Ethnic Uzbek women cared for their children under a tent by the Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan border yesterday. Nearly half of the southern Kyrgyzstan’s roughly 800,000 Uzbeks fled the area. (Viktor Drachev/ AFP/ Getty Images)
Related: The Kyrgyz Concentration Camps
Brought to you by the CIA.
Isn't that special?
Now let them tell you all about it:
"Crisis in Kyrgyzstan fragmenting nation; Government has lost control of large areas" by Clifford J. Levy, New York Times | June 18, 2010
OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan, an obscure country with a coveted location in Central Asia, is in serious danger of fragmenting. The crisis here, ebbing for now after days of ethnic violence and military atrocities, could have ramifications all the way to Washington.
The provisional Kyrgyz government has lost control of large areas in the southern part of the country because of its failure to quell attacks that have killed at least several hundred ethnic Uzbeks and possibly many more. As many as 400,000 have fled their homes. Barricading themselves in their cities and neighborhoods, Uzbeks have essentially set up autonomous zones and are refusing to recognize the authorities in the capital.
Despite the threat of a breakup of the country, the government seems unable to respond in any meaningful way. The provision of humanitarian aid has been slow. The interim president, Roza Otunbayeva, has not even visited the affected regions because of safety concerns. Nor has she responded to numerous credible reports that elements of the military carried out horrific assaults on ethnic Uzbeks.
Yeah, their own!
See: The Kyrgyzstan Cover-Up Begins
Isn't that the NYT's job?
The reports indicate that the government, which took office in April after rioting ousted the Kyrgyz president, does not have the full allegiance of the military.
Related:
"Maksat Zheinbekov, the acting mayor of Jalal-Abad, said in a telephone interview that Bakiyev’s supporters in his home region started the riots by attacking both Uzbek and Kyrgyz.... Local police officials also have said that relatives of Bakiyev have been spotted leading Kyrgyz mobs and distributing weapons."
“They fear the generals,’’ a prominent Kyrgyz human rights lawyer, Nurbek Toktakunov, said yesterday. “Sooner or later, these issues are going to have to be tackled.’’
Could they have taken over without them?
This reluctance is especially striking because the government has charged that the deposed president, Kurmanbek S. Bakiyev, incited the violence as a way to return to office. But it has yet to explain how Bakiyev exercised that power or whether senior military officers remain loyal to him, allowing him to use troops to incite ethnic warfare.
Sigh. Keep throwing dirt on the story, NYT!
American officials are keeping a close eye on the conflict, not least because the United States has an important military base on the outskirts of the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, that supplies the expanding NATO mission in Afghanistan. A US official in Washington confirmed that the Kyrgyz government was having “trouble exercising command over the security forces.’’
Already, the new government has given mixed signals about whether it will renew the lease on the American base — and its weakness has added fresh uncertainty over a strategic competition between the United States and Russia. Russia also has military facilities in Kyrgyzstan and in recent years has vied with the United States to win the favor of the Kyrgyz.
Related: Russia plans second military base in Kyrgyzstan
How come my newspaper doesn't tell me so many things?
While it is still early, the tensions here could lead to the kind of ethnic standoff that has repeatedly arisen across the former Soviet Union.
CIA is trying to stir it up.
These clashes — in Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and elsewhere — are often referred to as frozen conflicts because they have not been resolved over many years. They entangle the major powers, as in the case of the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia over the renegade enclave of South Ossetia, which soured relations between Russia and the West, particularly the United States.
The government had been hoping to solidify its standing by holding a referendum on a new constitution June 27, but the ethnic violence has thrown those plans into doubt. Ethnic Uzbeks, who make up about 15 percent of the population, will not take part in the voting unless international peacekeepers arrive in Kyrgyzstan, an unlikely prospect.
If the referendum is canceled, then the government may be further adrift.
Senior officials in Bishkek defended the government’s performance, saying that they were facing towering obstacles in trying to steer the country, including a depressed economy and meddling by Bakiyev, who is in exile in Belarus.
Why hasn't he been extradited?
