Uzbek-Kyrgyz conflict. The conflict between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan: then all of Central Asia. Why bad relations between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan
Bloody riots in southern Kyrgyzstan have strained relations between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Both sides need help, say observers in the region.
The armed conflict that took place in mid-June in southern Kyrgyzstan has significantly increased tension between the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, experts interviewed by Deutsche Welle admit.
Hatimdzhan Yakubov, a specialist in civil cases at a law firm in Osh, talks about the facts of violations of the rights of Uzbeks by law enforcement agencies. He tells a case from his practice, when an Uzbek named Aziz was stopped by traffic police and, insulting the detainee, demanded that he leave Kyrgyzstan. Aziz, according to Yakubov, indeed soon left the country. “Another person is under investigation,” says the lawyer. “Not only was he beaten and maimed by law enforcement officers, he was told in prison that if he does not pay a certain amount, then tomorrow he will not be released and is unlikely to live until next month."
In Osh, according to Yakubov, most of the population is still afraid to go outside. "In Jalal-Abad, they say it's a little more stable. And we have about 2-3 percent of the population walking, the rest are sitting at home, they will have a crisis tomorrow, they will run out of money, they don't know what to do next."
Psychological rehabilitation needed
In addition to providing humanitarian assistance, it is vital to carry out psychological work with the local population, Zhanna Saralayeva, president of the Association "Women - Leaders of Jalal-Abad", believes. Both the Kyrgyz and the Uzbeks who contact her crisis center reported that they have hostility towards each other. “I don’t know, maybe later, if everything gets better, I will overcome my hatred and communicate with them, but so far I don’t have such a desire,” Saralaeva recalls the words of a Kyrgyz girl who came from the city of Osh.
The conflict has forced many people to leave southern Kyrgyzstan, or prepare to do so. According to Zhanna Saralayeva, representatives of the Uzbek population are especially active in leaving. "They are not sure that things will get better soon, because elections are coming up, and they do not trust the authorities that have come in now. And in general, they are worried for their safety."
No integration program
Ruslan Tashanov, coordinator of the project on the prevention of ethnic conflicts of the Public Foundation for International Tolerance in Osh, also notes the growth of mutual hostility between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz. “First of all, the problem is that there are people who have lost their loved ones and who have lost their homes. Definitely, they have accumulated a lot of negative emotions, respectively, the danger is that they can take extreme measures, that is, revenge. We need to work with these people."
Tashanov, in an interview with Deutsche Welle, said that it is wrong to believe that ethnic minorities are discriminated against in the country. In support of his words, he cited a number of figures. "There were 2 Uzbek universities in Kyrgyzstan, 135 schools with the Uzbek language of instruction, a drama theater, 3 television channels in the south of Kyrgyzstan, 5 newspapers. Such conditions for Uzbeks are not created in any other state," Tashanov said. “In the law enforcement system, the police, about 30 percent of the personnel, at least in the city of Osh, were from among the people of Uzbek nationality.” Note that earlier local human rights activists have repeatedly expressed concern about the fact that the Osh police, representatives of the Kyrgyz nationality.
Ruslan Tashanov noted that an important factor in the conflict was the lack of a state integration program in Kyrgyzstan. "In those communities where the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks lived mixed, there is definitely no conflict. There were those areas where the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks jointly patrolled their quarters, there are a lot of such areas, even in the city of Osh, I can definitely say that 75 percent of the population did not participate in conflict."
" Moral duty " governments
The possibility of a new escalation in the conflict should not be underestimated, said Farkhad Tolipov, an independent political analyst in Tashkent. “The local population, accustomed to clashes, will remember this for a long time and will not calm down, realizing that the conflict took place in 1990, and 20 years later everything happened again. That is, who guarantees that this will not happen again?” Tolipov noted. the local population will long remain alarmed about the possibility of any clashes."
