Multitudes of Uzbeks Flee from Ethnic Violence in Kyrgyzstan
29 replies, posted
[QUOTE] - Associated Press
- June 13, 2010
[B]Over 75,000 Uzbeks flee ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan in worst ethnic violence in 20 years[/B]
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Kyrgyz mobs burned Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents Sunday in the worst ethnic rioting this Central Asian nation has seen in 20 years, sending more than ...
[IMG]http://tags.bluekai.com/site/668[/IMG]
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — Kyrgyz mobs burned Uzbek villages and slaughtered their residents Sunday in the worst ethnic rioting this Central Asian nation has seen in 20 years, sending more than 75,000 Uzbeks fleeing across the border into Uzbekistan.
Most of the Uzbek refugees were elderly people, women and children, and many had gunshot wounds, the Uzbek Emergencies Ministry said in a statement carried by Russia's RIA Novosti news agency. It said refugee camps were being set up for them in several areas of Uzbekistan.
Fires set by rioters have destroyed most of Osh, the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, and food was scarce after widespread looting. Triumphant crowds of Kyrgyz men took control of Osh on Sunday as the few Uzbeks still left in the city of 250,000 barricaded themselves in their neighborhoods. Fires continued to rage across Osh and shots were heard but police were nowhere to be seen.
The rioting has significant political overtones. Former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a bloody uprising in April and fled the country. Uzbeks have backed Kyrgyzstan's interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south support the toppled president.
Interim President Roza Otunbayeva blamed Bakiyev's family for instigating the unrest, saying it aimed to derail a June 27 constitutional referendum and new elections scheduled for October. A local official in the south said Bakiyev supporters had attacked both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks to ignite the rioting.
From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev denied any role in the violence and blamed interim authorities for failing to protect the people.
The interim government has ordered troops to shoot rioters dead but even that failed to stop the spiraling violence that has left more than 100 people dead and over 1,250 wounded since Thursday night. Doctors say that toll is far too low because wounded minority Uzbeks are too afraid of being attacked again to go to hospitals.
The rampages spread quickly Sunday to Jalal-Abad, another major southern city, and its neighboring villages, as mobs methodically set Uzbek houses, stores and cafes on fire. The rioters seized an armored vehicle and automatic weapons at a local military unit and attacked police stations around the region trying to get more firearms.
Police and the military appeared to be on the defensive across the south, avoiding clashes with mobs. Flights to both Osh and Jalal-Abad were canceled.
"Bakiyev's entourage has funded and organized these riots," Otunbayeva's deputy Omurbek Tekebayev told The Associated Press.
Kyrgyzstan hosts both U.S. and Russian military air bases, but they are in the north, away from the rioting. Otunbayeva had asked Russia for military help Saturday to quell the rioting, but the Kremlin refused.
But Russia on Sunday sent a battalion of paratroopers — about 300 people — to reinforce security at its air base, the Interfax news agency reported. The base has about 500 personnel, most air force members.
The U.S. Manas air base in the capital, Bishkek, is a crucial supply hub for the coalition fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, but a Pentagon spokesman said the interim government had not asked for any U.S. military help.
The U.S. Embassy in Kyrgyzstan voiced a deep concern about the raging violence and called for the "immediate restoration of order and a respect for rule of law." It said it was discussing humanitarian aid with the interim government.
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "alarmed by the scale of the clashes" and the mounting death toll and was discussing what aid the U.N. could send to help the fleeing refugees.
Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry condemned the riots and voiced hope that Kyrgyzstan will re-establish order, but the country's authoritarian President Islam Karimov is unlikely to interfere in the conflict.
In Jalal-Abad on Sunday, thousands of Kyrgyz men brandishing sticks, metals bars and hunting rifles marched together to burn Uzbek property while frightened police stayed away. Uzbeks felled trees on the city's main street, trying to block their advance. Jalal-Abad is 45 miles (70 kilometers) from Osh.
Kyrgyz mobs tried to storm the city's hospital, but Uzbeks drove them off after a fierce gunbattle that raged for hours, witnesses said. Mobs also surrounded a local prison, trying to free its inmates and attempted repeatedly to capture the Jalal-Abad police headquarters, but were repelled.
