CHAPTER
XI
ETHNIC
AND RELIGIOUS CONTRADICTIONS AND THEIR IMPACTS IN
CENTRAL ASIA
Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Turkmenistan in Central Asia are located in the central area of Eurasia, an area
influenced by the three great religions. In history, this area was influenced by
various cultures, especially Islamic and Christian. Today, the majority of the
population in this region is local ethnic Muslims and Russian Orthodox. The
politics and economy of the five Central Asian countries have been stagnant, and
even gone backward since their independence; the living standards of the
citizens have lowered and various contradictions have been prominent. What poses
the biggest threat to the regional stability is the increasingly intensified
contradiction between the governments of these Central Asian countries which
advocate the separation of religion from politics and the anti-government
organizations which attempt to establish regimes combining religion with
politics. Armed conflicts frequently occur. The turbulence of Central Asia can
be attributed to both the problems in their own development and the influence of
the outside world. This article will start from the present ethnic and religious
contradictions of Central Asia, and elaborate their threats to the security and
stability of this region and the surrounding areas it.
THE FORMATION OF MULTI-ETHNIC GROUPS AND THE PROCESS
OF ISLAMIC RENAISSANCE
The five Central Asian countries cover an area of 4
million square kilometers with a population of 55 million and 130 ethnic groups.
The distribution of the ethnic groups in this region is quite special, with the
same ethnic group usually scatted in different countries and regions. This can
be attributed to historical reasons, but more to artificial reasons. In history,
the formation of the native ethnic groups in Central Asia experienced constant
movement and integration. In the 15th century, after the nomadic
ethnic groups in Central Asia began to settle and take up agricultural
production, the major ethnic groups such as the Kazaks, Uzbeks, Kyrgyzs and
Turkman began to emerge. The Tajik, originating in the 10th century,
have the longest history. Today, on
the vast land of Central Asia, not all the major ethnic groups reside in their
own regions, but different ones mix together. For example, in Ferganskaya Dolina,
where Uzbeks, Tajiks and Kirghizes reside there are frequent ethnic and
religious contradictions and inter-ethnic conflicts. Certainly, the former
Soviet Union’s constant change of the border at will is another major reason
for the scattering of the same ethnic group.
Another major ethnic group in this region is Russian.
In the mid-19th century, Russians began to migrate to Central Asia.
After waves of immigration such as the Czarist Russia’s expansion toward
Central Asia, Stolypin’s land reform, WWII and Khrushchev's construction of a
new Central Asia, a large quantity of Russians migrated to Central Asia. By the
end of the 1980s, more than 5 million Russians had migrated to Kazakhstan, 2
million to Uzbekistan, over 0.9 million to Kyrgyzstan, 0.38 million to
Tajikistan, and more than 0.3 million to Turkmenistan.1 Russians
occupied a dominant place in the Central Asian society since the day they
stepped onto the soil of Central Asia and discriminated against the local
residents, regarded as backward and ignorant. After their independence, the
local residents have become the masters of their own territory, while Russians
have been included in the list of non-native ethnic groups being squeezed out.
Another obvious change on this area after
independence is the rapid religious renaissance, especially of Islamic
consciousness. Native ethnic groups have been under the influence of external
forces and religions. They became Muslims under the powerful and prosperous rein
of the Muslim world. Under the rule of Czarist Russia and the Soviet superpower,
Islam was severely damaged and during the period of the former Soviet Union
Islamic and Christian cultures were replaced by the Communist ideal. After the
Soviet Union disintegrated, an ideological vacuum appeared in Central Asia.
However, Islam, which had had strong influence in this area, spread widely and
filled the vacuum immediately. In Uzbekistan the Islamic renaissance developed
the most rapidly. According to the materials of its National Commission of
Religious Affairs, up to the end of August 1999, this Republic had more than
1,700 registered religious organizations, among which 1,566 were Islamic 30 were
Russian Orthodox. The number of mosques increased from 300 in 1989 to 6,000 in
1993. It has 9 secondary religious schools; there are Islamic colleges and an
Islamic University in Tashkent; 90% of Uzbeks claim to be Muslims.2
In Kyrgyzstan, where only scores of Muslims made the
pilgrimage to Mecca in the early 1990s, the number had amounted to over 3,000 by
1998, 95% of whom came from Ferganskaya Dolina. More than 1,200 mosques and
about 30 religious organizations have appeared since its independence.3
In Kazakhstan, more than 5,000 mosques have been
built within the past ten years. Many
theological seminaries have come into being, and young men have been sent abroad
to learn religious scriptures and done mission service after returning home.4
It is the same with Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. The
Muslim world played a decisive role in the Islamic renaissance in Central Asia.
