In January 2011, Uzbekistan’s president Islam Karimov made a controversial visit to Brussels and met with both E.U. and NATO officials creating somewhat of an uproar among human rights activists. His European visit drew attention and sharp criticism towards renewed Western engagement with a state that violates human rights and personal freedoms, remains corrupt, brutally suppresses dissent and free speech, and has never held a free and fair election.
Karimov met with NATO’s secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen and José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, among others. While handling this hot potato, Financial Times reported that NATO, the Commission, and the Belgian government all denied initiating an invitation to Karimov. However, Barroso’s spokesman, Michael Karnitschnig, told Eurasianet.org that it was NATO and the Belgian authorities who were first to extend the invitation to the Uzbek president. Incidentally, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake, Jr. is on a visit to Tashkent right now. Financial Times writes that this is Karimov’s first visit to NATO in more than a decade, while it is his first trip to Europe in more than six years following the tragic events in Andijan in 2005.
An interesting side note on Andijan: Babur (ruled 1526-30) a 6th generation Timurid, and also a Genghisid, the ruler of Fergana and founder of the Mughal Empire was born in Andijan in 1483.
To this day no independent investigation of the events that took place in Adijan have been allowed by Uzbekistan. In the aftermath of the Andijan massacre, the E.U. imposed sanctions which included an arms embargo and a E.U. visa ban for senior Uzbek officials. NATO has also abandoned much of its military cooperation with Uzbekistan even though it has been a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace Program since 1994.
But as early as October 2007 the Europeans partially lifted the visa ban and the following January, William J. Fallon, the most senior American military commander in the region, visited Tashkent marking the first high-level visit in two years. In 2009 the E.U. lifted its last remaining sanctions against the Uzbek government citing the release of some political prisoners and the abolition of the death penalty. In recent years, NATO has slowly regained its cooperation in the wake of a war in Afghanistan and under an agreement signed in 2009 Uzbekistan provides transit routes. It is allowing for nonlethal supplies to pass through its territory and is considered one of the most viable corridors to Afghanistan through its southern city of Termez.
Meanwhile, in Belarus… A new travel ban and asset freeze was introduced against the Last Dictator of Europe by the U.S. and the E.U. following past December’s fraudulent elections.
How does Lukashenka measure up to Karimov?
Here is what they have to show for two decades in power:
Uzbekistan in 2010
Press Freedom Index (Freedom House): 189 out of 196
NOT FREE
Press Freedom Index (RSF): 160 out of 175
Corruption Index (Transparency Int’l): 172 out of 178
Belarus in 2010
Press Freedom Index (Freedom House): 188 out of 196
NOT FREE
Press Freedom Index (RSF): 154 out of 178
Corruption Index (Transparency Int’l): 127 out of 178
Human rights advocates have criticized the renewed engagement with Uzbekistan while the European media pointed to the conspicuous disparity with which the West treats dictators, specifically Alexander Lukashenka who is being ostracized in Europe for his poor human rights, corruption and sham elections.
Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28uzbek.html
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14807433,00.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2010/06/uzbekistan_and_its_strongman
