As usual our President announced his New Year message to the people of Uzbekistan. As usual it was a set of banal words and only naive people could listen to such a nonsense without a sarcasm.

Karimov says that “each of us, gathered for a festive table, unwillingly thoughts returned to the unforgettable events, concerns and the joy of this year.� Yeah, seems to me that Mr.Karimov really laughs at us. Does he really think that by saying these words he can make us believe him, believe all his silly ideas, promises and statements. Oh, gosh!

Every word of the speech makes me cry because I realize that such a person will rule the country and blow our minds with stupid statistics, sayings and “guarantees� of welfare of Uzbekistani people as these ones:

«Summing up the year which ends today we have all the reasons to say that is was in many ways successful for us and left his indelible imprint in the life of the country and society. Thanks to the …labor of our people a big step in ensuring the dynamism of the country’s economy, growth and well-being of the quality of life of people moving along the path of democratic renewal, strengthening the authority of Uzbekistan in the world community was done.»

Our blogger Mashrab last week expressed his interest in ordinary Uzbekistani pensioner Mrs.Ivanova’s letter to Karimov with the title “Why I won’t vote for Karimov� where she compared her own statistics of an economist with official data:

«I read newspapers randomly and some time ago I’ve read out that that inflation in our country is 7%. I thought there must have been a mistake, slip of the pen. I’m an economist with a degree and 40 years experience; I think that if flour before October prices rise was 550 sums (45 U.S. cents) now costs 1200 it means that inflation is 218%. If seed-oil was 1800 sums and now it costs 3800 it means that inflation rate is 211%.»

Karimov told us about “successful implementation of legislation norms for further reforms; about the democracy principles within legislation system, liberalization of all spheres of our life.� but forgot about the situation during pre-election process when opposition wasn’t allowed to participate in it. Also our President forgot to mention about his legitimacy in running the state; forgot about his rude violation of the “main law of the state� Constitution…

«Presidential elections which took place in our country few days ago became an important political test and became a great school and a new step in the construction of free democratic state and civil society in Uzbekistan, where the human being’s interests and human rights are the highest values.

These elections held in accordance with the principles of democracy, transparency and openness, without a doubt, united our people and demonstrated their increased political and legal culture, hopes and aspirations of every citizen of Uzbekistan, their faith in the future of the country, and became a historic event in the life of society.

Today objectively assessing the outcome of the year gained first of all with hard work, milestones and growing potential of the country, we have all the reasons with a sense of duty to look forward with a confidence.»

I can’t even rely on Karimov’s will “to bow low to our people from the bottom of my heart to express the depth of feeling unlimited gratitude to all those who assisted me high. I have no other purpose but to serve true and devoted to you.� because I’ve heard these words not for several but maybe for hundred times said by our President. I don’t believe him anymore. We can only wait… But wait for what?

While the current focus of media sources is on the failed attempt at a democratic election in Uzbekistan, I am troubled by something else. In short-term, Karimov will cease his leadership through resignation or death. I don’t think too many people will disagree that it’s likely to happen in the next 6-10 years. However, by example of Turkmenistan, which has recently received very extensive coverage on Ferghana.ru, I am convinced that such an event would not solve any of Uzbekistan’s problems.

In fact, Uzbekistan is located in an area where Islamic extremism is brewing at a fast pace, and any weakening of podshoh’s (‘king’ in uzbek) power may lead to a civil war, which would get ugly very quickly. If we take for granted then that no steps will be taken towards democracy in Karimov’s new presidential term , should the focus be shifted away from the government’s loathsomeness into other aspects of Uzbekistan’s life that are much closer to people living there? Could the majority of Uzbeks be content living under despotic rule if their needs, such as access to food, healthcare, job opportunities, are satisfied?

The difficult part is that nobody knows if any of these areas can be developed successfully under an oppressive rule. However, I think that not messing in politics, at least, in the short-term, would be a smart choice for western NGO’s. For instance, the benefits that the Soros Foundation brought to Uzbekistan, sponsoring the Open Society Institute, were truly great, but it was forced into closure a few years ago, precisely due to its political involvement. Many young bright students benefited immensely from the debate program that was established by the OSI network, and now this opportunity is lost for the hundreds of others. The philosophical question here is whether we should focus on improving individual well-being, or on some values that we believe in (democracy, free speech, etc)? The practical one is, which battle should be fought now and which one should be left for later…

This post is part of the crossblog survey “2007 in retrospect”. You can also vote on the most important event of 2007 in our online poll.

