EMIGRATION OF "RUSSIAN-SPEAKERS" FROM UZBEKISTAN

Gaining independence with the fall of the
USSR in 1991, the major and the most active fraction of the intelligentsia in Uzbekistan
by the beginning of 1990s was composed of the so-called "Russian-speaking" part
of the population. In Uzbekistan "Russian-speakers" accounted for only about
15%. "Russian-speaking" intelligentsia were developed in Uzbekistan by sending
teachers, doctors, scientists and engineers for further education in special centers in
major cities all over the USSR. Young specialists who graduated from universities in
Moscow, Kiev or Minsk could relatively obtain work placement in Samarkand or Bukhara.

After Uzbekistan became independent in 1991 an irreversible processes of disintegration
and regression began in almost all spheres of public life. A new growth of nationalism,
chauvinism and xenophobia began throughout the country. The Russian language was steadily
pushed out of business use and ratification of "National (Uzbek) language". The
average salary of scientific personnel, technical specialists fell to as low as $15-20 USD
per month. With the difficult economic and political situation in the country, led to the
mass emigration of the "Russian-speaking" intelligentsia from Uzbekistan.
Throughout the period 1991-2000, from 85,000 to 150,000 people have left Uzbekistan each
year. Almost 99% of them were the representatives of national minorities. In particular,
out of about 600,000 Germans who once lived in Uzbekistan nearly 95% have emigrated, while
80% of the 260,000 Jews have left.

This has caused the demographic picture of the cities in the Ferghana Valley of
Uzbekistan to completely change. While in the late 1980s the percentage of non-Uzbek
population in such cities as Andijan and Ferghana was 45% and 60% respectively, now those
are almost mono-ethnical cities. The result of the "brain drain" of specialists
from Uzbekistan caused a rapid reduction of volumes of industrial production. Engineering
is in complete recession with a tenfold drop in the production of the Tashkent aviation
factory. The activity of the research institutions is virtually paralyzed. Their main
financing of these organizations comes from letting their emptying office spaces to
private businesses. There also was a brusque fall in the level of higher and
special-technical education. Universities have faced a triple decline in the admittance. A
percentage of "Russian-speaking" teachers has plummeted from 40% to 5-7%. As a
rule, the most qualified professorate have left their universities.

Scientific and pedagogic manpower further deteriorated as advanced university degrees
have become a prime target for the majority of the Uzbek establishment. In such a corrupt
society, these degrees have turned into tradable commodities and as the result lots of
"distinguished" scholars, professors and academics, highly placed in the
contemporary Uzbek society have nothing to do with science whatsoever. At its best they
are merely administrators. There almost no serious scholars or pedagogues left.
Educational institutions have outdated equipment, available textbooks were printed in the
1980s and are mostly in Russian, knowledge of which the majority of students lack. There
is thus a direct connection between the general recession of economical, scientific and
cultural development in Uzbekistan and the bulk emigration of national minorities.

Dr. Mikhail Degtiar