Inventing Akromiya: The role of Uzbek propagandists in the Andijon massacre

Demokratizatsiya

Volumn 14, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 545-562

  Kendzior, Sarah ^a  

^a INDIANA UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Akromiya; Andijon; Islam; Propaganda; Terrorism; Uzbekistan

Indexed keywords

ISLAMISM; POLITICAL VIOLENCE; TERRORISM;

ANDIZAN; ASIA; EURASIA; UZBEKISTAN; WEST ASIA;

EID: 34250827312     PISSN: 10746846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3200/DEMO.14.4.545-562     Document Type: Article

References (85)

1. Zeyno Baran and S. Frederick Starr, Invitation to Hudson Institute screening (sent by e-mail on May 15, 2006).
2. Ibid.
3. For a copy of the video, see "Andijon a Year Later," Registan.net, May 13, 2006, http://www.registan.net/?p=6418#more-6418.
4. For the transcripts, see Justin Burke, Eurasianet.org, August 18, 2005, http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/uzbekistan/hypermail/200508/ 0030.shtml.
5. Human Rights Watch, "Bullets Were Falling Like Rain": The Andijan Massacre, May 13, 2005 (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2005), 2.
6. Abdumannob Polat and Nickolai Butkevich. "Unraveling the Mystery of the Tashkent Bombings: Theories and Implications," Demokratizatsiya 8, no. 3 (Fall 2000): 541-53.
7. Daniil Kislov and Alexei Volosevich, "The True Confession of Islam Karimov," New Times, January 2006, http://www.newtimes.ru/eng/ detail.asp?art_id=1504.
8. See also, Human Rights Watch, "Witness in Andijan Trial Describes Soldiers Shooting Civilians," November 1, 2005.
9. Jenny Norton, "Uzbekistan's Most Orderly Protest," BBC, May 12, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4540041.stm (accessed January 16, 2006).
10. Igor Rotar, Forum 18, "Islamic Charitable Work 'Criminal' and 'Extremist'?" http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=508 (accessed January 28, 2006).
11. Human Rights Watch, "Bullets Falling," 55-56.
12. "UPI hears..." Insider notes from UPI Press International, May 13, 2005, http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/ 20050513-123200-1744r.htm.
13. Al Jazeera, "Uzbek Troops Fire on Protesters," May 13, 2005, http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/ 2F5CAD11-3F34-4989-AD5C-468AD25FBF0A.htm (accessed January 28, 2006).
14. Martha Brill Olcott, "The Impact of Current Events in Uzbekistan," speech delivered at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discussion on "The Impact of Current Events in Uzbekistan," Washington, DC, May 17, 2005.
15. "Akramiya," Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akramiya.
16. Paul Tumelty, "Analysis: Uzbekistan's 'Islamists,'" BBC, May 15, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4548371.stm (accessed January 16, 2006).
17. Agence France Presse, "Akromiya: A Shadowy Group Comes Under Spotlight after Crackdown," May 17, 2005, http://www.newagebd.com/ 2005/may/17/inat.html (accessed January 28, 2006).
18. Shirin Akiner, "Violence in Andijon, 13 May 2005: An Independent Assessment," Silk Road Paper, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, and Silk Road Studies Program, July 2005, 29.
19. Akrom Yo'ldoshev, Iymonga yo'l, chapter 1, 1992. Translated from Uzbek. Originally downloaded from http://www.ozodovoz.org/ru/ contents.php?cid=75; content no longer available online.
20. Islom Karimov, Istiqlol va Ma'naviyat, "O'zligimizni Anglash Yo'li" (Tashkent: O'zbekiston 1994), 115.
21. Yo'ldoshev, Iymonga yo'l, chapter 2.
22. Ibid.
23. Yo'ldoshev, chapter 1.
24. Yo'ldoshev, Iymonga yo'l, chapter 4.
25. Yo'ldoshev, Iymonga yo'l, chapter 5. See also chapter 12 for a summary of the fikrlashlik process.
26. International Crisis Group, "Uzbekistan: The Andijon Uprising," 4-5.
27. According to the International Crisis Group report "Central Asia: Islam and the State," his official position is State Adviser on Interethnic Relations and Religious Affairs.
28. See also Radio Tashkent International, "Relations of State and Religion Discussed" http://ino.uzpak.uz/eng/report_eng/ report_eng_0302.html (accessed February 14, 2006).