Related: CIA Stands By Its Man in Kyrgyzstan
Oh.
Farid Niyazov, a government spokesman, acknowledged that interim president Otunbayeva had not traveled to the south since the violence began on the night of June 10. He said she planned to visit today because it was now calm enough to meet with ethnic Uzbek leaders in their neighborhoods.
Niyazov added that Otunbayeva, who is an ethnic Kyrgyz, believed that it was improper to make overtures to either Kyrgyz or Uzbeks based solely on their ethnicity.
“The government is offering its condolences to all and its commitment to maintain peace and security,’’ he said. “We do not name ethnic groups. To do so could provide the impulse for another explosion.’’
Yes, because THEY UNDERSTAND WHO was behind it!
No matter what Otunbayeva does, it will be enormously difficult to salve the fury of Uzbeks. That was clear during a visit yesterday to an improvised cemetery in a barren lot in Osh, where Uzbek victims of the violence were being buried.
The scene at the cemetery strongly suggested that the scope of the bloodshed was far greater than the interim government had formally acknowledged.
The official death toll is about 200, but volunteers overseeing this cemetery alone said they had buried more than 50.
And ethnic Uzbek leaders said many cemeteries had been set up. At just four cemeteries, the figure totaled more than 160, according to interviews.--more--"
"Ethnic Uzbeks fear going home; Death toll in Kyrgyzstan could be 2,000" by Peter Leonard, Associated Press | June 19, 2010
VLKSM, Kyrgyzstan — Ethnic Uzbeks sheltering in squalid tent camps say they don’t have enough food or clean water but are terrified of going back to live alongside those they hold responsible for days of shootings, arson, and sexual assaults.
That air of suspicion was rife yesterday among the hundreds of refugees crowded into gray canvas tents on a patch of arid scrub in this Kyrgyz village near the border with Uzbekistan.
“Where can we go now? Our belief in the future is dead,’’ said Mamlyakat Akramova, who lived in the center of Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city and the epicenter of the violence that broke out last week.
Entire Uzbek neighborhoods of southern Kyrgyzstan have been reduced to scorched ruins by rampaging mobs of ethnic Kyrgyz who forced nearly half of the region’s roughly 800,000 Uzbeks to flee for their lives.
The United Nations says as many as 1 million people will need aid, and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued an appeal yesterday for $71 million. “There are shortages of food, water, and electricity in the affected areas, due to looting, lack of supply, and restrictions on movement,’’ he said. “Hospitals and other institutions are running low on medical supplies.’’
The United States has released $32.2 million to meet immediate needs, and Russia and France sent planeloads of relief gear to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, where many have sought shelter from the violence.
Good thing you don't need that money for anything, and glad you could chip in to help clean up the CIA's mess, America.
Now how many agents with humanitarian NOC are they sending?
The official death toll stood at about 200, but interim President Roza Otunbayeva, who toured the ravaged region yesterday, said the real number is probably 10 times higher because many victims were buried quickly in keeping with Muslim tradition.
In the border village of VLKSM, where thousands of ethnic Uzbeks were living in tents or sleeping in the open air, many said they couldn’t bring themselves to return to their homes and live next to their attackers....
Supplies of bread and rice were arriving from Uzbekistan, keeping the refugees from starvation. Overcrowding, bad sanitary conditions, and a shortage of clean water contributed to the spread of illness, and overwhelmed doctors struggled to treat outbreaks of diarrhea and other ailments with paltry medical supplies.
“Children are washing in the canal and drinking the water — they don’t know any better, they’re only children,’’ said Mukhabat Ergashova, a retiree who had taken shelter with dozens in a crowded tent.
Where are the parents?
Thousands massed this week in VLKSM, a village near Osh whose name is a Russian-language acronym for the Soviet Communist Youth League in a throwback to the Soviet era.
The United Nations estimates 400,000 people have fled their homes in the country’s south, and about 100,000 of them entered Uzbekistan.
By yesterday, the huge crowds at the border had largely dispersed, with many taking refuge at the homes of fellow Uzbeks on the Kyrgyz side of the border.
