“Society is not ready,” or why Uzbeks cannot elect heads of city administrations
25.04.2023By Alexey Volosevich,
Source: «Общество не готово», или почему узбекистанцы не могут избирать глав администраций (asiaterra.info)
The appointment of Tashkent’s new mayor Shavkat Umurzakov, so far provisional (http://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2023/03/23/umurzakov/ ), on March 23, did not arouse much interest among the citizens, who were apparently quite satisfied with the removal of Jahongir Artykhojaev, who had become a symbol of brazen and unpunished corruption. Shavkat Umurzakov, 44, who from 2013 to 2018 headed the Department for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption under the Prosecutor General’s Office, then alternately served as chairman of the board of Uzavtosanoat (Uzbek company of automotive industry) and president of the Uzbekistan Gymnastics Federation, became the acting hokim (head of administration) of the Uzbek capital. It would seem that Umurzakov’s landing as mayor of Tashkent, a city of three million people and the country’s cultural and economic center, should have been widely debated, but it wasn’t. Residents of the capital are not allowed to choose the city manager, so they have no sense of ownership of the change in its leader. With regard to the possibility of electing the local government, they, like all other Uzbeks, are defeated in their rights. And this happens for obvious reasons.
ELECTIONS ARE A “BETRAYAL”
In accordance with the law “On local state power” ( lex.uz/docs/112168 ) , hokims of regions and the capital are appointed and dismissed from their posts by the president of Uzbekistan. That is, they are his personal proteges (they must also be approved by the councils of people’s deputies, but it is clear that this procedure is purely formal). Hokims of regions, in their turn, appoint hokims of cities and districts (i.e., top-level protégés appoint others). The first president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov never explained why citizens could not elect the heads of cities and provinces, and nobody dared to demand an explanation from him.
However, in the past few years, the issue of the need to introduce electability of heads of cities, regions, and smaller municipalities began to be raised regularly, and it became an acute and urgent one.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Credit by press-office of the President
Current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev first addressed this topic back in December 2016.
“We need to think about and discuss the issue of electing local hokims directly by the people. If each region elects its own leader, we can achieve a sharp increase in the accountability of leaders to the people and society,” he said, speaking at a meeting dedicated to the 24th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution (http://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2016/12/08/hokims/ ).
The discussion, as far as we know, did not take place, but in August 2017, Mirziyoyev returned to this issue and said he was ready to introduce a system of popular election of hokims “right now.” “I want that. If [the hokim] will be elected by the people, and he will act in the interests of the people, who else does the president need? The other question is: Are the voters and those elected ready for that? Will the level of hokim to be elected match the realities of our time?” (http://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2017/08/15/hokims/)
In September 2020, Mirziyoyev once again talked about the fact that “hokims should be elected by the people. “We will definitely come to this,” the head of state promised (http://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2020/09/24/hokim/ ).
In March 2021, at an extraordinary session of the Tashkent regional kengash (council) of people’s deputies in Nurafshan (formerly Toy-Tepe), the president of Uzbekistan again addressed the issue of electing hokims.
“Much has been said about making the post of hokim an elected office. I said it myself. But there is one question: are we ready to elect a hokim now? We can’t even elect the chairman of the mahalla (neighbourhood – ed.) fairly. When we try to organize fair elections for the chairman of the mahalla, they gather crowds and try to elect their own. Isn’t it a betrayal to introduce elections in an environment that society is not ready for? It’s a real betrayal!”
“You think I don’t want that? I want it very much. And I’m well aware of that. But who are we going to elect?” – the president wondered. And he added: “But I believe that with time, of course, we will come to the election of hokims.
Thus, for many years Mirziyoyev has been touching on the possibility of electing heads of administrations in one way or another, but it’s still there. According to Article 109 of the proposed updated version of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, the President will continue to appoint and dismiss the regional hokims and Tashkent city hokims. He also reserves the right to dismiss the hokims of districts and cities in case they violate the law or commit acts that denigrate the honor and dignity of the hokim (Mening konstitutsiyam):
Para 15 of the Article 109 of the proposed updated version of the Constitution states:
« (15) Appoints and dismisses hokims of the regions and the city of Tashkent. The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan is entitled to dismiss hokims of districts and cities if they violate the Constitution and laws or commit acts denigrating the honour and dignity of a hokim»
The bottom line is that the “popularly elected” president now and in the foreseeable future denies those citizens who elected him the right to independently elect the hokims.
