1990 Dushanbe riots

The 1990 Dushanbe riots were an anti-government unrest in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, from February 12–14, 1990.

1990 Dushanbe riots
Part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union
BMPs in the Lenin prospect in Dushanbe, 14 February 1990.
Location	Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Soviet Union
Date	February 12–14, 1990
Target	Armenian, Russian & Tajik civilians
Attack type	anti-government riots
Deaths	26
Injured	565
Perpetrators	Tajik nationalist & Islamist activists

History

In 1988, in the aftermath of the Sumgait pogrom and anti-Armenian riots in Azerbaijan, 39 Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan were temporarily resettled in 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] which was experiencing an 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 had already left Tajikistan for Armenia,^[1] official denouncement of the rumours was not able to stop the protests. Assurances by First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan Qahhor Mahkamov 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 called into Dushanbe^[6] by Mahkamov. However Mahkamov'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 Mahkamov and Prime Minister of Tajikistan Izatullo Khayoyev 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, 26 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 Yaqub Salimov.^[7] Smaller scale anti-Armenian incidents were also recorded in neighboring Turkmenistan.^[8]

See also

• Civil war in Tajikistan

References

1. Horowitz, Donald L. (2002). The Deadly Ethnic Riot. University of California Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-520-23642-4. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
2. Michael Waller; Bruno Coppieters; Alekseĭ Vsevolodovich Malashenko, eds. (1998). Conflicting Loyalties and the State in Post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia. Routledge. pp. 169–170. ISBN 0-7146-4882-5.
3. Payin, Emil. "Settlement of ethnic conflicts in post-Soviet society". United Nations University Press. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
4. Takeyh, Ray; Nikolas K. Gvosdev (2004). The Receding Shadow of the Prophet. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-97629-7.
5. Kolstø, Pål; Andrei Edemsky (1995). Russians in the Former Soviet Republics. Indiana University Press. p. 213. ISBN 0-253-32917-5.
6. Collins, Kathleen (2006). Clan politics and regime transition in Central Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 155. ISBN 0-521-83950-5. Retrieved 2008-10-23. Dushanbe riots islamists.
7. ГАФАРЛЫ, МЕХМАН (2004-02-25). (in Russian). Novye Izvestiya. Archived from the original on 2010-03-13. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
8. Allworth, Edward (1994). Central Asia, 130 Years of Russian Dominance. Duke University Press. pp. 586–587. ISBN 0-8223-1521-1. Retrieved 2008-10-23.