The map-making gave each republic an expanse of fertile land but ignored the fact that much of the valley was a patchwork of ethnicities not easily incorporated into national republics. Part of the reason is precisely that division, which Josef Stalin ordered in the 1930s. Why is the Ferghana Valley, which is divided in three irregular, jig-saw pieces between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan such a hot-spot for violence of all kinds? In 1999, hundreds of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan guerrillas seized villages in Kyrgyzstan to launch attacks into Uzbekistan before being counterattacked by Kyrgyz forces backed by Uzbek and Kazakh aircraft. In 2005, Uzbek forces opened fire on Uzbek protestors in Andijon, the country's fourth-largest city, killing from several hundred to 1,000 people according to differing estimates. This month's deadly interethnic clashes that have forced an estimated 400,000 Uzbeks and Kyrgyz from their homes in southern Kyrgyzstan is just the most recent example. More than 10 million people live in the valley, which covers some 22,000 square kilometers - comparable in size to Kashmir or the Nile Delta.įor millennia, it has been Central Asia's breadbasket, an expanse of river-fed green fields standing out in stark contrast to the dry mountains and plains typical of the region.īut today, far from being an idyllic place, it has become best known for epic-scale violence. The home of cities like Osh and Andijon, the Ferghana Valley is the most densely populated area of Central Asia and the most explosive.
The violence in Osh has once again put the focus on the Ferghana Valley as one of the potentially most explosive regions of the former Soviet Union.
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