Old tunes about the big question
The member of the Uzbek Parliament, Rasul Kusherbayev, perhaps the only worthy parliamentarian in Uzbekistan (he resigned at the end of last year – http://gazeta.uz/ru/2022/12/25/rasul-kusherbayev/), disagreed with Mirziyoyev in February 2021 about the unreadiness of the people for the hokim elections.
«In fact, the person who says the people aren’t ready is himself afraid. Maybe they aren’t ready themselves», Kusherbayev said in an interview with the Yangiyo’lliklar TV project. ((gazeta.uz/…/2021/02/22/election-of-hokims)
According to him, the people of Uzbekistan are quite educated. “How can [the people] not be ready? How can people not have an opinion? Have they not been educated or what? Or did they come out of the jungle and know nothing? I’m sorry, but our people know how to write and read and express their opinions…”
The parliamentarian explained that for local government elections, “those who give permission are not ready.” “They may have a fear that the people may not elect the people they want,” he said.
Citizens’ reactions to Mirziyoyev’s statements also show that they think differently than the president (below are the comments under the Gazeta.uz articles):
«If our people are not ready to elect hokims, who solve the issues of one region at most, how are we trusted to elect a president who solves the issues of the whole state? »
«The people have enough brains and ability to elect their own president, so why can’t we elect a hokim for our own district? Of course, there will be problems in the beginning, but these are the problems and difficulties of growth and evolution, in any case, sooner or later we will have to go through them, I think that we should start today, because time is pressing;
«Old songs about the main thing called “The people are not ready for democracy” »;
«The people are ready to vote for the elimination of the Mahalla (neighborhood) committees as a whole, not to elect their chairmen. Absolutely useless organization. We are ready to elect Hokims. We do not need [city governors] whose “any business is good” (a statement by Jahongir Artykhojaev, who was the head of the capital’s administration – ed.), so that they do what they want and where they want, violating the law, handing out land for construction projects, conducting business in their interests, giving permits for cutting down trees, and that they get nothing for it »;
«The people are ready and this is their right, and your right and duty is to provide the people with an opportunity to exercise their right… Everything else is excuses, the people elect the president and deputies of the Oliy Majlis, and the hokims will be able to be elected even more so»;
«The people are not ready for the election of hokims, but they have been electing deputies, senators and even the president for 30 years. So it turns out that the hokim has a more responsible position than all the above? »
In May 2022 a special portal “This is my Constitution” was launched in Uzbekistan, developed by the press service of the constitutional commission. On it were published sent electronic appeals, after approval by the moderator. Uzbeks then expressed the opinion that hokims should be elected. So? Nothing, it turned out that the country’s leadership was not interested in the opinion of citizens (Выборы хокимов, смертная казнь и 8 часов работы: какие предложения выдвигают узбекистанцы по Конституции? (kun.uz)).
APPOINTED MAYORS of TASHKENT
However, let us look at the example of Tashkent, how the city governors, not elected by the unconscious people, but appointed by the first and second presidents of Uzbekistan, coped with their duties, and assess their accomplishments.
Atkhambek Fazilbekov, hokim in 1991-1993. He was an engineer-technologist by profession, worked at the porcelain factory, later became a member of the Communist Party of the Uzbek SSR. He found land to move the zoo from the center of the capital – the territory of the Tashkent Botanical Garden, a scientific institution with a rich flora collection (the move took place under the next mayor). It is hard to remember anything else about him.
Atkhambek Fazilbekov (left), 1991. Photo by R. Dzhumaniyazov
Kozim Tulyaganov (1994-2001). Before assuming the post of hokim, he worked in construction. As city mayor, he seized about 27 percent of the Tashkent Botanical Garden to move the zoo there; trees and plantations were barbarically cut down. After being removed from the administration of Tashkent, he served for a time as deputy prime minister, then as hokim of the Tashkent region. During this period, the water protection zone along the Bozsu canal, starting from the capital’s ring road, was secretly sold and developed. In 2006, Tulyaganov was fired and charged with causing economic damage on an especially large scale. That same year, the Tashkent City Criminal Court sentenced him to SUSPENDED (!) prison sentence of 20 years with one year’s probation and ordered him to return $1.3 million to the state (Мирзияев дал новую должность экс-мэру Ташкента, получившему при Каримове условный срок (ozodlik.org).
