OLITICAL SITUATION-CENTRAL ASIA.
Page 2(5).

II - Nationalism and democracy

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union and the creation of the CIS, the transfer of power in the Central Asian republics and Kazakstan has gone relatively smoothly. The first secretaries of the Central Committees of the Communist Parties have become chairmen of Supreme Soviets and presidents everywhere apart from in Kirghizia. The latter were at first actually simply renamed, and part of the ruling party apparatus took up similar posts in the administration. It is an entirely valid suggestion that one of the fundamental reasons for the prompt refusal of the leaders of these republics to honour the Novo-Ogarevsky agreements and sign a Union agreement following the August coup was not the worry of 'orders from Moscow', but fear of the widespread influence of the victorious democratic movement on Central Asia.

The relative stability of the party structures in most Central Asian republics is due to the fact that they have long been merging with an increasingly strong, clan-like tribal leadership (who survived local socialism) and with an official Islamic hierarchy. During 1991 this distinctive feature of the leading hierarchy enabled the energetic Presidents Nazarbayev of Kazakstan, Karimov of Uzbekistan and Niyazov of Turkmenistan to carry out the first stage of economic and administrative reforms.

Roots of opposition

However, as early as the beginning of 1992 the governments and even the presidential powers in these republics had started to encounter growing opposition from three quarters:

1. The party administration organs in districts and regions started to hold back the implementation of reforms, first and foremost in agriculture.

2. Nationalist groups increased the pressure, demanding a further weakening of ties with the CIS, a show of greater independence, the expulsion of troops under Russian sovereignty, and seeking to convert all official documentation, and teaching materials in the republics' schools and further education establishments to the state language, i.e., the national language. Things went so far that the nationalist organizations in Kazakstan, among them the well-known 'Zheltoksan' ('December') party named after the events of December 1986, openly accused even as authoritative a president as Nazarbayev of belittling national worth by his agreement, during a visit to Washington, to transfer strategic weapons onto Russian soil. This, they said, diminished the republic's authority and weakened her security in the face of - the Chinese threat!

The essential fact is that part of Kazakhstan's nationalist circles see their republic as the original 'older brother' of Central Asian nations, who must represent their interests in the CIS and even in the UN. In their opinion, this position was strengthened by the presence of strategic weapons. In these circles Nazarbayev is also criticised for what are perceived as his unnecessarily close relations with Moscow. In Alma-Ata President Yeltsin of Russia's statements on possible territorial claims on Kazakstan have not been forgotten (this concerns the Eastern Kazakstan district, which is a genuine treasure trove belonging not only to the republic but to the whole CIS. It is ethnically and geologically a veritable continuation of Altai.) This charge is particularly serious in that, as is generally known, Kazakhs make up only 40 per cent of the republic's population.

Such circles criticize Nazarbayev further for spending an unnecessary amount of time on foreign politics at the expense of internal issues, and the fact that he has opened the doors too wide to foreign capital. There are louder and louder criticisms of the fact that in the name of improving relations with China and benefiting from Chinese support in Asia and in the Security Council, Nazarbayev has betrayed the interests of 'Muslim brothers' - the Uigurs, Kazakhs and Xinjiang Kirgiz. Attacks by nationalist circles have become so acute that at the end of May 1992 Khasen Kozhakhmetov, leader of the Zheltoksan party, was arrested for a period on Nazarbayev's decree.

The Uzbek nationalist groups blame President Karimov for the slow introduction of the Uzbek language into the administration system and, especially, the republic's education system, and for insufficient support of the process of Islamisation. For this reason, as of June 1992 Karimov gave instructions for all documentation and the lion's share of education to be converted into Uzbek over the course of the year. Having reached the point where Russian road signs, not only in regional and district centers, but also in Tashkent, were torn down. The same measure was taken in Tashkent's metro system; even trading was subject to Uzbekisation. In order to refute accusations of insufficient support for Islam, President Karimov was the first of the Central Asian republic presidents to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

President Akayev of Kirghizia has also come under increasingly strong attacks from nationalist circles; he has been openly accused of trying to subject the country and its culture to forcible 'Westernisation'. Akayev has not been forgiven for vetoing the resolution of the Supreme Soviet decreeing the transfer of all land to Kirgiz only.

