For Immediate Release: June 22, 2006
Contact: Jennifer Linker, 202/939-2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
On May 13, 2005, the Uzbek government lost control of parts of the densely populated city of Andijan. At the end of the day Uzbek authorities dispersed the demonstration by force, leaving untold numbers of civilian deaths, with reliable estimates in the hundreds. There are two highly disputed versions of how the day unfolded. The Uzbek government states that the organizers of the demonstration were trying to overthrow the government, while the demonstrators claim that they were viciously attacked without provocation or warning.
Martha Brill Olcott, senior associate in the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, has obtained the first ever unofficial video of the events leading up to the uprising. This 109-minute video was taken by two cameramen in the main square of Andijan during the day, but does not cover the most important and disputed moment: the end of the uprising itself. As the Uzbek government refuses to allow an international inquiry into the actual events, it may be decades before the authoritative account of this day is told.
Olcott also provides a commentary to the as-Saff Surah of the Quran allegedly written by Akram Yuldashev, the founder of Akramiya. This commentary’s connection to the events in Andijan does not seem accidental.
To give a clear picture of the events in the video, Olcott provides extensive resources and commentary about Andijan.
Click here to watch the video of the events or go to www.CarnegieEndowment.org
Click Here For Related Coverage from The New York Times
Martha Brill Olcott is a senior associate in the Russian and Eurasian Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She specializes in problems of transitions in Central Asia and the Caucasus and is the author of Central Asia’s Second Chance (Carnegie, 2005).
PRESS CONTACT:
Jennifer Linker, 202/939-2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
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