Kozim Tulyaganov
Rustam Shoabdurakhmanov (2001-2005). A professional manager, he worked as deputy hokim of Yunusabad district, then deputy hokim of Tashkent. He took up the post of mayor after the removal of his chief, Kozim Tulyaganov. It is difficult to say anything definite about him. The urban economy more or less functioned, so he was doing well. It is true that during his term as hokim an unjustified reconstruction of the city began, accompanied by the demolition of private houses and other objects (for example, the Museum of Nature), but these were the initiatives of President Karimov himself. The concealed sale of land for the construction of residential complexes began later, in 2007-2008 (http://fergananews.com/article.php?id=5749); by this time Shoabdurakhmanov had already left his position.
Rustam Shoabdurakhmanov
Abdukakhar Tukhtayev (2005-2011). He worked in the construction sector, was hokim of Shaykhantaur district, then deputy hokim of Tashkent. One of the three worst mayors of the capital (Тот самый Тухтаев, или Иногда они возвращаются (asiaterra.info)). In the memory of Tashkent citizens will always remember him for executing a mad decision to cut down the Square (11 лет назад был вырублен ташкентский Сквер (asiaterra.info)), a beautiful park with age-old trees in the center of Tashkent, in 2009, with the sole purpose of opening a view of the enormous Forums Palace, built not long ago on Islam Karimov’s order.
Procession through the cut down Square. First on the right – Rakhmonbek Usmanov, second – Abdukakhkhor Tukhtaev, gray-haired – Bakhtiyor Rakhmonov
Tukhtayev also moved the monument to the blacksmith Shamahmudov’s family, who had adopted 15 orphaned children during World War II, to a remote outskirt of the city (it was returned to its place in 2018 – Дворец и площадь Дружбы народов в Ташкенте, переименованные Каримовым, обрели свои прежние названия (asiaterra.info)). Under him, a number of markets and stores were demolished, and the owners of the destroyed retail facilities received no compensation for the destroyed property («Юбилейный» погром. Как сносили рынки в 2011 году (asiaterra.info)). Of course, the order to cut down the Square, to move the monument and the markets were not his personal intentions, and Tukhtayev spinelessly followed his boss’s orders so that he could continue to be in administrative positions.
And three years ago it became known about the decision issued by it in 2007, according to which a number of culturally valuable buildings, structures and public areas were deprived of their protected status (Что исключил из списка объектов культурного наследия бывший хоким Ташкента Абдукаххар Тухтаев (список) (asiaterra.info)). The sad list included residential houses, including those built in the 19th and early 20th centuries (the building of the Tashkent horse-tram and others), the famous house number 7 on Babur Street (Дом №7 на улице Бабура в Ташкенте окончательно признан объектом культурного наследия (asiaterra.info)), mosques (such as the mosque of Azimbai, built in 1892), bathhouses, bridges (in particular, over the Ankhor Canal), city parks (Telman Park and the park on Volgogradskaya Street), and even the Tashkent Botanical Garden. Some of the listed objects have already been demolished, such as the beautiful two-storey house on Mirabad Street (formerly Sapernaya Street) built in the 19th century, the building of the children’s bone sanatorium built in the 1930s (В Ташкенте сносят еще одно красивое здание – корпус бывшего санатория имени Крупской (asiaterra.info)), the Gulshan Park in Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent (Как украсть городской парк. В «Гульшане» началась вырубка деревьев (asiaterra.info)), and the future of other objects and territories is in question. Tukhtayev never explained the motives for his decision; but it is obvious that he was “asked” for the sake of making room for possible development.
In February 2011, Islam Karimov dismissed Tukhtayev “for inexcusable mistakes” in his management of the capital’s economy.
In 2013-2016, Tukhtaev worked as deputy head of UzLITIneftgaz. After Shavkat Mirziyoyev came to power, he was returned to the nomenclature team and sent to lead Dzhizak, and in 2017 he took the chair of the hokim of Almazar district of Tashkent. A year later, in 2018, he was promoted to Minister of Construction (and got the aforementioned Kozim Tulyaganov, whose 20-year suspended sentence had apparently already expired, as his deputy), but several years later was demoted to head of the Shaykhantaur district of Tashkent. Tukhtaev now works as a construction adviser at the Tashkent hokimiyat.
