La Vallée de tous les dangers Série-Collection : Les Empires oubliés

Karel Prokop
2001 - 52 min - Betacam - Couleur - France

Populated by more than a hundred million inhabitants, the Fergana Valley, a fertile plain rich in gas deposits, is Central Asia's neuralgic centre. It is practically unknown to the Western world even though a future regional conflict could arise there. Though mostly Uzbek, its frontiers, imagined by the soviets to maintain the Union together, are winding and cross the neighbouring Republics of Kirgizstan and Tajikistan. A visit to the holy city of Och, in the Kirgiz end, used to replace the pilgrimage to Mecca in the Soviet days.
Even though Islam suffered a severe repression during the communist era, a spectacular rebirth is taking place, worrying neighbouring Russia and China, as the Imam of the Great Mosque of Kokand, the Great Mufti of Tachkent and the Uzbek vice minister of Religious Affairs told us. Islamic fundamentalists, helped by foreign countries, mainly Afghanistan, have targeted the Fergana Valley for an "Islamic Republic" because of its wealth and its historical roots in Islam...