Recently, there have been severe debates in the internet forums and blogs of Uzbekistan and Bulgaria on the role of ethics in todays politics. The reason is an article published in the Information Agency Ferghana.Ru about Bulgarian president Georgi Purvanov’s hunt for protected animal during his official visit to Uzbekistan.

According to different sources, including Ferghana.Ru, during his official visit to Uzbekistan, President Gerogi Purvanov, a great hunt-lover, participated in a safari for argali, the mountain sheep whose Latin name is Ovis ammon, a rare animal that is included to the international red book of protected species. Sergei Naumov, author of the article at Ferghana.Ru, believes that the safari was held in a special reservation, where hunting is prohibited. According to article 204 of the penal code of Uzbekistan, Mr. Purvanov or those Uzbek officials who let this safari happen must be persecuted, as the article says that “a breach of the protected natural areas that cause big damage, between 100 and 300 minimum salaries, or other serious damages, is punished by a fine equivalent to 50 minimum salaries or a ban [from exercising the right to hunt] for five years or two years of community service.”

Bulgarian internet forums and blogs, especially opposition ones, have been discussing the topic very actively. Stefan Avramov, a Bulgarian internet user, created an open group in Facebook named “Срам ме е, че имаме Президент - бракониер!” (Shame on me, my president is a poacher) to discuss the topic. The open group already has 521 members (info as of 05/12/08 5:21 GMT).

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President of Bulgaria Georgi Purvanov loves hunting very much, says Bulgarian internet user in one of internet forums. (click picture to enlarge)

Uzbek internet is also active, but not in Uzbekistan, as most of internet sources that discuss this topic are banned by all internet providers in Uzbekistan. A reader concerned about environment protection left a comment [ru] on Ferghana.Ru article. He says,

Due to such politics of “Uzbek hospitality”, all species of Central Asian tigers were wiped off (the last Central Asian tiger was seen in 1943). It seems that argali has the same fate. What a pity!

Todays Central Asian politics is very severe. Countries try to use every available resources to gain new achievements in their foreign policies, which, in its turn, is reflected in their regional political roles. However, unlike the new-born states of Central Asia that had been under an authoritarian Soviet rule for about seven decades, the European countries, where the idea of democracy was first nurtured, must not go against universal ethical values. Vice versa, they must be an example to emerging Central Asian democracies, if they can be called so, of just and fair governing.

Press Service of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan states that during the official visit of Bulgarian delegation to Uzbekistan in 2003, President Purvanov said that “his country was a small door to the large European market for Uzbekistan.” Who knows, maybe Mr. Purvanov was talking about inviting rich European people like himself to safari business in Uzbekistan…

Update:  Bulgarian organization “Save Bulgarian Nature” is collecting signatures for a petition that asks the Bulgarian president to return the corps of dead animal back to Uzbekistan. The petition already collected 5500 signatures.