Rakhmonbek Usmanov (2012-2018). A graduate of the Tashkent Automobile and Road Institute, he began as a mechanic, rose to the position of director of the Association Toshshahartranshizmat (Urban Transport of Tashkent), was deputy hokim of Mirzo-Ulugbek district, hokim of Yakkasaray district of Tashkent and deputy hokim of Tashkent. After Tukhtaev’s dismissal, he was acting hokim of Tashkent for more than a year. He was a person ready to do whatever it took to get ahead of his superiors.
Rahmonbek Usmaov
Among Usmanov’s “achievements” was the anti-garage campaign he unleashed in 2013. On his orders, private garages were demolished in the capital, and parking lots were planned to be built in their place. After the scandal broke out the hokim’s decision was contested by the Tashkent city Prosecutor’s Office, and the demolition was stopped. As a result, the victims of the demolition were not compensated for their losses, and the parking lots were not built. In 2016, Usmanov destroyed the streetcar traffic in Tashkent that had existed for 115 years, calling it inefficient. 83.7 kilometers of streetcar tracks were dismantled. The hokim’s decision sparked an explosion of criticism in the media and on social media, with residents pointing out that it would negatively affect both the image of Central Asia’s largest city and its ecology ( В Ташкенте будет полностью ликвидировано трамвайное движение (asiaterra.info)). But the mayor, whom they did not elect, turned a deaf ear to these arguments. Usmanov was also noted for the mass felling of trees, under him there was a real hunt for plane trees, especially the larger ones (Ташкент: чинары рубят, щепки летят (currenttime.tv)).
Incidentally, it was Usmanov who at the August 31, 2016 meeting of the heads of city services came out with the false claim that Islam Karimov’s condition had stabilized after suffering a stroke and that he “even got out of bed for a short time,” although the Uzbek dictator had been dead for days (Глава ташкентской горадминистрации заявил, что Каримов жив и даже встал с постели (asiaterra.info))).
Usmanov also became famous for his proposal to anathematize through television channels those who wanted a divorce (Ташкентский градоначальник Рахмонбек Усманов грозит «доской позора» желающим развестись (asiaterra.info)). Another of his “innovations” was the order to close all cafes and restaurants in the capital in the summer of 2017, after President Mirziyoyev declared that excessive pomp at wedding events was unacceptable. Only the intervention of Mirziyoyev himself, who reversed the decision of his subordinate, saved the owners and employees of these establishments from going bankrupt and losing their jobs.
In 2017, Usmanov ordered the demolition of the most visited market in the Sergeli district of the capital, called “Novaya Yarmarka”. More than a hundred entrepreneurs who had invested in the construction and repair of stores were left without property. Now residents of a number of neighborhoods have to get to the nearest bazaar 2.5-6 kilometers away. The trashed territory was empty for several years, and then the district Prosecutor’s Office building was built on it.
Rahmonbek Usmanov was also involved in a fantastically despicable campaign to seize apartments from citizens, which were declared “brothels” for this purpose (Отъем квартир в Узбекистане. «Притоны» возле ташкентского ЦУМа (asiaterra.info)). Let me remind you that in 2014-2017, under both Karimov and Mirziyoyev, on the orders of the authorities in Uzbekistan, massive provocations were organized against citizens who rented apartments: fake tenants tried by any means, even for a few days or even hours, to get into their apartments in order to stage a “brothel” there. The latter was instantly “detected” by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, after which the apartment was declared a crime, confiscated and transferred to the district hokimiyats, and from there to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Each such case was a separately developed criminal conspiracy against a real estate owner, with a whole group of perpetrators; in total, there were thousands of similar stories; we have repeatedly told about this.
But Usmanov’s main “achievement” is the execution of Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s orders to “transfer” land plots with private houses on them to various developers, that is, making money for his master (Mirziyoyev – ed), his relatives, and those close to them by stamping decisions to transfer city territories to unknown construction firms. True, all of this appears in the documents as if Usmanov had “allocated” or “transferred” the land.