In 2007, the English blog of Uzbekistan in Neweurasia has covered a wide range of topics on the events that significantly affected the life in Uzbekistan. The topics include such hot topics as prolongation of sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan by EU after the Andijan uprisings in May 2005, murder of a young prominent Uzbek journalist Alisher Saipov, tightening of control on Uzbek media. All of these topics are worthy to be written about in the Retrospect cross-blog survey. However, there is another topic that deserves more attention than others – pre-election process in Uzbekistan.

As it is written in the Constitution of Uzbekistan (last amended in 2002), the president of Uzbekistan can serve only two terms and is no longer a president after his/her second term ends. However, the first president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, who actually came to power in 1989 first as a head of Communist Party in Uzbek SSR, did not leave his position after his second term ended early in 2007. According to the Constitution of the country, the presidential elections are held on the first Sunday of the third decade of December of the year when the presidential term ends. However, the Constitution does not say anything about the person who must substitute the president and rule the country until presidential elections. Normally, after the term of the president ends, the second highest person in the government takes his/her position and becomes acting president until the elections. Nonetheless, Islam Karimov stayed in his position.

Usually, in a democratic country, and Uzbekistan claims to be one in its Constitution, a year of the presidential elections is a year full of political activity. Different candidates compete with each other and struggle for votes traveling in the country and meeting with electorate. However, the situation in Uzbekistan resembled a dead calm. However, a great part of summer Islam Karimov spent traveling around Uzbekistan, especially to densely populated regions Namangan and Andijan, and meeting with citizen in remote areas. Though local media referred to them as “official visits�, it really resembled a candidate’s tour around the country to meet with electorate. As Jamiyat wrote in Neweurasia:

The Uzbek President started all his rallies by meeting with representatives of local populations and farmers, and spoke about the need of raising living standards and prosperity levels in rural areas, bringing infrastructure to the villages, and striving to help local youths. Considering the fact that more than 60% of the Uzbek population lives in rural areas, appeasing this demographic is of utmost importance for any politician seriously considering the presidency. Islam Karimov is one who realizes this fact… National broadcasting channels in their turn also made sure to show images of the Uzbek president giving practical advice on new construction sites, and meeting young students from academic lyceums as well as farmers and religious leaders (at Nakshbandi complex)… All of these developments directly indicate the sign of a starting pre-election campaign by the current president. In the next months to come we can only expect more propaganda on TV, and perhaps even some populist measures which could range from economic to social reforms and privileges.

It was only in September, when the Central Election Committee held a press conference and officially informed citizen about the coming presidential elections and that political parties were to nominate their candidates. Even by that time no one still knew about Islam Karimov’s plan, whether or not he was going to give his position to his successor. Bloggers in Neweurasia were discussing the question about successor as well. Libertad wrote in Neweurasia:

Gulnara Karimova has become an important person in the ruling circle of Uzbekistan in a very short time. She controls very large portion of business in Uzbekistan, especially in Tashkent, where she has many restaurants and night clubs. Her authority and influence, plus father’s patronage could play an essential role in inheriting the presidency. Whereas, Rustam Inoyatov is also a leading figure in the political life of Uzbekistan. Some people say that he is the next person after Karimov, who has almost limitless power in the country. Observers say that Inoyatov’s influence is getting more and more wide from day to day, which may be a signal to future changes.

Soon later, the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP) informed the Central Election Committee and citizen about the party’s will to nominate Islam Karimov as a candidate for presidency. To a surprise of international observers and political analysts, the Central Election Committee found this decision of the party to be legitimate and approved Karimov’s candidacy. It was just several weeks later when the party justified its decision stating that according to the new Constitution that was adopted in 2002 in national referendum, Islam Karimov could be a president of Uzbekistan for two more terms.

