TOURISM IN KYRGYZSTAN - Tourism in Central Asia: Cultural Potential and Challenges - page 278

one Russian were killed and over 5,000 crimes including rape, assault, and
burning of houses were committed (Roudnik, 2007).
The Osh conflict would leave behind “a legacy of tension between the
Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities” in Kyrgyzstan (Anderson, 1999) that has
an impact on the post-Soviet era as well. When combined with some other
negative factors such as unbalanced income distribution, unemployment,
regional inequalities and public riots that ousted two leaders in 2005 and
2012, this legacy further increased tensions in the country (Sarı, 2010).
The second bloody ethnic conflict between the Kyrgyz and the Uzbek
took place in April 2010 in Osh and Jalalabad, which started soon after
Bakiev's fall from power. These clashes that took place between the Kyr-
gyz and Uzbeks in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad started on the night of
June 10th in a casino in Osh. An argument between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek
youth gangs was “spilled out onto the street,” then quickly spreading to
other parts of the city as well as to Jalalabad. 22 When the events were fi-
nally taken under control, there were 400 dead and 2000 wounded people
from both sides. 23 Although there are different and conflicting accounts of
what really happened that night and who were behind these events, one
thing remains certain: the clash indicated how small incidents could turn
into full-fledged ethnic violence in the region. 24
One other important issue is the potential threat of infiltration of radi-
cal Islamic groups from the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. In fact in 1999, the
militants of the I.M.U. (Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan) would pose
such a threat, especially when they killed 18 Kyrgyz soldiers and took
four American tourists, four Japanese geologists, and some Kyrgyz police
officers hostage (Kort, 2004). The raids continued throughout the first half
of 2000 and when the Kyrgyz troops failed to stop the IMU guerillas who
had infiltrated into the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan, the Kyrgyz govern-
ment had to ask for help from other regional countries to stop the raids. It
22 “Deadly Clashes in Kyrgyzstan's Southern City of Osh,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10290717 (ac-
cessed February 7, 2012).
23 “Kyrgyz Speaker Proposes Admitting Head of International Commission Probing June 2010 Clash-
es” Interfax, Russia & FSU General News, http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?sid=683dd724-8e36-
41c0-8676-a18c66b22e65%40sessionmgr12&vid=5&hid=2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%
3d#db=n5h&AN=62173826 (accessed February7, 2012).
24 For more information on the subject, see, Bruce Pannier “Audio menu Internet TV Kyrgyzstan:
Anatomy of A Conflict,” 2 Temmuz 2010, http://www.rferl.org/content/Kyrgyzstan_Anatomy_Of_A_
Conflict/2089464.html (accessed February 7, 2012); “War in Kyrgyzstan: What is Causing the Vio-
lence?.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/14/kyrgyzstan-conflict-background (accessed,
February 13, 2012).