In this way, he “transferred” to a real estate developer affiliated with the government a territory in the center of Tashkent on Sadyk Azimov Street (formerly Zhukovsky Street), with the houses of the residents (the case of Olga Abdullayeva – В Ташкенте из собственного дома выбрасывают семью с несколькими детьми. Землю продал подручный Шавката Мирзиёева (asiaterra.info)). We have written about other similar cases here, here (the demolition of a 120 years old “military town” which is an ensemble of preserved buildings of the “new” Tashkent as a garrison settlement since the conquest of Central Asia by the Russian Empire in 1865, important for studying the history of urbanization of the city), here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.. It is noteworthy that all of his “transfers” that we know of took place after 2016, since the time when Mirziyoyev, with whom Usmanov has developed a special relationship, became president. The cases listed above are just a drop in the bucket; these are just the ones that we have become aware of.
After seven years as mayor of the capital, Usmanov stepped down in 2018, amid a high-profile “onion scandal. Under Mirziyoyev’s decree, the capital’s so-called “reserve fund” (ПП-3345-сон 20.10.2017. О мерах по гарантированному обеспечению населения и учреждений социальной сферы республики основными видами сельскохозяйственной продукции в зимне-весенний период 2017-2018 годов (lex.uz)). This fund was financed by the Tashkent Hokimiyat with 12.05 billion soums ($1.5 million) to buy onions, potatoes, carrots, and rice to bring down high prices during the winter-spring period, with the condition that the money be returned by June 2018. The products were purchased, but when the command was given to start selling them, it turned out that they were cheaper at private vendors. Negotiations between the market directors and the administration of the capital were difficult: it took a long time for Rakhmonbek Usmanov to respond to the request to lower the price of onions. As a result, the onions sprouted and went bad, and they had to be given away for free, posing as a “charity event” (about that here and here). State money went to waste; the blame was placed on the directors of 23 markets, who were arrested (two died after the arrest), and Usmanov lost his warm seat.
However, as a “friendly man”, he was appointed first deputy head of the Uzbek Agency of Automobile Transport. Five months later he became the new hokim of the Yunusabad district of Tashkent, in 2021 he spent several months as the deputy minister of transport of Uzbekistan, and then he turned into the deputy chairman of the “Uzbekistan Railways” company, the chief of the capital’s subway railway.
Jahongir Artykhojaev (2018-2023) whom Mirziyoyev appointed as acting hokim of Tashkent city on April 26, 2018 (И. о. хокима Ташкента стал Джахонгир Артыкходжаев – Новости Узбекистана – Газета.uz (gazeta.uz)). Artykhodjaev was the founder of Uzbekistan’s largest private holding company, Akfa Group, which consists of dozens of companies in construction and building materials production, including the holding company Artel Engineering, which makes home appliances and electronics. “For the first time in Uzbekistan’s history, I have appointed a businessman I trust as Tashkent’s hokim. This has never happened in history,” Shavkat Mirziyoyev proclaimed a few days later, addressing Turkish businessmen and bankers in Tashkent and introducing the capital’s new hokim to them ( «Впервые хокимом стал бизнесмен» — президент о хокиме Ташкента – Новости Узбекистана – Газета.uz (gazeta.uz).
Jahongir Artykhojaev
On December 21, 2018 Artykhojaev was officially approved in his position (Джахонгир Артыкходжаев назначен хокимом города Ташкента (president.uz) . He was remembered not only for the phrase about business, which had become a meme, and for the fact that under his leadership the internal roads were repaired, but also for the rampant corruption, which his boss “did not notice”. He was not just a mayor and a wealthy businessman, but an outspoken accomplice of Mirziyoyev, without whose assistance, of course, he would not have had such almost limitless opportunities. His corrupt activities were so extensive that this is the subject of another big story, so we will touch on them here as briefly as possible.
His main “success” was the construction of the largest elite development district in Uzbekistan’s history, Tashkent-City, consisting of high-rise buildings, shopping and business centers, a park, and residential complexes. According to Mirziyoyev, the project was to help attract foreign investors to Uzbekistan, which allegedly lacked exactly that. In 2017, Artykhojaev was appointed director of the SUE “Tashkent City”. On the president’s order, $1.3 billion was allocated for the project – without any public discussion – and a 70-hectare territory was set aside for construction, which had to be “cleared” of private houses and non-residential buildings, with the persistent owners evicted in 2018 with the help of the police.
