1990 Osh clashes

Coordinates: 40°32′N 72°48′E / 40.53°N 72.8°E / 40.53; 72.8
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Osh riots (1990)
)
This article is about the ethnic clashes between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that took place in 1990. For the 2010 clashes between the same groups, see 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes.

Osh riots
Date4–6 June 1990
Location
Kyrgyz SSR
Result 46 out of 48 rioters convicted
Belligerents

Uzbek rioters

  • Adolat

Kyrgyz rioters

  • Osh Aymaghi
Casualties and losses
300-600 deaths (official estimate); 1,000-10,000 (unofficial estimate)

The Osh riots (

collective farm. While official estimates of the death toll range from over 300 to more than 600, unofficial figures range up to more than 1,000. The riots have been seen as a forerunner to the 2010 ethnic clashes
in the same region.

Historical background

Prior to the Soviet period, the inhabitants of the

Khrushchev era most of the deportees from the 1930s onward left to find better work elsewhere. By the late Brezhnev era
, there were already signs of unemployment.

By the late 1980s, the economic situation between both Kyrgyz and Uzbek populations had markedly noticeable differences. Uzbeks, who were traditionally the merchants and farmers of the region, benefited from the market conditions of the

unemployment rate of 22.8%.[3] In addition to economic discrepancies, the ethnic ratios of the region's administrative posts did not respond to the demographics of the population. In 1990, the Uzbeks made up 26% of the region's population with the Kyrgyz at 60%, but only 4% of the key official posts were held by Uzbeks.[1]

In the late 1980s, several inter-ethnic disputes had already plagued the Fergana region. Around June 1989 in the neighboring

Armenians who had recently been deported from Nagorno-Karabakh.[4] In Kirghizia, ethnic tensions began to simmer in the spring of 1990 when Adolat (Uzbek for "justice"), an Uzbek nationalist group that claimed a membership of over 40,000, began to petition the Osh government for greater representation and the freedom for Uzbek language schooling, publications, and culture.[5] At the same time, Osh Aymaghi, a Kyrgyz nationalist group, was petitioning for its own demands, the foremost of which was the redistribution of land belonging to Lenin Kolkhoz, a mostly Uzbek collective farm. The group was on the verge of seizing the land on its own when authorities finally agreed to redistribute some of the land, but their final decision to reallocate a large portion of Uzbek land to the Kyrgyz denomination with little compensation for the original inhabitants pleased neither party.[1]
Uzbek and Kyrgyz demonstrators gathered around the collective farm to protest the party's decision.

Riots

The violence began on 4 June in the city of

Uzgen violence started the next day. The immediate cause of the riots in Uzgen was a dispute between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the area of Uzgen bazaar and bus station.[7]

During the riots some of the local militsiyas (the local Soviet police force) expressed loyalties to their own ethnic counterparts by taking part in the riots.[8] Although supplies and vehicles used in the attacks were predominantly stolen by the young rioters, some local Kyrgyz elites who did not openly take part in the violence lent supplies and vehicles to the demonstrators.

The worst of the large-scale clashes occurred in the cities of Osh and

tea houses (choyxonas) were also targeted, and several reports involve the abduction and rape of female tea house-goers.[11]

In

Soviet Ministry of Interior to enter the area of the conflict and stay stationed only within cities. The Uzbek-Kyrgyz border was sealed off to prevent Uzbeks from the neighboring Uzbekistan from joining the riots.[12]

Official estimates of the death toll range from over 300

example needed
] was a significant influence on the rioters' actions.

Aftermath

In the 1991 trials conducted by the new independent

Osh riots of 2010
, in which those arrested and sentenced were mainly ethnic Uzbeks.

With the 1991 independence of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbeks were not ensured much autonomy in the new government of

Akayev and were held with deep suspicion by the general populace. In the mid-1990s Uzbeks occupied only 4.7% of the Osh regional posts.[17] The economic depression following independence only heightened ethnic tensions in the following years. When law enforcement broke down in 2010, these hidden tensions were uncontrollable. That is one of the many reasons why speculators believe that the riots in 2010 were not just merely a repeat of those of 20 years before, but a continuation of the conflict.[18][19]

A stone monument commemorating the riots was erected in the field where they ignited, with plaques in Russian, English, and Old Turkic.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Lubin et al., p. 47.
  2. ^ Recknagel, Charles (24 June 2010). "Ferghana Valley: A Tinderbox For Violence". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  3. ^ Kaplan, Robert D. (1997). The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia – a Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy. Vintage Books.
    ISBN 978-0-679-75123-6
    .
  4. ^ Lubin et al., pp. 45–49.
  5. ^ Luong, Pauline Jones (2004). The Transformation of Central Asia : States and Societies from Soviet Rule to Independence. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 154–46.
    ISBN 978-0-8014-4151-6
    .
  6. ^ Razakov, p. 77.
  7. ^ Razakov, p. 81.
  8. ^ Tishkov, p. 133.
  9. ^ Tishkov, p. 136.
  10. ^ Tishkov, p. 138.
  11. ^ Tishkov, p. 139.
  12. ^ ШУСТОВ, Александр (2 February 2008). "Межэтнические конфликты в Центральной Азии (I)" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
  13. ^ Solvang, Ole; Nesitat, Anna (16 August 2010). "Where is the Justice?" Interethnic Violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan and its Aftermath". Human Rights Watch.
  14. ^ a b "Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the Events in Southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010" (PDF), The Independent International Commission of Inquiry (KIC), 3 May 2011, retrieved 24 April 2013
  15. ^ "Pogroms in Kyrgyzstan" (PDF). International Crisis Group. 23 August 2010. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  16. ^ Tishkov, pp. 134–135.
  17. ^ Lubin et al., p. 49.
  18. ^ Ismailbekova, Aksana. "The glimmer of hope in bloody Kyrgyzstan". Fergana.news. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
  19. ^ Liu, Morgan (2012). Under Solomon's Throne: Uzbek Visions of Renewal in Osh. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
  20. ^ Liu, Morgan (2012). Under Solomon's Throne: Uzbek Visions of Renewal in Osh. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 23.

Sources

40°32′N 72°48′E / 40.53°N 72.8°E / 40.53; 72.8

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1990_Osh_clashes&oldid=1192643091"