Uzbekistan
Photograph by Flickr user David Wild (CC-usage).
Uzbek border guards say they were close to open fire killing 25 Tajik servicemen who, according to them, violated state borders of Uzbekistan and intruded to its territory. The press service of the Uzbek National Security Service’s committee for border protection said:
By its actions, the Tajik side severely violated generally accepted international norms and bilateral agreements to keep the inviolability of the state borders. The intrusion could have been described as an armed invasion…
According to the statement, about 25 Tajik soldiers entered the Uzbek territory to release a colleague detained by the Uzbeks allegedly for trying to steal a cow.
The detainee admitted that he must have stolen cattle from Uzbek citizens under his commanders’ instructions. According to him, they had to do this because they had not been supplied with food for a long time.
However, the Tajik version of the incident is completely different. They told Interfax that the Tajik cow, left without caring, crossed the border and a Tajik soldier tried to get it back into Tajikistan. He and the cow were detained by Uzbeks.
A Tajik officer told Interfax that he and several soldiers tried to negotiate with the Uzbek border guards to release the Tajik servicemen “without crossing the borderline, in view of a simple human error”. The Uzbeks have rejected this.
Photograph of construction at Roghun from Asia-Plus.
Editor’s note: neweurasia’s Dushanbe describes how a possible Ragnarok is building up between the leaderships of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan over the Roghun dam project. Check out neweurasia’s ongoing coverage of the dam here.
Tajikistan has rejected the Uzbek proposal to suspend building the Roghun power plant until independent expertise determines its possible impact on environment and water distribution in the region.
In a reply letter to the Uzbek authorities, the Tajik Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov says his country will not change its plan to build the plant. He adds that they believe the new reservoir will help both countries to save and use regional water resources more effectively.
Recently President Karimov again mentioned about leading role of mass-media in Uzbekistan. Considering sensitivity of this issue and increasing cases of pressure on independent journalists (i.e. thos who don’t work in the official media), Uzbek leader called local media toothless, reports Vesti.uz [RU].
According to Islam Karimov, today’s conditions have set the task to strengthen the role of mass media in the system of civil society institutions. In addition he traditionally declared that further liberalization of mass media, active involvement of non-government press, radio, television, and their expansion in Internet must ensure publicity and openness of reforms, conducted in the republic, as well as facilitate the gradual emergence of stronger civil society. Read the full story »
Just a quick note to say that there’s an important story on the BBC by Rayhan Demytrie about Uzbek refugees in Kazakhstan.
“Welcome to my home,” he says opening the door to the small room his family occupies. He is an Uzbek man in his early 20s, seeking refugee status in Kazakhstan. Rustam is not his real name. He asked that his identity be kept secret because he fears for his security.
[...] “Under a false pretext they took me to their headquarters, they beat me and questioned me for many hours. They said that they would let me go if I agreed to serve my country.” Rustam was told that one of his tasks would be to provide a list of people who attended prayers at mosques.
[...] According to the UNHCR, 82 people from Uzbekistan were granted refugee status in Kazakhstan in 2009. Another 68 cases are pending. Kazakhstan, along with Ukraine and Russia, are the most common destinations for Uzbeks seeking political asylum. The UNHCR says there are more than 6,000 Uzbek refugees worldwide.
Just a quick post here - was reading my Central Asian news scrawl, when I came across an article that referred to “Dr. Karimova.” And I thought, ‘Noooo, they don’t mean our Googoosha, do they?”
But they do! Dr. Googoosha is now Uzbekistan’s Ambassador to Spain. Naturally, this has absolutely nothing to do with Spain holding the EU Presidency this year. Well, it might have a little to do with that. It also might be daddy’s way of seeing she doesn’t get too comfortable in any one position. In any event, this is one person I would give my back teeth to meet. What an enigmatic woman, eh? Is she angel or demon, or something in between?
In the last weeks of 2009 the Kazakh bloggers’ comments were concentrated around two topics - patriotism and democracy in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Read the full story »
As expected by different experts parliamentary elections in Uzbekistan were recognized valid. Chairman of the Central Election Commission Mirza-Ulugbek Abdusalomov released that information later the same day (December 27), and added that 15,108,950 voters or 87.8% of all registered voters participated in the elections and, according to the article 44 of the Law on Elections to Oliy Majlis they were legal and undisputable.
neweurasia already mentioned about different surveys and one in particular by loyal to the Uzbek government Uzniform information agency. Read the full story »
It is always very interesting to see the difference in how people in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan react to similar unpopular and unjust decisions made by their governments. Such differences are very good comparison indicators of to what extent Uzbeks and Kyrgyz enjoy basic rights of democratic society (and both countries position themselves as democratic countries), such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, etc. This time, the difference is in peoples reaction to cutting of old beautiful trees in the center of two capitals - Tashkent and Bishkek.
Bishkek - Youth Alley. It started in early summer of 2009, when residents of the nearby apartment buildings were woken up by the loud noise of petrol-powered sows and crackle of falling trees in the Youth Alley, which is next to Filarmonia building in the heart of Bishkek. People were quick to gather and stop workers from cutting old trees. Later, neighborhood residents found out that some part of the Youth Alley was given for construction of a high building. People started organizing meetings in the Alley and asking authorities to stop cutting of old trees.
Online community of Kyrgyzstan also was against the construction of a building in the Youth Alley. Users of famous Internet forum Diesel created a thread about illegal constructions in Bishkek, where people have actively been discussing and criticizing the construction in Youth Alley.
And it works, the construction in the Alley was suspended.
Tashkent - Amir Temur park (square). In November 11, 2009, Tashkent residents were horrified by the scene of workers actively cutting years old trees in the Amir Temur park in the heart of Tashkent. However, no one could dare to do anything to stop workers, as they had an order from “above”. Some activists could organize a small flash mob in November 21, where they lit candles to mourn the dead trees. However, the event did not change anything and was not widely covered in media, except some blogs and “blocked in Uzbekistan” web sites.
Medvedev looking very futuristic and media savvy, but is he really our friend? Image courtesy of the Kremlin's official site.
The Moscow Forum of European and Asian Media opened last Thursday to much fanfare. Valery Niyazmatov, Uzbek journalist and editor of the Russian-language newspaper New Century, put this interesting question to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev:
In recent years, in the media from time to time [there is the] hotly debated question of freedom of speech. Sometimes it is replaced by the notion of a certain permissiveness, until the use of profanity. I would like to hear your opinion about freedom of speech in Russia — more specifically, in mass media of Russia …
To begin with, when an Uzbek journalist inquires about the situation for freedom of speech is quite a statement about how lousy the situation must actually be in Russia (not to mention his guts for daring to ask the President himself).
In November I participated in two surveys online by loyal to the Uzbek government Uzniform information agency and couldn’t wait to share with its final results with you. Want to emphasize in advance that results are available in public which is more than surprising since they are not in favor of the current political regime.
So here comes…
#1. (see the original chart in Russian below) “Do you know that December 27 [2009] elections to the Legislative Chamber of Oliy Majlis and region, district and city Kengashes of people’s deputies will be held?” Read the full story »
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