To prevent a conflict like the June clashes in the future, Tolipov suggests convening a high-level meeting between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. "We must come to one common view, give the same assessment of this event, this is very important from a political point of view, in order to show that there are no grounds for friction, mutual suspicions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, that we continue to cooperate," the political scientist noted. In addition, Tolipov believes that it is necessary to develop a strategic mechanism for monitoring the situation in the region with the involvement of the expert community, scientists and officials of the two countries.
To soften the mood in Kyrgyzstan, according to Tolipov, could be an official apology from the country's government for failing to guarantee the lives and rights of its citizens. "This is just a moral duty. An international objective investigation is still needed, and not subjective opinions. But no one ruled out the moral aspect. Therefore, I believe that the leadership could, after mourning, lowering the flags, also apologize. It was even would be Muslim."
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Context
Human rights activists call the situation in Kyrgyzstan a humanitarian catastrophe
The number of Uzbek residents trying to leave the conflict zone in southern Kyrgyzstan has reached 80,000. 117 people became victims of interethnic clashes, about 1500 were injured. Human rights activists talk about a humanitarian catastrophe. (14.06.2010)
The situation in Central Asia remains very difficult in terms of ensuring regional stability and security. Territorial and other related interstate contradictions began to appear after the collapse of the USSR and are still far from being resolved.
In relations between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, one of the main knots of contradictions is the problem of border demarcation. Along the entire perimeter of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, which is about 1300 km long, there are, according to various estimates, from 70 to 100 disputed sections. Today, only those sections are delimited where the border runs along mountain ranges and those valleys where there were no significant disagreements. Particular disputes are caused by sections of the borders that pass through waterways, such as canals, rivers and reservoirs, where not only issues of territorial delimitation are affected, but also the solution of water management problems.
And yet, the toughest controversy is being waged in relation to a number of sections of the Ferghana Valley. Today in the south of Kyrgyzstan there are 75 disputed areas, which are gradually coming under the influence of Uzbekistan. In addition, on the territory of Kyrgyzstan there are two Uzbek enclaves numbering, according to various sources, from 40 to 50 thousand people. In turn, there is a Kyrgyz enclave in Uzbekistan with a population of about 600 people. At the same time, all of them are deprived of direct access to the territory of their states, which creates significant difficulties for their population. The parties have repeatedly tried to solve this problem, but their approaches to its solution differ significantly.
The Uzbek leadership is making attempts to conclude an agreement with its Kyrgyz counterparts on the exchange of territories. However, the Kyrgyz side considers the proposed options unacceptable, since their implementation will almost completely cut off two regions of the country - Leilek and Batken - from the rest of the state. The solution of this issue is also complicated by the fact that in one of these enclaves (Sokh) oil fields have been discovered, in respect of which attempts to forcibly seize both sides have recently been observed. Moreover, Uzbekistan, taking advantage of the presence of more powerful armed forces, is building up its military contingent on the borders with Kyrgyzstan and in the Sokh enclave itself.
It should be noted that recently a new factor, which appeared during the “color revolution” in Kyrgyzstan in the spring of 2005, may intervene in the solution of this problem. It is known that the total Uzbek population in Kyrgyzstan is about 700 thousand people. At the same time, the Uzbek diaspora mainly occupies the rebellious Osh and Jalalabad regions in the south of the country. Its representatives, using the corruption of local officials, seek to occupy key positions in a number of sectors of the economy (trade, agriculture and the service sector), as well as in local governments.
Organizations appeared, whose leaders began to put forward demands for a mandatory quota for Uzbeks in parliament and state authorities, for the need to legislate the post of governor of the Osh region and the mayor of the city of Osh for people of Uzbek nationality. Therefore, with the onset of unrest, they went to aggravate the situation in order to achieve their goals.
Considering Tashkent's claims to some territories of Kyrgyzstan, as well as nationalist sentiments in the Uzbek diaspora and similar sentiments among the extremist-minded part of the inhabitants of Kyrgyzstan, it can be concluded that these circumstances can become a big problem for regional security and stability. This was fully confirmed during the May and June 2010 riots in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad, which resulted in more than 2,000 dead and wounded and about 100,000 refugees from among the Uzbek population.