Initially, there were six candidates for presidency – five candidates from different political parties and one candidate slated by the initiative group of voters. However, two candidates out of six later were out of the competition, as they could not manage to collect 5% of voters signatures for the support of their candidacy. Therefore, at the moment just four candidates left. They are Dilorom Tashmuhamedova – “Adolat� (Justice) Social-Democratic Party, Asliddin Rustamov – Peoples Democratic Party, current president Islam Karimov- Liberal Democratic Party, and Akmal Saidov – slated by the initiative group of voter.

On coming Sunday, December 20, 2007, Uzbekistan will held presidential elections, in which Islam Karimov, a current president, who has been head of the country for 19 years, will again compete with other three candidates, all of whom, by the way, openly stated their support to Islam Karimov. Analysts already foresee success of Islam Karimov. This presidential election surely is the turning point in the history of Uzbekistan. However, it is too early to predict the course, where this turn will take the country to.

Most of you, especially those who like American football, know that Superbowl, which is held once every year in US, is one of the most prestigious football matches. Every year, thousands of football fans go to Superbowl to support their teams. However, there are a lot of people who go to Superbowl with some other intentions – to see the commercials that are shown just once – during the break between the game halves. These commercials are usually very creative and inspiring. The most outstandings, of course, are the commercials of Coke and Pepsi, the two competitors in the world market.

The Superbowl “Godfather commercial” of Persi, where a little cute girl once cheated at the bar speaks with the voice of a Godfather, is one of my favorite Superbowl ads. Recently, owners of a drinking water Arktika that is produced in Uzbekistan made a similar commercial with the same script, but in Uzbek language. All actors, who play in the commercial, are performers in the famous Uzbek sequel Shaytanat (The Country of Evil), a movie about the mafia groups in Uzbekistan at late 80′s and in the beginning of 90′s. A little cute girl speaks with the voice of Asadbek, a main mafioso in the movie.

Here is the original Pepsi commercial. Compare and have fun :)

I wonder if the owners of Arktika bought a permission to do this ad. If not, they could be sued.

Ahli-farosating bormi o’zi? :)

Information Agency Fergana.Ru is known for its timely and objectively given information about Central Asian countries. Its council of experts includes famous historians, journalists and political analysts from different countries of CIS. The information that Fergana.ru gives is very often used as a credible source in many academic writings. Therefore, it has a big audience both in Central Asia and aboard. As it gives true and objective information, which sometimes reveals the real face of Central Asian ruling elites, some of Central Asian countries, like Uzbekistan, do not tolerate this and block Fergana.ru web site in their territory.

Today, I was looking for some info in internet and Google gave me several links and some of them were links to Fergana.ru’s web site. Before Google was in “good terms� with Fergana.ru and one could open its pages via Search Engine without any problems. However, today Google says that Fergana.ru may harm the computer of a person, who wants to open its pages.

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It is really strange. What do you think: problems with Fergana.ru’s HTML code or hackers, who attached a bad code to its HTML?

[inspic=40,left,,0] Over the next month, TOL and neweurasia are accepting submissions for the Best Central Asia Blog Awards. There are several prizes to be won, and the overall winner will get to go to the next Global Voices conference in 2008.

Read more…

On Sunday, December 9, 2007, a small boat that carried 7 people, a captain and six Uzbek refugees, sank into the sea on its way to Cyprus in the Mediterranean province of Antalya’s Gazipasa town, Turkey, says Turkish Daily News. The captain of the boat and three Uzbeks had been rescued by local fishermen. The bodies of the rest three Uzbek refugees still cannot be found. News Agency Fergana.ru writes that names of all Uzbekistani citizens on the boat are identified. They are (rescued) Nuriddin Bazarov, Sali Abieva, Shukurullo, and (drowned) Turahan Karimov, Bahadyr Shadiev, and Ramish. The captain of the boat is a citizen of Turkey Ersin Kysadjyk.

