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The Republic of Uzbekistan is a presidential constitutional republic, whereby the President of Uzbekistan is head of state. Executive power is exercised by the government and by the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan.
Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov was an Uzbek politician who led Uzbekistan and its predecessor state, the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, from 1989 until his death in 2016. He was the last First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan from 1989 to 1991, when the party was reconstituted as the People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (O‘zXDP); he led the O‘zXDP until 1996. He was the President of the Uzbek SSR from 24 March 1990 until he declared the independence of Uzbekistan on 1 September 1991.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was a militant Islamist group formed in 1998 by Islamic ideologue Tahir Yuldashev and former Soviet paratrooper Juma Namangani; both ethnic Uzbeks from the Fergana Valley. Its original objective was to overthrow President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan and create an Islamic state under Sharia; however, in subsequent years, it reinvented itself as an ally of Al-Qaeda. The group also maintained relations with Afghan Taliban in 1990s. However, later on, relations between the Afghan Taliban and the IMU started declining.
Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev is an Uzbek politician who has served as President of Uzbekistan and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan since 14 December 2016. Previously, Mirziyoyev led the government as a Prime Minister of Uzbekistan from 2003 to 2016.
Human rights in Uzbekistan have been described as "abysmal" by Human Rights Watch, and the country has received heavy criticism from the UK and the US for alleged arbitrary arrests, religious persecution and torture employed by the government on a regional and national level. Amnesty International stated that freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly continue to be restricted, and that relations between gay men are illegal.
The president of the Republic of Uzbekistan is the head of state and executive authority in Uzbekistan. The office of President was established in 1991, replacing the position of Chairperson of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzbek SSR, which had existed since 1925. The president is directly elected for a term of seven years, by citizens of Uzbekistan who have reached 18 years of age.
Jamshid Karimov is an investigative journalist in Uzbekistan. He has been a prominent critic of the administration of Islam Karimov, the president of Uzbekistan, who was his uncle. Jamshid Karimov has spent many years in detention.
Presidential elections were held in Uzbekistan on 23 December 2007. Incumbent president Islam Karimov was re-elected with 91% of the vote.
Prior to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) posed the greatest threat to the Karimov administration. In 2002 the IMU was reclassified as terrorist by the United States. Since the invasion, the IMU has been greatly weakened due to US military actions which cut off its supply of resources and killed its leader, Juma Namangani.
The threat of terrorism in Kazakhstan plays an increasingly important role in relations with the United States which in 2006 were at an all-time high. Kazakhstan has taken Uzbekistan's place as the favored partner in Central Asia for both Russia and the United States. Kazakhstan's counter-terrorism efforts resulted in the country's 94th ranking among 130 countries in the 2016 Global Terrorism Index published by the Institute of Economics and Peace. The higher the position on the ranking is, the bigger the impact of terrorism in the country. Kazakhstan's 94th place puts it in a group of countries with the lowest impact of terrorism.
Clans in Central Asia are political networks based on regional and tribal loyalties. Clans frequently control certain government departments, though there is fluidity between clan loyalty and membership in government agencies. The people of Central Asia self-identified by their clans prior to Russian expansion in the 19th century. After the fall of the USSR, the informal agreements between the clans were the only means with which to stabilize the new Republics. Ethnic identity did not come into play until as late as the 1980s during glasnost. The influence of the clans in the contemporary history of Central Asia is derived from the enormous importance that these have held in the past. The weaker states of Central Asia have relied on the social salience of clans to secure their own legitimacy through pacts and informal agreements. These pacts guarantee that the clans have informal access to power and resources and have allowed for the clans to become central actors in post-Soviet politics
The Republic of Uzbekistan has an embassy in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan has an embassy in Tashkent. Both countries were previously subordinated republics of the Soviet Union as Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic and Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic before its collapse in 1991.
The 1999 Tashkent bombings occurred on 16 February when six car bombs exploded in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The bombs exploded over the course of an hour and a half, and targeted multiple government buildings. It is possible that five of the explosions were a distraction from the sixth, which appeared to be an attempt to assassinate President Islam Karimov. 16 were killed, and over 120 injured.
The Samarkand klan is an Uzbek clan led by Ismoil Jurabekov. The clan is one of two major clans in Uzbekistan; the other, its main rival, is the Tashkent clan. To a lesser extent, the Ferghana clan is also a rival. Former Uzbek President Islam Karimov and current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev come from the Samarkand clan.
On 13 May 2005, protests erupted in Andijan, Uzbekistan. At one point, troops from the Uzbek National Security Service (SNB) fired into a crowd of protesters. Estimates of those killed on 13 May range from 187, the official count of the government, to several hundred. A defector from the SNB alleged that 1,500 were killed. The bodies of many of those who died were allegedly hidden in mass graves following the massacre.
The State Security Service is the national intelligence agency of the government of Uzbekistan. It was created on 26 September 1991 as a successor to the KGB and its republican affiliate in the Uzbek SSR. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has retained the same responsibilities and a similar range of functional units, including paramilitary police and special forces. It was renamed from the National Security Service on 14 March 2018. The SNB was a rival of the Interior Ministry until 2005, when it was brought under its control. In recent years, the SNB has been sidelined in favor of the Uzbekistan National Guard, which was largely seen as being loyal to former president Islam Karimov.
Rustam Rasulovich Inoyatov is a former Uzbek government official, as well as a colonel general. He was head of the National Security Service of Uzbekistan (SNB) from 1995 until his dismissal in January 2018. He was said to have been part of the Tashkent clan, a powerful faction within the Uzbek elite. He was said to be one of the most powerful men in the country.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, is a body of the Government of Uzbekistan that is charged with the internal affairs of Uzbekistan and oversees the national police. The Ministry of Internal Affairs was founded on 25 August 1991. It replaced the Soviet Interior Ministry. The current Minister of Internal Affairs is Pulat Bobojonov. The ministry holds joint control over the Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It also administers the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which is the official educational institution of the ministry.
Uzbekistan Airways Flight 1154 (HY1154/UZB1154) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight which was operated by Uzbekistan flag carrier Uzbekistan Airways from Termez Airport in the city of Termez, near the Afghanistan border, to Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent. On 13 January 2004 the aircraft operating the flight, a Yakovlev Yak-40 registered in Uzbekistan as UK-87985, collided with a radar station while landing at Tashkent, flipped over, caught fire and exploded, killing all 37 people on board. Weather was reportedly in bad condition.
The National Guard of the Republic of Uzbekistan is a uniformed independent formation within the Armed Forces of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The headquarters of the National Guard is based in Tashkent, where most of the 30,000 soldiers that make up the force are located. As of 2020, the individual in charge of the UNG is currently Rustam Jo'raev. He succeeded Colonel General Bakhodir Tashmatov and Botir Tursunov.
References
- 1 2 Uzbekistan: Karimov appears to have political clans firmly in hand RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
- ↑ Uzbekistan: Islam Karimov vs. The clans RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty