Bloody Friday the 13th PDF Print E-mail
By Irina Shames   
Monday, 16 May 2005
Here is a background piece about the events that happened last Friday, May 13th in Uzbekistan from a writer who is an Uzbekistani herself. Finally, we made it to the headlines world's most respectable news providers.... CNN, BBC, Washington Post, the Guardian... and there are more to come. However, the headlines are screaming 'Uzbekistan' at us only next to 'violence', 'massacre',''hundreds killed' and/or 'high death toll'. Nothing to be proud of. Or any advertisement is better than no advertisement you say?

I want to avoid giving any strong personal comments on current events, since being away from the country for several years made it harder for me to understand Uzbekistan's reality, and the news one can get from home is highly biased.

Here are some facts and figures to help you understand the current state of affairs in Uzbekistan. Some questions I thought might pop into your head while you are reading this:

Where the hell is Uzbekistan anyway, and what happened there?

In 1991 Uzbekistan emerged as a sovereign country after more than a century of Russian rule - first as part of the Russian empire and then as a component of the Soviet Union. Uzbekistan is the most populous Central Asian country and has the largest armed forces. There is no centralised internal opposition and the media is tightly controlled by the state. A UN report has described the use of torture in Uzbekistan as "systematic". The rigidity of political control is mirrored in the tightly centralised planning of the economy. Economic reform has been painfully slow to materialise. (BBC Country Report on Uzbekistan). May 13, 2005 thousands of people marched to the main square of eastern Uzbek city of Andijan to protest against current government, which, according to them, did not bring the country anything except for high unemployment rates, poverty, injustice and suppression of people. This crowd, mainly consisting of unarmed young men, women and children was met by the soldiers who, following the government's orders, shot at them. Hundreds of innocent civilians died.

What are the preconditions to the May 13th protest?

Uzbeks, mainly a hospitable and peaceful nation, were long taught by the Soviet rule that protests lead only to prisons and deaths, not changes. Therefore, one might justly state that the events of May the 13th have shown the very first organized action taking place in the Republic of Uzbekistan since its independence. To find reasons for such this major conflict taking place these days, let me introduce several facts that might be useful for understanding the situation:

Mainly an agricultural state, Uzbekistan has been suffering from multiple laws and decrees preventing free international as well as national trade, thus increasing the level of poverty by not giving the peasants, who sum up to more than 50% of the population, especially in regions, any viable chance to trade in local markets. The last most fierce decree was issued in March.

The current President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, has been known since Soviet times (when he was high up in the communistic system) for his strong sympathy to authoritative rule. Denying the right to freedom of speech and human rights to the people, he always stated to the international press when interviewed that the road to democracy is lengthy, and transition should be soft and gradual. Meanwhile, dictatorship severed.

Several acts of disobedience the country has experienced (including suicide bombers by several embassies and governmental building) were blamed on Islamists who wanted to see Uzbekistan not as a democratic, but a Muslim state. Needless to mention, this current attempt to overthrow the government was also blamed on international Islamic organization Hish-Ut-Tahrir, whose spokesman in London commenting on the event has denied organization's connections to tensions in Andijan.

The second official term (third in reality) of the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov has ended in January 2005. Still, Karimov remains the official leader of the country.

Why Andijan and not any other place in Uzbekistan?

Andijan has always been known as the most independent as well as agriculturally rich region of Uzbekistan. Its geographical location, such as immediate border with Kygyzstan, where the revolution has just taken place, also adds to the logical explanation of current events in the region. However, the immediate reason to such a protest was the conviction of twenty three businessmen (according to local people) or Islamic extremists (according to the government). People stormed into the prison, released all the convicts and flooded the streets of the city. Their one and only demand was for the current president to step down. Some also took several soldiers and policemen hostage, however they we killed by the troops during the operation overnight. Despite the Bloody Friday the 13th—that's how people refer to yesterday's event, people are still on the streets today, and with the same demand.

What can happen next?

What will happen next, time will show. The President is not very enthusiastic about leaving his post and will do his best to fight for it by all means possible. People, in their turn, are growing stronger and stronger in favor of the opposition. However, due to president's efforts, it is rather unlikely that the nation centralizes and unites to fight for same goal. The opposition is still weak, and it needs international help, which none of the countries is eager to offer. Its letters of help to heads of neighboring states (Russia included), as well as international observers remained unanswered. Politics is dirty business after all. What is best for the Uzbekistan, dictatorship or Islamic law, no one can really say. Depending on the country and its relations with Uzbekistan, opinions differ.
 
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