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| Uzbekistan trying to get rid of troublesome NGOs |
| 2005-04-09 |
| The authorities of Uzbekistan launched an active campaign to drive out of the country Western foundations and nongovernment organizations that operate throughout the Commonwealth and are known as donors of the opposition. The republican Prosecutor General's Office pressed charges against the local office of the American nongovernment organization Internews Network. According to the BBC, Internews Network in Uzbekistan helped independent media outlets with equipment and journalist training. Its troubles began last September when some discrepancy between the actual activities and the official charter was found as an excuse to suspend activities of the local division Internews Tashkent for six months. Local division of the Soros Foundation had been closed about a year ago when it failed to pass another registration procedure. The American Institute of Democratic Freedoms was treated in the same manner. As far as experts are concerned, the authorities of Uzbekistan are trying to prevent consolidation of the local opposition and impede revolutionary processes that already toppled several CIS regimes including that in the nearby Kyrgyzstan. Similarity of conditions and scenarios of the latest color revolutions is striking indeed. Pre-election indoctrination of young voters (they went on to become the locomotive force of the revolutions afterwards) was carried out and financed everywhere by organizations like Freedom House, International Republican Institute, Soros' Open Society Institute... Moreover, it turned out that executives of these organizations moved from one country to another as "instructors of the revolution". Unlike Kyrgyzstan, the most democratic of all Central Asian countries where the opposition operated overtly and there were oppositionist media outlets, Uzbekistan has a no-nonsense centralized power. Opposition leaders are jailed, opposition itself underground. Moreover, the opposition as such is pretty helpless nowadays. It lacks an Internet site, newspapers, clout, or any ways and means of addressing the masses. Ferghana.Ru news agency Chief Editor Daniil Kislov is convinced that the opposition in this country can but join the impromptu riots that take place in Uzbekistan and will take place there yet. A similar situation took shape in the Dzhizak region not long ago when Governor Imankulov assisted by the police and prosecutors confiscated land plots from several hundreds of farmers on the pretext of their bankruptcy or failure to meet quotas. Enraged farmers looked around for political support and found Ozod Dekhkonlar. Backed by the party, they complained to the court of the governor's tyranny. Soon afterwards, Ozod Dekhkonlar activist Shaimanov was beaten black and blue by some unidentified persons. The farmers hit the roof. Last week, they attacked the local police station and city hall, and set fire to several cars belonging to local state officials. The people rebelled, just like in Osh and Dzhalal-Abad in Kyrgyzstan. Should parties of the opposition manage to head a riot like that (the way the Kyrgyz ones managed to), it may actually result in a revolution - also like in Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately, this turn of events may be used by radical Islamic movements bent on establishing an Islamic caliphate all over Central Asia. That is why any revolution in this country may actually boil down to a confrontation between Islamists and the secular regime. Ideas of radical Islam are pretty widespread in the region where living standards are low and the youth is mostly unemployed. All of that only promotes the ideas advertised by radical Islamic movements like the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir. In Uzbekistan, the country where the majority of the population is unbelievably poor, protests are mostly generated by the no less unbelievable wealth of the presidential family. Particularly the wealth of Islam Karimov's daughter Gulnara, 32. A Harvard graduate, she built a colossal business empire in an impoverished country, an empire that includes everything from night clubs and restaurants, travel agencies, a cement factory, and a cell communications provider. A three-level apartment (420 square meters) at the deluxe Camelot complex was bought for Gulnara in 2002. Her true wealth was revealed in the course of divorce with Mansur Maksudi, Uzbek-Afghani businessman residing in the United States. In accordance with the documents the soon to be ex-spouses presented to the court, Karimova was left with jewelry for $4,5 million, bank accounts in Geneva and Dubai for $11 million, a mall worth $10 million, and entertainment establishments worth $4 million. Along with everything else, Gulnara's very conduct mightily upsets Uzbekistan, a country where Islamic traditions and influence have always been strong. Her marriages and divorces, her very conduct in public enrages the population. Even in Ukraine protests were sparked to a considerable degree by dislike of President Leonid Kuchma's family. The Ukrainians were particularly irked by the president's son-in-law Viktor Pinchuk, a businessman who promptly advanced to a billionaire from a mere millionaire after his marriage to the president's daughter. Kuchma's daughter Yelena bragged more than once that her husband was "the strongest and the best businessman in Ukraine". Georgian revolution also began with the population set dead against the family of the president. Eduard Shevardnadze's family was universally thought to control the most profitable and beneficial sectors of national economy even though the president's son Paata was officially involved with the UNESCO and did not have any business ventures in Georgia itself. Shevardnadze's son-in-law Georgy Dzhokhtaberidze was nevertheless an owner of one of two cell providers in the country (Magtikom), nephew Nugzar handled a vast business empire specializing in oil production. Askar Akayev's children became the object of the wrath of the local population