karimov
© Brendan Smialowski / ReutersUzbek President Islam Karimov
Uzbek state TV has announced the death of President Islam Karimov, following days of unconfirmed reports suggesting the only post-independence leader of Central Asia's most populous country had already died.

The Uzbek presenter read a statement from the Uzbek cabinet and parliament and said the 78-year-old Karimov had died at 8:55 p.m. local time the same day of a stroke.

He said a funeral would be held on September 3 in the late president's birthplace, the ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand.

The former communist boss ruled for 27 years at the center of a tight inner circle and ruthlessly applied the country's security and intelligence forces to keep a firm lid on dissent. His regime was accused of routinely torturing detainees and jailing political opponents.


Comment: That's a pretty one-sided portrayal (which is usual for RFE/RL). RT adds:
Uzbekistan confirmed that its President Islam Karimov, who led the republic in various capacities from 1989, has died. He led the gradual transition from a Soviet republic into a nationalist Islamic country, fighting poverty and radicalism.
...
On Friday morning, the Uzbek government website published a notice that the president's condition had worsened and was critical. Later in the evening an official statement announced his passing.

Karimov will be laid to rest on Saturday in Uzbekistan's second-largest city Samarkand, where he was born.

"I am the one who pushed for Karimov to be promoted to become the head of the then-Soviet republic of Uzbekistan," former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev told Interfax. "He was a capable man with a strong character."

"It is now up to the people of Uzbekistan to choose their path, and we are all interested in the continuation of good neighborly relations and cooperation with his successor."

Karimov's departure leaves in question the stability of Uzbekistan, a country that shares a southern border with Afghanistan and struggled against jihadism in the 1990s. Uzbekistan's traditionally neutral stance in world affairs may also change under a new leader.

Under Karimov, Uzbekistan kept its distance from world powers, never committing fully to the interests of the US, Russia or China, focusing more on domestic issues. The late leader supported the US invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks by granting the use of Karshi-Khanabad Air Base for transit. The deal was terminated in 2005, when Washington lashed out at Tashkent's heavy-handed response to a mass uprising.

The episode was arguably the low point for Uzbekistan under Karimov. It happened in the city of Andijan, when mass protests and rioting were cracked down on by Uzbek police and the national security service. The clashes claimed 187 lives, according to the official tally, while unofficial sources put the death toll as high as 1,500.

Amid the criticism from the West, Karimov claimed that the rioting had been instigated by an Islamist group that received foreign assistance and that its goal was to topple the Uzbek government. Some Central Asia watchers suggested that the events resulted from a struggle between rival Uzbek clans and signaled a failure of the Karimov government to balance the interests of the clans.

The threat of radical Islamism, however, was and is quite genuine for Uzbekistan, a predominantly Muslim country. Since the 1990s, jihadist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Hizb-ut-Tahrir gained traction in the country and were a major security challenge.

Karimov steered away from a fully-fledged civil war like the one in neighboring Tajikistan, and preserved Uzbekistan's secular nature, although critics accuse him of using the threat of extremism to cement his power. The president was targeted by an assassination attempt in 1999, which Karimov blamed on radical Islamists.

Apart from the Andijan protests, Karimov was regularly accused of violating human rights, attacking press freedoms and undermining political opposition. International rights groups criticize Uzbekistan for using child labor to gather cotton, one of its traditional products, while Tashkent promised to get rid of the centuries-old practice. Western governments routinely described elections in Uzbekistan as neither free nor fair.

With Karimov dying in office, Senate Speaker Nigmatullah Uldashev will act as president until a snap election is conducted. The succession order was changed in late 2010, apparently as Karimov's health problems started to become more serious. A career prosecutor and lawyer, Uldashev is expected to be a placeholder figure, who would keep the transition of power within the boundaries of legality.

With Uzbek politics conducted predominantly out of public view, it's difficult to predict who the next leader could be. Security chief Rustam Inoyatov, cabinet chair Shavkat Mirziyoev and his deputy Rustam Azimov are some of the possible successors.

Karimov is one of several post-Soviet leaders in Central Asia who promoted themselves from Soviet communist officials to heads of independent states and kept power for decades. Tajikistan remains under Emomali Rahmon, while Kazakhstan is led by Nursultan Nazarbayev. Their Turkmen counterpart, Saparmurat Niyazov, died in 2006. Kyrgyzstan is the only Central Asian former Soviet republic where the head of state changed several times in almost three decades, thanks to two successful uprisings.