Kyrgyz mobs killed about 30 Uzbeks Sunday in the village of Suzak in the Jalal-Abad region, Talaaibek Myrzabayev, the chief military conscription officer in Bishkek, told the AP. Another Uzbek village, Dostuk, was burned by Kyrgyz assailants, but it was not known how many people were killed, he said.
Ethnic Uzbeks ambushed about 100 Kyrgyz men Sunday on a road near Jalal-Abad and took them hostage, he said. Vehicles on the main highway near Jalal-Abad repeatedly came under fire from unidentified gunmen.
In the nearby village of Bazar-Kurgan, a mob of 400 Uzbeks overturned cars and killed a police captain, local Asyl Tekebayev said. Residents said armed Kyrgyz men were flooding into the village to retaliate.
The fertile Ferghana Valley where Osh and Jalal-Abad are located once belonged to a single feudal lord, but it was split by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The Stalinist borders rekindled old rivalries and fomented ethnic tensions.
Both ethnic groups are predominantly Sunni Muslim. Uzbeks are generally better off economically, but they have few representatives in power and have pushed for broader political and cultural rights.
In 1990, hundreds were killed in a violent land dispute between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh, and only the quick deployment of Soviet troops quelled the fighting. With no Russian troops in sight, the interim government announced a partial mobilization of military reservists up to 50 years old.
"No one is rushing to help us, so we need to establish order ourselves," said Talaaibek Adibayev, a 39-year old army veteran who showed up at Bishkek's military conscription office.
The official casualty toll Sunday rose to at least 97 people killed and 1,243 wounded, the Health Ministry said. The figure didn't include the 30 or more deaths Sunday around Jalal-Abad.
Maksat Zheinbekov, the acting mayor of Jalal-Abad, told the AP that Bakiyev's supporters had triggered the riots by attacking both Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.
Kyrgyz residents interviewed by AP Television News in Osh blamed Uzbeks for starting the rioting by attacking students and Kyrgyz women. Ethnic Kyrgyz from neighboring villages then streamed into the city to strike back, they said.
"Why have them Uzbeks become so brazen?" said one Osh resident, who gave only her first name, Aigulia, because she feared for her safety. "Why do they burn my house?"
Aigulia said her house was destroyed by Uzbeks overnight and all her Kyrgyz neighbors had to run for their safety. She said the area was still unsafe, claiming Uzbek snipers were shooting at them.
A Kyrgyz man, Iskander, said he and others burned Uzbek property to avenge their attacks.
"Whatever you see over there — all the burnt restaurants and cafeterias — were owned by them and we destroyed them on purpose," he told the AP. "Why didn't they want to live in peace?"
_____
Leila Saralayeva reported from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Associated Press Writer Yuras Karmanau in Bishkek contributed to this report.
[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/13/ethnic-rioting-spreading-southern-kyrgyzstan-dead-wounded/]Source[/url]
is bad day for glorious nation of Kyrgyzstan!
flee from where?
Uzbek is fun to say.
Someone crack out some pictures from the Kyrgyzstan revolution.
central asia/ middle east is king -stan names
[editline]04:51PM[/editline]
brb naming my house fatamericanistan
[img]http://inapcache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/kyrgyz_04_07/k33_22916175.jpg[/img]
Remember this badass motherfucker?
Anyhow, on topic, this is too bad. I hope to see something serious done about this soon.
the fuck is he holding in his right hand, a M72 LAW?
I feel like you couldn't get a more generic-sounding news article on the third world.
shit just hit the fan
[QUOTE=Leon;22582807]the fuck is he holding in his right hand, a M72 LAW?[/QUOTE]
Though it looks like an M-72, I believe it's Russian because I remember someone asking a question similar to yours and someone pointed out it was a Russian weapon.
[QUOTE=Sector 7;22582824]I feel like you couldn't get a more generic-sounding news article on the third world.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't say third world, since it's a former Soviet republic along with Uzbekistan. I think this yet again proves that it's naturally impossible for different cultures to live alongside each other within a same nation.
