OSH. June 10 (Interfax) - More than a thousand of people in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan have attended a commemorating event to mark the anniversary of the ethnic conflict that occurred in the country's south on June 10-15, 2010.
Hopefully, "we will learn this lesson of history and the tragic events that occurred in Osh and Jalal-Abad in June last year will not happen in the future," Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva told the assembled.
Inter-ethnic accord is important, but "today there are forces which want to build up political capital on the grief, the blood and tears shed by innocent people, to use the people's tragedy as a weapon in the struggle for power," she said.
The commemorative event in Osh was held amid tight security, the venue was cordoned off along the perimeter by several rings of law enforcement officers, an Interfax correspondent said.
The situation in the city proper is calm, security has been stepped up, with 24-hour patrols and outposts in place since the start of June.