EURASIA INSIGHT
2/26/07
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The Uzbek government appears to be probing for a way to restore relations with the United States and European Union. Pravda Vostoka, the official mouthpiece of President Islam Karimov’s administration, recently published a commentary calling the current deep freeze in relations "beyond logic," and expressing readiness for "a dialogue with the world community’s leading countries."
Uzbekistan’s relations with the United States and EU have been severely strained since the Andijan massacre of May 2005. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Since then, official Uzbek media outlets have routinely criticized US policy, often in vitriolic terms. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. But the Uzbek government seemed to declare a sudden, and perhaps brief truce on February 22, when a commentary headlined "Uzbekistan-West: In Search of New Prospects" appeared in Pravda Vostoka.
The commentary began with an admission of the obvious: "It is no secret that the current state of relations between Uzbekistan and the leading countries of the West cannot be called normal." It went on to declare that the existing stalemate in relations does not serve the interests of Uzbekistan the United States or the EU. "In other words, the need has emerged for a common understanding of relations between [Central Asia’s] leading country, Uzbekistan, and the recognized leaders of the world community – the United States, EU and Japan," the commentary stated.
The Pravda Vostoka article went on to cite recent contacts between Western experts and officials and their Uzbek counterparts as "good signs" that a rapprochement is possible. "It is necessary to jointly think over ways for new, promising opportunities for cooperation and for modernizing traditional relations," the article stated.
The article provided no indication of whether the Uzbek government was willing to alter its hardline policies, which have led to a near-total clampdown on freedom of speech and conscience inside the Central Asian country. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. It would be diplomatically difficult for either the United States or the EU to substantively improve relations with Tashkent unless Uzbek officials took clear action to open up Uzbek society.
However, the article seemed to suggest that Washington would have to take the first step, and travel the most distance to make a rapprochement possible. It spoke of a need for US experts to "objectively understand the situation, which would allow them to efficiently take part working out short- and long-term political solutions."
Additional evidence that Uzbekistan wants a rapprochement on its own terms came on February 23, when Pravda Vostoka resumed its attacks on the United States. A commentary posted on the newspaper’s website attacked US policy toward Central Asia. It claimed that the "primary objective" of two democratization-related institutes affiliated with major US political parties – the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute – was to "gather strategic information and organize controlled conflicts outside of the United States in the interests of the White House."
Posted February 26, 2007 © Eurasianet
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