Tashkent Makes Small Concessions on Andijan

An official delegation from the European has completed a fact-finding trip to gather information about the Andijan violence of May 2005. NBCentralAsia commentators say the visit was of great significance for both Tashkent and the EU, providing President Islam Karimov with an opportunity to score some points ahead of next year’s presidential election, and allowing the Europeans to begin a dialogue even if the concessions the Uzbeks made were insubstantial.



The EU mission on December 11 to 15 was investigating what happened on May 13 last year when hundreds of people were shot dead by security forces in Andijan. Since Uzbekistan has not allowed an international investigation to take place, the authorities continue to deny that the protests involved a peaceful meeting in support of local businessmen, broken up when the authorities opened fire. Tashkent insists the rally was organised by Islamic terrorists.



The EU imposed economic sanctions on Uzbekistan in October 2005, in response to the government’s refusal to allow an independent investigation. In early November 2006, the Uzbek authorities agreed to discuss Andijan events with EU representatives, and in turn, Brussels agreed not to widen the scope of the sanctions, although they were extended for six more months.



NBCentralAsia commentators believe Uzbekistan’s decision to make some concessions is linked to the presidential election scheduled for 2007.



“It has everything to do with the presidential election,” said political scientist Avez Baburov. “Time is now working in favour of the EU and against Karimov, since the end of his current term is fast approaching. That will forced Tashkent to give ground.”



For its part, the EU is interested in opening a dialogue with Tashkent, as sanctions have alienated Uzbekistan from the West and driven it closer to Russia and China. The EU has therefore welcomed Uzbekistan’s consent to discuss Andijan, even though the fact-finding team were not given an opportunity to conduct an independent investigation, according to Alisher Saipov, regional editor of the Fergana.ru news agency.



“The delegation was given information that depicted events in a way that was advantageous to the authorities,” Saipov told NBCentralAsia. “Anything else would have amounted to an admission that innocent, unarmed civilians were killed that day.”



(News Briefing Central Asia draws comment and analysis from a broad range of political observers across the region.)