A Poet and Bin-Laden

December 21, 1991, the town of Namangan

December 21, 1991,

the town of Namangan

On that day the president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov5, who had held a number of election campaign meetings in Namangan the previous day and then left for Tashkent, was forced to return to Namangan at the demand of thousands of Muslims demonstrating in the central square of the city. The presidential election was due to take place in a few days, and this turn of events was clearly not to the advantage of a president who had still not firmly established himself in his position.

5 Born in Samarkand in 1938, Islam Karimov was raised in a Soviet orphanage before studying engineering and economics at university. He initially worked as an aircraft engineer, and then as an economic planner. He became First Secretary of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan in 1989 and was elected president of independent Uzbekistan in December 1991, in what Human Rights Watch described as a “seriously marred” poll. In 1995 he extended his term of office by referendum. He was re-elected in January 2000, and again in 2007, when the international community raised serious concerns about the poll’s fairness. Although he has been in power for nearly 20 years, he remains intent on stifling any political opposition. He tolerates no dissent and has banned many opposition groups, in particular Islamic organisations. Mr. Karimov has been keen to track down those he views as Muslim extremists, intent on taking over the country. Whatever the real extent of the Islamic threat, his critics agree that he has used it to crack down on any form of opposition – militiant or otherwise. In May 2005, Karimov’s administration was heavily criticised by the international community for a bloody crackdown on protesters in the city of Andijan. He blamed the violence on Islamist extremists, describing them as driven by “hatred and aversion to the secular path of development”. Human rights groups estimate that thousands of ordinary Muslims are in jail, accused of plotting against the government. The state also maintains tight control of the media and no criticism of the president and his policies is permitted.

Only a month or two before, he had survived an attempted palace coup when parliament rebelled against him, and now the people were out in the square. An amateur video of the entire meeting has survived, showing President Karimov effectively as a hostage, being forced to appear and make the following speech in Uzbek, which has never been published anywhere before.

President Karimov: “In the first place, yesterday before my arrival in Namangan I sent several men here, they were supposed to meet with the people here and agree who I ought to meet during the two or three days at my disposal. People have different opinions and different problems, so in order to make things easier for myself, I asked them to let me know where I ought to go first. Please now, come on, please… (he is trying to calm the people)… and so according to their instructions in this place, in this region, in our very own Namangan region, concerning whom I ought to meet… if we were wrong, you should know that it was my mistake, but I’d like to say that the first suggestion was – go to a mosque. Meet with the mullahs whom people respect, where they gather, in the first place meet with the Muslims, Comrade President. Listen to what they say, then you can go to other places of work, that’s what they asked me to do. And so what did I do when I arrived at the airport? First of all I went to the new mosque. When I got to the new mosque… I performed my ablutions, since I also can… I also cannot enter any mosque without washing first, I went into the mosque (the crowd shouts “Allah-u Akbar”) and when I was in the mosque I met with the Ulema, the old men, respected representatives of their religion, I agreed to listen to their demands, to stay in close contact with them, so that was the first place I went to. If I was not right, I ask forgiveness from all of you (the crowd sings “God is great”). I… there are another couple of mosques in Namangan, if I had known I ought to have gone to those mosques first. If I did this out of ignorance, I ask you once again, I am ready to go down on my knees the next time I come, I will meet with you first. (Chanting) But I was at fault… and yet, let me tell you one thing, do not take it amiss, they say that only God is beyond reproach (the crowd cries “Allah-u Akbar”), I was wrong, and so I acknowledge my mistake, looking into your faces, into your eyes, forgive me.

Now about the serious problems, let me tell you frankly all that is in my heart. Friends, brothers and parents say to me that I have been in the post of president for a year and a half. Which of my commands, decisions or decrees have been directed against even a single person? Who can stand up and say that any one of my decisions has been directed against the people? Is there anyone at all who will say this is not so? (Voices in the crowd shout “Yes, there is!”)

