SUMMARY

Similar to the situation in many other Soviet republics in the mid and late 1980s, nationalist sentiment ran high in Uzbekistan. The profound social and economic problems and a high rate of unemployment were important underlying factors for the growing nationalism. The rising tensions particularly affected the relationship between the majority Uzbeks and the minority community of Meskhetian Turks, which had been rather difficult ever since Meskhetian Turks had been forcibly resettled in Uzbekistan. The relationship between the two groups deteriorated after an Uzbek man died from injuries he had suffered during a fight in Kuvasai. Violence flared up between the groups after an incident in May 1989, when a fight broke out after a row over the price of strawberries in a local market. This event served as a trigger and the tensions between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks eventually escalated into large-scale violence in early June in the city of Fergana and surrounding villages. In total, 97 people were killed by predominantly young ethnic Uzbeks armed with knives and other primitive weapons, but also some automatic weapons. The vast majority of the victims were Meskhetian Turks. In addition, more than 1000 were wounded and hundreds of homes were burned down. More than 9000 Soviet troops were deployed to halt the violence.

In the aftermath of the killings, the Soviet Army moved 17,000 Meskhetian Turks from Uzbekistan to Russia and various other parts of the Soviet Union.

The non-state conflict between Meskhetian Turks and Uzbeks is first included in UCDP data in 1989. In June that year, the clashes between the groups escalated and resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.