when they marched into power structures with an eye for presidency at some later date. Bermet Akayeva, the daughter, was the major irritant. She was elected into the parliament from the district where opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva had been denied registration. These days, a similar irritation with the ruling family is undeniable in nearby Kazakhstan. Nursultan Nazarbayev's family controls a substantial part of the national economy and practically all of the media market. The elder daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva and her husband Rakhat Aliyev are said to own Alma-Media, the largest holding in Kazakhstan comprising several nationwide TV channels, newspapers, radios, and the news agency. Plus - rumored - several local banks of the second echelon. Another son-in-law, Timur Kulibayev, is one of the owners of Kazkommertsbank (one of the three top banks of the second echelon). He also controls the oil and gas sector. Daughter Dinara manages several charity foundations. Alija, the youngest, is in construction and development. In fact, there is no official proof that all of that belongs to the Nazarbayevs but it only feeds the people's indignation and that may lead to an uncontrolled and uncontrollable rebellion. Just like the one that sparked the Kyrgyz revolution not long ago. Foundations and nongovernment organizations in the Commonwealth Soros Foundation National divisions of the Soros Foundation operate in over 30 countries including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. Speaking in Davos on January 29, George Soros himself admitted assistance to "democratic processes" in these countries. Georgia Soros Foundation Open Society - Georgia was established in 1994. Grants to various projects have been available since 1996. They have amounted to almost $20 million since. The Foundation's annual budget for grants amounts to approximately $3 million ($2,563,831 in 2004, information for 2004 is not yet available). Judging by reports in the media, organization Kmara used a grant received from the Soros Foundation (over $1 million). Kyrgyzstan Soros-Kyrgyzstan Foundation was established in 1993. To quote from its website, "the Foundation backs civic initiatives in the spheres of support of the media, health care, culture, education, science, law, and economy." Ukraine Revival International Foundation (Soros Foundation - Ukraine) was established in 1990. Official figures indicate that its expenses in 2004 (by December 15) amounted to $5,406,465. Off the record, Foundation executives say that almost every third dollar is spent to promote freedom of the press. Internews International This is an international organization that backs media projects (headquarters in Paris, France). It makes an emphasis on support (personnel teaching included) and development of nongovernment electronic media outlets. In the Commonwealth, Internews International has divisions in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus (closed by the authorities in 2003), Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine. There is no information on their financial activities in open sources. Georgia Internews - Georgia was established in 1995. The organization actively helps regional radio broadcasters and TV stations. To quote insiders, "Internews Georgia was established to help appearance of the independent media as the means of freedom of speech." The organization assists newly-hatched media outlets, mostly staffed with young executives. Soros' Open Society - Georgia is one of its major partners. Kyrgyzstan Established in 1995, Internews - Kyrgyzstan supports nongovernment media outlets, arranges seminars for correspondents, provides law support, and organizes a TV program exchange. It has the central office in Bishkek and a bureau in Osh. Soros - Kyrgyzstan is a major partner. Ukraine Internews - Ukraine was established in 1993 to facilitate development of independent electronic media outlets. Its partners are the US Agency of International Development and Revival International Foundation. Opppositionist parties of Uzbekistan Political opposition in Uzbekistan is headed by Muhammad Salikh, Erk [Freedom] party leader charged with involvement in anti-constitutional activities and sentenced to 15 years behind the bars (in absentia). Salikh lives abroad. There are some other parties of opposition in Uzbekistan, all of them denied official registration by the Justice Ministry. Also active are Birlik [Unity] and Ozod Dekhkonlar [Free Peasants]. Babur Malikov, leader of Ozod Dekhkonlar, applied for political asylum in the United States as ambassador in 1993 and remained there. Actual leader Nigara Khidayatova, granddaughter of the famous actor and director Avror Khidayatov, energetically works with Uzbek farmers. Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are outlawed in Uzbekistan. The former never misses a chance to emphasize its non-violent nature and strives for establishment of the caliphate. The latter in its turn openly claims that it aspires to topple Karimov and establish an Islamic state in the Ferghana Valley. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is a conglomerate of activists of all sorts of the Islamic movements Karimov outlawed in the early 1990's. Many of them fought in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Gunmen of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fought in Kyrgyzstan in 1999 and 2000, incurring the wrath of the central government. Everybody sympathizing with independent imams was tried and sentenced as a Hizb-ut-Tahrir and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan follower. International organizations claim that almost 7,000 people were thus jailed. Along with the usual Uzbeks and Tajiks, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan includes Kyrgyzes and Uigurs nowadays. It has bases in Afghanistan, southeastern Tajikistan the central government does not control, and Ferghana Valley where the movement has at least 30% of the population on its side. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |