Osh Riots (1990) - Aftermath

Aftermath

The Osh riots were the only ethnic conflict from the former Soviet Union to undergo a court-led investigation. In the 1991 trials conducted by the new independent Kyrgyz government, 46 of the 48 participants were found guilty, with sentences ranging from 18 years in a maximum security prison to suspended sentences. Most of the defendants were Kyrgyz. This contrasted with the Osh riots of 2010, in which those arrested and sentenced were mainly ethnic Uzbeks.

With the 1991 independence of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbeks were not ensured much autonomy in the new government of Akayev and were held with deep suspicion by the general populace. In the mid-1990s Uzbeks occupied only 4.7% of the Osh regional posts. The economic depression following independence only heightened ethnic tensions in the following years. When law enforcement broke down in 2010, these hidden tensions were uncontrollable. That is one of the many reasons why speculators believe that the riots in 2010 were not just merely a repeat of those of 20 years before, but a continuation of the conflict.