29. International Crisis Group, "Radical Islam in Central Asia: Responding to Hizb-ut Tahrir," Report No. 58, June 2003, 23.
30. The International Institute for Strategic Studies, "Eurasia Strategy Seminar - Professor Zukhridin Khusnidinov and Zafar Abdullaev," July 14, 2004, http://www.iiss.org/events-more.php?eventID=205 (February 14, 2006).
31. Zukhriddin Husniddinov, "Religious Extremism - Danger to the Security of Society," The Muslim World, March/April 2003.
32. See also his lecture "State and Religion in Uzbekistan" delivered at a Nixon Center conference titled, "Religion and Uzbekistan: State, Religion, and Interfaith Acceptance," October 6, 2004.
33. Zeyno Baran, opening remarks at a leading Washington think tank conference on "Religion and Uzbekistan: State, Religion and Inter-Faith Acceptance" at the the St. Regis Hotel, Washington, DC, October 26, 2004. http://www.nixoncenter.org/ index.cfm?action=showpage&page=barantrans (accessed February 18, 2006).
34. See also the opening remarks by Chris Seiple, in which he describes Uzbekistan as "lucky" to have a minister such as Hudniddinov.
35. Literally, "Justice." The name of an Islamic party begun by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan head Tohir Yo'ldoshev (no relation to Akrom) in the early 1990s advocating the creation of an Islamic state in Uzbekistan.
36. Zuhriddin Husniddinov, Islom: Yo'nalishlar, Mazhablar, Oqimlar (Tashkent: O'zbekiston Milliy Entsiklopediyasi Davlat Ilmiy Nashriyoti, 2000), 107.
37. This is also contradictory to the government's policy of accusing family members of alleged Akromists and Wahhabists of aiding and abetting the accused and implying that it is not mere individuals but entire families that prove prone to antigovernmental activities.
38. For some examples, see Karimov's collection of speeches in Istiqlol va Ma' naviyat (Independence and Morality), particularly the entries "Respect the Faith of Our Ancestors," "We Depend on the Purity of the Souls of Our Ancestors," and "The Road to Identity."
39. Husniddinov, Islom: Yo'nalishlar, Mazhablar, Oqimlar, 107-8.
40. Ibid.
41. Ibid.
42. Both encylcopedias are published by Davlat Ilmiy Nashriyot (State Scientific Press).
43. Akiner says in her article of the experts in question: "Supporters of the Akromiya often dismiss the opinion of such scholars as though they were ignoramuses; in fact, as foreign Muslims will testify, they have a thorough grounding in Islamic studies and in classical Arabic. Thus, from this stand point, they are certainly competent to comment on the nature of the Akromiya's teachings." Their other qualifications - as close advisors to Islam Karimov and fervent supporters of his policies - may make them far more "competent to comment" in the propagandistic world of Uzbek scholarship.
44. Zuhriddin Husniddinov, Islom Entsiklopediya (Tashkent: O'zbekiston Milliy Entsiklopediyasi Davlat Ilmiy Nashriyoti, 2004), 3-4.
45. A conservative Muslim missionary group formed in rural India.
46. Husniddinov, Islom: Yo'nalishlar, Mazhablar, Oqimlar, 118-99.
47. Husniddinov, Islom Entsiklopediya, 62-63.
48. Haghayeghi, Mehrdad. Islam and Politics in Central Asia (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995), 227.
49. Husniddinov, Islom Entsiklopediya, 22-23.
50. Bakhtiyar Babadzhanov, "The Fergana Valley: Source or Victim of Islamic Fundamentalism?" Central Asia and the Caucasus 5, no. 4 (1999).
51. Ibid., 7.
52. Alisher Hamidov, "Hizb-ut Tahrir Faces Internal Split in Central Asia," Eurasianet.org, October 21, 2003.
53. Babajanov, "Fergana Valley," 8.
54. Ibid.
55. For example, Hamas.
56. Human Rights Watch, "Uzbekistan: Reveal Fate of Jailed Activist," January 20, 2006, http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/ 01/20/uzbeki1248l.htm (accessed February 2, 2006).
57. Human Rights Watch, "Bullets Falling," 7.
58. Ibid.
59. IRINnews.org, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, "Uzbekistan: Rights Groups Condemn Closed Trial of Andijan activist," January 23, 2006, http://www.irinnews.org/ report.asp?ReportID=51275&SelectRegion=Asia.
