TIMELINE OF CENTRAL ASIA (1918—2014) VLADIMIR FEDORENKO 750 First St., NE, Suite 1125 Washington, DC 20002 [email protected] Phone: 202-842-2026 RETHINK PAPER 21 www.retthinkinstitute.org MARCH 2015 TIMELINE OF CENTRAL ASIA (1918-2014) VLADIMIR FEDORENKO RETHINK PAPER 21 March 2015 The Rethink Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, nonpartisan research institution devoted to deepen our understanding of contemporary political and cultural challenges facing communities and societies around the world, in realizing peace and justice, broadly defined. The Institute pursues this mission by facilitating research on public policies and civic initiatives centering on dispute resolution, peace building, dialogue development, and education. Toward these goals, the Institute sponsors rigorous research and analysis, supports visiting scholar programs, and organizes workshops and conferences. © Rethink Institute. All rights reserved ISBN: 978-1-938300-28-8 Printed in the USA Rethink Institute 750 First St., NE, Suite 1125 Washington, DC 20002 Phone: (202) 842-2026 [email protected] This publication can be downloaded at no cost at www.rethinkinstitute.org CONTENTS 1 Preface 3 Timeline of Central Asia Timeline of Central Asia (1918-2014) 1 Preface The Timeline of Central Asia aims to serve as a chronological guide offering information regarding essential developments in the Central Asian region. Within the framework of this study, the Central Asian region is defined as the following countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Each of the five Central Asian republics has its own distinctive features and unique accomplishments. However, due to many common characteristics and mutually-dependent aspects, this study provides the timeline of developments in a regional format, rather than using the conventional way of displaying information by country. The Central Asian states do not just share similar features, such as common political history and administrative experience and similar cultural, ethnic, linguistic and religious identities; they also have to face many common challenges, such as national security, drug trafficking, energy sustainability, transportation of energy resources, trading routes in landlocked economies, improving transportation infrastructure, environmental pollution, labor migration and many others. In order to provide an instrument for comprehensive understanding of developments in Central Asia, the timeline project is divided into three main parts: . The Soviet period summarizes the important milestones and developments of Central Asian republics during the Soviet period, from the time when the five republics of Central Asia, as we know them today, came into existence as political entities within the USSR until they achieved national independence. The independence period outlines important events featuring political, economic, cultural and international developments in Central Asia that occurred after the breakdown of the Soviet Union and continuing for almost two decades after the collapse. The third period provides the description of important events and developments occurring between 2009 and 2014. Besides being more detailed, the description of the events that happened during this period is more extensive, since it is important to fully understand key developments in the region in order to understand future trends and events. The Central Asian region has always occupied a position of great importance in both geopolitical and economic terms. For instance, British scholar Halford Mackinder, who is regarded as the founding father of geopolitics and geostrategy, saw Central Asia as “the great pivot” in his Heartland Theory. Later on, American strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski saw Central Asia as a paramount “figure” in his book The Grand Chessboard. Different countries of the world have viewed Central Asia as an important and attractive region for various reasons. For example, for China, Central Asia has always been of great interest as a strategic trading partner and a viable means of reaching European markets. Due to China’s ever-growing energy needs, resource-abundant Central Asia has recently become a more important partner than ever. For Russia, Central Asia has been a strategically important region since imperial times. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Russia has actively sought to maintain its presence in Central Asia in both geopolitical and economic terms. Central Asia was also a hub for trade, development and enlightenment on the historical Silk Road. Nowadays, with its important location, abundant natural resources, fast growing economies, large young population and expanding markets, Central Asia is regarded as one of the lynchpins of revival of the Silk Road. 2 Vladimir Fedorenko One of the most important features of the layout of chronological events is an ability to demonstrate the continuity of the political course, economic priorities and consistency of the desired development, or on the contrary, to display the circumstances and reasons under the influence of which political elites change trajectories or altered development strategies. The regional layout of this study enables cross-national analyses and stimulates thorough examination of the reasons behind key developments. It is expected that the Central Asian timeline will become a convenient and constructive instrument, allowing not only experts and scholars, but also the general audience, to understand the path of development of the Central Asian republics and the entire region. It is also possible to generate custom Central Asia timelines by applying suitable filters to the master chronological dataset. The dataset can be accessed at our website www.rethinkinstitute.org. Timeline of Central Asia (1918-2014) 3 Timeline of Central Asia YEAR MON DAY COUNTRY CATEGORY INCIDENT THE SOVIET PERIOD 1918 Apr 30 Kazakhstan, Political Establishment of the Soviet Socialist Kyrgyzstan, Republic of Turkistan Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan 1918 Apr 30 Uzbekistan Political Soviet forces were confronted by the nationalist Basmachi movements and White Anti-Bolshevik military. 1920 Feb Uzbekistan Political Khorezm People’s Socialist Republic was established 1920 Aug 26 Kazakhstan Political Establishment of Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialistic Republic, Kyrgyz ASSR (Russian authorities used to call the Kazakhs as “Kyrgyz” and the Kyrgyzs as “Kara Kyrgyz” at the time) 1920 Sep 2 Uzbekistan Political After suppressing revolts a local communist leader Faizulla Khojaev gained power in Uzbekistan. Later Khans of Khiva and Bukhara were defeated. 1921 Aug 7 Turkmenistan Political Establishment of the Turkmen Oblast within the Turkestan ASSR 1923 Tajikistan Social Soviets initiated simplification the Persian alphabet 1924 Oct 14 Kyrgyzstan Political Establishment of the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast that was directly connected to Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. 1924 Oct 27 Uzbekistan Political Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (Uzbek SSR), which included present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, was established by the Soviet Union 1925 Mar 15 Tajikistan Political Establishment of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) 1925 Apr 15 Kazakhstan Political The Kyrgyz ASSR was renamed as the Kazakh ASSR. After dissolution of Turkistan ASSR Turkmen SSR became a constituent Republic of the Soviet Union 1925 May 13 Turkmenistan Political Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was established 1925 May 15 Kyrgyzstan Political The Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was renamed as Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast 1926 Feb 1 Kyrgyzstan Political Reorganization into the Kyrgyz ASSR Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) 1926 Oct 14 Kyrgyzstan Social Introduction of Latin script started 4 Vladimir Fedorenko 1927 Apr 1 Tajikistan Social Persian/Arabic Alphabet was replaced by Latin script 1927 Apr 3 Kazakhstan Political Capital transferred from Kyzylorda to Alma-Ata [Almaty] 1927 Dec 12 Kyrgyzstan Social Latin alphabet became official script alongside with Arabic 1928 Jan 3 Turkmenistan Social Arabic alphabet was changed to Latin script. Educational institutions started using Latin script on the in September 1928 and all official institutions in May 1929 1928 Sep 1 Kyrgyzstan Social Arabic script replaced by Latin script in all educational institutions. On 1st of January 1930 Arabic script was removed from all official correspondence 1928 Oct 18 Uzbekistan Social The reformed Uzbek alphabet based on Arabic and Persian scripts were officially adopted 1928 Turkmenistan Social Religious practices were suppressed and most of mosques and other religious establishments were closed down 1929 May Uzbekistan Social New Uzbek 34-letter alphabet based on Latin script was adopted 1929 Oct 16 Tajikistan Political Became a full republic of the Soviet Union, Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR) 1929 Oct 16 Uzbekistan Political Tajik ASSR was separated from Uzbek SSR 1929 Aug 7 Kazakhstan Social The Arabic alphabet was replaced by the Latin 1929 Turkmenistan Social Agricultural collectivization programs launched. Agricultural developments forced Turkmen population to abandon conventional nomadic lifestyle 1930 Uzbekistan Social Forced agricultural collectivization led to mass famine 1932 Mar 20 Uzbekistan, Political Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast was taken Kazakhstan from Kazakh ASSR. In 1936 the Karakalpak ASSR was given to Uzbek ASSR 1933 Kazakhstan Social Kazakhstan was heavily struck by famine between 1932