The second significant knot of interstate contradictions between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan is associated with different views on the causes of the spread of terrorism in the region, as well as ways and methods of combating it. The invasion of the militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan into the south of Kyrgyzstan in 1999 sharply complicated relations between Tashkent and Bishkek. During the Batken events, the President of Uzbekistan accused Bishkek of the fact that “the bandits have not just crossed the border of Kyrgyzstan, but have been quietly running from Tajikistan through Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan for two years now. Hence these bandit attacks, tons of explosives that were found in Kokand, Andijan and Namangan. All this was transported through the territory of Kyrgyzstan.”
The Kyrgyz authorities, for their part, say that Tashkent's repressive actions against religious figures and Islamic organizations in the early and mid-1990s provoked a strong reaction and contributed to the formation of an armed opposition, which it now has to fight.
At the same time, it should be noted that in its anti-terrorist struggle, the leadership of Uzbekistan often resorts to forceful methods, contrary to the opinion of its neighbors. Thus, the Uzbek military mined some territories of Kyrgyzstan and the gorges around the enclaves of Sokh and Shakhi-Mardan, which led to human casualties among local residents, and also caused significant damage to livestock. Only thanks to the insistent demands of Kyrgyzstan and international organizations, the demining work was carried out by Uzbek specialists. The issue of payment of material compensation for the damage caused by the Uzbek side was ignored.
In addition to the above, there are problems in relations between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in the field of economic cooperation, including the joint use of the region's water resources.
"World Powers in Central Asia", M., 2011, p. 95-98.
Exactly 5 years ago, on June 10-11, 2010, inter-ethnic clashes broke out in the south of Kyrgyzstan between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz who had lived here for many years in the neighborhood. In Osh and Jalalabad regions, the riots did not stop for four days, the rioters used automatic weapons. The Uzbeks left their homes and fled for their lives. Uzbekistan in those days received about 75 thousand refugees. Only according to official figures, 447 people died. Unofficially - four or five times more. Lenta.ru found eyewitnesses of the events and asked on condition of anonymity to tell what they witnessed.
There are two of my interlocutors. Both are residents of border towns between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The difficulty is that, having formally separated, both states cannot do this in practice. Yes, most of the border is already properly designed, but it often has a very whimsical pattern. Akram Khodzhaev (not his real name) is an ethnic Uzbek who lives in the city of Kara-Suu in the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan. The city is located close to the border and the Uzbek city of Karasu, Andijan region.
Akram-aka does not hide the fact that relations between the Uzbeks and the Kyrgyz, despite the apparent friendliness, have always been tense: however, as often happens, the conflict almost always manifested itself only at the everyday level. Everything changed the coup d'état in Kyrgyzstan. On April 7, 2010, opposition forces launched a lengthy process of redistribution of power in the country, effectively expelling first President Kurmanbek Bakiyev from Bishkek and then from the republic. The unrest in Talas and Bishkek, according to my interlocutor, set in motion a hidden mechanism of mutual hostility.
“Between April 7 and June 10, there were several skirmishes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks,” he says. - We knew that on both sides there are provocateurs who increase inter-ethnic tensions. But up to a certain point, we managed to resolve all disputes amicably.” In Osh, Akram was engaged in the production of metal tiles, kept a small workshop. On June 10, 2010, he left work at 6 o'clock and returned to Kara-Suu.
Photo: Vasily Shaposhnikov / Kommersant
The pogroms began around 10 pm. In Kara-Suu, they learned about this late at night, but were not particularly alarmed. It was said that a group of Kyrgyz had gathered somewhere and attacked the Uzbeks, but the information was contradictory - other messengers came and claimed that, on the contrary, a group of Uzbeks attacked the Kyrgyz.