--more--"
The situation must be calming down for now, seeing as the U.S. has called for an investigation(!).
"US urges inquiry on Kyrgyz riots; Seeks independent look into clashes in nation’s south" by Yuras Karmanau and Romain Goguelin, Associated Press | June 20, 2010
But NOT on GAZA and Israel's act of piracy!
And what is worse, THEY KNOW WHO is behind it because THEY ORDERED and ASSISTED with it.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — A top US envoy called yesterday for an independent investigation into the violence that has devastated southern Kyrgyzstan, as amateur video emerged of unarmed Uzbeks gathering to defend their town during the attacks.
Prosecutors yesterday charged Azimzhan Askarov, the head of a prominent human rights group who shot the video, with inciting ethnic hatred. Askarov had accused the military of complicity in the bloody rampages that sent hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks fleeing for their lives.
The country’s rights ombudsman Tursunbek Akun insisted the charges against Askarov were fabricated, and activists in Bishkek demonstrated before United Nations offices to demand his release.
Valentina Gritsenko, head of the Justice rights organization, said she feared Askarov was being tortured. He was detained with his brother on Tuesday in his southern hometown of Bazar-Korgon, colleagues said.
Entire Uzbek neighborhoods in southern Kyrgyzstan have been reduced to scorched ruins by rampaging mobs of ethnic Kyrgyz who forced nearly half of the region’s roughly 800,000 Uzbeks to flee. Interim President Roza Otunbayeva says up to 2,000 people may have died in the clashes.
Kyrgyz authorities say the violence was sparked by supporters of ex-president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was toppled in April amid accusations of corruption. The UN has said the unrest appeared orchestrated, but has stopped short of assigning blame. Bakiyev, from exile, has denied any involvement.
Yeah, the CIA MAN denies it -- and the MSM drops it.
Many ethnic Uzbeks also accused security forces of standing by or helping majority Kyrgyz mobs as they slaughtered Uzbeks and burned neighborhoods.
Except they ATTACKED BOTH!
Colonel Iskander Ikramov, chief of the Kyrgyz military in the south, says the army didn’t interfere because it is not a police force.
US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake met with Otunbayeva in Bishkek, the capital, yesterday after touring several packed refugee camps in neighboring Uzbekistan. Blake said the interim government should look into the violence and “such an investigation should be complemented by an international investigation by a credible international body.’’
Too bad you didn't name your country Israel, Krygyz.
Then no investigation would be needed.
He said the United States was working with the Kyrgyz government to make sure the refugees would be able to return home safely. The United States has released $32.2 million in aid, and Russia and France also sent planeloads of relief gear.
Askarov’s video, which was shot June 13 at the height of the rampages, shows a few dozen Uzbeks pacing nervously around a square in Bazar-Korgon, an ethnic Uzbek settlement, apparently before rioters descended. Armed with only sticks and stones, several men are seen heading across the square as gun shots ring out and smoke rises in background....
Destruction caused during the rampages was visible yesterday in parts of Bazar-Korgon, and Askarov’s office was one of several gutted buildings. The UN estimates 400,000 people have fled their homes and about 100,000 of them have entered Uzbekistan.
Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks massed this week in VLKSM, a village near Kyrgyzstan’s main southern city of Osh. The village’s name is a Russian-language acronym for the Soviet Communist Youth League, leftover from when this Central Asian nation was a Soviet republic.
Red Cross spokesman Christian Cardon said agency workers distributed oil and wheat flour to 12,750 displaced people in VLKSM yesterday and handed out supplies to 18,750 displaced in Suretapa.--more--"
Looks like it is going to be a long stay:
"Ethnic Uzbeks refuse to go home" by Associated Press | June 21, 2010
Ethnic Uzbeks returning to Kyrgyzstan crossed the border. Only 5,000 refugees had returned home by yesterday. (Victor Drachev/ AFP/ Getty Images)
SURATASH, Kyrgyzstan — Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks massed on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan refused to return home yesterday, saying they feared for their lives after violent pogroms and didn’t trust Kyrgyz troops to protect them.
