Abstract
The Ferghana Valley is situated in the heart of Central Asia, which includes present-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan. Historically, Central Asia has been an important part of the Islamic world. It also represents one of the largest Muslim regions of the former Soviet Union (45 million) along with the Caucasus (11 million) and the Volga-Urals (7 million). For historical, demographic, and socioeconomic reasons the Ferghana Valley has been the center of Islam and Islamic activism in the region. At present, the Ferghana Valley is shared by Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The total territory of the valley is 120,000 square kilometers and the total population exceeds 11 million. The numerically dominant ethnic groups of the Ferghana Valley are Uzbeks (Turkic people), Tajiks (Iranian people), and Kyrgyz (Turkic people). Smaller ethnic groups include Russians, Ukrainians, Dungans, Uighurs, Germans, and others.
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© 2014 Andrii Krawchuk and Thomas Bremer
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Yemelianova, G.M. (2014). Radical Islam in the Ferghana Valley. In: Krawchuk, A., Bremer, T. (eds) Eastern Orthodox Encounters of Identity and Otherness. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137377388_20
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137377388_20
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-48018-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-37738-8
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