“We thought that this was another skirmish and everything would calm down by morning. On the morning of June 11, I even got ready to go to work in my shop, but my friends stopped me and warned me that now everything is serious in Osh and it’s better not to take risks,” recalls Akram. In Kara-Suu itself, pogroms were avoided, as the inhabitants barricaded the city. All the roads leading to Kara-Suu were filled with containers, large cars, so that no one could get in and out. At that moment, the city was defended by the Uzbeks together with the Kirghiz. “Everyone understood that the pogromists in Osh and Jalal-Abad were provocateurs from the nearby villages of southern Kyrgyzstan, and therefore it was important to unite and prevent clashes and looting,” Akram emphasizes. And he adds: “We defended Kara-Suu then.”
Akram was able to return to his workshop in Osh only two weeks later. “I went inside and could not believe my eyes: everything was destroyed, burned and plundered. There was nothing left but one machine,” he notes. It was possible to more or less restore the workshop only at the beginning of July. He worked only three or four hours a day: the danger of collisions remained.
Akram still lives in his hometown but commutes to work in Osh. He says that relations between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz are now good, but some tension is felt.
“Many of my acquaintances and Uzbek friends left Kyrgyzstan after the June 2010 events,” he sums up. - Someone moved to Uzbekistan, someone - to Russia and Europe. Everyone is afraid of a repeat of what happened. We are trying our best to prevent this from happening again.”
My other interlocutor, Nasretdin Dilbarov, a large middle-aged man, for a long time refused to talk about this topic. As is customary in the East, at first he tried to laugh it off loudly, however, when I persisted, Nasretdin became sharply stern, suddenly revealing gray hair in his hair. “We will talk only if you do not name my native village, from where I had to flee,” he puts forward a condition. There is nothing unexpected in his request - in small settlements along the border, every local resident is in full view. Neighbors, no worse than journalists, notice iconic details and easily figure out the hero of the publication. And grievances here are remembered for a long time.
Nasretdin is one of those who had to flee during the days of confrontation. We talk with him in his son's house.
“When they remember the clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the summer of 2010, they talk mostly about Osh and Jalal-Abad and almost nothing about what happened in our village,” he begins the story bitterly. His village is located very close to the border. Uzbeks and Kyrgyz have always got along well there, and there were no reasons for conflicts. But when, on the evening of June 10, there was talk in the village that Kyrgyz detachments were burning houses in Osh and killing Uzbeks, the residents poured out into the street. The panic began.
Anticipating the attack, late at night on June 10, women, children, and the elderly decided to flee to the border of Uzbekistan. “There are two or three villages in our region where most of the Kyrgyz live,” Nasretdin continues. - If you go through these villages, you can get there faster, there is an asphalt road. But we were afraid that their inhabitants - the Kyrgyz - would attack us, so we moved around.
There were about 10,000 people in the crowd. Nasretdin-aka went on the road with his daughter and granddaughter. “I remember how I jumped out into the street in summer slippers, so I ran in them. Slippers flew off my feet, I had to stop to find them in the dark. It was scary! But everyone went without stopping,” he says.
Late at night, the refugees came to the Uzbek border. Usually it is always closed and strictly controlled by Uzbekistan, but at night it was opened for women, children and the elderly. Some of the men were also missed. “In the Andijan region, we were placed in specially prepared tents, fed and watered. All those in need were provided with medical assistance, provided with medicines,” Nasretdin recalls.
After staying in Uzbekistan for about two weeks, the Uzbek refugees were going home. It was scary to return, and it is not known whether their dwellings were preserved. The house of Nasretdin-aki was located inside the mahala (in the Islamic world - a quarter with local self-government - approx. "Tapes.ru"), so the pogromists did not burn it, but the daughter's house burned down.
The Kyrgyz authorities organized humanitarian aid for the returnees: they gave out food, clothes, blankets: “My daughter was provided with building materials, and before the winter frosts, her relatives helped her build a two-room temporary house instead of a burned-out house,” explains Nasretdin. His neighbors, who stayed in the village during the days of the pogroms, said that the day after the escape, shooting began. Uzbeks fired back from carbines. Several people were killed. In total, about 200 Uzbek houses were robbed and burned in the village.
