A Poet and Bin-Laden

Cast of Main Characters and a Simple Timeline of Events

Cast of Main Characters and a Simple

Timeline of Events

Belgi, aka Yosir – an Uzbek “new generation” poet, widely translated in the West, who becomes a militant,

Bakh, aka Haroun – his friend, interested in Sufism, who is killed by militants,

Alish, aka Umar – Belgi’s friend and his translator, who also joins the militants,

Sher – Belgi’s brother, killed by the Uzbek authorities while being held in detention,

Caroline Rowley – an American journalist, Belgi’s girlfriend,

President Islam Karimov – the current Uzbek President who came to power in 1989,

Tahir Yuldash – aka Amir Muhammad Farruk – leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, killed in 2009,

Juma Namangani – military commander of the IMU, killed in 2001,

Zubair – spokesman for the IMU, killed in 2001,

Zainiddin Askarov – aka Abdurahman Mansur, former spokesman for the IMU, died in an Uzbek prison,

Abdurashid Dostum – an Afghani general who is an ethnic Uzbek.

Numerous journalists and experts, who have contributed materials, memoirs and stories, as well as many militants and members of the Taliban.

1989 – Islam Karimov comes to power as the First Secretary of Uzbekistan’s Communist Party. He later becomes President of Uzbekistan;

1992 – a standoff between Islam Karimov and Tahir Yuldash, when the Muslims of Namangan effectively take the President hostage, and he promises an Islamic state. This is when Belgi first names him “Comrade Islam”;

1992-1996 – President Karimov crushes the secular opposition and dissenters take refuge in the mosques, he launches his campaign against Islam in the country under the pretext of fighting Wahabbism;

1998 – the mutilated body of Belgi’s brother Sher is handed over to him by the police, who claim that he committed suicide. Belgi and his friends end up in a militant camp in Hoit.

1999 – six explosions that occur in Tashkent are blamed on Islamic militants, but later substantial evidence indicates the involvement of the Uzbek special services; the authorities imprison thousands of believers, thousands flee to Tajikistan and Afghanistan;

1999 -2000 – in summer Islamic militants make incursions into Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan: the so-called Batken war;

2001 – “9/11”: the Americans start bombing Afghanistan: Belgi is arrested by the Americans, then released and, like many Uzbek militants, he disappears.