13.05.2005
Andijan - Historical Background
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Ulugbek Djuraev, AIA Central Asian section
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Antigovernment riots continue in Andijan, one of the largest cities of Fergana Valley, situated in the eastern part of Uzbekistan. This outbreak started yesterday evening, provoked by followers of the Islamic sect Aqramia. Last night there were several attacks on the military base, prison and the office of security services, that are situated inside the city and in its suburbs. Russian internet sites hostile to Uzbek government published the statement of rebels' leaders. It is said there: "We appeal to Russian leadership, and to Vladimir Putin personally, asking them to interfere in the situation. We ask Russia to be a mediator in our negotiations with the authorities".
Andijan is the center of the homonymous area in Fergana Valley (the eastern part of Uzbekistan). This area shares border with Kyrgyzstan. Close to its border are the cities of Jalal-Abad and Osh that were in the center of riots against the president Askar Akayev in March.
Andijan area (4200 square km) is one of the most densely populated areas in the Central Asia. Its population is about 2 million people, according to the census held in 1994. Population of Andijan itself, according to the same census, exceeded 300 thousand people.
Shrine of the Sufi sheikhs
Andijan is one of the oldest Islamic centers in Fergana Valley. Before Andijan's annexation to the Russian Empire in 1876, one of the largest Sufi centers in the region (Naqshbandi tariqat) acted in city's district. After the establishment of Russian authority in Fergana Valley Andijan became one of the main centers of national liberation movement under the leadership of Sufi sheikhs (for example, Adijan uprising of 1898 under the leadership of Madali-Ishan).
With the beginning of communist expansion in the Central Asia in 1918, and up till the end of the 1920s, Andijan area once again became the center of national resistance under the guidance of Islamic leaders. During the Soviet period, as a result of mass repressions of Islamic clergy, centers of Islamic studies in Andijan and its district moved into the underground and functioned illegally.
Uprising Under a Green Flag
In 1979, Abdulwali and Rahmatulla, Islamic leaders of a new formation from Margilan, settled down in Adijan. They held a strict anti-Soviet position, striving for diffusion of "pure" Islam among the population of Andijan, and in particular – among the locals of neighboring villages. The two of them were under the influence of illegally imported works of Egyptian and Pakistani ideologists of Islamic fundamentalism.
In 1981, Rahmatulla died in a car accident. Abdulwali Qari became the most popular unofficial Islamic cleric in Andijan and its district. He played one of the key roles in the process of radicalization of the Islamic underground movement in Fergana Valley in the beginning of the 1980s.
At the end of 1980s – beginning of the 1990s, Andijan, together with Namangan and Kokand, was one of the centers of Islamic renaissance in Uzbekistan.
After the Islamic movement of Fergana Valley openly came against the government, a part of its activists left Uzbekistan and settled down in neighboring countries. Actions of the opposition provoked strict countermeasures of the authorities. Regardless of this, Islamic activists continued to function in Andijan. In the late 1990s, using help from abroad, a number of underground Islamic associations and groups emerged in Andijan area. Some of them were of a clear oppositionist character. Others, being also hostile to the secular Karimov's regime, paid the most attention to the issue of mutual aid. Fearing of possible seizure of Fergana Valley by the Islamists, Uzbek authorities tried to neutralize the oppositionist activity in Andijan district. This provoked discontent of a large part of the local population, which is much more religious than most of Uzbek citizens. Activists of Islamic underground used this situation for their needs, as well as the atmosphere in the region after the overthrow of ruling regime in neighboring Kyrgyzstan month and a half ago. As a result, at night between 12th and 13th of May a rebellion broke out in Andijan, initiated by one of local Islamic groups "Aqramia".
Andijan: Cradle of Islamic revolution?
Andijan that was traditionally one of Islamic centers of the Central Asia, served as a stronghold of resistance from the beginning of Russian occupation and till the final establishment of the Soviet regime. In the early 1980s the activity of non-official Islamic spiritual leaders (in particular, Abdulwali Qari) in Andijan played one of the key roles in formation of Uzbek current in Islamic fundamentalism. Spiritual leaders also had a great influence over the ideological formation of future warlords of "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan". In the early 1990s Andijan became one of the centers of Islamic opposition to the secular regime of Islam Karimov. Today the events in Andijan can be a beginning of Islamic revolution in the whole Fergana Valley. This in its turn can provoke a sharp destabilization not only in Uzbekistan, but in the Central Asia as a whole.
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