by David Zenian
Islamic traditions are alive and well in Uzbekistan, but there is no room for Moslem fanaticism in the biggest Muslim state in Central Asia.
With a population of more than 22 million, the land-locked country , which has an area of 172,742 square miles, is one of the most ethnically diverse in Central Asia.
According to available statistics, the native Uzbeks constitute 71 percent of the population, followed by the Russians at 8.4 percent, Tajiks at 4.7, percent, Kazakhs 4.1 percent, Tatars 2.4 percent, Karakalpaks 2.1 percent, and a little more than 1 percent Koreans.
The Islamic faith, which was introduced into the region by the Arabs in the 7th century, is part of everyday life, but is firmly locked out of government and the political, social, and economic path of President Islam Karimov's administration.
Western diplomats in Tashkent recall the post-independence visits in 1991 by Iranian clerics with amusement.
"They came with the trunks of their cars packed with copies of the Holy Koran, only to find out that they were knocking at the wrong door. While Islamic traditions were alive in Uzbek homes, few had given up a taste for vodka acquired under Soviet rule," a diplomat said.
"The Iranians have not been able to export their Islamic revolution to Uzbekistan, and despite isolated pockets across the country, the leadership is strongly committed to the secular ideology of government," he said.
Uzbekistan is a country where law and order are sacrosanct, and no one is allowed to undermine the safety and security of the nation. People—and especially Moslem figures—who deviate even slightly from the official rules are severely punished.
After a recent incident in which seven policemen were killed in the Uzbek city of Namangan, the biggest stronghold of Islamic thought in Central Asia, the government wasted no time to blame Islamic extremists and immediately rounded up hundreds of suspects. The response was quick and harsh, and the message clear—keep religion out of politics.
The government's no-nonsense approach to nation-building also includes tight controls over all aspects of the economy, especially the production of cotton which accounts for 70 percent of the country's foreign currency income.
"The government keeps an eye on everything, but fortunately, the Uzbek people have no problems with that. The society here respects authority in the same way people respect their elders," a Western diplomat said. "People will not demonstrate in the streets because it is not the Uzbek way of doing things. The culture here is very traditional and the vast majority are very comfortable with the authoritarian system."
Throughout its history, Uzbekistan has been controlled by a multitude of foreign powers. The country was once part of the Great Persian Empire. It was then occupied by Alexander the Great in the 4th Century B.C.
Later, from the 7th to the 9th century A.D. it was ruled by Arabs who also introduced the Islamic faith. The Mongols conquered the region in the 13th century, only to lose it to Tamerlane the Great, one of history's greatest and cruelest conquerors, who forged his empire in the 14th century, with Samarkand as its capital.
Following the collapse of the Tamerlane Dynasty, the country was split into the mini-states, or khanates, of Bukhara, Kokand and Khiva which in turn later fell under Russian rule at the end of the 19th century.
Today, Tamerlane, whose Mongol army is said to have killed 17 million men, women and children in his 14th century rampage across Asia, is Uzbekistan's national hero, and is now known as Amir Timour, or Timour the Great.
"Uzbekistan as we know it today was created in 1924 by the Soviet Union with the combination of the three khanates. But in the process, the Soviets also crushed the Uzbek culture, destroyed its language and forced the country to be Sovietized. The Uzbeks have seen enough upheavals throughout history, and will not allow outside influences to destroy their independence," a Western diplomat said. In fact, when the Uzbek Socialist Republic was created in 1924, it also included what is now Tajikistan, but that was later detached in 1929. Samarkand, the first capital of Uzbekistan, was replaced in 1930 by Tashkent.
But Moscow did not only "toy around" with regional borders. It also manipulated local leaders at will. The original Uzbek Communist Party elite was liquidated and replaced by loyal Stalinists during the so-called Great Purge of the 1930's.
From 1959 to 1983, Uzbekistan was ruled by Uzbek Communist Party chief Sharaf Rashidov—a ruler who was once branded by Moscow as a "corrupt thief" and who is now seen by many Uzbeks as a "clever leader who managed to outwit the Russians."
Since independence in 1991, Uzbekistan under President Islam Karimov—himself a former leader of the Uzbek Communist Party—has replaced its Soviet-era Cyrillic alphabet with Latin letters, made Uzbek the official language of the land, and charted a new direction which is often authoritarian in nature, nationalistic in character and conservative in direction.
"Today, people are paranoid when it comes to Russia, because of its colonial past, and Iran, because of its Islamic fundamentalism. They are opposed to both and therefore more open to accepting an authoritarian regime which is home-grown even if it is slow in moving the country out of socialism to an open market economy," another diplomat said.
Privatization has been slow and to date has not included farming, where cotton still remains the key foreign currency commodity. Large factories and enterprises remain under government control, while housing and smaller shops are privatized.
Also under state control are Uzbekistan's important natural resources like oil, gas, gold, and other minerals.
The Uzbek currency, the Sum, remains inconvertible, thus triggering a very active black market where the Sum is traded for 180 to the U.S. dollar compared with the 80 per dollar official rate.
"This is having serious effects on the economy because it discourages many potential investors from doing business in Uzbekistan," a Western banker said. "What's the point in making thousands of dollars in a business deal when you cannot convert what you earned into a foreign currency like the dollar and take that money out of the country."
In the years since independence, large enterprises like Daewoo of Korea and the British-American Tobacco Company have invested millions of dollars and generated thousands of jobs in Uzbekistan, but dozens of smaller firms have been squeezed out of business because of currency restrictions.
"This is a stable country and can attract a lot more foreign investment if the currency regulations are changed," a Western banker said.
But the government seems oblivious to the plight of at least the small foreign investors, especially the ones who are after "nothing more than a quick buck."
On the political front, while the Constitution gives the people the "right of freedom of association", it explicitly bans the "registration of parties of religious nature," thus giving the government the leeway it needs to refuse the registration of political parties opposed to the established order.
In some ways, Uzbekistan has not changed much since independence. The Communist Party, or its offshoot, the People's Democratic Party, is still a majority in Parliament and the socialist system has not been dismantled—at least not fully. The economy remains centrally managed and so does the political life of the population.
"Some of the basic elements of the old structures have not changed at all, but people are comfortable with the slow pace," a Western diplomat said.
"After all, this is Central Asia, and people are different. They are more traditional and not prepared for any rapid and painful changes like what we have seen in Russia and some of the other former Soviet republics. They are satisfied with their government."
