Digital Memory and a ‘Massacre’: Uzbek Identity in the Age of Social Media

UZIN Paper nº 8 (2014)

On June 11, 2010, over 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks crossed the border from southern Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan. They were fleeing riots that had overtaken the city of Osh, killing nearly 500 people, destroying over 2800 properties, and leaving tens of thousands homeless. Though the causes of the violence were manifold and remain debated, the political and economic grievances behind it played out along ethnic
lines.2 Nearly all the victims were Uzbek; the perpetrators, Kyrgyz.