In the first place, the gates must be open for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Turkestan (he means Turkey). Becoming their friends, receiving their help, if we become a united Muslim state, what is bad about that? So there are actions directed towards that. From this point of view, I am travelling to Turkey this December, then to Pakistan… recently an important minister came from Pakistan and asked me to visit Pakistan, and then the Iranian minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Velayati came, saying let us and Uzbekistan be friends. So in January, with your permission, if you do not dismiss me from my job, if you do not hack away my roots with an axe, if it is written in my fate, I plan to visit three Islamic states, and I shall try to act together with them to defend Uzbekistan, the Muslims of Uzbekistan and as well as that, the Muslims living right across Central Asia. (The crowd shouts “Allah-u Akbar!” Tahir Yuldash takes the microphone, Karimov says: “And you stay where you are, let me have my say too. When you were speaking, we listened, so let us have our say too”.)

Now our younger brother (he points to Tahir) says: Why do you not talk about meat and about cattle? So, just think – there is Russia – there is Belorussia – there is Ukraine, we’re all tied together. 60 to 65 per cent of the clothes we and our children wear are brought from there. This is the path of colonialism that lasted for 74 years. So, if it goes on, the Ukraine, for instance, has become independent, it is moving over to its own currency, they are abandoning the old Soviet currency and introducing their own. So what will be the consequences for Uzbekistan? And so tell me, respected elders, if Yeltsin raises prices tomorrow… we get 10 million tonnes of oil, and he wants to increase the price by ten times. Our young Muslim neighbour, my friend Niyazov in Turkmenistan, has raised the price of oil by a factor of ten. And so should Uzbekistan defend itself in this matter or not? Of course it should. What have we done? I went against my own interests, I said, let my power come to an end, but the people must not suffer, I said: “Tomorrow sacks, briefcases and bags full of money will arrive from Russia and sweep the shelves in our shops clean,” and then I said: “Today we have 1,000 roubles, tomorrow they could turn into kopecks,” so I turned to our people and I said: “Take all your savings and spend them, otherwise tomorrow that money will be affected by inflation”. I said: “Buy up everything in our shops”. If they come tomorrow and sweep everything off our shelves, who will be to blame? I shall be to blame…. For everything that is wrong in the republic I am to blame in the first instance.

And therefore… our young brother (he points to Tahir Yuldash) has raised this question. All right, meat is expensive, but you should know that in a year and a half, because of the opportunities we have given our peasants, livestock holdings have doubled. We must defend ourselves, that is my responsibility. All right, even if I am not president tomorrow, I shall still serve you to the end of my life, whether you want it or not!

Prices at the markets are rising, but I have given orders for the neediest to be given 1.5 kg. of meat and a certain amount of wheat and sugar out of our budget, I know it isn’t enough, but tomorrow, if necessary, I shall take our gold to Switzerland and take out credits, then exchange them for money, I have to finish this job. Then I shall try to regulate prices. That is why I do not feel guilty about what I told you on the television, I have to talk to people and tell them the truth, that’s why I ask you, you must not misunderstand me if tomorrow I should give you the bad news without any warning, that not only in Namangan, but in all Uzbekistan there is nothing left. Do not misunderstand me, this is temporary, for a week, a week and a half, two weeks, I am negotiating now to buy wheat in Kazakhstan, that is my answer to all of you.

The second question. Yesterday, when I met the representatives of religion in the mosque, I said to them: “When I swore my oath, I held the Koran in front of me. I shall never deny my Muslim faith, I shall never regret that I am a Muslim and I shall never be ashamed of this. No man should abandon his religion that is what I always say. If we follow that path, nothing will happen.

You should know that now the three Slavic – they are bringing back the old words – the three Slavic republics – Russia, Belorussia and Ukraine – are meeting in Belorussia. Muslims, the Uzbeks do not know about it, this is my opinion: if it is necessary… I have already spoken with the five Central Asian leaders, we could meet in Tashkent or in Ashkhabad or in some other place, and we will talk with each other in our central Asian, Muslim language, and I shall try to defend (Tahir Yuldash tries to bring him back to the initial subject) these Muslim countries.

