By: Alexander Kim, The Jamestown Foundation
The foreign ministers of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry at the C5+1 meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan (Source: State.gov)
On November 1, the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, hosted the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian republics, who met together with US Secretary of State John Kerry in the newly introduced C5+1 format (Rpg15.wordpress.com, November 1).
When I first saw the picture of little Aylan Kurdi lying face down on the sand, I thought for a moment he was sleeping. A friend had shared it on Facebook and the accompanying caption was in Greek, so I did not grasp the gravity of the image straight away. I went back to work – the tedious but necessary job of editing the footnotes of my dissertation – and forgot for a few hours about the little boy lying on the wet sand of a Turkish beach.
In the evening, relaxing after a gym session, I opened the Independent website for my daily dose of news and saw the photograph again. Before I could make out the words in the headline, the images hit me with full force: several shots of the tiny body in wet clothes lying lifeless on the beach, the grim-faced Turkish official standing by, then carrying the body away. I don’t remember how long I sat there, tears welling up in my eyes. Nothing broke the silence of my currently solitary room – I might have sat in that state, motionless, for two minutes or twenty. The photographs did something to me that I still cannot understand; it feels as if the great world that surrounds me lost its relevance and meaning in one instant. Having seen many heart-rending images due to the nature of my research, I believed I had developed a kind of immunity against any representation of violence. Aylan Kurdi’s last photographs showed how wrong I had been.
MOSCOW, March 20 (RAPSI) – Uzbek police have arrested three Russians for creating and maintaining a religious sect, RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing a spokesman of the Uzbek Interior Ministry.
The police closed down the sect called the “House of the Initially Divine Father” (DIVO) and arrested 48 of its active members, including the three Russians, the ministry spokesman said. The arrested had DVD disks, memory sticks and laptop computers containing religious texts.
Eurasia.net: Russia is disappointed in the unwillingness of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to cooperate with its collective security bloc, and considers Iran to be a model those countries could follow, a senior Russian security official has said.
In the evening of March 10 in Tashkent, a prominent scientist of the Islamic world, the famous ulama Shaykh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf died of a heart attack.
Sheikh Muhammad Sadiq Muhammad Yusuf was born on April 15, 1952 in Bulakbash district of Andijan region.
Pro-Karimov parties join forces ahead of presidential vote
Two of Uzbekistan’s leading political parties have formed a new coalition, the Bloc of Democratic Forces, that gives them a majority in the 150-seat parliament.
Representatives of the Liberal Democratic and National Revival parties announced the formation of the new group on Saturday, UzDaily reports. Continue reading
Three New York City men were arrested today on charges they allegedly conspired to join ISIS in Syria, while also trying to carry out attacks on the terror group’s behalf in the United States, the authorities said.
The men had planned to travel to the Middle East and had also pledged to launch attacks in this country, including one on President Obama or planting a bomb in Coney Island, Brooklyn, federal officials said.
Federal officials said Akhror Saidakhmetov, 19, was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where he was attempting to board a flight to Istanbul.
Abdurasul Hasanovich Juraboev, 24, had a plane ticket to travel to Turkey sometime next month. He was arrested in Brooklyn, according to the feds.
Abror Habibov, 30, a third man, is accused of helping fund Saidakhmetov’s efforts, authorities said. He was arrested in Florida.
The arrests came as FBI Director James Comey spoke today about how ISIS, also known as ISIL, is recruiting members through its use of social media and propaganda.
“ISIL in particular, is putting out a siren song through their slick propaganda through social media that goes like this: ‘Troubled soul, come to the caliphate, you will live a life of glory, these are the apocalyptic end times, you will find a life of meaning here fighting for our so-called caliphate and if you can’t come, kill somebody where you are.” That is a message that goes out to troubled souls everywhere,” he said.
In August 2014, Juraboev allegedly posted this message on an Uzbek-language site of ISIS: “I am in USA now. … But is it possible to commit ourselves as dedicated martyrs anyway while here? What I’m saying is, to shoot Obama and then get shot ourselves, will it do? That will strike fear in the hearts of infidels,” according to the criminal complaint.
A week later, the FBI met with Juraboev twice. He allegedly told them that he believes in ISIS’ terrorist agenda and that he would like to go to Syria to fight with ISIS “if Allah wills,” authorities said.
He also told them he would harm Obama if he could, based on president’s role in killing Muslims, his support for Israel and recent bombings of ISIS. Juraboev allegedly said he didn’t have an imminent plan to harm Obama, but that if anyone within ISIS told him to, he would, authorities said.
Undercover FBI agents had twice met with Juraboev, where he again professed his loyalty to ISIS and repeated his claims that he would kill the president should the terror group ask him to, authorities said.
“ISIL calls on its followers to come fight for the terrorist organization in Syria, and in messages to followers outside Syria, ISIL has called on them to attack police, intelligence officers or the military in their home countries including the United States,” said NYPD Police Commissioner Bill Bratton. “By pledging allegiance to ISIL, these defendants conspired to fight for a designated foreign terrorist organization either in Syria, or even New York.”
In one November 2014 discussion, Saidakhmetov allegedly suggested he join the U.S. military so he could pass military information to ISIS -– and if his plan ever fell apart, he could open fire on American soldiers, according to the charging documents.
And then just last month, Saidakhmetov said he could buy a machine gun and “shoot all police” before “go[ing] to the FBI headquarters” to “kill the FBI people,” authorities said.
“It was made quite plain based on those statements that if they were not able to go [to Syria or Iraq], that they would seek to acquire weapons here .. and seek to attack,” Bratton said. “Those aspirations were made quite clear.”
Nevertheless, by that time, Saidakhmetov and Juraboev had purchased tickets to fly to Turkey, a known destination point for those looking to sneak into Syria, the charging documents say.
“The defendants looked to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, by flying to Turkey in a vain attempt to evade detection. And several of the defendants planned to commit acts of terror here — in America — if they could not travel, to include killing FBI agents,” added FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Diego Rodriguez. “The defendants violated the true tenants of their faith in pursuit of their radical, violent agenda. We rely on help from the community, the public and religious leaders to be mindful of those who could be radicalized. We cannot do this alone.”
Saidakhmetov is a Brooklyn, N.Y., resident and citizen of Kazakhstan. Juraboev and Habibov also live Brooklyn and are citizens of Uzbekistan.
The men have been charged with attempt and conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization.
Habibov was arraigned this afternoon in Jacksonville, Florida. His alleged accomplices appeared in federal court in Brooklyn. All three were detained.
Adam Perlmutter, a defense attorney for Saidakhmetov, said, “It is my hope that in America that the presumption of innocence still holds and added that the “U.S. government needs to find another way to approach Muslim men who could be radicalized.”
If convicted, the men each face a maximum sentence of 15 years behind bars.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan says on its website: measures are being taken to improve the skills of specialists of economic institutions of the Republic (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Central Bank) in educational institutions of the IMF. Russian economic analyst in his article unmasks the real agenda and methods of the IMF and World Bank. Continue reading
Candidate for President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov met voters in Kashkadarya region.
In his program he stressed on importance of consistency in further continuation of the large-scale socio-economic reforms and steady increase of incomes and quality of life Continue reading
На русском
Uzbekistan on political map today 