Mayor rules out further ethnic conflicts in Osh
OSH. June 1 (Interfax) - The mayor of the southern Kyrgyz capital, Aitmamat Kadyrbayev, does not fear a repeat of ethnic clashes in Osh similar to those that occurred in June 2010.
"The city's population understands that the conflict will lead to nothing good so it will no longer yield to provocations as it did in 2010," Kadyrbayev told Interfax on Monday.
"The most important achievement of the five years since the clashes has been the mutual understanding restored between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks living in the southern capital," he said. "Today, Osh has restored peace and security, burnt-up houses, retail spots, cafes and restaurants, the city is growing dynamically," the mayor said.
Osh is a multi-national city that is home both to the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, as well as people of other ethnicities, and the authorities are doing all they can "not to upset the inter-ethnic balance," Kadyrbayev said.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev, who recently visited Osh, warned at a meeting with local officials against a repeat of the June 2010 events. Several attendees of the meeting told Interfax that the head of state invested a lot of time in preserving ethnic harmony within the city, preventing a repeat of the events of five years ago, and urged countering any provocations aimed at inciting a conflict.
On June 10-15, 2010, clashes occurred between local ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh and the neighboring city of Jalal-Abad, which killed several dozen people and left over 2,000 injured.
