Ever since the president of Uzbekistan’s prodigal eldest daughter, Gulnara Karimova, fell from grace into house arrest on various corruption-related charges, the would-be power player has disappeared from social media.
Her place has been taken, albeit in less demonstrative fashion, but her more subdued sibling, who goes by the married double-barreled name Lola Karimova-Tillayeva.
Karimova-Tillayeva’s latest outing on Instagram, which is also the favored channel of communication of Chechen tough guy leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has set tongues wagging with denials that she could one day pursue a bid for power. Gulnara was often linked with possible succession to her father, Islam Karimov, so when she fell out of the running, some of that speculation was transferred to Lola.
But Lola poured scorn on that line of thinking in a caustically formulated Instagram posting.
“I formulated my attitude to power when I was still a child. I will try to explain this in a way that is short and clear. There are certain primitive people that are certain that power can make anybody happy or that power is the source of absolute pleasure,” Lola wrote on her Instagram account on October 30. “People with such a mindset cannot even cope with a small amount of power, and use it inappropriately, causing great harm to people and the work they are meant to be performing.”
Such inadequate people are commonplace, Lola wrote, omitting for some reason to give any specific examples.
The post continues for some while in a vein that may or may not be intended as a pop at Gulnara, with whom Lola is known to have frosty relations.
In one important passage, however, she reveals that she has no plans to “change her life and work in state management bodies or become a civil servant.”
The assertion is a fairly clear statement of disavowal of power and to the post now occupied for a quarter of a century by her father.
There is more than a hint of disingenuousness about the stated desire not to be a government servant. As Lola’s own official website reveals, she has served as Uzbekistan’s ambassador to UNESCO since January 2008, which has enabled her to not only promote “inter-cultural dialogue,” but also live in Geneva under the cover of diplomatic status.
Hidebound cynics observing Lola’s cruise through a life of luxury have suggested her primary goal has lain in the acquisition of lucre, which they say has been greatly simplified by her access to people with power.
Moscow-based news agency Ferghana reported in 2010 that prosecutors had opened a criminal case against the managers of a major wholesale market company.
The website speculated that targeting that company might have been intended to boost the fortunes of Tillayeva-Karimova’s own Abu-Sahiy consumer goods market and facilitate the takeover of a troublesome rival.
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