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.
18 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A Bishkek court granted today a request by three Uzbeks who were seeking refugee status in Kyrgyzstan, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported.
17 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A group of Uzbeks held a peaceful protest outside the Dutch Embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran today, RFE/RL reported.
Uzbek soldiers in Andijon in May The outside world has received few accounts of life in Andijon since 12-13 May. In a series of reports broadcast on 10-12 August, RFE/RL provided a rare glimpse of the fear lurking behind the superficial normalcy that has settled over the city since the bloody events of May. Because of the fear of government reprisals, RFE/RL has concealed the identities of the people with whom it spoke.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov has been heavily criticized since the Andijon events (file photo) 13 August 2005 -- Uzbekistan deported Russian journalist Igor Rotar, who had been detained upon arriving in the country two days ago.
Uzbek refugees at their camp in Kyrgyzstan in June 12 August 2005 -- The United Nations refugee agency says it is hopeful that the 15 Uzbek asylum seekers detained in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh will be released and allowed to stay in Kyrgyzstan.
The aftermath of the Andijon violence (file photo) 12 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- The United Nations refugee agency is pressing for access to four Uzbeks who are in custody after being deported home.
Prague, 12 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- A Russian correspondent for the U.S.-based Jamestown Foundation independent think tank and the Forum 18 nongovernmental group has been detained by authorities in the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan.
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.
Uzbek troops still patrol the streets of Andijon (file photos) In the nearly three months since Andijon exploded in violence on 12-13 May, Uzbekistan has found itself at the center of a debate couched in the grand terms of great-power politics. Will President Islam Karimov be able to hold his ground? Why exactly did Karimov ask the United States to give up its air base at Karshi-Khanabad? How far will the rapprochement between Uzbekistan and Russia go? Meanwhile, daily life goes on for ordinary Uzbeks. And RFE/RL's Uzbek Service has continued to cover it.
Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan (file photo) Bishkek, 10 August 2005 (RFE/RL) -- U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Stephen Young said today that some of the duties of the U.S.- led coalition operating in Afghanistan that were previously performed at the coalition base in Uzbekistan will be transferred to the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan.
"Jadid" is the Arabic word for "new," but Jadidism was a drive for cultural and social renewal among Muslims in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Historians have taken the term "Jadidism" from usul-i jadid, meaning a "new method" of teaching in schools, yet Jadidism's significance extended far beyond education. In the part of today's Central Asia that was known administratively as Turkestan under the Russian tsars, Jadidism briefly became one of the most remarkable currents of thought in a wide-ranging debate over culture and society among the region's Muslims.
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