Osh Commemoration Ceremonies

The Kyrgyz flag was set at half-staff outside the city administration building in Osh on June 10, 2011, on the day of commemoration ceremonies marking the one-year anniversary of the start of ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan’s south between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

A bomb-sniffing dog checking journalists’ equipment ahead of commemoration ceremonies in Osh.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Marat Imankulov (in the camouflage), the deputy head of Kyrgyzstan’s national security committee and director of the country’s antiterrorist center, ahead of the start of the commemoration ceremonies in Osh.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Altynbek Torogeldiev, whose sculpture honoring the victims of the June 2010 clashes was unveiled at a June 10, 2011, ceremony marking the one-year anniversary of the start of the violence. The sculpture, made of cast stone, depicts Uzbek and Kyrgyz mothers embracing each other and weeping.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Muslim and Orthodox Christian religious leaders from Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan gather in Osh for the commemoration ceremony. The man in the middle with the black robe is Russian mufti Damir Mukhetdinov. To his direct left is Kyrgyz mufti Chubak-hajji Jalilov and Tajik mufti Mukkaram Abdukodirov

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

The head of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Vladimir, came to Osh for the commemorations.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva arriving in Osh.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Osh Mayor Melisbek Myrzakmatov (left) with Kyrgyz mufti Chubak-hajji Jalilov at commemorations in Osh. Myrzakmatov has come under heavy criticism for his role in the clashes and what is seen as a pronounced anti-Uzbek bias in judicial proceedings following the violence.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

A Kyrgyz man shouts in anger following the commemoration. The man lost his son in the clashes, and says he blames the country’s president, Roza Otunbaeva, for failing to comprehend the depth of the suffering in Osh.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Kyrgyz officials pay their respects at the newly unveiled monument honoring the victims of the June 2010 clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, which left 470 people dead. The monument, of cast stone, depicts two mothers embracing, one Kyrgyz, one Uzbek.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar

Uzbek and Kyrgyz survivors of last year's ethnic clashes in Osh attend a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the violence.

Photo by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar