Gulnoza Saidazimova

Also by Gulnoza Saidazimova

• November 21, 2005

  Presidential Challengers Struggle To Make Their Point

  Voters in Kazakhstan head to the polls on 4 December to elect a president. The front-runner is incumbent Nursultan Nazarbaev, and some surveys show that more than 65 percent of voters are going to cast ballots for him.

• November 14, 2005

  Andijon Defendants Get From 14 to 20 Years

  Uzbekistan's Supreme Court found 15 alleged Islamic extremists guilty of terrorism and other crimes in the bloody Andijon uprising. Rights groups have dismissed the trial as a show.

• November 14, 2005

  Nazarbaev Touts Stability In Run-Up To Election

  Voters in Kazakhstan head to the polls on 4 December to elect a president. The undisputed front-runner is incumbent Nursultan Nazarbaev. What makes the president's platform so attractive?

• November 10, 2005

  Refugees Have Escaped Violence, Not Heartache

  Six months after the bloody events in Andijon, RFE/RL focuses on the lives of Uzbek refugees in a temporary camp in Romania.

• November 04, 2005

  Archive: Kyrgyz Prisons Hell For Most, But Comfortable For Some

  Inmates say the reason for the prison riots that started on 19 October and led to bloodshed on 1 November is their harsh living conditions. The prisoners complain of starvation and epidemics of infectious diseases, like tuberculosis and AIDS/HIV, in the penitentiaries. However, that seems to be only the life of ordinary convicts. Kyrgyzstan’s prison unrest also revealed that while ordinary inmates are poorly housed and harshly treated, jailed criminal kingpins have amenities and power.

• November 02, 2005

  Prison Unrest Highlights Other Problems

  Authorities try to quell criticism of their handling of further violence in the country's prisons.

• November 01, 2005

  Violence Hits Prisons Again

  Reports say more than 20 inmates were killed on 1 November in unrest in Kyrgyz prisons near the capital Bishkek and in the country's southern Jalalabad Province.

• October 31, 2005

  Authorities Prefer Challengers Behind Bars

  Observers say the Uzbek government has curtailed the activities of many rights workers and opposition leaders since the bloody suppression of the Andijon uprising in May. One was committed to a psychiatric hospital for nearly three months before being released.

• October 11, 2005

  Kyrgyzstan: U.S. Secretary of State Calls For Closer Ties

  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kyrgyzstan on 11 October on the first leg of a three-day regional tour that will also take her to Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan. She held talks with President Kurmanbek Bakiev and Prime Minister Feliks Kulov.

• September 08, 2005

  Kyrgyzstan: Bishkek Reacts To Uzbek 'Terror' Accusations

  Kyrgyz Prime Minister Kulov (file photo) Bishkek officials are reacting to Uzbek authorities' accusations that the Andijon uprising was planned by Islamic militants at a terrorist base in southern Kyrgyzstan. Heads of the Kyrgyz Defense Ministry and the Security Council ruled out the allegations, saying no terrorists were trained in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz Prime Minister Feliks Kulov said the porous borders with Uzbekistan must be strengthened to prevent terrorist activities in future.

• September 07, 2005

  Kazakhstan: Former U.S. President Clinton Extends AIDS Initiative

  Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, paying a visit to Almaty on 6 September, hailed what he called Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev’s commitment to introducing political and social reforms to the Central Asian country. In talks with Health Minister Erbolat Dossaev, Clinton signed a memorandum that would include Kazakhstan in the Clinton Foundation’s Procurement Consortium, a group providing reduced-cost antiretroviral drugs and HIV/AIDS diagnostic equipment to more than 40 countries.

• September 06, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Ties With Kyrgyzstan Worsen Amid 'Terror' Accusations

  Uzbek authorities said that those who fled to Kyrgyzstan in mid-May were criminals The Andijon uprising was planned by Islamic militants from three groups -- the Islamic Movement of Turkestan, Hizb ut-Tahir, and Akramiya -- at a terrorist base in southern Kyrgyzstan. That, at least, is what investigators from Uzbekistan’s Prosecutor-General's Office told an Uzbek parliamentary commission yesterday. The commission was set up by President Islam Karimov to investigate the mid-May unrest in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon. RFE/RL reports on the new initiative by Tashkent, which some are calling a new “war” launched against neighboring Bishkek for its refusal to extradite Andijon protesters who have sought refuge in Kyrgyzstan.

