On 6 June, Muslim scholars all over Kyrgyzstan gave sermons at the Islamic congregational prayers, calling their countrymen to bring an end to ethnic violence in the central Asian state. The day earlier Kyrgyzstan’s Grand Mufti Maksatbek Hajji Toktomushev had told imams in the country to focus their sermons on Islamic teachings about brotherly relations between all Muslims.
Precisely four years ago, ethnic clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz citizens left more than 400 people dead in the southern regions of Osh and Jalal-Abad following the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Tensions have remained high ever since, with protests continuing for the release of detained former parliamentary speaker and aide of Bakiyev, Akmatbek Keldibekov.