It is a rare step backwards. Uzbek President Chavkat Mirziyoyev announced on Saturday July 2 the abandonment of a draft constitutional amendment, which would have reduced the autonomy of the Republic of Karakalpakistan, and which provoked a rare demonstration of several thousand people.
The project notably provided for this desert republic of two million people, one of the poorest regions of the country, to officially lose its status. “sovereign” and the right to hold a referendum on self-determination.
To explain this reversal, Chavkat Mirziyoyev’s press service reported that the president had a meeting with the deputies of Karakalpaksitan and that the articles of the Constitution concerning the republic would remain unchanged “based on… opinions expressed by the people of Karakalpakistan”.
Before this announcement, the Uzbek authorities had declared that they had carried out a series of arrests the day after this anti-government demonstration in this autonomous republic in the west of the country. “A group including riot organizers and people who actively opposed law enforcement have been arrested”the parliament, government and police of the Republic of Karakalpakstan said in a statement.
State of emergency declared
According to them, the suspects tried to seize public buildings during the demonstration in the city of Nukus, the regional capital. Thousands of people then demonstrated against a constitutional reform project which must be approved by referendum in the coming months.
On Saturday evening, the Uzbek president declared a month-long state of emergency in the autonomous republic of Karakalpakistan. In a statement posted on Telegramthe press service of the Uzbek Presidency explained that this measure was aimed at “ensure the safety of citizens” and “the return of the rule of law”.
Spontaneous demonstrations are both very rare and illegal in Uzbekistan, the most populous of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, with around 35 million inhabitants.
Friday’s protest represented the biggest challenge to President Mirziyoyev’s rule so far. Came to power in 2016 on the death of his predecessor, the ruthless Islam Karimov, he carried out major economic and social reforms. Reelected last year, he is now accused of taking a new authoritarian turn in the country.
With the revision of the proposed Constitution, the presidential term would increase from five to seven years, to the benefit of the current head of state.