Reporters saw some 50 Kyrgyz troops, many in armored transport carriers, enter the border village of Suratash and try to reassure refugees it was safe to return home. Yet the soldiers’ presence terrified the ethnic Uzbek families who fled after attacks and arson by ethnic Kyrgyz, since they blame Kyrgyz troops for abetting the violence that left hundreds of Uzbeks dead and hundreds of thousands homeless in the Central Asian nation....
The United Nations estimates that 400,000 people have fled their homes in Kyrgyzstan and about 100,000 of them have entered Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan border officials said 5,000 refugees had returned home from Uzbekistan by yesterday.
--more--"
"Sweep of Uzbek village leaves 2 dead; Fuels fears ahead of vote on Kyrgyz Constitution" by Sergei Grits, Associated Press | June 22, 2010
NARIMAN, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyz government forces swept into an ethnic Uzbek village yesterday, beating men and women with rifle butts in an assault that left at least two dead and more than 20 wounded, witnesses said.
Are you sure they were government?
The allegations were among the strongest Uzbek claims of official collusion in ethnic rampages that killed as many as 2,000 people last week, and forced nearly half of the region’s roughly 800,000 Uzbeks to flee.
The operation in the village of Nariman, on the edge of the main southern city of Osh, will probably discourage the Uzbeks from returning and fuel tensions ahead of a crucial vote on a new constitution Sunday....
The capital, Bishkek, also was tense yesterday amid fears of new unrest before Sunday’s vote. By midafternoon, most shopkeepers had packed up their wares and covered their store windows with metal shutters. Residents trace the fears to a tape released by the government weeks ago on which two men identified as Bakiyev’s son and brother are heard discussing plans for causing public unrest in Bishkek on June 22.
Kyrgyz authorities said they conducted the sweep in Nariman to track down suspected criminals hiding in the village. They said seven people were detained on suspicion of involvement in the killing of the head of the local police precinct a week ago.
They did not immediately comment on the Uzbek charges of violence and brutality, but released images of men lying face down on the ground in a courtyard as uniformed troops armed with assault rifles stood by.
Emil Kaptaganov, the interim government’s chief of staff, said two people had resisted and were killed, and 23 asked for medical assistance following the sweep in Nariman.
Aziza Abdirasulova of Kalym-Shaly, a respected human rights group based in the Kyrgyz capital, provided the same casualty count. She said she believed the mostly ethnic Kyrgyz police were taking revenge for the killing of their chief. “They were driven by revenge and were acting like wild animals,’’ she said.
There have long been tensions between the two ethnic groups, both are Sunni Muslims but speak different Turkic languages. The Uzbeks, traditional farmers and traders, have been more prosperous than the Kyrgyz, who come from a nomadic background. In June 1990, hundreds were killed in a land dispute between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh.
Just waiting for a CIA-inspired match, huh?
Nariman is a relatively wealthy village of large single-story adobe houses near Osh, surrounded by orchards and fields. A handful of ethnic Uzbek refugees from Osh fled to Nariman during the unrest, and the villagers put up three circles of barricades to stop attackers from entering.
Madina Umarova, a 45-year-old resident of Nariman, said the troops wore brand-new uniforms and beat dozens of people, two of them to death....
Ethnic Uzbeks have accused security forces of standing by or even helping ethnic-majority Kyrgyz mobs as they slaughtered people and burned down neighborhoods. Military officials rejected allegations of troop involvement in the riots, and said the army didn’t interfere in the conflict because it was not supposed to play the role of a police force.
Hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks remain in grim camps on both sides of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, fearing to come back despite shortages of food and water and bad sanitary conditions....
While the provisional government badly needs the vote to anchor its authority, it is facing strong opposition in the south.
Then they would be the LAST ONES to STIR THINGS UP!
And CUI BONO?
The police chief for the Osh region strongly criticized the interim government’s push for the referendum, saying it could trigger another wave of ethnic violence.
