Paper long abstract:

As one of the main causes of all these bloody pogroms and clashes in Uzbekistan in 1989 was lack of arable land. The second reason was perceived as the total poverty that prevailed in this region already in the 80's and the third was the feeling of "disadvantage" on the part of "outsiders" who (Meskheti Turks), in contrast to them, "lived well". However, it should be noted that the roots of the conflict are much more complex. As the reasons for its genesis, was the growth of the population, and the so-called "cotton case", and the overall growth of regional nationalism, based on the weakness of the Soviet Union, which just barely emerged from the Afghan War. The hidden impetus for the emergence of interethnic strife was the wrong policy of the Soviet communist leaders, aimed at suppressing the national consciousness of the peoples of the Union republics. As soon as the Central government weakened, the hidden ethnic tensions in the country intensified, which led to inter-ethnic conflicts. During the mass clashes between Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks that took place in Fergana in May 1989, more than a hundred people were killed and about a thousand were wounded. The wave of pogroms that engulfed the city threatened to spread to the entire Fergana valley.