Uzbek president says third party to blame for interethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan

Uzbek President Islam Karimov said the violence in Kyrgyzstan was organized by a third party in an attempt to drag Uzbekistan into a conflict with its Central Asian neighbor, the president's press service told RIA Novosti on Friday.

"I do not believe the latest event was an ethnic conflict because neither the Uzbek nor the Kyrgyz people have a reason for this," the press service quoted Karimov as saying.

He said "neither the Uzbek nor the Kyrgyz people were at fault in the latest tragedy because these bloody events were organized by a third party."

According to Karimov, the main goal of organizing the interethnic violence was to draw Uzbekistan into the conflict. He added that Uzbekistan would never interfere in such conflicts on the territory of another country.