Kyrgyzstan: Breeding for Ethnic Peace

Uzbek-Kyrgyz babies: What could be a better way to build peace in pogrom-torn southern Kyrgyzstan?

The Soviets gave women “hero mother” awards for having lots of children. Vladimir Putin organizes camps where young Russians learn to be healthy, sexually active patriots. 

Now, with a nod toward a Benetton commercial, amateur eugenicists in Osh Province -- actually, a handful of local officials -- have proposed a new technique to make Uzbeks and Kyrgyz friends again: inter-ethnic marriages. And with the marriages, we can assume, should arrive a generation of children a little more tolerant than their parents’. 

Of course, mixed marriages aren’t new in the region. But many took a blow during the ethnic unrest last summer, when 400 people died and hundreds of thousands fled. Resentments still abound and it seems the tensions could explode into more bloodletting at any moment.

That’s what makes this initiative, however small and quixotic, special. Framed as a means to get any teachers to marry, officials promise to pay 20,000 som (about $420) to newlyweds from the poverty-racked profession and a whopping 100,000 som for every union between Uzbek and Kyrgyz teachers.

Baby steps, perhaps, but hopefully toward a lasting peace.