Post –Soviet Central Asia
21 February 2007
Daniel Gray
Dissolution of the USSR

8 December 1991
• Declaration

31 December 1991
• Republics are now independently
governed
The Bosses
Emomali Rahmonov
Tajikistan
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Kazakhstan
Kurmanbek Bakiyev
Kyrgyzstan
The Bosses
Islom Karimov
Uzbekistan
Saparmurat Niyazov
“Turkmenbashi”
Gurbanguly
Berdimuhammedow
Turkmenistan
Karimova
Cult of Personality
Civil War 1992-1997
Nationalism

Ethnic discrimination in the USSR
• Economically weak



Glasnost
Nationalist policies
1992 Election - Rahmon Nabiev
• Government/Moscow vs. Minorities,
Democrats, Islamists

Rebels take control of Gov.
War
December 1992 - Rebels ousted from
Dushanbe
 Rakhmon Nabiyev replaced by
Emomali Rahmonov
 Reorganize in Afghanistan
 Ethnic Cleansing
 UN Peace Treaty 1997

Security Issues
Fundamentalism

Fergana Valley
Radical/Terrorist Groups


Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU)
Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT)
• Non-violent?
Operation Enduring Freedom

Supported by all Central Asian States
• Except Turkmenistan

Basing
• Kyrgyzstan
• Uzbekistan
WMD


Soviet Nuclear Legacy in Kazakhstan
• Semipalatinsk Test Site
181 cases of illicit trafficking of nuclear materials
between 1993-2001
Semipalatinsk Test Site
Andijan, Uzbekistan 2005

10 -11 May 2005
• Protests against the arrest of 23 local
businessmen
12 May – Prison Break
 13 May – Massacre
 Death Toll: 500 - 1000

Aftermath
Western Response
 Canceled support for Afghanistan
mission
 June 2005 - Pact with Russia

Oil
Bosporus Straits
 Caspian Sea
 How to Export??
 Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

Environment
Environmental Issues
MAILUU-SUU, KYRGYZSTAN
Top 10 World’s Worst Polluted Places
 Radioactive Dump
 Earthquakes, Floods
 Affects 23,000 people

• Possibly Millions!
Aral Sea
1918 – Russia diverts
Amu Darya/Syr Darya Rivers
 Poorly Designed Canal System
 Fourth biggest inland sea

• Now a desert

Biological Weapons Plant
• Vozrozhdeniya Island
Vozrozhdeniya Island & Kantubek