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Uzbek Leader Has Died

By VOA News September 02, 2016

The Uzbekistan government and parliament announced the death of President Islam Karimov in a joint statement Friday, September 2.

Karimov, 78, will be buried on September 3 in his hometown of Samarkand, the statement said.

Karimov's daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillayeva, commented on Facebook and Instagram about her father's death. "He has left us... I am picking my words and cannot believe it... We are from God and to Him shall we return. May God show His mercy to him," she said.

Funeral

Earlier Friday, before the official announcement from Uzbekistan, Turkey's Prime Minister Binali Yildirim expressed his condolences to the government and the people of Uzbekistan during a televised meeting with his cabinet.

"Uzbek President Islam Karimov has passed away," he announced. " May God's mercy be upon him, as the Turkish Republic we are sharing the pain and sorrow of Uzbek people."

The Russian Fergana International Information Agency reported earlier that funeral arrangements were being made in Samarkand.

Karimov has been an authoritarian ruler of the Central Asia nation for more than a quarter of a century. He suppressed the opposition and did not designate a successor.

Rights situation unlikely to improve

Rights group Amnesty International said in a statement Friday that with the death of Karimov, Uzbekistan's repressive regime is unlikely to change.

"Islam Karimov's death marks the end of an era in Uzbekistan, but almost certainly not of the pattern of grave human rights abuses. His successor is likely to come from Karimov's closest circle, where dissenting minds have never been tolerated," said Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia Denis Krivosheev.

US reaction

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Central Asia Daniel Rosenblum said in an interview with VOA Uzbek Service that the U.S. considers itself a friend of Uzbekistan and the people of Uzbekistan and "supports the country's independence and its sovereignty, and will continue to develop that friendship under any scenario.

VOA's Uzbek Service contributed to this report