60. Human Rights Watch, "Uzbek Rights Defender Saidjahon Zainabitdinov in Andijan, Uzbekistan," February 8, 2006, http://hrw.org/campaigns/ uzbekistan/andijan/hrdefenders.htm (accessed February 9, 2006).
61. Human Rights Watch, "Bullets Falling," 52.
62. Ibid.
63. Saidjahon Zainabitdinov, "Akramiya: Za Shto Boretsya Religioznaya Organizatsiya v Ferganskoy Doline," Centrasia.org, http://centrasia.org/newsA.php4?st=1093410660 (accessed March 2, 2006).
64. I printed out the original Uzbek version in September 2005, before it was removed.
65. Muslim Uzbekistan, "Yusuf Jumaev: Welcome to the Biggest Prison in the World, Mister Lemierre!" Ozod Ovoz, July 17, 2005. http://www.muslimuzbekistan.com/eng/ennews/2003/05/ennews05052003_3.html (accessed February 2, 2006).
66. Vladimir Socor, "Uzbekistan Criticized over Treatment of Political Oppositionists," Monitor - A Daily Briefing on the Former Soviet States," June 12, 2001. Reprinted on http://muhammadsalih.info/ englishms/stobras/analitika.htm (accessed February 28, 2006).
67. Ozodovoz.org homepage, (accessed February 18, 2006).
68. Forum 18.org, "Aim: Forum 18 is an instrument for promoting the implementation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and concentrates on serious and obvious breaches of religious freedom, and particularly on situations where the lives and welfare of individual people or groups are being threatened and where the right to gather around one's faith is being hindered." http://www.forum18.org/Forum18.php (accessed January 28, 2006).
69. Edward Schatz, "Framing Islam: The Role of Anti-Americanism in Central Asia," (paper presented at the American Political Science Association, Boston, August 2002), 13, footnote 29.
70. Igor Rotar, "What Is Known about Akramia and the Uprising?" Forum 18, June 16, 2005. http://www.forum18.org/ Archive.php?article_id=586 (accessed January 28, 2006).
71. Ibid.
72. Cassandra Uretz, "Russian Journalist Held Incommunicado by Uzbek Authorities," Eurasianet.org, August 11, 2005.
73. Amerika ovozi, "Saidjahon Zaynobitdinov 7 Yillik Qamoq Jazosiga Mahkum Etildi," January 13, 2006.
74. September 15, 2005, statement of First Deputy Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Uzbekistan Anvar Nabiev to local and foreign journalists on the results of investigation of the events in the town of Andijan.
75. The Ferghana.ru reporter, A.Volosevich, was held in particularly low regard by the prosecutor-general, who claimed he "splashed out the libels with inveterate enthusiasm on the Internet." The impetus for this accusation is likely Volosevich's article "The True Confessions of Islam Karimov."
76. Hizb-ut Tahrir, "The Method of Hizb ut-Tahrir," http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/english/books/hizb-ut-tahrir/ chapter_08.html (accessed February 27, 2006).
77. Ibid. See section on "The Third Stage," which is divided into five separate steps of its own.
78. BBC News, "Key excerpts: Karimov address" May 15, 2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4547459.stm (accessed January 16, 2006).
79. Alisher Hamidov's much quoted Eurasia.net article "Hizb-ut Tahrir Faces Internal Split in Central Asia" is the most notable proponent of this theory.
80. Zeyno Baran, "Hizb-ut Tahrir: Islam's Political Insurgency," the Nixon Center, December 2004. It should be noted that Baran believes this is a positive development.
81. Ibid.
82. Shamil Baygin, "Many Dead after Uzbek Troops Fire on Crowd, Says Doctor," Reuters, July 17, 2005.
83. Matluba Azamatova, "Controversial Trial Triggered Uzbek Violence," Journal of Turkish Weekly, May 13, 2005.
84. O'zbekiston: Yoshlarida Dunyokarash Uyg'unligining Shakllanishi Mumammolari (Tashkent: Tashkent Islamic University, 2004), 46.
85. Rano Ubaydullaheva, Akram Saidov, and Ozod Ata-Mirzaev, Uzbekiston Ahalisi Turmesheda Islam Dining Orni [Implications of Islam for the Lives of Uzbekistanis] (Tashkent: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2003), 45.