Uzbek activists, dissidents to gather…

Uznews.net – Uzbekistan’s Union of 13 May opposition association will hold a conference in Brussels on 27 October and this will be Uzbek democrats’ first attempt to present their views on the international stage.

Union of 13 May unites the Andijan-Justice and Revival organisations of Andijan refugees, the opposition Erk party and the Tayanch (Support) Islamic-minded organisation. It intends to present itself in Brussels as a new opposition movement that it is capable of challenging President Islam Karimov’s regime in Uzbekistan and replace it in the future.

Refugees who left Andijan after the killings on 13 May 2005 and who make up the backbone of the organisation believe that the government in Uzbekistan has discredited itself so much that it cannot remain in power and continue its policy to pillage the country and crush dissidents, so the healthy forces of society should put an end to this.

“We want to say ‘enough’ because the Uzbek people deserve the better,” the chairman of Andijan-Justice and Revival, Nurillo Maksudov, said. “We have a programme to bring the country out of the crisis, which includes large-scale liberal reforms in the economic and political spheres.”

In addition, Maksudov said the conference, which will be held at the Sheraton hotel, should unite all democratic forces of Uzbekistan and work on common aims and strategies.

However, exactly this proved to be a problem as soon as preparations for the conference were started.

Prominent human rights activist Talib Yakubov refused to take part in the conference, while his successor as president of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan Abdujalil Boymatov has not even received an invitation to attend the event.

Boymatov said that he had not been invited because the leaders of the opposition Erk and Birlik parties, Muhammad

Bodies after the massacre

Salih and Abdurahim Pulatov, had a grudge against him for his criticism of the parties for being undemocratic.

They both have been running their parties single-handedly for almost 20 years, like President Islam Karimov has been running the country, and they have not allowed elections to choose new leaders, who could have given an impetus to the development of these parties, Boymatov thinks.

“Salih and Pulatov have become stumbling blocks,” Boymatov said. “Their names are associated with old problems and they do not have new ideas. In the interests of their parties they should allow the emergence of new leaders.

“They are not doing this because they are false democrats,” he said, adding that he had not been invited to Brussels for criticising them, even though he heads the country’s oldest human rights organisation.

His organisation suffered most from the authorities after the Andijan massacre when about 20 members were detained, of whom 10 are still in jails. Its members are good sources of information about the situation in the country.

Boymatov noted that inability to tolerate criticism, even if it is just, was one of the character traits of the country’s opposition leaders, and this was the reason for personal interests prevailing public ones.

Talib Yakubov’s situation was contrary to Boymatov’s. The conference organisers, recognising his reputation and contribution to protecting human rights in Uzbekistan, tried hard to secure his participation but he refused to go.

Yakubov told Uznews.net that he was concerned about extremist

Talib Yakubov

articles calling for military struggle against Karimov’s regime on websites affiliated with Erk’s Muhammad Salih.

He cited an article by Dilmurod Hudoykul, who was shown on photo with a big beard, who had called on people to arm because a military conflict was inevitable, even if a million people die. Hudoykul even suggested that he could carry out a suicide attack.

“I think that the leader of Erk should make his position on extremist-minded people public, but he has not done this yet,” Yakubov said.

When he tried to explain to Hudoykul and supporters of violence, they launched a campaign against him and accused him of slander.

“They seem to fail to distinguish criticism from slander, and after this I cannot even call them opposition members,” Yakubov said.

Nurillo Maksudov said that he and his followers did not bear responsibility for articles published on websites which had nothing to do with his organisation.

He expressed the hope that common interests to the benefit of Uzbekistan would prevail and Uzbek democrats would seriously think about merger and the Brussels conference would start this process.