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Paper Promotes Uzbek President to Royalty – Reports

© Sputnik / Alexey Nikolsky / Go to the mediabankUzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov
Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov - Sputnik International
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Reconnecting with Uzbekistan’s glorious past, a newspaper in the Central Asian state has called the country’s president a “padishah,” a title once used by royalty, Russian media reported Monday.

MOSCOW, July 29 (RIA Novosti) – Reconnecting with Uzbekistan’s glorious past, a newspaper in the Central Asian state has called the country’s president a “padishah,” a title once used by royalty, Russian media reported Monday.

According to a news-roundup by the Tashkent-based Uzmetronom news site on Sunday that was widely picked up by the Russian media, the Turkiston newspaper applied the medieval title to President Islam Karimov in an editorial titled “If There Is an Earthly Paradise…” extolling the country’s achievements under his rule.

“We’re given a beautiful paradisiacal land,” the Turkiston article reportedly read. “A thousand thanks to the Almighty for endowing us with such a wise and just padishah!”

“Wars, poverty, economic crisis reign everywhere, while we continue surprising the world with our achievements. Is every surefooted step of [our] independent country over the past 22 years not credited to the wise politician, Islam Karimov?” Uzmetronom cited the article as saying.

The title of padishah, or “great king,” was used by Ottoman sultans, Persian ruling dynasties and the Mughals of India.

This is not the first time the title has been revived in the 21st century: Karimov’s neighbor, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, has been called it in public for the last few years and is also formally referred to as “your majesty,” Ferghananews.com said, noting that he is also known as “Tajikistan’s Abraham Lincoln.”

International figures paint a less rosy picture of life in Uzbekistan: The country was ranked 132nd of 182 countries by nominal GDP per capita last year, with an annual income of $1,737 per head, according to the World Bank.

Authoritarian ruler Karimov has led the gas-rich nation of 30 million – the largest population of all five ex-Soviet Central Asian states – since 1989. At 75, he has often been reported to be ailing and even close to death, but remains at the helm and has not publicly named a successor.

Karimov’s regime is accused by international organizations, including the United Nations, of systematic vote rigging, media censorship and torture.

In May 2005, hundreds of people were reportedly killed as Uzbek forces opened fire on crowds of protestors in the city of Andijan. The incident took place hours after gunmen broke into a prison in the city to release businessmen jailed on religious extremism charges, news agencies reported.

Uzbekistan’s government maintained that no “massacre” took place, that it was dealing with “armed uprising,” and that casualties were due to extremists using civilians as human shields. Despite repeated calls from the international community for an independent investigation into what happened in Andijan in May 2005, the Uzbekistan government’s position has been that the issue is “closed.”

In 2006 Uzbek singer-songwriter Dadakhon Khasanov stood trial for lyrics about Andijan in which he compared Karimov to a padishah impervious to his people’s suffering, presiding over an unjust regime. He was given a three-year suspended sentence and ordered not to write any more “politically motivated” songs, news agencies reported.

 

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