Uzbekistan's elite infighting turns Shakespearean
Assassination attempts, gangland links, family infighting. Uzbekistan's unfolding political soap opera has it all
Uzbekistan likes its political dramas Shakespearean.
And the events of the past few weeks have fit the bill perfectly.
The action revolves around four main characters: President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, his eldest daughter and senior aide, Saida Mirziyoyeva, her close ally, Komil Allamjonov, and Mirziyoyev’s son-in-law, Otabek Umarov.
The prelude was in late September, when Allamjonov was released from his position as head of the Information Policy Department in the presidential administration. An official statement described this development as the result of Allamjonov “transitioning to another job.”
It was obvious, however, that Allamjonov had been pushed. One moment he had the president’s ear – the next he was a regular citizen out of government service.
Speculation was rife that his mounting influence and public visibility had irked rivals within the elite. Or one rival in particular: Umarov, the deputy head of Mirziyoyev’s security detail and the husband of another of the president’s daughters, Shahnoza.
As he braced to wander off into the sunset, Allamjonov received a useful valediction. In an exchange that was filmed and posted on Instagram, Saida Mirziyoyeva hailed the outgoing presidential aide for all his hard work.
“Komil Ismoilovich, may we express our deep gratitude for your dedicated service and professionalism. May luck accompany you in all your future endeavours,” Mirziyoyeva tells a vigorously nodding and smiling Allamjonov.
And he certainly was lucky.
The next time Allamjonov’s name made the headlines was on October 26, when gunmen sprayed the car in which he was travelling with a hail of bullets. If the attackers hoped to kill him, they failed.
It was a brazen attack. And the timing, just one day before the country was to go to the polls to elect members of parliament, made it all the more alarming for a regime anxious to project an image of total control.
Shocking as the attempted murder was, local media paid it only cursory attention. The press in Uzbekistan is closely monitored and routinely given explicit instructions on what constitutes suitable fodder for in-depth coverage, and what does not. This unfolding saga clearly fell in the latter category. Reporting was mostly limited to the initial incident itself and the subsequent arrest of a few suspects.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Uzbek service, Ozodlik, is not bound by this arrangement, however. Within days, they produced a striking report alleging that suspects detained in connection with the attack on Allamjonov were linked to other gangland-style hits overseas, including in Turkey. One suspect, Shokhrukh Ahmedov, had previously been accused of involvement in a plot to murder a critic of Chechen despot Ramzan Kadyrov. He was arrested over that case, but somehow managed to avoid trial and was released.
But the senior figure in this alleged conspiracy is Javlon Yunusov, whom Ozodlik describes as a man deeply implicated in the Uzbek criminal underworld and with links to the country’s elite. His most important relationship is allegedly that he enjoys with Umarov, the presidential son-in-law.
Following the attack on Allamjonov, Yunusov was arrested in South Korea, where he has significant business interests, and deported back to his home country.
To bolster its case of an Umarov connection, Ozodlik notes that Yunusov is understood to be the common-law husband of one Natalia Fen, who is in turn reputed to have both personal and professional ties to Shahnoza Mirziyoyeva.
The Uzbek authorities did not bother denying any of this, which was as good as a confirmation of the claims.
The sense that something was rotten in the state of Uzbekistan was only compounded when senior security officials started losing their jobs.
On Saturday, Abdusalom Azizov was fired as the head of the State Security Service, the successor agency to the KGB. All of sudden, a swathe of local media outlets became emboldened to cite the Allamjonov attack as the likely trigger for this dismissal.
Azizov probably will not be sleeping well. If it is found he was in any way implicated in or negligent over the Allamjonov affair, the consequences may be grim. His predecessor, Ikhtiyor Abdullayev, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in September 2019 amid allegations that he was tapping the phone conversations of Mirziyoyev and his family.
Other fresh casualties are Alijon Ashurov, who has been fired from his post as head of the internal security department of the State Security Service. On the same day, his brother, Sarvar, was sacked from his job as head of Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov’s office. Several top-ranking police commanders have likewise got the chop. Again, media are stating outright that all this reshuffling is Allamjonov-related.
Things are looking dismal for Umarov too, if Ozodlik’s reporting is accurate. It has reported that he has lost his job as de facto overseer of Mirziyoyev’s praetorian guard and instead named first deputy chairman of Uzbekistan's National Olympic Committee. This is patently a form of internal exile.
Umarov’s loss is surely Saida Mirziyoyeva’s gain.
Far from suffering adverse consequences from publicly endorsing Allamjonov just as he was being pushed out of the presidential administration, she now appears virtuous for her loyalty and above-board conduct.
The muted talk of her one day possibly succeeding her father will now doubtless grow louder.