Thursday, February 16, 2012

Kyrgyzstan

Uzbekistan Denounces UN Evacuation Of Refugees

1 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Uzbekistan today denounced last week's UN airlift to Romania of 440 Uzbek refugees who had been staying in Kyrgyzstan after fleeing repression in eastern Uzbekistan in May.

TEXT SIZE - +

August 01, 2005

The Uzbek Foreign Ministry released a statement saying the evacuation violated international legal norms.

The ministry says it considers the evacuation as "inadmissible and outrageous interference by foreign forces."

In May, hundreds of Uzbeks fled into Kyrgyzstan after an uprising and a government crackdown that one UN report described as a "mass killing."

Uzbekistan says 187 people -- mostly Islamic militants -- were killed. Rights advocates fear the death toll was much higher, and included civilians.

The evacuation was conducted after UN and international human rights groups expressed concerns that the refugees could be tortured or executed if handed over to Uzbek authorities.

(Interfax/Reuters)

For RFE/RL's full coverage of the Andijon violence and its aftermath, see "Unrest In Uzbekistan"

Attack Of The Cloned Websites...This Time In Uzbekistan

A website has been set up to mirror the site of RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, in what could be a phishing scheme to harvest user information. More

A vendor in the central Bosnian town of Zenica sells heart-shaped cushions with proclamations of love for 1 euro each.

Love It (Or Hate It), It's Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day, the Western holiday celebrating love, has become a global phenomenon over the past two decades. The fall of communism and the emergence of the Internet have helped February 14 become something of an unofficial international day of romance. However, not all the passions the holiday stirs are related to love. While some countries have openly embraced the holiday, others are attempting to ban it or replace it with local customs. More

Production and distribution of rap music is not officially banned, but it

Yo! Turkmen Rappers Flip The Script On Repression

For a growing number of Turkmen youth, rap music has become a way to express their daily struggles and inspire political change in one of the world's most oppressive countries. More