Then it turned out that the market value of land in this central part of the city – in Olmazor mahalla – is about 60 thousand dollars per hundred square meters. At the same time, many of them had yards of 1000-2000 square meters, which means that if they sold their property at market value, they could get half a million and a million dollars for their plots alone. But they were forced to accept one, two, or three-room apartments which costed $20-60 thousand dollars. There was never any question of compensation at the market price – officials at once said that the land belongs to the State. Although the residents had been paying land tax for decades and had all the cadastral documents. Artykhojaev personally walked around the yards and persuaded people to move to the high-rise buildings on the outskirts of the city. Many families living in the mahalla had their land parcels seized literally for nothing, i.e. they were cynically robbed of tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
An investigation into the activities of construction companies involved in this megaproject revealed a complex chain that led to a number of organizations closely associated with the hokim of Tashkent, Jahongir Artykhojaev. He controlled the developers, which included Discover, Akfa Dream World LLC, Dream city and Real House. His own firms, at least in part, supplied the necessary materials to the construction sites, without any tenders. Not surprisingly, he and his relatives were subsequently the sole beneficiaries of a state-funded project, despite the fact that the state does not have enough money for schools, kindergartens, hospitals and cultural facilities.
Thus, in the center of the capital of Uzbekistan, on a territory in the form of a long rectangle, where one could have built a park, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has built a complex of high-rises, which nobody but himself and a bunch of developers need, forever destroying the possibility of creating a Central Park in Tashkent. And he did not even think about the fact that the accumulation of high-rise buildings will lead to traffic jams on all neighboring roads. The President of Uzbekistan intends to build such “cities”, maybe on a smaller scale, in every provincial city, and even in almost every district of Tashkent (there is no need for that, but the “sawing” of funds promises fantastic income). Read more about Tashkent-City here, here и here.
Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Jahongir Artykhojaev inspectin Tashkent-City development
Artykkhojaev’s entrepreneurial opportunities have also dramatically increased: at Mirziyoev’s request, Akfa Group products – Artel washing machines and Akfa window units – began to be installed both in multi-story residential buildings built by the government and private developers, and during their renovation, carried out by hokimiyats, on a compulsory basis, regardless of the wishes of residents themselves, as reported in December 2018 by independent publication Uzmetronom (Artel гарантировали процветание – UzMetronom.Agency). Artykhojaev’s companies began to get the largest construction projects in the city, reconstruction of streets and avenues, huge benefits and budgetary funds to support their activities, and special privileges were created for them at the legislative level. “It is quite obvious that while he is in the position of the mayor of Tashkent, dozens of companies associated with him without any tenders receive not only multimillion dollar state contracts, but also contracts worth several million dollars,” noted Kristian Lasslet, the author of several books on corruption and kleptocracy in Central Asia and Europe (www.opendemocracy.net/en/od-russia/opendemocracy-investigations/tashkent-city-project-uzbekistan-phantom-foreign-investors/).
“Few people believe that these are really his companies. It looks like he’s just a frontman, and the real owners of these assets are hiding behind him,” Farida Sharifullina, administrator of the Tashkent-SNOS group on Facebook, said of Artykhojaev (“Любая бизнес хороша”. Чем запомнился бывший мэр Ташкента Джахонгир Артыкходжаев | Новости Таджикистана ASIA-Plus (asiaplustj.info)).
In subsequent years, most of the construction in Tashkent was transferred to his companies (reportedly as many as 70), which also received plots of land in the most profitable locations. Artykhojaev’s “allocation” of urban areas to unknown one-day firms and the corrupt schemes uncovered with his participation are described here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here . All or almost all of these construction projects are financed by the government through various opaque schemes («Жителей предупреждали о сносах». Хоким Ташкента Джахонгир Артыкходжаев отреагировал на статью в The Guardian (asiaterra.info)). On the 11th block of the Yunusabad district of Tashkent, Artykhojaev sold the existing school stadium for construction.
At the same time, neither Artykhodjaev nor any of the hokims appointed by the presidents lifted a finger to somehow adapt the urban environment for the disabled, who are still unable to move around the city (about that here and here). All of these “bosses” were not elected by the citizens, so they didn’t give a damn about possible voters with disabilities. And the cutting down of trees and other greenery under Artykhodzhaev reached its climax, turning into a real ecocide. Neither Mirziyoyev’s appointee nor the president himself cared about the opinion of Tashkent residents on this matter.