What I would like to say is, if the situation gets worse, in the way it is now, you must know that there is no other path for Uzbekistan, it must renounce the USSR. That is why I say, looking straight into your eyes: If there is aggression from the north tomorrow, what must we do? We must defend ourselves. And from this point of view I have another request: there are no problems that cannot be solved, give me time, and secondly, be patient, we shall do it all together and if necessary I shall put my life into this!

And so, your main demand, to declare our state an Islamic state. I would like to express my views on this matter. I have to speak frankly in front of this large assembly. I promise you that I shall personally raise this question with Parliament (chanting: “Allah-u Akbar!”), if Parliament decides unanimously, with the participation of your representatives from Namangan, to proclaim an Islamic state, then so be it, but the majority of our people must vote for it.

The other problem, listen… now (the crowd is dissatisfied)… there is a demand to postpone the presidential election. I must say… how many republics in the USSR have not yet elected their presidents? Yesterday the last one, Moldova, elected a president. What does that mean? If I want to become President, or Solih, or someone else does, that gives the power to you. I have to go to Turkey, to the other Islamic states, they will ask me: Who are you? Was I elected by the people or by 500 deputies? This is a natural question. We should have held it three months ago. Do not misunderstand me, but we are on the brink of famine, I have to struggle against that, I have to take every possible measure. Just one example. They say the USSR ran up debts of 43 billion roubles. You have to pay back that money, they say. Uzbekistan together with all the rest. There are three places that produce gold, including Uzbekistan (Russia and Kazakhstan). So they say that we have to pay the debts. I am fighting against this. I do not intend to sign this, just like Azerbaijan. But I must have your support behind me! If you have other ideas on this question, so be it, but my request is that whoever becomes president, he must be empowered by the people as soon as possible and act in their name, or else we shall be crushed.

The final problem. (A man from the crowd arrives and says: “The militia has blocked the road to stop people coming to meet their president”. He asks for them to be let through.) (Chanting)

Karimov: We shall solve this..... Let them through, tell the militia that is my order, we are speaking frankly here, what should I be afraid of? Dear friends, the final question. Declare Islam the state religion. If the majority is for this and votes for this, if each person votes for it, then why should I be against it? And then the question of dissolving Parliament. In the seventh session of Parliament – you saw it – it was on October 30 (he turns to Tahir Yuldash), you tell me, my young brother, my dear young brother says they are my supporters… absolutely not! If you saw the session, I don’t have a majority of supporters in Parliament at all. You saw the kind of attacks I was subjected to, the conspiracy they formed against me, the coup they tried to organise. Historically the struggle for positions has destroyed our country. Important people fight for a position, but who suffers? The poor ordinary man suffers. That is why I ask you, if we wish to win our independence we must unite. For example, in Pakistan, when they were fighting for their independence, all their parties united and then, after independence, they decided to share out the positions and the jobs.

The meeting was broken off here, since someone else from the crowd approached the microphone, and then they were supposed to have questions and answers, but after negotiations it was decided that representatives from the meeting would meet with President Karimov face to face immediately, right there in the building, and then inform the meeting of their decisions.

And so, after this meeting President Islam Karimov (whom Belgi ever after referred to as “Comrade Islam”) was obliged to spend several more hours in negotiations with representatives of the Muslim community of Namangan, sitting shoulder to shoulder with Tahir Yuldash, who was then the leader of the informal organisation “Islom lashkarlari” (“Warriors of Islam”).

To Karimov’s credit as a politician, it should be said that he rather quickly overcame his initial humiliation and fear and little by little seized the initiative, effectively demolishing point after point and totally rejecting the demands of the meeting, but as a man, an ambitious and dictatorial man, a vindictive and vengeful man, he could never forgive either this open humiliation or this public display of fear. It took him only a short time to gather his strength.