Muslim countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have provided
most of the funds for the construction of the mosques and religious schools. In
addition, many foreign missionaries have poured into Central Asia and some have
brought Islamic extremist thinking into the region. Religious belief itself is
not a threat, but religious propaganda may become the catalyst of the social
contradictions when the social and economic situation is worsens.
Central Asian countries have not had effective
economic development since their independence. The division between the rich and
the poor has become serious, with the poor stratum constituting the majority of
the population. In Uzbekistan, the monthly per capita income of most of the poor
residents is only 2 to 9 dollars; things in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are even
worse. Under the circumstances, someone sedulously propagandizing radical ideas
with the aid of religion would undoubtedly be pouring oil on the fire, and
conflicts would be intensified. At
present, among all the contradictions and conflicts in Central Asia, the armed
conflicts between the extremist forces who attempt to set up Islamic regimes
combining religion with politics and the secular states which advocate
separation of religion from politics are the most threatening. Furthermore,
issues concerning territory, water resources, migrants have also developed into
factors leading to conflicts between ethnic groups that cannot be neglected.
With the renaissance of
Islamic consciousness in Central Asia, Islamic extremist forces began to enter
Central Asia and generally grow stronger and stronger.
They oppose the present political power by force, and attempt to
establish Islamic republics in the region.
The civil war of Tajikistan is a specific example.
After its independence, the issue of the character of the state sparked
fierce debates among the parties. The government authorities advocated a
democratic, law-ruled and secular republic, with separation of religion from
politics and non-Islamization as a fundamental national policy. Opposition
organizations such as the Islamic Renaissance Party insisted on establishing an
Islamic state combining politics with religion. The Islamic Renaissance Party
also formed an alliance with the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, the
Renaissance-People’s Movement and the Pamir Movement, and built up their own
military forces. Certainly, the conflicts between Tajikistan government
authorities and the opposition have some elements of ethnic antagonism left over
from history. The civil war was unceasing. In 1997, the “General Agreement of
Peace and Ethnic Reconciliation” was signed between the Tajikistan Government
and the opposition under the mediation of the U.N., Russia and Iran. Tajikistan
Islamic organizations obtained legitimate status and were accepted into the
government. However, political power and national stability, influenced by
hostile forces at home and abroad, are still week. There are signs that Tajik
Islamic organizations are assisting other countries’ Islamic organizations in
subversive activities against their secular governments in Central Asia.
Influenced by the Tajik civil war, the Uzbekistan
Islamic Movement (UIM) proposed to build an Islamic republic as well. They
recruited soldiers and set up armed forces to oppose their government. In 1999,
under the leadership of Dzhuma Namangani, who once fought side by side with the
Tajik opposition alliance and the Afghan Taliban and the spiritual leader Takhir
Yuldashev, the UIM had frequent armed conflicts with government forces in the
southern parts of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.5 They also adopted
extreme measures carrying out a series of terrorist activities such as
kidnapping, bombing, murder in Central Asia. Instead of negotiating with them as
did Tajikistan, the Uzbekistan government authorities took up means of
suppression to solve the problem of Islamic extremists. In 1999, Kalimov’s
suppression made 1,500 Islamic refugees accept the protection offered by
Tajikistan opposition alliance and become an effective power against the Uzbek
authorities. As a result, Uzbekistan-Tajikistan relations cooled. Kalimov’s
suppression did not at all weaken the anti-government Islamic forces. They set
up bases in areas where there exist territorial disputes and Ferganskaya Dolina,
shared by Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan where pro-Islam sentiments are
very strong, recruited young men from poor areas and Islamic extremists abroad
offered them military training in local areas or abroad. In 2000, they rallied
again and waged larger-scale and longer-lasting armed conflicts with government
forces. The armed conflicts escalating year-by-year pose a great threat to the
security and stability of Central Asia.
Territorial disputes
between Central Asian countries have resulted from the former Soviet Union
changing the border at will. When the Soviet Union was demarcating the borders
of its republics, it gave very little consideration to the ethnic and political
realities, and changed the borders of its republics at will many times.
As a result, there are more than ten “disputed territories” over
which two ethnic groups claim to have sovereignty at the same time.
