The Andijan Incident: How and Why It Happened?

What happened on May 13, 2005, in Andijan is the darkest chapter in Uzbekistan's history since the country's independence. Some refer to the events of that day as a massacre, and the violence that occurred has become a defining characteristic of the Uzbek government for many around the world. Each anniversary of this incident serves as a time for human rights organizations to reiterate their criticisms of the government for its indiscriminate use of repressive power and to write articles like this one that address the dark events of that day. However, over time, some of the events of that day have been forgotten or reinterpreted, and I remember exactly what happened as I was closely following the events in Andijan that day. The aim of this article is not to justify those events, and exaggerating what happened is counterproductive and has the opposite effect. My effort is to remind the criticisms of the Uzbek government for the widespread killings in Andijan in a legitimate and precise manner. The backdrop of the events was that the leaders of Central Asian states were anxious and unsettled in April 2005. Askar Akayev, the president of Kyrgyzstan, had been ousted from power as a result of a popular uprising. It should be noted that all the leaders of the regional governments had come to power since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and had no intention of stepping down. Not only had one of these leaders been overthrown, but the movement that caused his fall was a spontaneous popular uprising that no party or group controlled. All the Central Asian governments had tried to prevent opposition from forming in their countries, so this spontaneous uprising in Kyrgyzstan caught them off guard. Before the Kyrgyz uprising, similar uprisings occurred in Georgia in 2003 and in Ukraine in 2004, which were dubbed color revolutions. In the months leading up to the Andijan incident, unrest occurred in various corners of the Farghana region of Uzbekistan. On May 3, police forces in Andijan attacked a gathering of protesting farmers in front of the U.S. embassy in Tashkent. On May 10, another small group protested in the city, similar to movements in previous months. Their protest was due to the arrest of dozens of merchants accused of collaborating with a banned Islamist group called Hizb ut-Tahrir. However, as the president of Uzbekistan later implicitly admitted, the reason for the arrests was the protest against the seizure of their business privileges by individuals supported and affiliated with the local government. By May 12, the number of protesters had reached two thousand. Their movement was entirely peaceful and orderly, and even elderly women were present among the protesters. Each day, the number of protesters increased, and it seemed that on May 13, which was a Friday, even more people would take to the streets. In the early hours of May 13, 2005, a group of armed individuals, whom the government described as 'radical Islamists,' crossed from Kyrgyzstan into Uzbekistan and attacked a police station near Andijan, subsequently assaulting the regional prison and freeing about two thousand inmates. These armed individuals, along with some of the freed prisoners who had obtained weapons, came to Andijan and joined the protesters. In the first moments of the morning, gunfire began. Shortly after, the streets of the city were filled with people, and armed individuals seized government buildings, setting several structures on fire. Throughout this time, there was no sign of police forces in this large city. Gradually, those who had taken over the government buildings and apparently assumed leadership of the protest announced their demands. Their leader negotiated with the Uzbek Minister of Internal Affairs via phone. Their main demand was the release of 23 imprisoned merchants and mediation by international organizations and the governments of the U.S. and Russia for the dispute between these merchants and the government. By noon that day, at least nine people had been killed and 34 injured. Early in the afternoon, news arrived that the army and police units from the Ministry of Internal Affairs were moving toward Andijan from various directions. Thousands of people were in the streets, creating an atmosphere that seemed like a revolution was about to occur. Some reports indicated that about 30,000 people had gathered in the main square of the city. The army units reached the city. Initially, some of them were stationed on high points, and then armored personnel carriers entered the city. They immediately began shooting, firing at anyone in the streets. Most people in the streets were unarmed, and among them were elderly individuals, women, and children. However, the soldiers shot at every moving thing. Eyewitnesses say many were shot in the back while trying to flee. It was a massacre. As night fell, 'law and order' prevailed in the city. Small armed groups were resisting around the Kyrgyz border, but within 48 hours, this area was also cleared, and thousands of people fled to Kyrgyzstan. The Uzbek government officially announced the death toll for that day as 187, claiming that one-third were government officials and armed forces, another third were Islamist militants, and only one-third were ordinary civilians. In the days following the incident, multiple reports emerged of mass graves being dug around the city of Andijan. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty received reports that the bodies of the victims of this incident were being transported by cargo planes to various parts of the country to ensure that the exact number of casualties would never be known. Almost all governments, in their responses to this incident, stated that the Uzbek government had the right to restore order, but there was much disagreement regarding the methods used to establish that order. Many who were there say that in the early hours of the evening of May 13, hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed in the city of Andijan.