ТУРОНЗАМИН

It is unfortunate that Uzbekistan is ruled by a dictator and it is even worse that there is no opposition in the country which is capable of, if not withstanding dictatorship, at least becoming an alternative to it and showing people that they have a choice even in the darkness of tyranny.

Uznews.net – The Erk party has disavowed the statement which has been circulated on the Internet in its name, but it has not either made its own statement which has been expected six months ahead of a presidential election.

Less than six months are left until 23 December, when the election of president is expected to be held in Uzbekistan. However, not only the current regime in Uzbekistan led by Islam Karimov but also parties which describe themselves as opposition are keeping silent about this important political event.

Islam Karimov’s silence is understandable – he is in limbo: according to the Uzbek constitution, he does not have the right to be president for the third term, and, perhaps, he does not have enough support in and outside the country to make constitutional changes he needs to be re-elected, whereas he does not want to resign because of his fear of “great future”.

At the same time, the silence of opposition can only mean that it does not exist either in or outside Uzbekistan.

Without paying attention to the Birlik party, which for a long time has only been fighting its rivals from other parties and organisations the hatred and intolerance of which have reconciled Birlik even with Islam Karimov and his policy and even with the massacre in Andijan, one would think of the Erk party, which used to enjoy many people’s sympathies, but it is also keeping silent.

In his recent interview with Uznews.net, the chairman of the Erk party, Muhammad Salih, said that he had expected the authorities to make a statement on 23 June, precisely six months ahead of the forthcoming election. Salih said that Islam Karimov simply had to make his position on the election clear, proceeding from the fact that parliament needed up to six months to make necessary amendments to the constitution to enable him to be re-elected.

However, Islam Karimov did not make any statement on 23 June. Neither did the Erk party – either the following day or the following week. Salih said in that interview that it was unlikely that Karimov had his statement ready, immediately admitting that Erk did not have any statement either.

The statement – which was allegedly made and distributed electronically by Erk on 29 June and which said that Salih was the only leader of the Uzbek opposition and that votes should be cast for him in the election and in which nine human rights activists and political figures were called allies of the authorities and special services – turns out to be, as the party said later, a provocation.

However, this provocation emerged at the time when the authentic statement should have been made by Erk, if it had still been positioning itself as Uzbekistan’s opposition party. It should have stated its position on the election and the role it assigned for itself in this election.

Opposition is society’s driving force which is necessary for controlling the government; it is an alternative to the ruling party and even the authoritarian leader, which should be hot on their heels, believing that it is capable of leading the country forward and running it better and more successfully.

Opposition members in Kazakhstan, fighting the authoritarian Nursultan Nazarbayev, admit today that they do not believe in their victory at the moment, but they stress that elections are not an end in itself and that their present task is to be an alternative, their present role is to be a counterbalance which the authorities will finally have to reckon with.

If opposition is not an alternative to the authorities and does not fight for the minds and hearts of voters and for power, it is not opposition.

Yes, it is incredibly hard to be opposition under dictatorial regimes. However, opposition exists even in Zimbabwe to the brutal dictator Robert Mugabe, there is opposition to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, to Europe’s last dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko and to the military junta in Burma, where Aung San Suu Kyi has become symbol of it.

It is unfortunate that Uzbekistan is ruled by a dictator and it is even worse that there is no opposition in the country which is capable of, if not withstanding dictatorship, at least becoming an alternative to it and showing people that they have a choice even in the darkness of tyranny.