Shots fired by government forces rang out over the voices of protesters in Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, one year ago today, marking the start of the uprising that toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiev. Demonstrators in the former Soviet republic accused him of presiding over growing corruption and authoritarianism.
When the violence in Kyrgyzstan's southern city of Osh subsided in June, one thing was plain: whole neighborhoods of minority Uzbeks had been burned to the ground, while most buildings belonging to ethnic Kyrgyz remained standing.
BISHKEK -- People in Kyrgyzstan are preparing for a referendum the government says represents the only way to end ethnic clashes many believe to have killed thousands this month. But with hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks and others displaced in the south of the country, there's serious doubt the vote will be seen as legitimate.
