Novosibirsk: the Uzbeks do not trust their anti-Russian textbooks

Some officials prefer to ignore the objective facts: Russia treats the people of the former USSR like a brother, while the attitude of some politicians unlike their nations can hardly be called brotherly…
The image of the Russian monsters
The Russian ambassador in Uzbekistan Mr. Dmitriy Ryurikov spoke regarding the attempts of certain circles to develop the Russophobia in Uzbekistan as long ago as 2003 at the International scientific conference. Since then nothing has really changed. The ambassador then emphasized that the Uzbek textbooks, especially historical ones, have “unprecedented anti-Russian tendency”. Dmitriy Ryurikov was troubled by the fact that the idea of Russian aggression near to cruelty is going through many history textbooks. There are many examples how the Russians allegedly robbed the natives, killed women and children. The term "Russian spies" is used in a textbook for fifth graders for 292 times. With such tactics of drumming the image of Russian monsters into students’ heads you can only wonder the courage of the Uzbek youth who persistently want to come to Russia.
The textbook of Uzbek history (1917 - 1991) for 10th graders of comprehensive school is written with the nationalism hysteria. The authors D. Alimova, R. Karimov etc. very colorfully describe the Soviet period as a constant struggle for the independence of the Uzbek people. In the description of the Soviet authorities activity such metaphors are used as “robbery”, “slaughter”, “invaders”, “made the outrage”, “leveled to the ground”, “repressions policy”.
The book explicitly states that “"A totalitarian regime has destroyed not only thousands of fighters who have sacrificed themselves for the sake of the people but tens of thousands of innocent victims. The soviet authorities in subsequent years continued their repressive policy too, that caused a lot of grief and sufferings to the population.”
But it is completely “forgotten” that Uzbekistan developed rapidly just in the Soviet period, that factories, enterprises, whole cities were quickly built, the economic ties between the republics were strengthened and most importantly, prosperity has increased for all people of the USSR

The fantasy instead of the facts…

Another textbook “Uzbekistan history. 9 grade” (2nd half of the19th century - beginning of the 20th century) by G. Rahimov is overloaded with hysteria and distortion of the facts just like the first one.
The author does not hesitate to use such phrases as “invaders”, “colonizers”, “at the cost of the brutal extermination of people”, “unprecedented robberies” etc. The historical falsifications, facts which are inconvenient to the nationalist policy are suppressed, mistakes and frank fibs are widely used that you can hardly reconcile with the status of a professional historian..
For instance, the seizure of Shymkent by the Russian troops in 1864 is described as: “Shymkent was turned into ruins… In spite of the sustained losses the city defenders led by Alimqul heroically fought off the attacks … The city was ruined completely… The cruelty was unprecedented.”
But destroying of Shymkent and Russian savageness during this campaign is a pure author’s fiction. At least, there are no facts in the historical science that confirm such ideas.
The nation knows the historical truth better than the diplomats and the authors of pseudo-historical textbooks
But the Uzbek youth is not afraid to come to Russia to study and work there. Hundreds of thousands of labor migrants arrive in the Russian Federation annually. Mr. Akbar Narbaev, the senior deputy of the Interregional Coordinating Center of the Uzbek organizations in Novosibirsk, notes:
“Every week up to three thousand Uzbek citizens pass Novosibirsk in transit. Many of them stay here to get a job, an education, because this city has many good universities. Moreover, Novosibirsk is famous for its scientific potential. Many Uzbek specialists come here for advanced training, especially doctors; secondly, to take a postgraduate course, to defend a dissertation. Some of them become attached to this megalopolis, to local people and stay here in spite of the severe climate which is hard for Southern man – with cold winters and short summers. But most Uzbeks return to their homeland after they had gotten a higher education.
I would like to stress that there are no conflicts between the Uzbeks and local population. Though, you should note, in such a difficult period of time: the global economic crisis has affected our countries and population. The Uzbeks is peaceful, non-aggressive nation. We are grateful that the Russian people in general treat us tolerantly. And the Siberians are even better than in other regions.”
Returning to the history teaching in Uzbek schools, the experts noticed an interesting fact: according to the survey to assess the Soviet period in Uzbekistan 50% of respondents believe that, “all nations in the multinational Russian empire had the rights and opportunities to develop their national economics and culture.” Only 15% agreed that “the Russian empire kept the policy of rude oppression of non-Russian folks, of their forced Russification, extermination of their ethnic culture.”
The experts attribute this to the fact that Uzbekistan has a special respect related to the older generation.. When estimating the history, young people trust more the opinion of their parents and grandparents than book ideas. So they still keep a positive image of Russians in spite of drumming real Russophobia into the students’ heads in school books.
Abdurakhman Kayurov, the Uzbek consul general in Novosibirsk, despite the obvious facts, for some reason did not see any problems related to the infringement of rights of Russian-speaking population and the falsification of history. According to him, over one and a half million Russians live in Uzbekistan. “Over 130 magazines and newspapers are published in Russian. There are about 700 schools teaching Russian language, there are mixed schools. While there are unfortunately no schools in Siberia with Uzbek language…” It is still an open question: Does the consul think, the above mentioned history teaching is normal? And how will such approach strengthen the friendship between our nations?
We live in the 21th century. The “elder brother Russia” does not encroach on the independency of the former Soviet republics. Treating the neighbors friendly is a norm not only in the common life but also in international relations. But it should be a two-way street.