1990 Dushanbe riots

Violent unrest in the Tajik SSR of the Soviet Union August 2023 1990 Dushanbe riots the dissolution of the Soviet Union and spillover of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War RIAN archive 699865 Dushanbe riots, February 1990.jpg 350px BMPs blocking off protesters in the city's main thoroughfare following the imposition of martial law, 14 February 1990 12–14 February 1990 (02 12 1990 02 14 1990) Dushanbe, Tajik SSR, Soviet Union 38 32 12 N 68 46 48 E region:TJ inline,title Local anti-Armenian sentiment and Tajik anti-communist nationalism Outbreak of the Tajikistani Civil War in 1992 Flag of Tajikistan without a crown and stars.svg Tajik nationalists RastokhezFlag of Jihad.svg Tajik Islamists Soviet Union КПСС.svg Communist Party of the Soviet Union Emblema KGB.svg KGB MVD Badge (Gradient).svg MVD Шеврон ВВ МВД СССР.png Internal Troops USSR OMON patch.png OMON LogoKPT.svg Communist Party of Tajikistan Emblema KGB.svg Tajik KGB Tohir Abdujabbor Izatullo Khayoyev Qahhor Mahkamov Yaqub Salimov 26 565 Tajikistan#Soviet Union 250px Dushanbe Location within Tajikistan##Location within the Soviet Union December 2023 December 2023 The 1990 Dushanbe riots marked a period of heightened civil disobedience and inter-ethnic violence in Dushanbe, the capital city of the Tajik SSR of the Soviet Union. Existing tensions over lacking economic and political reforms were exacerbated by the arrival of Armenian refugees from the Azerbaijan SSR due to the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. The mass movement of Tajik nationalists (e.g., the Rastokhez), anti-communists, and Islamists targeted ethnic minorities, such as Armenians, Russians, Jews, as well as unaffiliated Tajiks—namely women who did not conform to Islamic clothing standards. By late 1991, the dissolution of the Soviet Union gave way to the Republic of Tajikistan declaring independence, though this was followed by the Tajikistani Civil War less than a year later. Causes Armenian refugees 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.Horowitz Donald L. The Deadly Ethnic Riot University of California Press 2002 74 0-520-23642-4 https://books.google.com/books?id=_opOYtLvl4cC&dq=armenians+dushanbe&pg=RA1-PA74 2008-10-23 In 1990, the Armenian influx became a subject of the rumour that triggered riots in Dushanbe.Conflicting Loyalties and the State in Post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia Michael Waller Bruno Coppieters Alekseĭ Vsevolodovich Malashenko Routledge 1998 169–170 0-7146-4882-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=J_S9xfdODDUC&dq=Dushanbe+1990+Armenians+rumour&pg=PA169 The rumour inflated the number of refugees to 2,500–5,000. According to rumour Armenians allegedly were being resettled in new housing in Dushanbe, which was experiencing an acute housing shortage at that time.http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu12ee/uu12ee09.htm Settlement of ethnic conflicts in post-Soviet society Payin Emil United Nations University Press 2008-10-23 2007-06-07 https://web.archive.org/web/20070607035743/http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu12ee/uu12ee09.htm dead Despite the fact that Armenian refugees resettled not in public housing but with their relatives, and by 1990 had already left Tajikistan for Armenia, 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 were taking place were rejected by the demonstrators.Takeyh Ray Nikolas K. Gvosdev The Receding Shadow of the Prophet Greenwood Publishing Group 2004 0-275-97629-7 https://books.google.com/books?id=85BTay8abYsC&dq=Dushanbe+riots+islamists&pg=PA126 Economy, politics, and Islam Soon, demonstrations sponsored by the nationalist Rastokhez movement turned violent. Radical economical and political reforms were demanded by the protesters. Government buildings, shops and other businesses were attacked and looted. Armenians, Russians,Kolstø Pål Andrei Edemsky Russians in the Former Soviet Republics Indiana University Press 1995 213 0-253-32917-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=NVw6m9SWxb4C&dq=Armenians+Dushanbe+1990+%22more+than+fifty%22+killed&pg=PA213 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 DushanbeCollins Kathleen Clan politics and regime transition in Central Asia Cambridge University Press 2006 155 0-521-83950-5 https://archive.org/details/clanpoliticsregi0000coll registration Dushanbe riots islamists. 2008-10-23 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. Riots and other Central Asian SSRs During the Dushanbe riots, a period lasting a couple of days, 26 people were killed and 565 were injured. Among the Tajik youth activists convicted for participation in the riots was a future minister of the interior of Tajikistan Yaqub Salimov.http://www.newizv.ru/news/2004-03-01/4901/ ru:На родину в наручниках Россия экстрадировала в Душанбе бывшего главу МВД Таджикистана Якуба Салимова ГАФАРЛЫ МЕХМАН 2004-02-25 Novye Izvestiya ru 2008-10-23 https://web.archive.org/web/20100313152601/http://www.newizv.ru/news/2004-03-01/4901 2010-03-13 dead Smaller scale anti-Armenian incidents were also recorded in neighboring Turkmenistan. Allworth Edward Central Asia, 130 Years of Russian Dominance Duke University Press 1994 586–587 0-8223-1521-1 https://books.google.com/books?id=X2XpddVB0l0C&dq=armenians+dushanbe&pg=PA587 2008-10-23 Aftermath Tajikistani Civil War Tajikistan would declare independence on 9 December 1991, from the collapsing Soviet Union. In 1992, a civil war would begin in the newly independent nation. References Category:1990 riots Category:1990 mass murders Category:1990 in Tajikistan Category:Ethnic riots Category:Anti-Armenian pogroms Category:Riots and civil disorder in the Soviet Union Category:Protests in the Soviet Union Category:History of Dushanbe Category:February 1990 in the Soviet Union Category:1990 protests Category:Anti-Russian sentiment in Asia Category:Persecution of Christians by Muslims Category:Racially motivated violence in Asia Category:Massacres in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict Category:Tajikistani Civil War Category:Anti-communist terrorist incidents in the 1990s Category:1990s political riots Category:Anti-Jewish pogroms Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in the 1990s Category:Islamic terrorism in Asia Category:Islamism in Tajikistan