The democratic camp is gradually gathering strength and mounting stronger attacks on the governments and presidential powers in these republics. Following a brief lull, the bitter conflict between the president and the popular Birlik movement began again in Uzbekistan.

The republic's democratic camp is not united. In the autumn of 1991 the Birlik party split from the Birlik movement, whose leaders claimed that its membership ran to more than 300 thousand, and President Karimov then made contact with the leadership of the new party. However, today, both parts of the democratic front have found themselves in bitter conflict with presidency power. The Birlik party was refused registration and the right to publish its own newspaper (it is semi-officially published in Moscow). In May-June 1992 several of Birlik's leaders were repeatedly summoned to the Procurator's office and placed under temporary arrest. Attempts are under way to found a united democratic front, which accuses the republic's leadership of trying to create a personality cult around the president.

Maneuvering and seeking to divide the opposition, the republic's leadership granted an amnesty not only to those convicted in the famous 'cotton' and 'bribery' trials but also to the notorious bandit Odilov; furthermore, it was decided unexpectedly at a high republican level to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the birth of S. Rashidov.

At the beginning of 1992 a democratic movement emerged in Turkmenistan, where the population almost unanimously supports President Niyazov, judging by the results of the presidential elections held at the end of June. According to D. Khadzhi-Mukhamed, chairman of the Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, a personality cult is growing up around Niyazov, fuelled by excessive eulogies to him in the press, which compare him not only to Kemal Ataturk but also the Prophet himself.

Democratic congress

In these conditions the first Democratic Congress of the Central Asian Republics and Kazakstan in all the thousands of years of history of the area took place during 30-31 May 1992 in Bishkek. Taking part were representatives of the nationalist-democratic forces of the regional republics, with the exception of Tajikistan, where a real civil war is going on, and Kazakstan, where, as has already been noted, the Zheltoksan party leader was arrested literally on the eve of the congress, leading to fiery disputes in the republic.

At Democratic Congress meetings the problems of consolidating nationalist-democratic forces in the area were discussed. One of the most serious threats was observed to be the growth in the danger of separatism. In connection with this the situation in Tajikistan was discussed in detail, where already then the conflict between North and South had started intensifying - between the population and in particular the party-clan-tribal groups of the Leninabad district, and especially the party-clan-tribal groups of the Kurgan-Tyubin district, which is on the border with Afghanistan. At the end of June and the beginning of July this conflict spilled over into a bloody civil war.

The growth of separatist tendencies between Northern and Southern Kirghizia led to a conflict during talks on republican symbolism at sessions of the Supreme Soviet.

At Democratic Congress conferences a lot of time was spent discussing the problems of the army. Relations with troops billeted on Central Asian territory and coming under the authority of the United Command of the Armed Forces of the CIS, or under Russian sovereignty, are uneven. The leaders of Kazakstan and Uzbekistan have announced the creation of their own armies. Turkmenistan has signed an agreement with Russia on joint leadership of armed forces based on her territory. A. Akayev declared that Kirghizia in general does not need a regular army. However, the presence of troops in this same republic has put the whole area on its guard. On 14 May the Officers' Union, set up in Bishkek for officers entering troops placed in the republic and subordinate to United Command, addressed the President and Kirghizia parliament with a range of political and social demands: to introduce Russian as the second state language, dual citizenship, proportional representation in the leadership for all nationalities residing in Kirghizia, and free privatization of soldiers' flats. These demands shocked not only the Kirgiz authorities, for there were fears that they could detonate further conflicts. Participants at the Democratic Congress underlined in their statement of 3 May that the army could become an additional source of trouble in the area.

Taking into account the complicated socio-political circumstances in Central Asia, the growing threat of nationalist forces, separatism, religious fundamentalism, the increasing danger of reaction and the possibility of armed conflicts, participants in the Democratic Congress decided to found a Co-ordinated Congress Center, which will be set up in Bishkek.