Ugulay and Emily's fundraising page for Crisis in Kyrgyzstan

Dear All,

Please take a moment of your time and help. Help those in need who became victims of brutal violence that erupted in June 2010 in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Help those who lost everything they had, including their loved ones. They need our support to move forwards.

Below are several stories of the people who went through the horrors of the violence. Judge for yourselves. This is the newsletter I received from a friend (I had to delete several other stories from the newsletter to fit it all into the given space) .

Thank you.
Sincerely,
Ugulay

Kyrgyzstan’s Uzbeks – victims without voice
by Caroline Harding

I have spent the last three weeks picking my way through the rubble of ruined homes, or sitting in UNHCR tents in Osh, Jalalabad and Bazaar Kurgan, listening to Uzbeks tell what has happened to them in the 40 days since life as they’ve known it ended.
The following are just a handful of stories that represent many, many more. All of these stories come from Osh, with more stories to follow from Jalalabad and Bazaar Kurgan. They do not capture the emotions of the speaker. Again and again people wept almost as soon as they were greeted in their own language by a foreigner. These stories do not capture the context of our interviews, usually beginning or ending in a tour of burnt-out courtyards, the owner remembering fondly the work put into each room and listing items looted or burnt.

I have included people’s speculation about the future, but have not included their articulation of the many rumours that take the place of honest local media coverage, or opportunities for discussion. To avoid repetition, it’s worth noting some general themes:
- Most of those interviewed fear for their future and see the rise of Kyrgyz aggression and hatred since the violence in June, as a direct result of biased and false local media coverage. -- Most want to forgive and move on, longing for peace rather than revenge. There is an increasing sense of terror that not only did the four days of violence include elements of the military and police, but also that the subsequent kidnappings and ransom demands taking place by local security forces mean that Uzbeks no longer have any rights in Kyrgyzstan. Uzbeks sense that a plan is afoot to get rid of all Uzbeks in South Kyrgyzstan.
(It should be notes that the term ‘Sart’ is a Kyrgyz term of abuse for Uzbeks)

1) Jar of bones – Huselbek, 45 year old man
“I managed to escape to the village when the fighting started, but my mother, brother and sister were all at home and hid in our basement. When they started burning the houses with petrol, my family didn’t stand a chance. We’ve been able to find these bones here in the rubble so far. I’m collecting what’s left of my family and keeping it in a jar.
When my Kyrgyz friends heard what had happened, they were putting credit on my phone and calling me and telling me how sorry there were about my family. One of them promised to come to the forty-day remembrance with his largest ram to slaughter it in my family’s name. The fortieth day was yesterday and no Kyrgyz came. Now they all believe this bullshit that we burnt our own houses and that we started this and that it’s all our fault. Maybe it’s good that they didn’t come. I never want to see another Kyrgyz again"

2) Fallen? - Sayora, 46 year old woman
“After my divorced sister died, her son came to live with us and was like a son to me. Ravshan was such a good student. Here’s a photo of him. He was so respectful and kind to everyone. About two weeks after the fighting he went round to see some friends. I wasn’t worried until the next day and realised that he’d never come home. We began looking for him and then suspected that maybe he’d been picked up by the security forced. This was around the time they were just starting to kidnap Uzbek boys for ransoms. I was so worried, but eventually we were told that he had been released from interrogation and was in hospital.
I went to see him. He was in a coma, and his face was almost unrecognisable, it was so blue and swollen. He had cigarette burns all over his arms and legs and the soled of his feet were bruised as well. I could hardly speak, and managed to whisper, ‘what happened?’ to the Doctor. He told me that my nephew had fallen from a second-storey window. When? What was he doing there, how did he fall, and if he did fall, why weren’t his legs broken, and where did the bruising and burns come from? The Doctor couldn’t answer any of these questions. My nephew was just 17 and now he’s gone.”

3) The taxi – Nabib 55 year old man and his son Nabakhan, 23
Nabib: “I was a soldier for many years but became a taxi driver when I retired. On the morning of the 12th of June we were watching TV when we heard gunfire. We crept down our side street to the main street and could see trucks ahead looting and shooting. As I peeked out one more time, a sniper shot at me and the shrapnel hit my jaw. That’s why I still sound strange when I speak. Then the sniper shot my neighbour Abere in the chest and another neighbour Abdekhor, in the neck. We were all still alive at this point and my son, Nabakhan was uninjured.
Just then, Abere’s brother drove past and when he saw us he stopped and we all piled into the car and began to drive towards the hospital. I told him to swerve down the main street to make us harder targets, but he wasn’t a very experienced driver and a sniper managed to shoot at us from behind. Two shots hit Abere’s brother, and his face exploded all over the windscreen. We crashed into a concrete pylon, which is how Nadakhan here got this scar on his forehead.”
Nabakhan: “I was dazed, but managed to get my Dad and Abdekhor out of the car and to cover. Abere was still in the car with his dead brother in the front. If we had got to the hospital he might have made it, but we didn’t. In the end, we were driven tothe border by other Uzbeks and were all operated on in Uzbekistan. So, here we sit, the three survivors, one with a scarred jaw, another with a scarred neck and yet another with a scarred forehead. We’re just lucky to be alive. I feel so sad for Abere’s mother, losing two sons in one day.”

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