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kyrgyz SSR and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the former USSR, during the mass riots of 1990, 305 people were killed, 1,371 people were injured, including 1,071 people were hospitalized, 573 houses were burned, including 74 government institutions, 89 cars, 426 robberies were committed. .

The Resolution of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated September 26, 1990 “On events in the Osh region of the Kyrgyz SSR”, adopted as a result of the work of the deputy group, stated that “events in the Osh region of the Kirghiz SSR were the result of major miscalculations in national and personnel policy; neglect educational work among the population; unresolved acute economic and social problems; numerous facts of violation of social justice. The first leaders of the Kyrgyz SSR, as well as the region, did not learn lessons from the ethnic clashes that previously took place in the republic, showed carelessness and short-sightedness in assessing the situation regarding the activation of nationalist elements and conflict that was brewing, did not take measures to prevent it."

The material was prepared based on information from open sources