The political fortunes are rising of Ozoda Rahmonova, daughter of 56-year-old Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
Rahmonova, 30 years old and a Georgetown University graduate, was
appointed deputy foreign minister after two years in the ministry's consular division.
It won't cement her a spot on a list of the "
World's Worst Daughters" quite yet. But it is a new high-water mark of official nepotism for aspiring presidential children even by Central Asian standards (until the unlikely day that wild rumors are confirmed that Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is the late Turkmenbashi's son). That crown was previously shared by Uzbek President Islam Karimov's daughters,
Gulnara Karimova and Lola Karimova-Tillaeva, who are Uzbekistan's official envoys
to Geneva and to UNESCO respectively.
Rahmonova has previously kept a low profile. One of the president's seven daughters and two sons, maybe she was just lost in the shuffle.
Her brother, 22-year-old professional football player and State Property Committee employee Rustam Rahmon, was
in the news recently when he was said to have turned up at a regional summit in Dushanbe.
UPDATE: There is some dispute as to whether or not Gulnara Karimova also holds the post of deputy foreign minister of Uzbekistan. If so, she remains in at least a tie for the nepotistic officialdom crown.
-- Andy Heil