Osh

Administration

Osh city (Ош шаар, "Osh shaar") covers 182.5 square kilometres (70.5 square miles) and, like the capital city of Bishkek, is administered separately and not part of any region, although it is the seat of Osh Region. Besides the city proper, 11 villages are administered by the city: Almalyk, Arek, Gulbaar-Tölöykön, Japalak, Kengesh, Kerme-Too, Orke, Pyatiletka, Teeke and parts of Ozgur and Tölöykön.

Population

Osh is the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan after the capital city of Bishkek. According to the population estimate of 2021, the city population amounted to 322,164, of which 33,315 resided in the 11 villages that the City of Osh administers. At the 2009 census, 47.9% of the population were Kyrgyz, 44.2% were Uzbeks, 2.5% Russians, 2.2% Turks, 1.1% Tatars and 2.1% other nationalities. The population of the built-up (or metro) area in the surrounding Kara-Suu District and in neighbouring Uzbekistan is estimated at 400,000 inhabitants.

History

Early history

The name of the city of Osh derives from the river Vakhsh, anthropomorphised there as a water goddess of the same name, who was worshipped (in tandem with Atar, sacred fire) in a Zoroastrian shrine or fire temple situated in the Eagle Cave in the ancient sacred mountain Sulaiman-Too. The river Vakhsh itself, known also as Surkhob or Kyzyl-Suu ( Turkic: "red water") is a tributary of the Amu Darya, the course of the Vakhsh lying outside and to the South of the Fergana valley, rising as it does on the west side of the 3,536m Taunmurun pass (east of the village of Sary-Tash) and flowing southwest to its confluence with the Panj at Takht-i Sangin to form the Amu Darya. Oxus, the ancient name of the Amu Darya, like Osh, is cognate with the river name Vakhsh, revealing that the present day Vakhsh/Kyzyl-Suu was conceived to form the upper reaches of the river now known as the Amu Darya.

The city is among the oldest settlements in Central Asia. Osh was known as early as the 8th century as a center for silk production along the Silk Road. The famous trading route crossed Alay Mountains to reach Kashgar to the east.

Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire and descendant of Tamerlane, was born in nearby Andijan, in the Fergana Valley, pondered his future on Sulayman Mountain and even constructed a mosque atop of the mountain. Babur somehow concludes that the confines of the Fergana would cramp his aspirations as a descendant of famous conquering warrior princes. He wrote of the city:

"There are many sayings about the excellence of Osh. On the southeastern side of the Osh fortress is a well-proportioned mountain called Bara-Koh, where, on its summit, Sultan Mahmud Khan built a pavilion. Farther down, on a spur of the same mountain, I had a porticoed pavilion built in 902 (1496-7)"

Imperial Russian and Soviet rule

The city was occupied and annexed by the Russian Empire in 1876 when Russia overwhelmed the Central Asian khanates during the so-called "Great Game", the contest between Britain and Russia for dominance in Central Asia. This conquest was achieved and the inclusion to the Russian Empire made by the mid-1880s, with main credit to General von Kaufman and General Mikhail Skobelev.

In the 1960s Osh and other towns in the south of the Kyrgyz SSR began to be industrialized. The population of Osh and other towns in the Fergana Valley that falls within Kyrgyzstan has traditionally consisted of a significant number of ethnic Uzbeks. When Osh started to industrialize the ethnic "Kyrgyz were encouraged to move from the Kyrgyz populated countryside to the cities to work in industrial jobs and public administration." This contributed to the rise of social tension between the two groups.

1990 riots

In 1990, shortly before the end of Soviet power in Central Asia, Osh and its environs experienced bloody ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. There were about 1,200 casualties, including over 300 dead and 462 seriously injured. The riots broke out over the division of land resources in and around the city.

2010 ethnic violence

In 2010, after riots in Bishkek and other major Kyrgyz cities, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev took refuge in the city to hide from protesters denouncing his government and its response to the nation's struggling economy. On May 13, 2010, Bakiyev supporters took over government buildings in Osh and seized the airport, preventing interim government officials from landing. The protesters demanded Bakiev's return, and forced the regional governor to flee. The former Osh regional governor Mamasadyk Bakirov was reinstated.

On June 10, 2010, riots erupted in Osh, killing at least 81 and injuring hundreds of others. "An explosion of violence, destruction and looting in southern Kyrgyzstan on 11–14 June 2010 killed many dozens of Kyrgyz and Uzbek people. The total of over 2000 buildings were destroyed, mostly homes, and deepened the divide between the country's ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks."

Local media reported that gangs of young men armed with sticks and stones smashed shop windows and set cars aflame in the city center. Several buildings and homes across the city were also set on fire. The city's police force proved incapable of restoring order resulting in a state of emergency being declared and the army being mobilised.

The Kyrgyz intelligence agency claimed that the just-deposed president initiated the 2010 violence, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who is said to have made a deal with foreign narco-jihadist gangs to take over southern Kyrgyzstan and initiate a shariah state in exchange for the Bakiyev family's being returned to controlling Bishkek. However, to the day no serious proof has been presented to the public and media. According to various sources, up to 100,000 ethnic Uzbek refugees fled to Uzbekistan. Many refugee camps have been organized in the Andijan, Fergana and Namangan regions of Uzbekistan for Uzbek citizens of Kyrgyzstan who cross the border seeking safety.

Geography

Climate

Under the Köppen climate classification, Osh features a continental climate (Dsa), with hot, dry summers and cold winters. Osh receives on average roughly 400 millimeters of precipitation annually, the bulk of which typically falls on the city outside the summer months. Summers are hot in Osh, with average high temperatures routinely exceeding 30 °C. Winters are cold with average temperatures below freezing during a good portion of the season. Spring and autumn are transitional seasons, with temperatures rising during the course of the spring season and falling during the course of the autumn.

Cityscape

Notable people

• Anvar Artykov (born 1951), a Kyrgyz politician, and current member of the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan. He served as governor of Osh Region between March and December 2005, and was previously a deputy between 1990 and 2000.
• Aynuru Altybayeva (born 1958), a Kyrgyz politician, and current member of the Supreme Council of Kyrgyzstan
• Roza Otunbayeva (born 1950), a Kyrgyz diplomat and politician who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from April 2010 until 1 December 2011
• Zhantoro Satybaldiyev (born 1956), a Kyrgyz politician who was Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan from September 2012 until March 2014
• Susana Camaladinova (born 1983), a Ukrainian singer of Crimean Tatar origin, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Twin towns and sister cities

Osh is twinned with:

• Yozgat, Turkey
• Manisa, Turkey
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
• Azerbaijan, Ganja