Uzbekistan: Karimov Appears on TV Looking Alive

TV footage released Wednesday suggests President Islam Karimov has not been felled by a heart attack, contrary to the widely distributed claims made by one of Uzbekistan’s exiled opposition leaders. The 75-year-old Uzbek strongman was shown this evening in a televised broadcast that appeared to be shot March 27, eight days after he was rumored to have suffered the massive attack. 

On March 22 and 24, Muhammad Solih, head of the Norway-based People’s Movement of Uzbekistan, said, citing separate unnamed sources in Tashkent, that Karimov was near death. The rumor has percolated unchallenged through much of the Russian-language media in recent days. But this evening Karimov looked pretty much like he did eight days ago, last time he was on television: old, yes, but alive. 

 

State-run Yoshlar’s evening news program showed Karimov hosting Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov at his Oksaroy residence. Yesterday, Idrissov’s ministry had announced that he would be in Tashkent the following day. In the footage, Karimov wore a black suit with a red tie and appeared to speak in his usual tone and manner. The two discussed bilateral relations, with Karimov praising Kazakhstan’s relatively new initiative to conclude a treaty of strategic partnership. 

 

The report did not mention Karimov’s health, nor did it provide any reason for him to show up at the meeting. Idrissov had not been scheduled to meet Karimov, suggesting Karimov’s handlers used the relatively low-level confab to dispel the heart-attack rumor without addressing it head-on. The treaty in question, which is expected to be signed during a visit by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in June, has not long been on the agenda; further proof, some could say, that the televised images are not reruns. (Solih’s “source” had warned that the Karimov regime would run old footage of the president on television.)

Of course it’s possible Karimov had a heart attack last week and recovered. Either way, his appearance tonight could hurt Solih’s reputation, and that of the People’s Movement of Uzbekistan.

 

This isn’t the first time the Uzbek president was rumored to be in ill health. And once again, the episode reminds us that the aging Karimov, who guards his power jealously, has not publicly designated a successor.