[inspic=39,left,,130] The Turkish Daily News says that rescued refugees will be deported to their home countries. Though, according to International Laws, refugees, whose status is confirmed by United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR), cannot be sent back to their home countries, as they may face ill-treatment or torture (that in Uzbekistan often leads to death). Officials of Turkey are, of course, aware of this kind of laws and would not violate them being under close watch of EU, especially in favor of Uzbekistan, since the relationship of Turkey with Uzbekistan is not that well. Therefore, I guess that these Uzbekistani citizens, who were crossing Mediterranean, were not refugees, but migrant workers, who were illegally working in Turkey and wanted to move to Cyprus, as the working season for them in Turkey was over. Almost all migrant workers from Central Asian countries in Turkey, who mostly work illegally as they cannot afford visa expenses, work in tourism facilities, like hotels. Winter is usually a dead season for such facilities and migrant workers either have to go back to their home countries the country paying expensive fees and get persona non grata status period that may last usually from 8 to 24 months, or illegally leave somewhere else. Therefore, I am sure that those Uzbek people were not refugees, but migrant workers. Turkish News agencies, who are labeling these Uzbekistani citizens as refugees, can eventually harm them. Once deported, these migrant workers may face really big problems in Uzbekistan, as the Uzbek officials do not tolerate those who seek asylum abroad.

Similar accident happened during the night of the same day, when, according to the Turkish Daily News, “a boat carrying around 70 illegal immigrants, who were trying to make their way to Greece, sank off Turkey’s Aegean coast resulting in the death of 51 people thus far while six have been rescued.â€? Turkey is known as a buffer zone for those from Asia and Africa, who want to illegally move to EU seeking for jobs and better life.

It is very hard to find information about the Uzbekistani citizens, whose boat drowned in Mediterranean. I think the government of Turkey should clarify its position towards these people as soon as possible and consider them as illegal migrants rather then refugees, as labeling them as refugees and sending them back to Uzbekistan may cause serious problems that may end up with their death.

[inspic=33,left,,130] On Tuesday, December 4, 2007, it will be 40 days since the death of a journalist Alisher Saipov, a prominent journalist, who was shot dead on October 24, 2007, in southern city of Kyrgyzstan for his journalistic activity. Alisher Saipov was a citizen of Kyrgyzstan. However, in his analytical articles and reports, he mainly covered Uzbekistan and Uzbek minority group in Kyrgyzstan, as he was an ethnic Uzbek himself. Alisher was a severe critic of Uzbek government after the Andijan massacre happened in May, 2005, and published several articles about slaughter.

According to Uzbek traditions, 40 days after the death of a person, relatives and close people of the departed get together and commemorate him/her praying the God. Bloggers of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan also want to commemorate the murdered journalist and organize a flash mob in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in front of the White House. The flash mob will be held on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 13:00 on the 40th day of the death of Alisher Saipov. There will be a young plant torn off with roots, which will be a symbol of death of the young journalist. Everyone, who wishes to commemorate the Alisher Saipov and say no to the pressure on media, can come and tie up a piece of a black fabric to the tree.

The president of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiev had promised to take the investigation of the murder under his control. Therefore, it was to decided to held the flash mob in front of the White House. Please, disseminate the info about the flash mob among those, who may be interested to take part in it.

“Apologies to all of our recently acquired Uzbek friends, but rip-offs in Uzbekistan – particularly along the touristy parts of the Silk Road – seem endemic.â€?- says one of the tourists, who recently paid a visit to the historic sites of Uzbekistan.

Today, being a tourist in Uzbekistan is really difficult. People, for who the tourism is the only source of income, do their best to get more money as possible from western (and some eastern) tourists, who are considered to have wallets full of “greens� (the slang local people use referring to US dollars). The “overcharged� journey of tourists begins from the airport, when a group of taxi drivers, seeing that a foreign is coming out of a terminal, literally attacks him/her trying to speak English they were taught at school.

Then, of course, the journey is continued at hotels, cafes and restaurants, and even in state owned banks. Tourists at Uncornered market, who recently paid a visit to Uzbekistan, write about their “best experiences� of the trip that turned out to be very disappointing regarding financial issues. Being overcharged and cheated several times, they share their experience with others, who are planning a trip to the historical sites of Uzbekistan.

Banking – always count your money. One of their worse experiences happened in Urgench city branch of National Bank of Uzbekistan, which is considered to me in the list of top three banks of the country. After spending 90 minutes to the simplest banking operation – exchange of dollars to Uzbek soms, they left the bank not counting the exchanged money.