“But human life is arranged in such a way that everything bad is forgotten,” Nasretdin notes. Now in his village, the Uzbeks again live next door to the Kyrgyz and get along well. The main thing for everyone today is peace. No one wants a repeat of those events.
In May 2011, the International Independent Commission for the Study of Events in the South of Kyrgyzstan presented a report in which the main cause of the conflict was the political vacuum that reigned in the country after the coup d'état in April. According to the report, 74 percent of the dead were Uzbeks, 25 percent were Kyrgyz.
No one was held responsible for what happened.
Osh-aimagy, "Osh region"). The main task of "Adolat" was to preserve and develop the culture, language, traditions of the Uzbek people. The goals and objectives of "Osh-aimagy" - the implementation of constitutional human rights and the provision of land plots for housing construction - mainly united the Kyrgyz youth.In May 1990, poor young Kyrgyz demanded that they be given plots for housing construction on the land of the Kolkhoz im. Lenin near the city of Osh. The authorities agreed to comply with this demand. Starting from May 30, on the received field of the collective farm, the Kyrgyz held rallies demanding to remove from the post the first deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet 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 for the Kyrgyz youth and contributed to that in the field of trade and services in Osh, mostly Uzbeks worked.
The Uzbeks, on the other hand, 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, to give the Uzbek language the status of one of the state languages, to create an Uzbek cultural center, to open an Uzbek faculty at the Osh Pedagogical Institute and to remove the first secretary of the regional committee, who allegedly protects the interests of only the Kyrgyz population. They demanded a response by June 4th.
From June 1, 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 for development. The Kyrgyz also demanded that the authorities give them a final answer on the provision of land before 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 the development of the collective farm named after. Lenin illegal and for the construction of housing it was decided to allocate other land. Most of the Kyrgyz, in need of building land, and the Uzbeks agreed with this decision, but about 200 representatives of Osh-Aimaga continued to insist on providing them with the land of the Kolkhoz im. Lenin.
Conflict
On June 4, the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks converged on the field of the collective farm. Lenin. About 1.5 thousand Kyrgyz came, Uzbeks - more than 10 thousand. They were separated by police armed with machine guns.
As reported [ ], the Uzbek youth tried to break through the police cordon and attack the Kyrgyz, the police began to throw stones and bottles, two policemen were captured. The police opened fire and, according to some information, 6 Uzbeks were killed (according to other information, wounded). After that, the Uzbek crowd, led by leaders, shouted "Blood for blood!" went to Osh, destroying Kyrgyz houses. From June 4 to 6, the number of Uzbek rioters increased to 20 thousand due to arrivals 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, the building of the Internal Affairs Directorate and a police squad were shelled in Osh, two police officers were wounded. A crowd of thousands of Uzbeks appeared on the border with the Andijan region of the Uzbek SSR and came to the aid of 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 Ferghana, Andijan and Namangan regions of the Uzbek SSR, beatings of the Kirghiz and arson of their houses began, which caused the flight of the Kirghiz from the territory of Uzbekistan.
The massacre was stopped only by the evening of June 6, when army units were brought 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.
Victims
According to the investigation group of the Prosecutor's Office of the USSR, about 1,200 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 investigators found about 10 thousand episodes of crimes from the Uzbek side. 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 gaining independence by Kyrgyzstan, all of them were released.
In popular culture
The Osh events of 1990 are mentioned in the TV series “National Security Agent” (Season 2, film “The Man Without a Face”). According to the plot, the hero of Konstantin Khabensky, KGB USSR officer Hussein Sabbah, was introduced 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 in 1990
- Evolution in Europe; SOVIETS INTERVENE IN ETHNIC VIOLENCE - NYTimes.com
- Soviets Report New Clashes In Central Asian City of Osh - NYTimes.com
- Charles Recknagel. Ferghana Valley: A Tinderbox For Violence(English) . Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (June 17, 2010). Retrieved 6 February 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) (indefinite) (February 2, 2008). Retrieved October 25, 2008. Archived from the original on September 15, 2008.
