German airbase in Uzbekistan: Illegal market for German goods

08.05.2013 22:03 msk Business Politics Central Asia Uzbekistan

The Strategic Military and Transport Base of the Federative Republic of Germany is located in the Uzbek town of Termez near the Afghan border; its maintenance costs several tens of millions of euros a year. The Germans use this civilian airport as a “trampoline” into Afghanistan since late 2001. The base houses several hundreds of servicemen who provide logistics for dispatching and receiving aircraft with cargo and troops. The exact amount of money the German government spends on the base is unverifiable. On the other hand, the base does not only mean expenditures. Since early this year, the base has turned into a source of significant side income for the German soldiers and officers.

Silent approval: Judges “sustain” beating advocates in Kyrgyz courts

19.04.2013 22:06 msk Human Rights Politics Kyrgyzstan

Beating lawyers is becoming somewhat of a norm if they are defending suspects tried for June 2010 events in Kyrgyzstan. In 2010 alone, about 150 lawyers refused to represent and defend interests of ethnic Uzbeks, fearing harassment and beating by claimants and their supporters. Fergana wrote about specific incidences and attacks on lawyers, which were most frequent in the country’s south. But not all lawyers are backing down under such an enormous pressure and hazard. Unfortunately, their requests for protection at court are usually ignored. Fergana has written about several trials there. Over the last three years that elapsed since the June 2010 events, ethnic Uzbeks’ cases were tried at all judicial levels and some even reached the Supreme Court in Bishkek, in the country’s north. The lawyers were hopeful judges in the capital would be more civilized and would demand order in their courts. However, it was not so.

Kyrgyz state communications agency chief allows unblocking Fergana access

29.03.2013 11:15 msk Politics Internet Kyrgyzstan Russia

The head of the State Communications Agency (SCA) of Kyrgyzstan, Mr. Almaz Kadyrkulov, told the Vecherniy Bishkek newspaper that local ISPs “have the right” to unblock access to the Fergana news agency’s website: “[Communications] operators have the right to unblock [access to] the website, and I don’t care at all.” Mr. Kadyrkulov said these words after a local court ruled to stop hearings on blocked access due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Uzbek opposition leader insists President Karimov suffered heart failure

23.03.2013 23:03 msk Politics Uzbekistan

The website of the Popular Movement of Uzbekistan, an Uzbek opposition group, reported Friday that Uzbek President Islam Karimov suffered a heart attack late 21 Mar. 2013. The information, however, was later refuted: the RIA Novosti agency’s anonymous sources claimed, “Uzbek President is in great shape as usual and does not display even indications of illness.” The Uzbek service of the BBC interviewed Mr. Muhammad Salih, the head of the opposition movement, who currently lives in Turkey. Mr. Salih insists he has reliable information from a source close to or even in the Uzbek government that the Uzbek leader is indeed ill. Fergana translated a part of the interview from Uzbek.

Islam Karimov and the Goldfish

18.03.2013 09:59 msk Analytics Ferghana Valley Politics Central Asia Afghanistan Uzbekistan

Several Uzbek mass media outlets unexpectedly started beating the war bells over the last several days. Alert! The motherland is in danger! Russian and Central Asian mass media outlets echoed said concerns in reprinted articles with hints of dysphoria. This time around the chief alarmist is Ubaydullo Hakimov, supposedly a “former law enforcing agency officer” and “currently a security expert.” “An unidentified analyses department officer” at the Uzbek national security service sings along: “Hey, get up! We are facing an unexpected danger! Damned IMU shall attack us any minute from beyond the Pamir Mountains! As soon as snow on mountain slopes melts and mountain paths reveal themselves, the hordes of armed cap-a-pie militants will stream into the Fergana Valley!”

Kyrgyzstan: Revolutions no more?

13.03.2013 09:00 msk Analytics Politics Kyrgyzstan

It is impossible to say whether Kyrgyzstan is to face another, third this time, coup d’état this spring. There are “revolution prerequisites” along with indications that nothing will happen. Events taking place in Kyrgyzstan today are almost mirroring the events that precipitated the two “revolutions” three and eight years ago, respectively. Like then, everything starts with spring. And the explanation behind the choice of time is quite straightforward: It is much easier to rally on warm days as opposed to cold and rainy/snowy days or under the hot sun. The latter factors knock-off one’s desire to demand anything, let alone a lengthy process of regime change.

“The State, it is I” or An unsuccessful bid to meet Gulnara Karimova

08.03.2013 21:03 msk Human Rights Politics Interview Uzbekistan

Ms. Mutabar Tadzhibayeva, a renown human rights activist, the founder and the leader of the Fiery Hearts human rights center, arrived in Geneva from Paris, where she resides, to participate in the discussion of a documentary on the Andijan tragedy of 2005. The airing of the documentary and its subsequent discussion were event-free. However, something strange happened afterwards. The following excerpt in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps sheds some light: “The Uzbek journalist Mutabar Tadzhibayeva, who was tortured in a Tashkent prison and currently lives in exile in Paris, was invited to a film festival on human rights in Geneva, to talk about the cruelties of the Islam Karimov regime. On Sunday, on her way out of Switzerland, Mr. Tadzhibayeva was summoned by the Geneva police station at the airport. The reason was a lawsuit lodged by the permanent mission of Uzbekistan at the UN HQ in Geneva; the Uzbek president’s daughter, Gulnara Karimova, is the head of mission. Because Ms. Tadzhibayeva does not speak French and the claims against her were not translated for her, she decided to leave Switzerland.”

