An axis of understanding
The final press conference of Uzbek President Karimov and his Kazakh counterpart Nazarbayev yesterday was used to explain why Uzbekistan seems busy at the moment North-Koreanising itself. Regnum reports that:
Karimov said when speaking of the attempts to defame Uzbekistan in the West — attempts that can lead the country to another Andijan. “Don’t tell us who to rely on and who to be friends with,” he said.
He also reminded the audience that Uzbekistan’s pathway towards democracy can’t lead the country along Western European lines, because 85% of the Uzbek population is Muslim:
“Nothing special will happen here. We will move in the way the whole world is moving. We want to live like Europe does, like all democratic countries do.” “But your model of democracy, your values are not good for us. They are not good for us because we life [sic] in Uzbekistan, a country where 85% of people are Muslims. Our religion is Islam, our values are different from what we call western values.”
According to Karimov, the ongoing smear campaign of Uzbekistan in the West will bring about a second Andijon. He cited the contradicting economic data of the IMF on the one hand and the World Bank on the other hand. The latter institution is - so Karimov - deliberately obscuring economic indicators in order to bring Uzbekistan’s government into disrepute.
Measuring economic growth in a country like Uzbekistan is always an elusive task. Nathan and the commenters on The Registan have provided a great starter to dig a little deeper.
Meanwhile, Karimov has added another head of state to the ranks of those supporting his position on Andijon:
“I know that you defended peace of 26 million Uzbekistanis in Andijan too, however not only of Uzbekistanis, but also of Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Tajik people, and everybody, who lives here. Now, it is exactly known thanks to the Secret Services that trained extremist groups got into Uzbekistan to destabilize both you and us,” said the president of Kazakhstan. At the same time, Nursultan Nazarbayev stressed, “of course, we regret everything happened. However, it should be said that another end would have destabilized now the whole region”.
on March 27th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
I have a couple of questions:
1. Does anyone actually read these posts? if so why no uzbeks are active trying to express their opinion?
and
2. Here is a perfect reason to open a discussion: Do you really believe the Andijon events are an attempt by the West to destabilize the region and swing CA politically towards the West (vs. Russia)? There is some sort of sequence to all these events. Russia accused “certain Western forces” (although through a carefully selected language) for the events in Beslan. Now Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan joined the team to do the same.
Are we seeing the return of hostility between Russsia, CA and the West or it is just some temporary political friction?
on March 27th, 2006 at 6:34 pm
Tajik Boy,
I hope some people read these posts. Our Uzbekistan blog is actually one of the most widely-read. There are definitely some Uzbeks reading this blog, too - and three of them are actually contributing to this website as well.
I guess no one really believes that Andijon was simply instigated by an external force - and you’re right, the choice of words makes an awful lot of a difference in this regard. Even those who support the Uzbek government Andijon line would not agree to the fact that the whole thing was set up by the ‘West’ to start with. Dr. Akiner and others see a connection to international terrorism while they are not too willing to accept that it could also have been societal dynamics in the Ferghana Valley and the harsh and unjustified response of the Uzbek government that made this tragedy possible.
If Russia and Uzbekistan both were to blame their own national tragedies on the West, then it becomes quite obvious that neither the European Union nor the United States could be blamed for a second Andijon (or second Beslan) - as Karimov has indicated. It is the Uzbek (and the Russian) governments’ unwillingness to accept that it is in their hands to alleviate the appalling and increasingly unequal economic and political situations that makes future instability, especially in Uzbekistan, but also in Russia’s south, almost inevitable.
Taking into account the new crackdown on international organisations *and* national NGOs plus the increasingly ridiculous rhetorics coming from Tashkent, I can only assume that Mr Karimov is becoming somewhat paranoid, which might also give an indicator of what one can expect to happen in Uzbekistan within the next 24 months.
on March 27th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
I can perfectly see the “line of reasoning” behind the response of official Uzbekistan to the events in Andijon. By showing such cruelty perhaps it pursues the goal of crushing down any opposition, without any regard whatsoever about the true causes (be it purely societal or other).
I am more than sure the response to this incident was just a demonstration of power (an utterly senseless and cruel one at that).