Introducing Osh
Osh is Kyrgyzstan’s second-biggest city and the administrative centre of the huge, populous province that engulfs the Fergana Valley on the Kyrgyzstan side. It is one of the region’s genuinely ancient towns (with a history dating back to at least the 5th century BC) but few souvenirs remain. In many ways it’s still quite a Soviet place: whereas other cities scrubbed Lenin’s name from their street maps, Osh merely shifted it politely one block away. A huge Lenin statue still stands opposite the city administration building.
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Osh suffers a kind of demographic schizophrenia, being a major centre of Kyrgyzstan but with a strong (40%) Uzbek population more in tune with Uzbekistan and the rest of the Fergana Valley, but isolated from it by one of the world’s more absurd international borders.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
Thorn Tree forum discussion
Recent posts
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RE: STICKY: The Situation in Kyrgyzstan: Safety & Travel Updates
by bkester 28 June 2010
arrived in osh today from sary tash without a problem. the situation here is calm, there is only one police/military check at the entrance…
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