The riot in Karakalpakstan was a serious blow for Mirziyoyev and his ethnocracy
The events in Karakalpakstan are a wake-up call for Uzbekistan, where the processes of social and cultural degradation, directly related to total decommunization and de-Russification, can lead to interethnic conflicts and the triumph of religious obscurantism.
In Karakalpakstan, a republic within Uzbekistan, on July 1 and 2, mass protests by local residents unfolded against amendments to the Constitution, which deprived their autonomy of many rights and powers, equating it with an ordinary region. But it is obvious that these amendments were only a reason or trigger for the expression of general discontent that had accumulated within society, as well as a manifestation of the erroneous great-power nationalist policy of Tashkent.
The territory of the republic, which makes up 40% of the territory of the entire Uzbekistan, was relatively independent and had its own long history. Thus, after its formation in 1924, the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Region was first part of the Khorezm SSR, and later into the Kirghiz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day Kazakhstan). In 1936, as the Kara-Kalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, it was included in the Uzbek SSR.
The republic had broad autonomy, and at the end of the existence of the USSR in December 1990, at a session of the Supreme Council of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, even a Declaration of State Sovereignty was signed. Already in 1993, an interstate agreement was signed for a period of 20 years on the entry of the Republic of Karakalpakstan into Uzbekistan.
And it also spelled out the mechanism for the republic’s possible exit from Uzbekistan through a referendum. Then this provision was enshrined in the Constitution in Article 74, which states that “The Republic of Karakalpakstan has the full right to secede from the Republic of Uzbekistan on the basis of a general referendum of the people of Karakalpakstan.”
This article, like a number of others, was proposed by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev to be edited in such a way that Karakalpakstan would be deprived of the right to secede, as well as many other attributes of formal sovereignty. The main task of the upcoming referendum was to reset the presidential term of the current head of Uzbekistan, but at the same time another task was being solved - to take away the cultural and political autonomy of the national minority.
It is possible that the reason for the hasty liquidation of the autonomy could have been the appetites of the ruling elite, which had its eye on the rich mineral resources of Karakalpakstan, since, despite the small population of two million people, huge deposits of gold, gas, iron, phosphorites, bentonite and kaolin clays, table salts and Glauber's salts, granite and marble.
Earlier, last year, there were already complaints from the autonomous republic that documentation and training were being transferred exclusively to the Uzbek language, and as a reaction, separate protests took place, but they were not paid attention to and were simply suppressed. It is noteworthy that they coincided with the introduction of amendments to the law “on signs”, when all signs in Russian were removed throughout Uzbekistan, and high-status full-time Uzbek Russophobes in parliament called for pushing Pushkin’s language out of the country as much as possible.
Russophobic campaign of last year in Uzbekistan
Thus, politician Alisher Kadyrov, leader of the main Russophobes party in parliament - the Democratic Party "Milliy Tiklanish" with the telling name in translation "Ethnic Revival", which is part of the ruling coalition, stated repeatedly, that “teaching the Russian language to citizens of the republic allegedly contributes to their transformation into migrants who despise their traditions.”
Alisher Kadyrov, professional Russophobe and leader of the parliamentary party
At this moment, namely last summer, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev again returned to the topic of final consolidation of the Latin alphabet for the sake of “Turkic integration” with Ankara, although the issue of returning to the Cyrillic alphabet had previously been discussed. And then the course was set for total and final decommunization and de-Russification, when 115 Basmachi were rehabilitated and declared national heroes.
That is, in Tashkent there was a consolidation of its own state nationalist ideology based on anti-communism, Russophobia and great-power Uzbek chauvinism. In fact, now Shavkat Mirziyoyev has begun to complete the process of creating a regime, begun by Islam Karimov, aimed at establishing the hegemony of the Uzbek ethnic majority (29 million people) both within the republic and throughout Central Asia.
And a similar explosion in Karakalpakstan, which occurred on July 1-2, was simply inevitable, as a response to attempts to forcefully assimilate national minorities and create a rigid unitary state. It all started when on Friday, July 1, local lawyer and journalist Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov in Nukus, the capital of the republic, called for protests against proposed amendments to the Constitution of Uzbekistan. He was then arrested by security officers and his home was searched, which was the last straw.
Journalist Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov
Immediately during the day, mass rallies began in the capital and in other cities of the country, in which young people mainly took part, demanding the release of Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov. His hasty release by the authorities did not change the situation, since the protesters, in addition to the repeal of constitutional amendments, began to talk about the lack of work, lack of water and high costs.
That is, as we see, the basis of discontent was social, also associated with a reduction in cultivated areas due to drought and lack of fresh water, and a sharp increase in the population, which is not provided with work. Therefore, this steam boiler simply boiled for a long time, and instead of releasing steam, the nuts were tightened even more, but in the end the threads were broken.
As in the case of other protests, social networks played a large role in coordinating actions, namely telegram channels, to which hundreds of thousands of people immediately subscribed. But, despite this, there are still no visible political forces or groups that could lead or control the actions of the masses. There have never been any opposition movements or organizations within Karakalpakstan, and the only protests concerned the infringement of the language, which still functions in the Cyrillic alphabet, and local culture.