Another
result of demarcating the borders at will is that a lot of residents of one
republic reside in another. In 1924, the Soviet Union put several counties and
townships, which had more Uzbeks, under
the administration of Kazakhstan. Kallarpak Autonomous Region under the
administration of Kazakhstan from 1925 to 1930 was incorporated into Uzbekistan.
In July 1946, the Council of Ministers’ of the Soviet Union passed a
resolution, agreeing to rent out 151,600 hectares of land in Kazakhstan to
Uzbekistan for ten years. Kazakhstan also rented 8,500 hectares of land from
Uzbekistan. The period of rent was extended until April 1991. In 1956 and 1963,
Kazakhstan returned to Uzbekistan respectively Hunger Prairie and Bastanlykskij
District in southern Kazakhstan and Kilov District, Mahktalar District and
Zhedsa District in southern Kazakhstan went to Uzbekistan. In 1971, the latter
three districts were returned to Kazakhstan except two state-owned farms, but
these districts were full of Uzbeks.6 At the beginning of 2000,
Uzbekistan proceeded to demarcate its border unilaterally, leading to
territorial disputes between the two countries.
Border disputes also exist between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with 130
border sectors unsettled today. Tashkent is always pushing forward the border in
its own favor in negotiations, increasing border outposts, strengthening border
regulations, even laying mines along some sectors of the border. Uzbekistan also
exerts pressure on Kyrgyzstan by threatening to cut off the energy supply,
resulting in a rift in relations between the two countries.
The disputes between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are
more than where to draw the border. There are many Tajiks in Buhara and
Samarkand, two large cities put under the administration of Uzbekistan in 1924.
Tajiks regard the two cities as the centers of their own ancient national
culture and believe that only when Buhara and Samarkand are returned to their
motherland can Tajikistan be an integrated state. However Tajikistan thinks that
Uzbekistan has a plot for the Hujand region, where live a great number of
Uzbeks. In 1998, a force led by the former Tajikistan army colonel Mahamud
Khodabertiev, who had been against Tajikistan Peace Agreement, went into this
region from Uzbekistan and launched an abortive but bloody coup. Tajikistan
thought that the forces of the rebellion were obviously approved by Uzbekistan
authorities, thus putting the two countries on bad terms.
The border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is very
odd with a lot of enclaves and frequent frictions between local ethnic groups.
Though the territorial issue has not risen as the principal contradiction in
Central Asia, territorial disputes have caused bloodshed. Local Uzbeks in the
Osh Region in Ferganskaya Dolina think that this region has been their own
territory since ancient times. Hence, they act arbitrarily in commercial and
political fields, which often leads to conflicts with the Kyrghize, causing many
deaths.
Water resources are of special significance to
Central Asian countries, whose agriculture and animal husbandry make up most of
their economy. Water resources are not well distributed in this region.
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are the two countries with the most water resources.
The southern part of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are short of water resources. During
the era of the former Soviet Union, the use of water resources was based on a
unified principle and financially supported by the central government. Now
water-using countries still follow the same principle of the former Soviet
Union, but they do not make compensation to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan for the
expenses necessary for maintaining normal operation of those water conservation
facilities, thus causing disputes over the use of water resources.
In addition, water reserves in Central Asia are
decreasing, which will directly threaten water use in middle and lower reaches.
In recent years, Central Asian countries have experienced disastrous drought,
resulting in total crop failures and shortages of food even in rich Uzbekistan.
The lack of water resources has also become the focus
of ethnic contradictions and conflicts in the areas short of water. For example,
in the Osh Region disputes over water occur between the local Tajiks
and the Kyrghize every summer.
Russians began to be suppressed by local governments
from the day of the independence of the Central Asian countries. They are
discriminated in employment and excluded from all government organs.
Semi-official newspapers make every effort to abuse them all of this caused
unhappiness which moved quite many Russians to migrate to Russia. Though the
Russian Government has coordinated with Central Asian countries many times, and
local governments have adopted a series of measures such as granting Russians
turn nationality, nearly one million
Russians have left Central Asia according to incomplete statistics and the tide
has not stopped up to now. As Russians usually have higher cultural qualities
and technical, capabilities their departure is undoubtedly a great loss of
talent for these countries.
