Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan: Here We Go Again

The political scapegoating of an entire demographic group with genocidal violence directed against it seems to be as old as history. Since the nineteenth century, the world, supposedly more enlightened and civilized, has seen this troubling phenomenon only intensify in brutality and scope. The pogroms directed against the Jewish population of Russia under the Czars, the Holocaust directed against them by the Nazis during World War II, the atrocities committed against the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population in 1894 and 1915, the ethnic cleansing of "savage" Native American nationality after nationality by the "civilized" Americans throughout the nineteenth century, the atrocities in former Yugoslavia and Rwanda during the 1990's, East Timor, ...I could go on and on, and someone out there would still have their own example to add to the list (while possibly expressing a sense of personal offense because I left their example off my own list). And now, sadly, in a small Central Asian country in which Russia and the U.S. both have military bases, it's happening again.

In Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic strategically situated on Afghanistan's northern border and next to China, a recent coup d'etat has resulted in an ongoing civil conflict between the former and present leaders and their supporters. And once again, a national minority, this time the Uzbeks, have been made into a scapegoat by one of the factions.

According the Associated Press, as many as 400,000 Uzbeks are fleeing angry mobs of native Kyrgyz as they try to escape across the border to Uzbekistan from this country gone mad with hate. The Uzbeks reportedly have generally supported the new interim regime, while the violence against them is thought to be stirred up by supporters of the former government. But why are the people following the instigators into a path of violent mob behavior?

Russia and the U.S. are trying as hard as they can to set up humanitarian aid for the beleaguered Uzkek refugees. But neither can apparently step in to stop the violence, even with all of the overt military and more subtle economic and diplomatic power at their disposal.

From what I know, the Uzbek and Kyrgyz languages, Turkic in origin, are very similar and mutually intelligible, for all practical purposes. For an outsider, it makes no sense that one group would make such a big deal distinguishing itself in this manner from the other.

Irrational, bigoted hatred is indeed a most powerful force. Here we go again.