Born in 1938 in Uzbekistan's second-largest city, Samarkand, Karimov became the head of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 1989, and went on to become Uzbekistan's first and so far only president in 1991. He has since extended his time in office by prolonging the term and getting reelected in 2000, 2007 and 2015.

Karimov has no apparent successor, and speculation has raged for days that a secretive effort was under way to replace a figure who dominated Uzbek political life for a generation.

It is unclear who is currently in charge of the Central Asian nation of around 29 million.

Even before the official announcement, with Uzbek officials earlier on September 2 saying only that Karimov's condition had worsened, foreign leaders were expressing condolences to Uzbekistan over Karimov's purported death.

Preparations also appeared to be under way for a major state event in Samarkand, and anonymous foreign officials were quoted as saying leaders from neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan would be attending a funeral for Karimov on September 3.

Security sources told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev, who has been touted by outsiders as a possible successor, had made a trip to Samarkand. In Karimov's absence, Mirziyaev led a commemorative event in Tashkent on August 31 that marked the start of Independence Day celebrations.

Karimov's funeral was certain to draw leaders from throughout the former Soviet Union and the region in general.

An unnamed Afghan official has already said President Ashraf Ghani would be attending Karimov's funeral, and Reuters reported that Nursultan Nazarbaev, the president of neighboring Kazakhstan, was cutting short a trip to China to fly to Uzbekistan.

Rumors had swirled since the August 27 announcement of Karimov's hospitalization for what one of the president's daughters described the next day as a "brain hemorrhage."

Uzbekistan's cabinet broke days of silence when it announced on September 2 that Karimov was in critical condition.

But early on September 2, Reuters quoted three diplomatic sources as saying Karimov was dead.

Hours later, Turkey's prime minister, Binali Yildirim, was shown at a televised cabinet meeting saying that "Uzbek President Islam Karimov has passed away," adding, according to Reuters, "May God's mercy be upon him, as the Turkish Republic we are sharing the pain and sorrow of Uzbek people."

The presidents of Iran and Georgia also publicly expressed sadness over Karimov's passing before the official announcement.

RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reported that district mayors and other officials had been instructed to wear white shirts and black suits to work on September 2.

The instructions were issued late on September 1 amid what appeared to be rushed preparations in Samarkand, where central streets were blocked off as cleaning and apparent construction work took place. A large red carpet was laid in the city's historic Registan Square and loudspeakers were being installed.

There was also activity around the Chorraha Mosque in Samarkand, and public workers and university students were being bused to Samarkand's airport.

The Samarkand airport issued a notice saying it would be closed to all flights on September 3 "except operations officially confirmed for this date" and all previous permissions for this date were canceled, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Karimov had not been seen in public since mid-August.

Muted Independence Day Celebrations

Uzbekistan celebrated Independence Day on September 1, with Karimov unprecedentedly absent but officials giving no indication of his condition.

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, Karimov's younger daughter, suggested via social media on August 31 that her father was alive and could potentially recover.

But two days of public ceremonies were scaled back and scheduled appearances by Karimov, who issued the Uzbek declaration of sovereignty 25 years ago and has ruled ever since, have been canceled.

A holiday speech traditionally delivered by Karimov was read out by a state television anchor during an evening news bulletin on August 31.

Along with Mirziyaev, who has been prime minister since 2003, observers have suggested that other possible successors might include Finance Minister Rustam Azimov and National Security Committee head Rustam Inoyatov.

'Repressive Regime'

International rights watchdogs and Western officials accuse Karimov of brutal repression, and the country has never held an election deemed democratic by Western monitors.

Amnesty International says Uzbekistan's "repressive regime" is unlikely to change after Karimov's death.

Denis Krivosheev, the London-based group's deputy director for Europe and Central Asia, said on September 2 that his successor "is likely to come from Karimov's closest circle, where dissenting minds have never been tolerated."

"During [Karimov's] 27-year long rule, rights and freedoms were profoundly disregarded, with any dissent brutally crushed, and torture and arbitrary detentions became integral to the country's justice system," Krivosheev said in a statement.

"Any semblance of justice in the country will require deep political changes and a new, principled approach from Uzbekistan's international partners, something which has been totally lacking in recent years."


Comment: Just send ol' Georgie Soros over there. He'll set them straight.


The Uzbek Constitution states that if the president is unable to perform his duties the head of the upper chamber of parliament assumes presidential authority for a period of three months. That is Senate Chairman Nigmatulla Yuldashev, who has led the upper house since January 2015.