In November 2022, Indian businessman Murari Lal Jalan, involved in the Minerva city, Lake city, and several other projects, told Kun.uz in a video interview that a year and a half earlier, Artykhojaev had summoned him to the hokimiyat and made an extortion proposal. “Either I had to officially refuse to implement one of my projects, such as Lake city in Bektemir district, or I had to deposit 100 million dollars in the bank,” the Indian investor said (“Ҳоким менга 2 йўл қолдирди” — Minerva City атрофида нима бўляпти? (kun.uz)).
After the article was published, the Hokimiyat announced an attempt to discredit the civil servant and announced that it was filing an application with the Prosecutor General’s Office of Uzbekistan. A few days later, the agency launched an investigation into what Murari Lal Jalan had said. Almost five months have passed since then, quite enough time to verify the extortion story
It seemed that the mutually beneficial symbiosis between Artykhojaev and Mirziyoev would exist forever, but in January 2023, the mayor of Tashkent suddenly lost his seat. The reason was the severe cold weather that caused the failure of the power system and, at the same time, the heating system of the capital. The predictions that numerous construction projects should not be “planted” on the old, Soviet-era infrastructure have come true (blogger Miraziz Bazarov wrote about this back in 2020 – Миразиз Базаров: «Цена содержания такого мэра столицы» (asiaterra.info)). Crowds began to literally storm the District Electric Grid offices, clashing with the police, and the social networks were filled with fierce scolding of Mirziyoyev, which had never happened before. Another day or two and people would have poured onto the streets, and no one knows how it would have ended. There was a storm in the air, so Mirziyoyev urgently dumped “ballast” in the form of the universally hated Artykhojaev. “I removed him from his position. I fired him for his empty words, his false report, for not coming down, for the fact that this shameless man’s feet were off the ground,” the president announced («За пустые слова и ложную сводку». Президент — о причинах увольнения хокима Ташкента – Новости Узбекистана – Газета.uz (gazeta.uz)).
Double stealing
After Artykkhojaev’s dismissal, the president reported that the number of unauthorized constructions exceeded 250 and that there was no accurate calculation of the load on the existing infrastructure when permitting construction. And he instructed the General Prosecutor’s Office and the State Security Service (GSB) to investigate the activities of Artykhojaev and the heads of the three Tashkent districts demoted to acting hokims.
Again, there is no doubt that no one will check them, this is a game for the public. The system of appointed hokims is needed to sell land, in which they perform the important function of “allocating” it. Prosecutors, judges and the government complete the appropriation process. Prosecutors and judges make all decisions in favor of government-connected developers, while the government purposefully tweak the laws to make it easier to take property from private owners (e.g., new Law #781 on 29.06.2022 “on procedures for the withdrawal of land plots for public needs with compensation”, which allows developers to throw people out of homes with the help of courts, sticking them with compensation the developer himself deems fair; – ЗРУ-781-сон 29.06.2022. О процедурах изъятия земельных участков для общественных нужд с компенсацией (lex.uz)) . The appetites of the ruling elite are vividly illustrated by the planned mega-projects like New Tashkent and New Andijan».
At the same time, the people of Tashkent are being ripped off twice. First, the city budget does not receive the equivalent of millions of dollars for the allocated land. Secondly, public spaces are stolen from the citizens, because green zones, parks, stadiums, blocks of private houses and objects of architecture are not the property of citizen Mirziyoyev and his proxies. The city is turning into an asphalt and concrete jungle (for example, on the Yunusabad residential area with a population of more than two hundred thousand people, it is already impossible to arrange a single park – everything is built up). There are no recreational areas, parks, or stadiums, because the main task of appointed hokims is to sell public spaces and transfer the money to the “right” settlement accounts.
Case in point. Since 2018, shortly after Mirziyoyev came to power, his appointees have sold almost 70 hectares of land on the territory of 198 schools in the country («Это предательство будущего». Депутат — о «продаже» хокимами земель 198 школ – Новости Узбекистана – Газета.uz (gazeta.uz)).
Hokims in Provinces
In contrast to the city hokims, the hokims in provinces are obliged to provide all possible assistance in taking land from farmers, with their subsequent transfer to clusters – private companies engaged in growing and processing agricultural products, primarily cotton. In fact, these are latifundia. With the help of his subordinate police and judges they, threatening farmers with arrests and cases, illegally break long-term lease agreements with them, so that now they have only to toil for the new owners.