[QUOTE=Stene;22584261]I wouldn't say third world, since it's a former Soviet republic along with Uzbekistan. I think this yet again proves that it's naturally impossible for different cultures to live alongside each other within a same nation.[/QUOTE]
America does it pretty well.
[QUOTE=purvisdavid1;22584054]Though it looks like an M-72, I believe it's Russian because I remember someone asking a question similar to yours and someone pointed out it was a Russian weapon.[/QUOTE]
It's an [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-22]RPG-22[/url].
So, is there a lot of people in the Eastern Bloc named Stan? I don't get it.
[quote=lordloss;22588911]it's an [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rpg-22"]rpg-22[/url].[/quote]
not this again shit fuck shut the hell up, it's a goddamned missile thrower, leave it at that
[editline]10:08PM[/editline]
Related: This country has some of the most badass pictures of riots I've ever seen. The LA riots were just a bunch of pissed off black people complaining about the police racially profiling black people as they proceeded to kill cops and burn buildings down.
British Tax riots were just people picking up whatever they could and hurling it at cops.
This shit is fucking amazing. I want to know WHERE they got these goddamned guns.
Yeah great job Kyrgyzstan, after a revolution where you successfully overthrew your government you start destroying cities,villages and killing people :downs:
[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;22589247]
This shit is fucking amazing. I want to know WHERE they got these goddamned guns.[/QUOTE]
It couldn't possibly be from some black market arms dealer, could it?
[QUOTE=Chrille;22589385]It couldn't possibly be from some black market arms dealer, could it?[/QUOTE]
Yea but how come nobody else seems to be able to get these in the city?
the names of these people and their country sound made up
[editline]06:49PM[/editline]
Uzbeks and Kyrgyzstan seriously
im callin bullshit
[QUOTE=synth;22590289]the names of these people and their country sound made up
[editline]06:49PM[/editline]
Uzbeks and Kyrgyzstan seriously
im callin bullshit[/QUOTE]
Really? To bad there isn't a smartness rating.
They better stay the fuck out of Europe...
WE ARE FULL
Once again, shit's going down in two countries who's names sound like something said by a man with a broken jaw.
[QUOTE=Dr. Fishtastic;22591404]Once again, shit's going down in two countries who's names sound like something said by a man with a broken jaw.[/QUOTE]
One of the 'stans is fighting another 'stan, all you need to know.
[QUOTE=Penguiin;22595703]One of the 'stans is fighting another 'stan, all you need to know.[/QUOTE]
It's a Stan' eat Stan' world...
What ever happened to that badass with the missile launcher and shield? Hopefully he didn't die.
[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;22589247]This shit is fucking amazing. I want to know WHERE they got these goddamned guns.[/QUOTE]
I think I read somewhere that they broke into a military storage facility and stole a bunch of the guns and shit. Also, a lot of them just stormed the police/military and stole their weapons.
[quote=leon;22582807]the fuck is he holding in his right hand, a m72 law?[/quote]
rpg-22.
[QUOTE=ProboardslolV2;22589247]not this again shit fuck shut the hell up, it's a goddamned missile thrower, leave it at that
[editline]10:08PM[/editline]
Related: This country has some of the most badass pictures of riots I've ever seen. The LA riots were just a bunch of pissed off black people complaining about the police racially profiling black people as they proceeded to kill cops and burn buildings down.
British Tax riots were just people picking up whatever they could and hurling it at cops.
This shit is fucking amazing. I want to know WHERE they got these goddamned guns.[/QUOTE]
^ kid who thinks violence is cool
[QUOTE=synth;22590289]the names of these people and their country sound made up
[editline]06:49PM[/editline]
Uzbeks and Kyrgyzstan seriously
im callin bullshit[/QUOTE]
Look man I have registered the facepunch yard just to answer you. Those names were there for friggin 1200 years. They are Turkic like I am, but I want to tell you how It hurts to see that your people from same nation(yes nation, but different people) kills each other only for unemployment and do nothing but sit back and watch from my country. I hope that changes some negative ideas in your head.
Regards,
Ata
Now send me an apology for that post (kidding)
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.