--more--"
"Latest raid on Uzbeks decried; Dozens beaten, rights group says" by Sergei Grits and Peter Leonard, Associated Press | June 23, 2010
OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Troops beat several dozen men and women in an Uzbek neighborhood in southern Kyrgyzstan’s main city yesterday in a raid that deepened refugees’ fears about returning to an area seared by an eruption of deadly ethnic violence, Human Rights Watch reported.
Anna Neistat, Human Rights Watch researcher, said Kyrgyz troops moved before dawn into the Cheryomushki neighborhood of Osh and broke into one of the few buildings in the area that was not reduced to scorched ruins by ethnic Kyrgyz mobs 10 days ago.
The building has served as a shelter and makeshift hospital for the few remaining Uzbeks.
The Kyrgyz forces put all the men face-down on the floor, beat them, and detained 12, Neistat said. The attackers also beat some of the women and stole cash and valuables.
Up to 400,000 ethnic Uzbeks, mostly women and children, remain in tent camps on both sides of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, afraid to return to their homes after violence the government says killed as many as 2,000 people.
There were casualties on both sides, but the violence appears to have been directed at ethnic Uzbeks, traditional farmers and traders who are generally more prosperous than the historically nomadic Kyrgyz.
Uzbeks have accused the mostly ethnic Kyrgyz security forces of collusion in the attacks, allegations reinforced Monday when Kyrgyz troops and police swept into the ethnic Uzbek village of Nariman on the outskirts of Osh in an operation that left at least two people dead and more than 20 wounded.
Witnesses said police and troops brutally beat villagers without provocation.
Timur Sharshenaliev, military spokesman, said the troops detained 12 people suspected of illegal arms possession and stirring up mass riots. He said such security sweeps were being conducted in two other Uzbek neighborhoods in Osh yesterday....
The United Nations, United States, and other Western powers have strongly backed the referendum, a necessary step before parliamentary elections can be held in October.
“It’s hard to imagine how they can hold a referendum now when half of the population isn’t here and others lack their IDs,’’ Neistat said.
And CUI BONO?
Between 2,000 and 3,000 buildings were destroyed in Osh, according to a UN estimate.
Kyrgyzstan hosts the US Manas air base, a key support center for the fight against the Taliban used by most troops entering or leaving Afghanistan.
Kyrgyz prosecutors say that companies owned by a son of Bakiyev avoided almost $80 million in taxes on aviation fuel sold to the Manas base.--more--"
So how about that vote?
"For Kyrgyz leaders, referendum is risky; Some fear vote may bring unrest" by Simon Shuster, Associated Press | June 27, 2010
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan will hold a referendum on a new constitution today, a risky gamble amid deadly ethnic tensions but one the interim government hopes will legitimize its power until new elections in October.
The Central Asian nation was on a high security alert for the vote, deploying almost 8,000 police officers and an equal number of defense volunteers to keep the peace. Checkpoints were set up throughout the capital, Bishkek, and in Osh and Jalal-Abad, two southern cities racked by ethnic purges against minority Uzbeks earlier this month.
The vote — supported by the United Nations, the United States, and Russia — is seen as an important step on the road to democracy for the interim government. Still, questions remain about how successfully it can be held just weeks after violence left hundreds of Uzbeks dead and forced up to 400,000 to flee.
The proposed constitution — the seventh that the former Soviet republic has seen in its 19 years of independence — does little to address the causes of the violence that swept the south.
The document that has been touted by Kyrgyz officials as a transition from despotism to the region’s first parliamentary democracy looks strikingly similar to the constitution drawn up by former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in a bloody revolution three months ago.
Translation: They tossed the CIA-supported prick out.
It makes mostly cosmetic changes to parliament, limits the role of any one party to about 55 percent of the seats, and gives lawmakers flimsy new levers of control over the presidency.
But it does nothing to guarantee a greater role in politics for Uzbeks, who make up about 15 percent of the country’s 5.5 million people but have long complained of being left out of the halls of power.
But they are better off economically?
For the leaders of the April revolution, and particularly for interim President Roza Otunbayeva, the vote is an effort to prolong and legitimize their rule.
