After the publication of the full text of the draft law on amendments and additions to the Constitution, their ambiguous discussion began in the country. If initially the norm on extending the term of office of the President from 5 to 7 years was rejected, then the real “bomb” exploded after the completely imminent cardinal change in the status of Karakalpakstan. If it exists as a sovereign republic with the right to secede from Uzbekistan on the basis of a referendum, then now this provision is proposed to be deleted.
“The desire to provide Mirziyoyev with eternal political life didn’t cause much surprise after the similar tricks of the late President Karimov, but the destruction of the sovereignty of Karakalpakstan is very similar to a provocation by the authorities to consolidate the positions of the main ethnic group of the country – the Uzbeks,” the ACCA expert believes.
In Karakalpakstan itself, the reaction of the population is open hostility or hatred towards those who proposed it. The editor-in-chief of Karakalpak’s media Makan.uz Lolagul Kallykhanova writes on a social network that “Uzbek-Karakalpak relations have long been strained. It’s doubtful that Karakalpakstan’s confidence in Uzbekistan will remain the same. The problem arose out of thin air”.
The journalist discovered that a group, which was opened, as she claims, by “anti-constitutional activists”, numbering more than 100 thousand people, disappeared from Telegram. The so-called strengthening regime, practiced since Soviet times, has led to the disruption of Internet communications in Karakalpakstan.
“No matter how the situation is caused by strengthening, it means that the state is afraid of a revolt,” said Lolagul. “The Karakalpak people can silently endure price increases, unemployment and other problems in society, but when it comes to freedom or who encroaches on their freedom, the people don’t tolerate this. A person with a gentle character has a strong spirit.”
Murat Ubbiniyazov, a human rights activist from Nukus, is confident that the proposed changes will not only not be included in the Constitution, they will not even be included in the list of issues to be discussed at the referendum. He refers to Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Uzbekistan is a member, in which there is a provision: ‘Every people has the right to self-determination’.
“It’s unlikely that Uzbekistan wants to disrupt the current good relations with the world community, which were achieved with great difficulty,” the activist is convinced.
In the commentary to ACCA, he noted that initially, all changes to the Constitution had a specific goal – to increase the term of the presidency and reset the presidency, after which the incumbent President could be re-elected to this position. Therefore, I suppose that one of these days, perhaps the President himself or his press service will make a statement that the changes regarding the Republic of Karakalpakstan are illegal, the adoption of which will grossly and deliberately violate the international norms. Thus, the authority of the President will be raised many times in Karakalpakstan, and the approval of the electorate will be received in advance, which will vote for an increase in the term of the presidency and nullification of the presidency.
Telegram channel “Penalty Shootout” also notes the strategic blunder of the authorities. “Mirziyoyev made his first internal visit in the status of the elected President to Karakalpakstan. It was in January 2017. It was a competent strategic decision of the administration, which gave a very correct message to the Karakalpak people,” the authors of the channel write. “A little more than 5 years have passed, and a new one (not yet adopted), but the announced decision looks completely different and, moreover, may have difficult consequences.
Under forceful pressure, the authoritative media Gazeta.uz removed two articles on amendments to the Constitution. Journalists conscientiously covered the topic, for which they paid the price… Only the support of bloggers helped these publications not to disappear in the information field. Colleagues from Hook.report also reposted the deleted articles, showing journalistic solidarity which is rare in the country’s media sphere.
The information center “Shirak”, whose functionaries are abroad, has distributed an open letter to the activists. It speaks of a criminal conspiracy between the leadership of Karakalpakstan and the authorities of Uzbekistan. “If earlier separatist sentiments in Karakalpak society were somehow extinguished, now official Tashkent has done everything to give impetus to their spread,” the ACCA expert sums up.
