Kyrgyzstan's Grand Mufti Maksatbek Hajji Toktomushev has issued an order obliging Islamic clerics in the country to use their sermons to prevent possible ethnic clashes.
The mufti's deputy, Ravshan Hajji Eratov, told RFE/RL that, according to an order made public on June 5, Muslim clerics should include in their sermons in the period from June 6-13 traditional Islamic teachings about brotherly relations between all Muslims, regardless of nationality.
The order was issued on the eve of the fourth anniversary of deadly clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the country's southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad.
More than 400 people were killed in the clashes, which lasted for several days.
Thousands were displaced and dozens remain missing.
The majority of victims were ethnic Uzbeks.
The mufti's deputy, Ravshan Hajji Eratov, told RFE/RL that, according to an order made public on June 5, Muslim clerics should include in their sermons in the period from June 6-13 traditional Islamic teachings about brotherly relations between all Muslims, regardless of nationality.
The order was issued on the eve of the fourth anniversary of deadly clashes between local Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the country's southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad.
More than 400 people were killed in the clashes, which lasted for several days.
Thousands were displaced and dozens remain missing.
The majority of victims were ethnic Uzbeks.