Otunbayeva’s government proved incapable of quickly stopping the violence in the south and has done little to follow up on reports that security forces participated in the attacks on Uzbeks, who have been afraid to return to homes torched by mobs.
Her government has accused Bakiyev’s followers of instigating the violence to stop the referendum. Bakiyev, in exile, has denied any links to the purges, but his nephew has been charged with helping organize the deadly rioting. His son, Maxim, has also been arrested in Britain.
Oh, no kidding?
Uzbeks have mostly supported the interim government, while Kyrgyz in the south backed Bakiyev. But it is hard to imagine a worse atmosphere for this experiment in democratic reform.
Central Asia’s Ferghana Valley is a mosaic of dozens of ethnic groups, divided by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s capricious re-drawing of the region’s borders.
Yeah, it's all Stalin's fault. Sigh.
Disputes over water and fertile soil in the valley have long fueled hostility among these groups, who have historically been restrained by one dictator or another.
Muslim savages!
See? They NEED DICTATORS, readers!
Makes you wonder why the U.S. ousted Saddam, huh?
If the 2.4 million voters in today’s referendum further weaken Otunbayeva’s government by voting “no,’’ many fear another spasm of violence could erupt.
Then rig the vote yes.
--more--"
"Calm turnout as voters in Kyrgyzstan OK constitution; Result may foster stability in nation beset by violence" by Peter Leonard, Associated Press | June 28, 2010
Uzbek women voted in the yard of their burned house in Kyrgyzstan. Thousands fled ethnic violence in recent weeks. (Victor Drachev/ AFP/ Getty Images)
OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Barely two weeks after ethnic purges left many minority Uzbek communities in smoldering ruin, about two-thirds of Kyrgyzstan’s voters went to the polls yesterday to peacefully and overwhelmingly approve a new constitution they hoped would bring stability to the Central Asian nation.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government had pressed on with the vote even though many of the 400,000 ethnic Uzbeks forced to flee have yet to return to their homes and neighborhoods. The result gave legitimacy to the provisional government backed by most Uzbeks, though some of those displaced by violence were unable to vote.
Why would they back a government that tried to kill them unless they know and suspect what we do, readers?
The vote — supported by the United Nations, the United States, and Russia — is considered an important step on the road to democracy for the interim government, which came to power after the former president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was ousted in April after deadly protests.
The interim president, Roza Otunbayeva, said she now would be inaugurated as a caretaker president and form her government. Its members will form a lawmaking assembly until parliamentary elections in October....
With more than 70 percent of precincts counted, the Central Election Commission said more than 90 percent of those who cast ballots voted for the constitution and about 8 percent voted against it....
Dang! Operation short-circuited!
Dinara Oshurakhunova, who heads a democracy rights group monitoring yesterday’s vote, said that despite the tensions in Osh, different ethnic groups voted in mixed neighborhoods.
Where they lived together for years, huh?
Yeah, something is starting to stink about the ethnic violence.
“Most people here don’t even understand what they are voting for, they don’t understand what the issue is,’’ Oshurakhunova said. “For them, taking part is simply an opportunity to stabilize the situation.’’
Just like the AmeriKan voter and the U.S. Congress!!!
Khulkarpasha Sabirova, deputy head of the Uzbek community in Kyrgyzstan, said Uzbeks actively supported the referendum.
“We hope that our vote will bring stability and will prevent a repetition of the terrible events that took place,’’ Sabirova told the Associated Press. “We hope that the new government will address the people’s needs and that it will give its support to all ethnic groups.’’
The government changed voting rules on Friday so minority Uzbeks who had fled the violence but had no identity documents on them could still vote. Authorities said they would hand out temporary IDs to ethnic Uzbeks who lost their papers in homes destroyed by arson. Under a government decree, voters without identification could vote if at least two election officials could confirm they lived in the area.
Associated Press journalists who visited several Uzbek villages in the south witnessed a robust turnout....
--more--"
Time for the AmeriKan MSM to drop this story again.
