So we’ll start with the very broad ones, the classic statement, the past is prologue; we’ll start with that and move forward. So first of all kind of starting a little bit, we really need to start in 1990, why does 1990 matter? Because at the time actually until the events that happen in the summer, it was the worst amount of ethnic violence that had occurred in the former soviet state after that point, so summer of 1990, you’ve approximately 170 people that are killed you have specific, ethnic balance between [IB] and the [IB]. We have thousands of people that are injured, we have other crimes that are committed and what’s interesting and similar in some ways to what happened in 2010, is much of it started with false rumours and false information, and there was a belief that people were doing atrocities to another ethnic group and that other ethnic group responded, and you had groups coming together in the streets. And it was not stopped until you really had Russian peace keepers, the peace keepers at the time were Russian soldiers, Russian military that directly intervened in the summer of 1990.

But it was reasonably small scale, actually and unfortunately in comparison to what happened this summer in June of 2010, but that’s an important marker to realize that it did happen, and when you look at people, and scholars and writers that looked at the events as we looked at the break of the soviet union, we looked at the early 1990’s and there was this whole perspective and a fear that there would be another inflaming at the [Fergana] valley. There was a famous book that was written in 1997, Nancy [Lou Ben] and others, calming the [Fergana] valley, it was all about the potential for the large scale ethnic violence, well over the years we saw very little of that actually, and we actually saw, we didn’t see more ethnic violence that was occurring anywhere, we actually saw that things were working quite well, the bigger problems were between Uzbeks from one side of the boarder in Pakistan and Uzbeks on the other side in Uzbekistan, that’s where there was more tension, it really was not primarily along ethnic lines. So then, you move forward, and really you move forward to 2002, where you have, when we’re speaking of violence, you have five people that are killed and let’s refer to the [oxy] protest that were about a politician Beck [Nazalov], and again that’s an important point, why does that matter? It’s because that’s when police forces fire under a crowd and you have five people killed in a crowd, and it’s also important because the prime minister at that time was [Pakia] who resigned his post because of the violence that occurred and a little twist of faith, that would happen to him again in 2010. So he resigns his post as Prime Minister [IB] as president. But this is seen as…it’s an important time stamp, and when I talk to people in the region, that the 2002 events were important to remember.

Then you move forward to 2005, the events where [Kiev] was overthrown, I’ll talk about those a little bit more in-depth but just a touch on those briefly, what’s important to note about those events is there was not wide spread bloodshed, there was burning of buildings, there was the seizure of buildings, there was some attacks on individuals, there was some beatings that occurred but you did not have widespread violence. There was not shooting in the crowds, there was not widespread use of troops shooting in the crowds that was not occurring in 2005. So while, yes there was some level of violence and disorder it was not a widespread mass killing that was occurring in 2005. And that’s a very important point.

Then you move forward, and again I’m giving with a flash version of this, into 2009 you begin to have again, actually 2007, there was some small scale protest, 2009 you have price tariff increases that are occurring and you have an increasing discontent with the [Bikaev] government going forward into 2009. 2010 in the winter and January, February is really beginning to have the early protest, occurring in Iran, occurring into [loss], this protest that are beginning to occur similar 2010, in different places around the country, leading up to the large protest that occur in April where the government is overthrown again similar to what happened in 2005. Over the summer, this summer you have increasing discontent, you have small level protest, you have small violence that’s occurring. But then on June 10th, the evening of June 10th, 11th, you have the sudden eruption and it’s still unclear what was happening, we can talk about that a little bit but that’s still difficult to completely ascertain, you have this specifically ethnic violence that begins to erupt and then going from June 10th forward is you have the large scale violence that has occurred. And at this point I’m hesitant to hazard a number, it’s in the hundreds that have been killed, for sure, thousands that have been injured and hundreds of thousands that have been displaced that are internally displaced people, exactly what those numbers, exactly how many are on the border, it’s still difficult to say. National [IB] has some good number is on it, but to me that’s less of the point, but there is severe bloodshed that occurred. So the question really becomes, well, how did we get to this point? Kyrgyzstan was seen as the least developing of democracy, received some degree of peaceful stay, you actually had a high degree of interaction between the ethnic groups, just as kind of a point of reference to the ethnic percentages. The majority ethnic group is Kyrgyz in the country, about 13% are Uzbek but it’s important to note that that’s across all of the country, but within certain regions you have 100% Uzbeks. So for instance its 13% across the entire country but if we were to just look at the south that percentage gets up to 50%. In certain regions and villages of the south you are at 80 or 90% so the overall number for the country doesn’t tell you the real dynamic of certain regions. The same if you were to go to Noran one of the northern regions of the country that’s 99% [Kurdish], very very few Uzbek very very few Russian. I think there’s a similarity that we can think of. We are all here seen in Washington DC. Washington DC is majority African American population but if you put a camera on the top of my head and you walk around town you film [IB] who I interact with on a daily basis then. Where I am here down town and down town DC, that’s not the perspective that.