When they [bank staff] finally forked it over, we didn’t count it [money], somehow satisfied with the official looking paper bands wrapped around each stack of 50 bills. Only later did we discover that two of our officially-banded stacks were short a few bills. Although we only lost a few dollars in the transaction, the bank’s audacity was infuriating.

Restaurants without menus. In tourist-attractive parts of Uzbekistan, like Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva, some restaurants and cafes do not bring menus to tourists. It is because they overcharge the tourists several times higher than the normal price of the food indicated in menus. Usually owners of the restaurants or cafes do not know about this. This is done mostly by the service personnel of the restaurant or café, who want to earn some extra pocket money.

[As waitress did not bring menu] Our friends asked the price of the main dishes before ordering to ensure the place was still within everyone’s budget. However, upon receiving our bill, we were all shocked by the amount which was a bottom line figure without any detail and several times higher than we had calculated.

However, not all people in Uzbekistan want to rip off the tourists. Tourists from Uncornered market met a young girl, Star (Yulduz), a ceramics seller in Bukhara, who treated them very nicely and told about the life in Bukhara and politics in Uzbekistan. Tourists were pleased to talk to Star.

We enjoyed one of our most enlightening discussions in Uzbekistan in the least likely of places – a ceramics stand in the most touristy area of Bukhara.

It is true that sometimes it is frustrating to be a foreign tourist in the touristy places of Uzbekistan. Everywhere local people try to rip you off, as they think you have piles of dollars in your pocket. However, we can understand these people, as every day the life in Uzbekistan is becoming really difficult. The prices are rising and the government is not doing any effective actions to solve the problem. Hope things will change soon.

Living in Uzbekistan and being a journalist is really difficult, especially nowadays, as with upcoming presidential elections the Uzbek government is doing its best to put tighter control on all kinds of media (printed, broadcasted and online) in the country. Journalists from Uzbekistan say that today media in Uzbekistan is suffering its worst days. There is no independent news source in the country that covers the real facts of the country’s life. To this day, the only salvage for those, who wanted to breathe the air of free media, were proxy servers and anonymisers, special web sites that help to slip away from the blocks put by the government in the internet. However, according to article published in IWPR, the government’s control has on internet has become so tight that even the proxy servers through which banned sites can be seen are now blocked.

[inspic=38,left,,150] Sources from Uzbekistan, who wish to stay unidentified, informed me about the same situation happening in the country. They say the proxy servers that were available a month ago are not accessible today. “Server not found� has become a normal thing in Uzbekistan, says one my friends who studies in Tashkent. He says that when you enter some proxy servers the internet directs you to completely another site or just says that such directory does not exist. As my friend cannot use the proxy server any more, I am sending him the articles from blocked sites via email. Though, I have heard couple of times that security services of Uzbekistan deblocked some people’s emails and got personal information. So this way may also be insecure for internet users.

Taking into consideration the fact that in three weeks there will be presidential elections, one can assume that the control over media will become tighter. The pressure is not only on media workers but on the entrepreneurs too, who run internet cafes. The same article in IWPR says that internet cafes’ administrators in Uzbekistan are asked by the security services to limit technical possibilities of their computer and to demand from their customers the list of the sites they want to visit.

Visitors to internet cafés around the country say they have to submit a written list of web addresses they have visited, and administrators also demand to see any material that a customer plans to write onto a memory stick. Others say the USB ports for memory sticks and other storage devices have been removed from computers, while word-processing packages have been tampered with to block toolbar buttons such as “copy�, “save� and “send�.

It reminds me Turkmenistan, one of the most closed countries in the world, where in some internet cafes clients are asked to register in clients books and write the purpose of their visit.

Blogs are also blocked. The only blog platform that is active in the country is Livejournal. Though the main page of Wordress is accessible, the blogs on this platform are not accessible. Blogspot was also blocked for a long time, but recently it was unblocked. Maybe because there are almost no Uzbek blogs on Blogspot platform.

Neweurasia.net is not an exception too, as it is based on WordPress blog platform. We were blocked in 2006 for the reasons we still do not know. Maybe, Uzbek security services see in us “the threat to overthrow the constitutional regime in Uzbekistan�? Well, I guess we will never know it.