“The Ministry of Truth” of Uzbekistan: Art of lying through teeth

04.03.2013 10:49 msk Analytics Business Politics Uzbekistan

Oh, what joy these Uzbek statistics are! They are optimistic like the president smiling surrounded by happy subjects depicted posters. It is also far from reality as the Akhborot news bulletin, which daily reports on the non-existent grandiose successes. Last but certainly not least, they shamelessly lie like the government-run newspapers. And they, of course, are only pieces in the large propaganda machine, which could perhaps be called the “ministry of truth,” which continuously spits out more and more “proofs” of wellbeing, thriving and the “great future.” However, it turns out that even this seemingly flawless state machine breaks down once in a while…

Kazakh president prepping power transition

04.02.2013 21:30 msk Analytics Politics Kazakhstan

Several massive reshufflings in key government positions took place in Kazakhstan as early as first days of 2013, and that certainly bears crucial impacts on the country’s future. On the surface, reshuffling of officials is not a novice in our country and the Kazakh society is quite used to this frequent phenomenon. Many realize that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev resorts to this method to maintain the balance of power among the elite in region.

Islam’s agony: Uzbek President Karimov finds himself and Uzbekistan in historical dead-end

01.02.2013 10:28 msk Analytics Politics Uzbekistan

Islam Karimov has lived through his humanly and political peak long time ago, having remained in power for almost a quarter of a century. He is now 75 and it is difficult to understand whether he really is a brutal dictator or just an obsolete personality, who makes no decisions in the country anymore. As a political personality, he seems to be composed of controversies, which started with his membership in the Communist Party of the USSR in 1964 and continued with his presidency of independent Uzbekistan in 1991. The period of his ruling will certainly be written in history of this Asian country as times of highest hopes and bitterest disappointments.

Uzbekistan 2012: Resume and forecast. Part I

24.01.2013 23:43 msk Analytics Politics Russia Uzbekistan

On 18 January 2013, Uzbek President Islam Karimov chaired a special session on results and outcomes in 2012. The government followed the routine of reporting successes and achievements, which pleased the president, Uzbek mass media reported. Islam Karimov has, too, delivered a speech. In it, he indicated “persistent serious problems in the global economy,” UzA news agency quotes him as saying, all the while Uzbekistan’s economy continued “rising in a steady tempo” and “the population’s living standards steadily grew and the country’s position in the global market has further consolidated.” It is surprising that the head of Uzbek state chose to ignore some of very important events of 2012: ceasing its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), liquidating the Russian MTS (Uzdunrobita) cellular communications company in Uzbekistan, scandals around foreign bank accounts held by influential Uzbek officials, the massive scale cotton-picking campaign, the collapse of the energy industry, and power-wielders’ raids in retail markets. For foreign analysts and military experts, cooling political relationships with Russia and the military block under her patronage were one of the most discussed topics in 2012. The Fergana contributor Mr. Maksim Beylis starts a series of analytical articles with this topic.

Uzbek government Vice President – Rustam Azimov: successor or scape goat?

12.12.2012 13:50 msk Politics Uzbekistan

It seems that nobody actually believes that free and fair elections will ever take place in Central Asia. On the other hand, it is still totally unclear, how the power change will happen in some of the authoritarian countries. Will Nazarbayev, Karimov and Rahmon, who have been ruling for twenty and more years, rule until their last days, like Niyazov-Turkmenbashi? Or will they prefer to choose a handover mechanism of their privatized post to a trusted person while they are still living, like the Yeltsin-Putin scenario of 1999?

Kyrgyzstan: There will be no Revolution-3 or The opposition’s voluntary fiasco

04.10.2012 20:17 msk Politics Kyrgyzstan

The events that took place by the walls of the Kyrgyz White House yesterday cannot possibly called a «storming» or a violent effort to capture power. They can rather be called a «hurdle race» or, at most, «hooliganism with resistance to police workers». The third of October will never go into the history books, like the March or April dates of 2005 and 2010. It is best to see how the events unfolded on the video made by Bishkek journalists. The leader of the opposition party Ata Jurt Kambichek Tashiyev, who led the «attack» on the parliament building and presidential administration and his supporters (around twenty people) were unarmed. Meeting hardly any resistance, they went over the fence and were detained by the police and soldiers. Not a single OMON agent suffered. Tashiyev «damaged the third upper part of the hip» (to put it crudely, his behind), and some more people got light injuries. Incidentally, they all declined medical services afterwards.

Kazakhstan: Court case against opposition continues

06.09.2012 22:12 msk Politics Kazakhstan

The court case against Vladimir Kozlov, Serik Sapargali and Akjanat Aminov, which has been ongoing for more than 20 days in Aktau, can already be rightfully called Kazakhstan’s first big political court case. The accused are the leader of the opposition unregistered party Alta! and two social activists. Andrei Grishin, journalist from Kazakhstan International Bureau of Human Rights and the Rule of Law, writes for Fergana.ru.

Kazakh opposition speakers jailed for rally

29.01.2012 23:35 msk Politics Russia