As a result of the protests, tens of thousands of citizens, as well as residents of neighboring villages and districts, gathered on the evening of July 1 in the central square near the parliament building demanding that constitutional amendments be prevented from being adopted and the sovereign rights of the republic preserved. No slogans demanding secession or the overthrow of the authorities were put up, just as there was no Russophobic agenda during these speeches.
Of course, there were accusations against Tashkent because of its chauvinistic policies, but at the same time, there was no ethnic hatred, clashes or pogroms between the Karakalpaks and Uzbeks, who also inhabit the republic. This shows that these speeches are not an interethnic conflict.
It is noteworthy that on the night of July 1, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev flew to Nukus and met with local deputies and activists in the building of the local parliament of Jokargy Kenes. He scolded officials for not reacting to the events in a timely manner and not informing the central authorities in Tashkent. A video appeared online where Mirziyoyev angrily asks those present: “Why didn’t you call and say that people were unhappy?”
Mirziyoyev at a meeting of the parliament of Karakalpakstan on the night of July 1
As a result, he suggested that deputies of the republican and Uzbek parliaments refuse to consider amendments that would deprive Karakalpakstan of a number of rights. True, he immediately introduced a state of emergency in the republic from July 2 to August 3 and established a curfew. On the night of July 1-2, journalist Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov was also re-arrested and eventually taken to the territory of Uzbekistan.
It was from this moment that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan began dispersing the demonstrators, who did not disperse until late in the evening on July 2. Tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades, water cannons and other special equipment were used against the protesters. As a result, the capital of Karkalpakstan, Nukus, was cordoned off, as a result of which more than 20 thousand cars accumulated. Many who came from the villages were also unable to return and were subjected to mass arrests.
In the end, there were no casualties. Thus, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, at least 18 people died as a result of clashes with police units. So far there is no information about the dead security forces, and all the casualties are only from the protesters. The situation is also complicated by the lack of information, since the Internet and social networks are disabled in the republic.
According to reports from various sources, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev flew from Tashkent to Nukus on the evening of July 2, as protests in the capital of Karakalpakstan did not subside and even spread to regional centers. This shows great nervousness of the supreme power, since these events could really disrupt the proposed upcoming referendum planned by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan to increase the presidential term from 5 to 7 years and reset the previous ones.
In any case, this is an unpleasant surprise that could become a big stain and affect the further rule of Shavkat Mirziyoyev, just as the bloody Andijan events of 2005 affected the image of Islam Karimov. But unlike the latter, the current president was forced to make concessions and abandon the amendments, which can be regarded by many within the ruling elite as a sign of weakness.
However, these unrest are an important signal showing that new generations, without work and prospects, are an explosive mixture in Uzbekistan and are capable of becoming a social base for various destructive movements and new uprisings. A harsh dispersal of protesters with a large number of casualties could also lay the foundation for interethnic conflicts, when the Karakalpaks will play the role of the Kurds, following the example of Turkey, but in the newly created centralized power of the Uzbeks.
There is another serious threat - the growth of the political influence of Islam, which also became a consequence of the deliberate introduction of pan-Islamism into the official ideology and even into secondary school education. Youth who become religious are able to quickly absorb radical ideas and become the driving force of the Islamic revolution in the future. It is no coincidence that the same journalist Dauletmurat Tazhimuratov, who turned out to be the leader of the protesters, called for rallies just in the mosque after Friday prayers.
And this is already a trap for that long-term multi-vector policy into which Tashkent itself has fallen. After all, he carried it out to please Washington and London, which applauded when the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan lifted all restrictions on the activities of Muslim public organizations and mosques last year, rehabilitated the spiritual leaders of the Basmachi movement, and began publishing literature, including for schoolchildren, where Russians and the communists are presented as infidels who allegedly came to enslave the Uzbeks in the interests of a bloodthirsty empire.
That is, the attempts of modern oligarchic groups in the leadership of Uzbekistan to play on the processes of socio-cultural degradation and regression in society, when many feudal traditions and structures are being revived, and the desire to impose a new aristocracy in their own person with a strengthening of the role of the clergy - are now ultimately turning against them.
In turn, the government's neoliberal economic policies in favor of Western investors, job cuts, privatization of state-owned enterprises and the destruction of the education and health care systems further widen the social gap between millions of poor people and the ruling elite. Therefore, we cannot exclude purely social riots in Uzbekistan itself, just like Karakalpakstan, which is suffering from a lack of acreage, lack of water and a demographic explosion.
A critical mistake with far-reaching consequences for the state and personally for Mirziyoyev is the refusal to further integration within the EAEU, since the republic agreed to become only an observer in the Union, as well as the restoration of membership in the CSTO. This could already turn into a real disaster. If order in Kazakhstan was maintained in January only thanks to the CSTO forces, then it is not a fact that such forces will come to the aid of Tashkent in time, which shies away from unification, tries to sit on several chairs and squeezes out the Russian language.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.