Stop the bloodshed in Kyrgyzstan

Ethnic riots recently wracked southern Kyrgyzstan, forcing thousands of Uzbeks to flee as their homes were torched by roving mobs. At least 75 people were reported killed and nearly 1,000 wounded in the violence spreading across the impoverished Central Asian nation that hosts both U.S. and Russian air bases.

The final casualty figures would be several times higher. Much of its second-largest city, Osh, was on fire and the sky overhead was black with smoke. Gangs of young men armed with firearms and metal bars marched on minority Uzbek neighborhoods and set homes on fire. Stores were looted and the city was running out of food. Those driven from their homes rushed toward the border with Uzbekistan. Crowds of frightened women and children made flimsy bridges out of planks and ladders to cross the ditches marking the border.

Interim President Roza Otunbayeva acknowledged that her government has lost control over Osh, a city of 250,000, even though it sent troops, armor and helicopters to quell the riots. Violence spread to the nearby city of Jalal-Abad. The U.S. has the Manas air base in the capital, Bishkek, a crucial supply hub for the coalition fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

We, the Uzbek-Americans, Kyrgiz-Americans and other Turkic-Americans, as members of the U.S. Turkic Network, urge our government to: 1. Accelerate negotiations with the Kyrgizstan government and other regional stakeholders, such as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, to quickly stop the bloodshed; 2. Offer humanitarian, food and medical supplies and help; 3. Send more police and fire/EMS equipment - shields, uniforms, etc., to Kyrgizstan; 4. Send FBI and other relevant law enforcement officials to help with investigations of murder, homicides and other grave crimes, to make sure that perpetrators are quickly apprehended and brought to justice; 5. Do greater outreach to the Uzbek-American and Kyrgiz-American communities.

Hakan Berberoglu

Addison