• September 05, 2005

  EU/China: Trade Dispute Resolved, Concerns Over Beijing’s Rights Record Remain

  Tony Blair acknowledged EU-China trade is rarely smooth sailing The annual summit between the EU and China in Beijing today (Monday) has ended with a deal over the main subject of contention: what to do about the thousands of items of Chinese clothing that have piled up in European seaports in excess of import quotas. But clothes were not the only item on the agenda. The two sides also discussed Beijing’s human rights record.

• August 30, 2005

  Central Asia: Kazakhstan To Replace Uzbekistan In Gas Supplies To Kyrgyzstan

  Officials in Bishkek announced today that Kazakhstan has agreed to meet the country's natural-gas needs after Uzbekistan -- the region's largest gas supplier -- cut off some of its shipments to Kyrgyzstan amid political tensions. In the past, Tashkent has used its gas sales as a way of putting political pressure on Bishkek. As RFE/RL reports, Kyrgyz officials believe the latest decision is linked to the July evacuation to Romania of more than 400 Uzbek refugees who had fled to Kyrgyzstan following the Andijon violence last May.

• August 25, 2005

  Central Asia: Uzbek Security Service Steps Up Work In Neighboring Countries

  Two citizens of Uzbekistan were imprisoned in mid-August in neighboring Tajikistan on charges of espionage. Tajik officials say one of the men is an agent with the Uzbek security service and the other a Defense Ministry officer. There have been several cases during the past six months of Uzbeks being jailed in Tajikistan on charges of spying and "attempting to destabilize" the country. There are indications the Uzbek security service has become more active in Kygyzstan as well -- particularly in the country's south, where many Uzbeks fled after the violence in Andijon in May.

• August 22, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Samarkand Hit By Country's First Post-Andijon Protests

  Uzbek security forces in Andijon in May Two public protests broke out this weekend in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. On 20 August, demonstrators from the city outskirts blocked roads to protest the scheduled destruction of their houses. And yesterday, hundreds of merchants angrily protested a sudden decision to relocate the city's main market. As RFE/RL reports, the Samarkand protests are the first in Uzbekistan since those that ended in a violent government crackdown in Andijon in May.

• August 19, 2005

  Kazakhstan: Court Calls For Early Presidential Vote

  President Nazarbaev (file photo) Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council announced today (19 August) that the country will hold early presidential elections on 4 December. The decision puts an end to a long-standing controversy between pro-government and opposition politicians in the Central Asian nation over the timing of the vote. Observers say the decision means a likely reelection for incumbent Nursultan Nazarbaev, as it leaves potential challengers with little time to prepare.

• August 18, 2005

  Iran: Uzbek Refugees Speak Of Hard Life In Exile

  Uzbek children in Zahedan Native Uzbeks living in Iran gathered yesterday to stage protests outside a number of European embassies in the capital Tehran. Their demand -- to be granted political asylum in the West. Iran's Uzbek refugees typically fled their country in the 1990s, following a state crackdown on religious Muslims. Now, they are unable to return home, prevented by Uzbek authorities who accuse them of being members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) terrorist organization. But the refugees deny the claims, and speak only about the hardship of life in exile in Iran.

• August 11, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Authorities Intensify State Propaganda On Andijon Tragedy

  Andijon after the mid-May violence The fight for the hearts and minds of Uzbeks has intensified since the Andijon bloodshed on 13 May. The government has clamped down on independent journalists and led a campaign against foreign media for reports that contradict the official version of the events. State propaganda now seems to be getting the upper hand, with television broadcasts of so-called "documentaries" about Andijon. One of the films shows Akram Yuldoshev, whom the government accuses of founding the alleged Akramiya Islamist group. In the film, Yuldoshev admits to being behind the May unrest -- despite the fact that he has been in prison since 1999.

• August 08, 2005

  Kyrgyzstan: Separated Siamese Twins Learn To Live Independent Lives

  Zita and Gita Zita and Gita are Siamese twins born in a little village some 40 kilometers north of Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek. They were surgically separated by Russian doctors two years ago and since have lived in Moscow under constant medical observation. But this summer, Zita and Gita are briefly home again. They are visiting their parents and siblings in their native village of Zapadnyi near Bishkek.

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