14 - Migration within and from Uzbekistan: The Role of Religion

Summary

Abstract

The chapter presents a general picture of migration within and from Uzbekistan and the role of Islam within those different processes. It is based on material collected in 2005 and 2006 in Uzbekistan and current research on migrants in Russia (2017, 2018). The role of Islam in relation to migration within Uzbekistan, and emigration from the country will be discussed within the context of the introduction of Islam during and after the Soviet Union. The chapter contributes to the limited analysis available on important developments in Uzbekistan in relation to migration and religion.

Keywords: migration, population movements, Uzbekistan, religion

Introduction

Mobility and migration within post-Soviet countries have similar patterns across the post-Soviet space. Migrants face challenges in relation to mobility regulations whether they are a migrant within their own country, an Uzbek migrant in Russia or a refugee in Uzbekistan. Mobility, both forced and voluntary, occurred throughout the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Some migrants who left their homes to earn money either in the capital city or in another country described their experiences as something forced on them, in that they would not voluntarily leave the safety of home and their families for the uncertainty of migration. They felt they had to migrate due to the economic and political situation in their regions or home countries.

The migrants all fled economic and political failures and collapse in the search for opportunities to survive and feed their families. Within the post-Soviet region, whenever migrants left their homes, they faced difficulties in obtaining the registration permit necessary to enable them to access social benefits, medical care, education and the official labour market. As to those who were forced to move either by governments or fled and became refugees, they faced other problems besides registration problems. Forced population movements occurred massively under Soviet rule, and in Uzbekistan populations in the border region faced the same fate as victims of Soviet border politics. Bordering regions were considered by the Soviet state as a matter of state security, and populations or ethnic groups which were not loyal in the eyes of the Soviet state were relocated and intermixed with other ethnic groups or other nations, such as the Jews or the Germans.