Another problem is the tide of refugees caused by wars. A
large number of refugees have poured into Central Asia, not only adding many
factors of instability, but also laying heavier burdens on the already
poverty-stricken local governments. The civil war of Tajikistan made
nearly one million refugees leave their hometowns and escape to adjacent
countries, especially in Central Asia. Hundreds of thousands moved to
Ferganskaya Dolina. A large number of refugees caused by Afghan civil war have
also poured into Central Asia.7 Leaders of Central Asian countries
have expressed many times that they are powerless in solving the refugee problem
for lack of funds. Today, Ferganskaya
Dolina with a great many refugees has become a source of turbulence and a place
of frequent ethnic and religious conflicts in Central Asia.
THE
THREAT OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS CONTRADICTIONS TO REGIONAL AND PERIPHERAL
SECURITY AND STABILITY
After breaking away from
the control of the former Soviet Union, Central Asian countries entered upon the
difficult path of independence and founding their own states, though lacking in
experience and separated economically from the former Soviet Union. The economy
of Central Asian countries cannot escape this difficult situation and move to
normal development because of both their inborn weakness and the Russian
economic crisis.
The
worsening of the residents’ social and economic situation and the
authorities’ lack of ability to supervise and control the situation have given
greater prominence to both old and new contradictions.
At present, Islamic extremist forces whose goal is to
overturn the governments of these countries are a realistic threat to the
security and stability of this region and its periphery. The legitimate status
of the religious parties in Tajikistan undoubtedly will become the example that
religious groups and organizations in other Central Asian countries will follow.
There are signs that Tajikistan religious forces are secretly supporting the
Islamic anti-government movement in Central Asia, with which leaders of
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have already expressed their dissatisfaction.
Anti-government armed elements entered Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through
Tajikistan in 2000. In fact, Islamic extremist forces in Central Asia are only a
subdivision of global religious extremist forces. Today, a turbulent belt where
ethnic and religious extremist forces make frequent trouble is coming into being
from Southeast Asia, Kashmir, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Chechenia to Kosovo.
Ethnic separatist forces, and international terrorist forces coexisting with
religious extremist forces, have been generally acknowledged as three evil
forces threatening global security. Central Asia has become an ideal region for
their development due to its backward economy, weak security forces, chaotic
ethnic situation and Islamic tradition.
In recent years, religious extremist forces in
Central Asia have become stronger and stronger with the support of the three
international evil forces, which have provided funds for establishing
strongholds in Central Asia and Afghanistan and recruit and train armed
elements. The composition of Central Asian anti-government armed elements also
develops from localization to internationalization: They include mercenaries
from the Muslim world, Chechens from
Russia and Muslim Uighurs. These mercenaries are sent to fight in Chechenia, and
steal into Xinjiang, China to organize separatist activities besides fighting in
Central Asia. In 2000, armed conflicts broke out in Uzbekistan and the southern
part of Kyrgyzstan with the internationalization of the elements and the short
distance from the spot of the conflicts to the locations of national
administrative organs. This shows that Central Asian anti-government armed
forces have become a threat to the government of the present Central Asian
countries. If they are allowed to develop with no restriction, the stability and
security in countries and regions surrounding Central Asia will be threatened.
The provocative actions of
Central Asian Islamic armed elements have aroused the concern of Central Asian
countries, Russia and China. In
July 2000, the “Shanghai Five” Summit in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan
consulted on coordination in such fields as cracking down on international
terrorist activities, religious extremism, separatism, drug trafficking and
illegal migration.
In August 2000, in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan, a regional summit was
held, at which leaders of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan decided jointly
to eliminate the Islamic extremists groomed by international terrorism. In
September of the same year, a regional rapid response force was formed. However,
if Central Asian countries can’t solve the complex domestic economic and
social problems, and have no ability to supervise and control the political
situation, a turbulent situation will be unavoidable in this region. The impact
will spread to the wanton activities of separatist forces in China and Russia.
1. Xinhua News Agency, February 7, 1994.
2. M. Kafarlyn, “How to Fight a War against
Religious Extremism”, Independence
Newspaper, October 2, 1999.
3. E. Kaptadiev, “Islam in Kyrgyzstan”, Kyrgyzstan
TUZ Newspaper, December 12, 1998.
4. U. Kasenov, Security of Central Asia (Alma-Ata
Publishing House, 1998).
5. James Defense Weekly, September 1, 1999.
6. See Wang Zhilai, History of Central Asia (Social Sciences Publishing House of China,
1980).
7. K. Bolot, “Southern Part of Kyrgyzstan Facing
Another Threat,” Eurasia website, October 10, 2000.