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Dushanbe Anti-Armenian Riots

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  • Dushanbe Anti-Armenian Riots

    What do you guys think about this? I was honestly reading about it the first time:

    The Dushanbe riots were an instance of anti-Armenian and anti-government unrest in Dushanbe, the capital of the Tajik SSR, from February 12–14, 1990.

    In 1988, in the aftermath of the Sumgait pogrom and anti-Armenian riots in the Azerbaijan SSR, 39 Armenian refugees were temporarily resettled from Azerbaijan to Dushanbe[1]. In 1990, the Armenian influx became a subject of the rumour that triggered riots in Dushanbe[2]. The rumour inflated the number of refugees to 2,500–5,000[1]. According to rumour Armenians allegedly were being resettled in new housing in Dushanbe[1] experiencing acute housing shortage at that time[1][3]. Despite the fact that Armenian refugees resettled not in public housing but with their relatives, and by 1990 already left Tajikistan for Armenia[1], official denouncement of the rumours was not able to stop the protests. Assurances by Communist Party First Secretary Ghagar Makhkamov that no resettlement of Armenians was taking place were rejected by the demonstrators[4] Soon, demonstrations sponsored by the nationalist Rastokhez movement turned violent[4]. Radical economical and political reforms were demanded by the protesters[4]. Government buildings, shops and other businesses were attacked and looted. Armenians, Russians[5], and other ethnic minorities were targeted. Abuse of Tajik women wearing European clothes in public also took place. The riots were put down by Soviet troops that were called into Dushanbe [6] by Ghagar Makhkamov. However Makhamov's over reliance on military force was criticized by Buri Karimov, a deputy chair of Council of Ministers, who called for the resignation of the leadership of the Tajik Communist Party. On February 14, 1990 Makhamov and Prime Minister of Tajik SSR Ezatolloh Khayeyev submitted their resignations, but they were not accepted by the Central Committee of the Tajik Communist Party[4].

    During the Dushanbe riots, a period lasting a couple of days, 22 people were killed and 565 were injured.[4] Among the Tajik youth activists convicted for participation in the riots was a future minister of the interior of Tajikistan Yakub Salimov.[7] Smaller scale anti-Armenian incidents were also recorded in another Soviet Central Asian Republic, the Turkmen SSR[8].
    -Wikipedia
    Մեկ Ազգ, Մեկ Մշակույթ
    ---
    "Western Assimilation is the greatest threat to the Armenian nation since the Armenian Genocide."

  • #2
    Re: Dushanbe Anti-Armenian Riots

    First I've heard of this as well. Here is an article from the past:


    UPHEAVAL IN THE EAST; Riots Involving Ethnic Rivalries Erupt in Another Soviet Republic

    A state of emergency was declared in the capital of the Central Asian republic of Tadzhikistan today after a mob of several thousand people set cars, buses and the Communist Party headquarters on fire because of rumors that Armenian refugees were being given scarce housing, official Soviet accounts said.

    Local officials in the capital, Dushanbe (pronounced doosh-ahn-BEH), a largely Muslim city of about 600,000 just north of the Afghan border, tried to convince the crowds that the rumors were untrue. But the editor of the local government newspaper said 5 people were killed and 70 wounded before crowds throwing stones and wielding guns and clubs dispersed this evening.

    Judging by sketchy accounts from Dushanbe, the violence followed the pattern of the large-scale strife in a few other Central Asian areas, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia: a dangerous mix of racial and religious prejudice and resentment over impoverishment brought by the declining Soviet economy that presents President Mikhail S. Gorbachev with perhaps his most difficult problems.

    Tass, the official Soviet press agency, gave no reports of casualties but said in its first brief report of the disturbances that the Tadzhik government had proclaimed a curfew from 10 P.M. today to 6 A.M. Tuesday, after ''violations of public order, and manifestations of extremism, accompanied by mass disorders including pogroms, arson and pillaging.''

    Youths and religious leaders incited the violence, according to Mazabsho Mabatshoyev, the editor of the Tadzhik-language government newspaper Tadzhikistoni Soveti.

    Soviet radio said tonight that the violence began after the second rally in two days in front of the Tadzhikistan Communist Party headquarters. Interfax, a news service of the Moscow radio, reported that the first meeting, on Sunday, was ''in response to rumors that several thousand Armenian refugees arrived in the capital, and that the authorities promised to give them comfortable flats to the detriment of the local population.''

    Local officials, including the Tadzhik Communist Party chief, Kakhar M. Makhkamov, tried in vain to convince the crowd that there were no more than 40 Armenians in Dushanbe, staying with relatives, the Interfax bulletin said.

    http://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/13/wo...-republic.html
    "Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it." ~Malcolm X

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    • #3
      Re: Dushanbe Anti-Armenian Riots

      Apparently the anti-Armenian hysteria during this time spread from Azerbaijan to other Muslim Soviet nations.
      Մեկ Ազգ, Մեկ Մշակույթ
      ---
      "Western Assimilation is the greatest threat to the Armenian nation since the Armenian Genocide."

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      • #4
        Re: Dushanbe Anti-Armenian Riots

        Originally posted by Mos View Post
        Apparently the anti-Armenian hysteria during this time spread from Azerbaijan to other Muslim Soviet nations.

        It's well known that there were housing shortages in the ussr, the central asian republics suffered more so than the European ones, or at least they thought they did. So when the Tajiks (who have never been known to be thinkers) heard that Armenian refugees would be getting flats in Dushanbe, they of course freaked out. I don't know how much direct influence azerbaijan or azeris in general had in the riots.
        For the first time in more than 600 years, Armenia is free and independent, and we are therefore obligated
        to place our national interests ahead of our personal gains or aspirations.



        http://www.armenianhighland.com/main.html

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