[OPINION] Ethnically polarized societies easy targets for provocateurs

I was born and lived in this city for almost two decades and knew about its diversity. The ethnic diversity of Jalal-Abad used to make me happy, as it enriched the city’s culture and created a mosaic of different traditions, cuisines, lifestyles, etc. Kyrgyz and Uzbek people speak in their own mother tongues but people understand each other without any difficulty, there is no discrimination based on the use of any language, and, in fact, there is only a very minor difference between these two Turkic languages. However, unless a mechanism for integration is carefully implemented, even minor differences can lead to ethnic polarization, the rise of stereotypes of the “Other” and, in time, prejudice.

Many people admit that there is an unreasonable hatred among the common people for other nationalities and ethnicities in Central Asia, and even dislike among people of different regions even if they belong to the same ethnicity. Stereotypes held by Kyrgyz people from the south and the north, which are divided by high mountains, of each other were in time eliminated as people migrated to the capital city, Bishkek, which provided an opportunity for closer interaction. During the Soviet era, graduates of universities and vocational institutions were assigned to work in the region where they came from; this simple system prevented people from interacting. In those times, all organizations were run by the state and the people didn’t have much personal liberty, which led to a monotonous lifestyle that hindered them from learning about each other and prevented awareness of the outside world.

Kyrgyzstan, which gained independence in 1991, is a small mountainous country without oil resources. In the early 1990s Kyrgyzstan’s first president, Askar Akayev, and national leaders of the time initiated a campaign under the slogan “Kyrgyzstan is our common home” with the intention of including all ethnic minorities in all social, economic, political and educational sectors, but this initiative ran out of steam due to ongoing economic issues and political instability. Thirty-one percent of Kyrgyzstan’s 5.3 million citizens are from ethnic minorities totaling 80 different ethnic groups. Linguistically and ethnically segregated minority schools, where Kyrgyz and other minority students study in different schools or at least in separate classes, are also a driving force behind ethnic polarization.

On the morning of June 11 the news that ethnic clashes had broken out in Osh and later spread to Jalal-Abad shocked the entire world. Initially, the UN announced that they appeared to be orchestrated, and provided as an example shootings that had begun simultaneously in five different locations in Osh. Later, observers started to report that a group wearing ski masks was shooting both Kyrgyz and Uzbek people with sniper rifles, and it was clearly understood that their sole aim was to create mayhem and spread violence. The Uzbek community, which makes up 14.5 percent of the total population, mainly lives in the south of Kyrgyzstan, especially near the border with Uzbekistan. In addition, the lack of people interacting, especially in these two cities where Uzbek and Kyrgyz neighborhoods are segregated, has also given way to polarization, which was noticeable as mainly mono-ethnic neighborhoods were devastated.

There are also hundreds of villages and neighborhoods where Uzbek and Kyrgyz people live side by side, and there are many stories of Kyrgyz residents hiding their Uzbek neighbors in their homes, Uzbeks protecting their Kyrgyz neighbors in the same way and joint efforts to prevent acts of provocation. Ozgon, which is located between Jalal-Abad and Osh, is another city where Uzbek and Kyrgyz people live together in large numbers and could have been similarly affected by ethnic unrest. On the first day of unrest in Osh, the Ozgon city administration held a meeting with city leaders and took steps towards preventing possible unrest. The city administration, along with community and religious leaders, went door to door urging people to remain calm and not to fall into the trap of provocateurs, and stability was preserved because of these measures. The unrest took on its destructive form because of various rumors that easily instilled feelings of enmity, which today appear very suspicious and seem to have been created by provocateurs in order to cause tension.

I discussed this heart-breaking incident with my Uzbek friends from high school face to face. We were all graduates of Jalal-Abad Kyrgyz Turkish High School, an educational establishment run by the Sebat Education Foundation founded by Turkish educators and philanthropists just after Kyrgyzstan’s independence. Many government officials praise Sebat’s schools for their success, and at the same time admit that they were initially skeptical and worried about possible quarrels among students, as the school dormitories accommodated students from many different ethnicities and religions. This school was untouched by unrest, even thought it housed both Uzbek and Kyrgyz students and students from many other ethnic backgrounds. I learned that the Turkish teachers did not leave the city despite the possible danger during civil unrest and later assisted in distributing the aid materials that arrived from Turkey and Bishkek. I was touched by the courage the school’s teachers showed in protecting the residential houses next to school. The People’s Friendship University across from the school sustained heavy damage when clashes erupted in Jalal-Abad. This private university was initially set up as the Kyrgyz-Uzbek University and housed mainly ethnic Uzbek students. The management had attempted to empower Uzbek youth, but were not conscious of the fact that they were isolating the majority of students.

Administrators proposed renaming another state-run Kyrgyz-Uzbek university in Osh the Central Asian University in Kyrgyzstan just after the referendum on June 28. They stated that the new name would indicate a move to work towards reconciliation and that many students there were from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

The return of people who fled during the violence and the peaceful atmosphere during the referendum on June 27 gives one hope for the nation’s stability in the future. International observers have praised the interim government’s ability to conduct a transparent referendum and the fact that it continued without further incidents given the recent violence. President Roza Otunbayeva said during an interview that she does not want to call those who fled during the violence “refugees,” but rather would like to call on “our kin” to return.

The ethnic diversity of a nation should be accepted as its soft power, as through its minority citizens bridges of friendship could be easily built with the nations with which those citizens have cultural ties. I believe the new parliamentary system will bear positive results, unless it is manipulated, as had traditionally been the case in the “Kurultay” (People’s Assembly) and the “Kengesh” (Consultation with the People). The new government should think of adopting a well-planned inclusion policy to focus on ethnic minorities and marginalized groups and that will eliminate pigeonholing of the “Other.”

* Nurdin Kaparov is a Ph.D candidate