- Aksana Ismailbekova. Glimmer hope in bloody Kyrgyzstan (indefinite) . Fergana.news (08/10/2010). Retrieved 6 February 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.
- Talent Razakov. Osh events: Based on the materials of the KGB. - Bishkek: Renaissance, 1993. - ISBN 5-85580-001-6.
- A. A. Asankanov, Kyrgyz Taryhy: Encyclopedia, Bishkek, 2003. ISBN 5-89750-150-5 .
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Two weeks ago, news reports began to fill up with news from the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border, on which, due to the deployment of soldiers and armored vehicles of the two countries, the situation has sharply escalated. Both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan dispute some disputed areas, which they still cannot 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 a war in its “underbelly” is unacceptable.
It all started with the deployment on March 18 of additional Uzbek forces, supported by armored vehicles, on a disputed section of the border. In response, Kyrgyzstan also strengthened its grouping in the area. The Kyrgyz President made a statement Almazbek Atambaev, who said that Bishkek, in the event of a further escalation of the conflict, "will give Uzbekistan a worthy rebuff." “We have more than 50 disputed areas on the border, and therefore, alas, there will be conflicts on the border. We are not supporters of wars, but, nevertheless, we are ready to give a worthy answer. Previously, we were afraid of turning off electricity and gas, but over the past five years we have reduced all these threats to nothing. And that is why the neighbors are taking such steps,” the head of state said. A week later, however, the conflict was resolved - the parties agreed to withdraw their forces from the disputed area.
It should be noted that border conflicts in Central Asia are not a new phenomenon. The roots of this should be sought in the Soviet past, when during the administrative delimitation in the Union republics, Moscow often ignored all ethnic, socio-economic and cultural aspects and nuances that existed in a particular territory. But in fairness, it should be noted that the then Soviet leaders could not have dreamed everything that happened in 1991 even in a nightmare. None of them could have thought that the internal borders they created would soon become external borders. However, it happened.
In general, about 20 percent of the section of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border remains uncoordinated at the moment. 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. So, in Kyrgyzstan there are Uzbek enclaves Sokh and Shakhirdaman. 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 the 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 speedy solution, however, given the local specifics, this is unlikely to be done quickly.
The question here, in fact, is not only in ethnic enclaves, but also in the sources of water resources. One of them is the Orto-Tokoi reservoir, located in the disputed border areas. Tashkent claims that this strategic facility, on whose work the lives of tens of thousands of citizens of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan depend, belongs to it, since it was built in the 1940s at the expense of the Uzbek SSR. Bishkek does not agree with this, saying 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" commented on 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 the Kyrgyz-Uzbek contradictions should not be expected, but third forces may try to benefit from it.
“There was no serious clash as such, it is of no fundamental importance. Nevertheless, the dispute between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan from abroad has more than 20 years of history, the conflict can be called sluggish with a full degree of certainty. But third forces, for example, the United States, may try to take advantage of it: increase the degree of tension and take the dispute between the two countries to a fundamentally new level, where the parties could already use weapons against each other,” the political scientist believes.
Sivkov noted that Washington, in its desire to weaken the increased geopolitical influence of Russia, is trying to create a so-called southern zone of instability on its borders, which would stretch from the Balkans to the border of the Central Asian republics with China. Naturally, due to its geopolitical position, Central Asia 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, Sivkov says it should immediately try to resolve the contradictions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan through the tools that can be used within the CIS. “You can also connect the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), including China, whose influence in the region has recently increased dramatically. Beijing is also disadvantageous to instability in Central Asia, since the region borders on the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China, known for its separatist sentiments,” the political scientist concluded.
A similar point of view is shared by a political scientist, an expert on Central Asia Rafik Saifulin: “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 often Uzbekistan sends an additional border detachment to the border in order to counter extremists, who sometimes enter 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, a lot of young people are leaving for IS, and Bishkek knows this and does 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. So it was when determining the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, when the parties were finally able to come to a mutual agreement. It looks like Russia once again has to solve small-town 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