The blogger Otabek Sattori devoted a series of video episodes to the criminal theft of agricultural land. In Surkhandarya province, 22,400 hectares of land were seized from 475 farmer-entrepreneurs and transferred in favor of the Surxon Cotton Textile Cluster LLC. This cluster was created in 2020 and is owned by Petromaruz Limited, whose owner is Murtazo Rakhmatov, a member of the Senate of Oliy Majlis (the upper house of parliament of Uzbekistan – ed.). He is also appointed the Chairman of the Association of Cotton Textile Clusters. Most of these farmers had long-term land leases of at least 30 years and took out large bank loans to invest in land and production. Many had contracts to supply agricultural products for export. There was no legal basis for confiscating their land, except that Surxon Cotton Textile Cluster LLC suddenly needed it.
Murtazo Rakhmatov
According to the law on agriculture, land can only be seized by court order in case of inefficient use and failure to fulfill contractual obligations within a three-year period. However, after the farmers refused to give up their land voluntarily, Interior Ministry officers were sent to assist Rakhmatov. The policemen came to each farmer individually and demanded that he write an application to voluntarily hand over his land and close his farm. When most farmers still refused to give up their land, the local administration sent tractors to destroy their crops. Otabek Satori actively supported these farmers and conducted many hours of interviews with them, and in January 2021 he began to be intimidated by the security forces, demanding that he stop doing this. And then the blogger was accused of extortion and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison (Верховный суд Узбекистана оставил в силе приговор боровшемуся с коррупцией блогеру Отабеку Саттори (asiaterra.info)).
The land grabbing in favor of clusters is also described here, here, here, here and here.
ANOTHER SERVANT
Considering the above said, it is clear that the new hokim of Tashkent got his position not for the sake of making the capital comfortable for its inhabitants. And he has confirmed it at once: of March 27, 2023, he issued the decision about creation of propaganda groups from the ranks of elders, public representatives, youth, educational, cultural, art, literary spheres and other noble persons for propaganda of the draft Constitution in updated edition, which aims “to zero out” Mirziyoyev’s presidency terms. (Хоким Ташкента утвердил создание агитационных групп для пропаганды поправок в Конституцию – Новости Узбекистана – Газета.uz (gazeta.uz)) It is noteworthy that four days later the decision was cancelled – even the authorities thought it was too much .
Shavkat Umurzakov
So, hokims in Uzbekistan are not allowed to be elected for two main reasons.
First, an elected mayor is unlikely to fulfill the president’s instructions to “allocate” land. It will be much harder to steal.
Secondly, the elected mayor will not need to participate in rigging the parliamentary and presidential elections on the territory entrusted to him: it will be expensive to get caught, and other candidates for the post will not fail to take advantage of it. This means that the very fact of his existence poses a threat of unfair elections. If he acquires popularity, he can grow into a big, recognizable politician. Heads of administrations become independent figures, usually speaking out against corruption.
That is why granting the Uzbeks the right to elect hokims is a direct threat to today’s family-clan rule. In this way the people will hopefully come to the conclusion that presidents should be elected for real, and not as they are now. Appointed hokims, as shown above, have no advantages, and elections are not allowed only to members of the Uzbek to steal from Uzbekistan and its population as long as possible, avoiding criminal responsibility for it.
Articles on the subject:
Пострадавшие от преступного отъема жилья в Ташкенте, исчерпав возможности защиты, обратились в ООН
Компания-застройщик при поддержке Мирзиёева собирается изуродовать центр Ташкента
Госактивы Узбекистана передаются компаниям, близким к руководству страны
Компания, связанная с хокимом Ташкента Артыкходжаевым, получила крупные контракты без конкурса
Американские инвесторы обвиняют мэра Ташкента в «рейдерском захвате»
Захват земли в Узбекистане. Как украсть школьный стадион
Жители бывшего «военного городка» в Ташкенте: за отъемом земли стоят Артыкходжаев, Арипов, Мирзиёев
Преступная схема. Open Democracy о градоначальнике Ташкента Джахонгире Артыкходжаеве
Ташкент вновь «трясет», или Строительно-разрушительная кампания Шавката Мирзиёева
Фиктивные иностранные инвесторы для нового открытого Узбекистана
Translated by Farida Sharifullina
