Uzbek President Islam Karimov dies at 78 after suffering stroke, announced the government on Friday.
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Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov has died after remaining in power for over 25 years, since it gained independence from Soviet Union in 1991.
The state TV has announced the death of President Karimov following days of unconfirmed reports suggesting that he had already died.
Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov attends a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, August 29, 2006.
Karimov’s relationship with the United States grew after the 9/11 terror attacks, when Washington was trying to gain the cooperation of countries near Afghanistan during its hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Karimov’s death leaves the future of the resource-rich country in question, said Andrey Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation.
Kamirov has been Uzbekistan’s sole leader since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, winning numerous elections, none of which have fulfilled global fairness criteria.
Instead those tipped to take over more long term in the case of Karimov’s long illness or death include Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov, Kamoliddin Rabbimov. Find us on Facebook too!
His elder daughter, Gulnara Karimova, who once dominated the business world in Uzbekistan, had lost the chance to become her father’s successor after she compared him to Stalin.
“President Karimov dedicated himself over a long period to friendly Sino-Uzbek cooperation and put painstaking efforts into developing an all-round, strategic partnership and increasing the traditional friendship between the two peoples”, Xi said.
(AP Photo). People hold flowers as they gather along the road to watch the funeral procession of President Islam Karimov in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, early Saturday, Sept. 3, 2016.
Karimov was derided by Western governments as a dictator who violated human rights, but for many people in Uzbekistan, a mainly Muslim ex-Soviet state which borders Afghanistan, he is the only head of state they have ever known.
Karimov became leader of Uzbekistan in 1989 when it was a Soviet republic, then held power with ruthless determination throughout all of Uzbekistan’s independence.
State television in the tightly-controlled nation showed soldiers loading a coffin onto a plane for what it described as Karimov’s final journey to Samarkand.
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His brutal quarter century rule earned him a reputation as one of the region’s most brutal despots who ruthlessly stamped out opposition.
