This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. You can help. The talk page may contain suggestions. (May 2023) Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed. (May 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The 1968 Chirchik events happened on 21 April 1968 in Chirchik (now part of Uzbekistan). Several Crimean Tatars gathered there to celebrate Derviza and Vladimir Lenin's birthday, but the authorities cracked down on the gathering.

On 21 April 1968, a crowd of Crimean Tatars in exile attempted to hold a public gathering in the city park of Chirchik to celebrate the spring Derviza holiday as well as Lenin's birthday. A wreath thanking Lenin for the Crimean ASSR was placed at a statue of Lenin, and parkgoers sang Crimean Tatar songs throughout the day. However, city and republic-level government authorities refused to give permission for the festivities beforehand and subsequently cracked down on the gathering and attempts by Crimean Tatars to attend, arresting an estimated 300 people in the process. Such measures to prevent "an accumulation of Crimean Tatars" included setting up checkpoints on all roads leading to the city to check documents of travellers, mobilizing troops to Chirchik, and deploying fire trucks to spray those gathered in the city park. After the incident the local Chirchik initiative group nearly collapsed.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

This article about the history of Uzbekistan is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e