Is Uzbekistan a repressive country?
A very interesting video of the discussion between Natalia Antaleva, a BBC correspondent based in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Shohida Tolaganova, an Uzbek journalist and filmmaker based in London, and Craig Murray, an ex-ambassador of UK to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004 (married to an Uzbek woman). The topic of the discussion is “Uzbekistan - repression and lack of democracy in Central Asia.”
What do you think - is the current Uzbek government being repressive towards the citizen? Some say yes and that it is usual for countries suffering the transition period, like Uzbekistan, and therefore, it is just a matter of time. What do you think?
on January 18th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Matter of time??? This “transition” time is gonna be FOREVER!!!
[Name and email edited due to offensive language.]
on January 20th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
absolutely wrong about drug fight.
on January 20th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
The Mugabe part was not quite appropriate…Mugabe fought against the white domination, and he remains a symbol and a hero of Africa\’s freedom…
Sorry, I expected more wits also on other issues from the people on the platform…
on January 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 am
I don’t buy the “transition” excuse. You can justify any stupidity, repression and corruption by saying that “we are in the state of transition” but the country won’t get better because of those excuses.
on February 21st, 2008 at 12:57 am
I think Ambassador Murray’s point about Islamic fundamentalists was absolutely right. His all other points also were correct.
The comments came from both women were very odd. The speeches of both women were full of contradictions. They tried to say that Uzbeks and Kazahs have a problem with each other. It is not true! One of them ( Gergian) was not correct because she doesn’t know the situation. Another woman (Urgur)was biased. Where have you find such strange analytics?
on April 28th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Yes, the uzbek government is being repressive toward its own citizens. In fact, at times seems to me that the Uzbek government is obsessed by reppressing its own citizens instead of doing something about the conutry’s economy which is a basketcase.
I am not sure if this is endemic to countries in transition. Even if it is, rooting out the culture of oppressing the citizens might take generations.
Take police brutality. I am living in the US now and can’t even think about going to Uzbekistan without imagining how I will be harassed in Tashkent streets by policemen who will see me as a walking ATM.
It is common among police to blackmail ordinary citizens to obtain money. Ordinary Uzbeks fear police more than criminals because they know they can at least fight off the crinimals, if shove comes to push, but there is nobody who can protect them from police blackmailing and brutality.
It has become a part of police culture to extort money with impunity from ordinary people. Most often they plant narcotics on you to get what they want. This has created a state of constant fear. Even if changes start occurring in Uzbekistan, how long will it take to root out this culture of oppressing its own citizens? 10, 15, 20 years?