Uzbekistan authorities have freed a journalist whose professional reputation could be doubted due to his relative connection to the family of the President of Uzbekistan.

Jamshid Karimov, a member of the Djizzak regional branch of Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan and President Karimov’s nephew, was released from a psychiatric hospital in the beginning of November. Pulling apart the mystery why there was no news about that from the very beginning, and why late first news about his release were mostly unconfirmed, the fact that he was finally released after a bit more than five years of forced treatment at the Samarkand psychiatric hospital gives a hope that government’s easened policy towards human rights and political activists will not shut down in 2012.

Fergananews.com’s Alexei Volosevich, journalist known for critical reporting on the situation in Uzbekistan and one of a few media workers who witnessed Andijan tragic events of May 13, 2005, wrote a piece on Jamshid.

” Jamshid Karimov is a son of Uzbek President Islam Karimov’s older brother Arslan. He is now 43. It’s know that uncle President distanced from his relatives and, with an exception of minor privileges, Jamshid’s family, his mother, as well as brother and sister were left on their own in provincial Djizzak. Jamshid is married to Nargiza with a daughter, who is 13. Read the full story »

Central Asia: Censorship and Control of the Internet and Other New Media briefing paper has been released by International Partnership for Human Rights, the Netherlands Helsinki Committee, Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights and the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Defenders of Uzbekistan.

The document explores problems of censorship and control of the internet and other new media in Central Asia. It focuses on the situation in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, where the authorities closely monitor and restrict the use of the internet and other communications technologies, filter and block access to undesirable online content, and intimidate and put pressure on websites and internet users who publish or share information that is critical of official policies.

According to the research, the authorities of the three Central Asian countries have sought to justify their repressive approach to the internet and other new media with the fight against ”extremism”, ”destructive” forces and other vaguely defined threats to national “security” and ”stability”. However in reality this fight is used as a pretext for implementing measures to stifle free speech and help preserve the governments’ grip on power. Read the full story »

Alright, this is getting really funny — the more people express their opinion on Starbucks and KFC potentially coming to Uzbekistan the more we receive shots from neweurasia‘s friends. One of them, KFC Kokand style, called “Kokand Fried Chicken.”

A reader from Kokand sent us this picture explaining that the product has been sold at bazaars in the central part of the ancient city of Kokand, Fergana region. It’s just a “package” of chicken: one can buy as much as they want — no weight limits :)

To note, there’s no reference to Colonel Sanders as it is in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. Read the full story »

Since the day we have covered the “Starbucks-coming-soon-to-Uzbekistan?” issue, there has been a great interest by my friends wondering if that’s for real and when it would be opened. There was some coverage by other media outlet that covers Centarl Asia.

In order to find out if the picture by an Uzbek user on Facebook was not photoshopped, I decided to visit the place located at Shevchenko street, downtown Tashkent.

I was not surprised to see that coming-soon coffee shop nearby Perfectum mobile cellular company and Nobel Pharmsanoat pharmacy factory — well-known Starbucks logo made me feel like I will get a chance to try some Caramel Frappuccino soon! Read the full story »

Tashkent’s decade-plus old independent newspaper “Zerkalo XXI” has been barred from publication – its been shut down.

“Zerkalo XXI” has been one of the Uzbekistan’s first newspapers to challenge authorities – to raise issues of sensitivity the regime would rather not be discussed, especially publicly. The paper is owned by Media-Biznes and its website operates via the Russian language. Mondo Times says that “Zerkalo XXI” covers “local news, sports, business, jobs, and community.”

It was said that “Zerkalo XXI” would close down on January 1^st 2012, due to a lack of funds. But that date has been moved up a few months. The newspaper’s staff learned of their paper’s new status on November 2^nd, as they were going to press with the issue. Why? For a few reasons. Read the full story »

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt is in Uzbekistan on a three-day visit: he arrived in Tashkent on November 6 with an official visit, accepting the invitation of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

According to official information, the Hungarian leader is expected to hold bilateral talks on the highest level during the visit, and sign a joint declaration outlining the prospects of Uzbek-Hungarian cooperation.

A range of intergovernmental and interagency documents are anticipated to be inked to cover political, trade-economic, investment, scientific and technical aspects of bilateral interaction, Uzbek President’s press-service reports.

As Uzbek MFA’s Jahon information agency reports, Hungary, during it’s Presidency in the Council of Eurporean Union initiated Karimov’s visit to Brussels where he met with President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and EU Commissioner for Energy Gunther Ettinger. Read the full story »

I visited the Facebook page of Starbucks to satisfy my interest in how many people around the world follow the company. How surprised would you be to see a photo posted by an Uzbek user, who was wondering if Starbucks is really coming to Uzbekistan? Yeah, so would I.

The ad on the building promises Starbucks coming soon. But how real is that?

To be honest, if that’s true then this could be a significant event to mark the American businesses’ raising interest in investing in Uzbekistan’s economy.

If not, then fans would just have a Déjà vu: couple years ago people of Tashkent already witnessed a presence of a fake Starbucks — coffee mugs, t-shirts, coffee with a label of a popular coffee company were on sale. But there was a problem — it was all fake! Guess who was in charge of that? Your guess is right — Gulnara Karimova, daughter of the Uzbek President Islam Karimov, who accomodated the coffee shop at her compound nearby Premier hall and former Basha night club, with an undercover title: “La Shakar.” Read the full story »

There is a new film in Hollywood that has Uzbekistan written all over it.

The Uzbek and South Korean co-produced film “Hanaan” (meaning “Promised Land” or “Paradise” in Korean) is being screened at this year’s Audi sponsored American Film Institute Festival (AFI FEST), being held from November 3rd to 10th 2011 in the film capital of the world, Los Angeles.

Central Asia News informs that the AFI FEST qualifies for the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards, as recognized by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. AFI is an independent national non-profit organization, which seeks to preserve the legacy of America’s film heritage and pass it onto future generations, was founded in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Read the full story »

While an anti-child labor in Uzbekistan international campaign draws attention of more and more people, provoking authorities to tighten control over independent rights activists, who monitor the violations of child rights and report them to international NGOs, Uzbek official media puts “letters of admiration and inspiration” from Uzbeks as a response to President Karimov’s congratulatory message to cotton growers.

Narodnoe Slovo, Uzbek parliament-owned newspaper, has started publications of “ordinary people’s” messages on how the President inspired them to do more for their country. So, the first author of a letter, titled “Inspired for Wew Achievements,” is Olim Julliev, head of the Surkhandarya regional hydro-meliorative expedition, praises the Presidential efforts in the field of the development of the meliorative system, in cotton fields in particular. These efforts resulted in fertility of the Uzbek soil that gave 3,5 million tonnes of cotton this year.

Basically, the article highlights the wisdom of the President; how smart he was and still is in making right decisions that help develop the cotton industry for this whole time since 1991. As if no one else in the entire world could have ever thought about this with so much passion and devotion. Read the full story »

Esquire-Russian analyzed UN’s World Population Prospects (2010 revision) and The Economist data and came up with a map that shows a forecast of the extinction of various nations based on the so-called net replacement rate – the average number of girls, delivered by an average woman in a lifetime in a particular country and survived until the end of the reproductive period at these levels.

According to the map, countries which has less than millennium to exist are marked in brown. “Light browned” nations will live in the 3000-3299 years period. “Milky” identifies those who live from 3300 to 3999 years more. “Orange” countries will exist from 4000 to 9999, and those countries colored in “gray” will live for 10,000 or more.

All green countries on the map are the luckiest — they will never disappear, the “immortals.” Read the full story »