Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 28 – For the second time ever – the first was in 2022 – Uzbekistan diplomats have met with the leaders of the Karakalpak émigré opposition abroad. This time the meeting took place in Warsaw at the OSCE Human Dimension Conference 2025 and included conversations with Amanbai Sagidullayev, head of the Free Karakalpak movement.
The meeting discussed registering the party in Karakalpakistan, reviewing the cases of Karakalpak activists who have been imprisoned, ending the persecution of Karakalpak activists a broad, and continuing the investigation of the clashes that took place there in 2022 (ritmeurasia.ru/news--2025-10-28--dlja-chego-zapad-razgonjaet-karakalpakskuju-temu-v-uzbekistane-i-v-kazahstane-83658).
The meeting has received relatively little attention, and official pressure forced the Turkmenistan human rights portal to take down the text about it, removing details that it had originally provided (tmhelsinki.org/ru/article/a1745784-c52b-4981-95e3-054c12721819). Consequently, relatively little is known about the outcome of the session.
But the fact that the meeting took place is itself important. On the one hand, it strongly suggests that Tashkent is interested in finding a modus vivendi with at least some of the Karakalpak opposition. And on the other, that in turn indicates that the Karakalpak national movement is stronger than many had thought.
For background on Karakalpakistan, which occupies the impoverished western third of Uzbekistan but which in the past was part o Kazakhstan and whose opposition seeks independence, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/07/karakalpakstan-republic-with-right-to.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/07/proposed-uzbekistan-constitutional.html and windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/07/tashkent-sparks-protest-in.html.
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