Karakalpak Protests Reflect the Shattered Promise of Mirziyoyev’s ‘New Uzbekistan’

Karakalpak Protests Reflect the Shattered Promise of Mirziyoyev’s ‘New Uzbekistan’

Subject: IR

• A proposal to downgrade the autonomous region to a province set off massive protests.
• Karakalpakstan, which constitutes approximately 40 percent of Uzbekistani territory, is an ethnically diverse region populated largely by ethnic minorities – Karakalpaks and Kazakhs
• In the Soviet period, Karakalpakstan was merged with the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, though it still remained an autonomous republic. The current version of the Uzbek Constitution states that Karakalpakstan enjoys not just political autonomy, but even rights to sovereignty and secession. The latter can be exercised by means of an independent referendum, per the constitution.
• The proposed amendments would delete the word “sovereign” when mentioning Karakalpakstan, deprive Karakalpakstan of the right to secede, and require that the Karakalpak legal documents be in line not only with the Uzbek Constitution but also with the laws of Uzbekistan.
• The ongoing protests have so far focused only on the symbolic status of Karakalpakstan. Protesters have not demanded Karakalpakstan’s actual independence, at least for now. Instead, they want a stronger commitment from Tashkent to respect the existing political arrangements and pay more attention to the region.
• More importantly, however, the protests are indicative of deeper socioeconomic problems that plague Uzbekistan. Both Karakalpakstan and other remote Uzbek provinces have been economically deprived for a long time. The ecological problems related to the Aral Sea specific to Karakalpakstan have never been resolved. The investment levels in the region remain very low, hampering economic growth. All that combined with a rapidly growing population is a recipe for a political explosion.