Summary/Abstract |
Why was there no ethnicity-based violence in Uzbekistan in June 2010? That month there was widespread violence against ethnically Uzbek citizens of southern Kyrgyzstan. Although its occurrence might have been expected, there was no retaliation against the sizeable Kyrgyz minority of Uzbekistan. Following an overview of the relatively sparse research on this minority, the essay explores how authoritarian conflict management by the Uzbek government reanimated ‘people’s friendship’ discourses, preventing both active mobilisation and the demonisation of a minority. It concludes with some reflections on the prospects for the future of ethnic minorities in Central Asia’s nationalising republics.
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