DUSHANBE, December 25, Asia-Plus — Victory of Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan’s presidential election means that there ought not to expect any positive changes in relations between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Tajik independent expert Rustam Haidarov said in an interview with Asia-Plus, commenting on Sunday’s general election in the neighboring country.
According to him, personal ambitions of the Uzbek leader are behind all complications that are to be observed in bilateral relations between the two countries.
Commenting on the election campaign in Uzbekistan, Haidarov said that that there had been no any pre-election struggle and there had been no worthy competitors. “The election bore a strong resemblance of political show,” the expert said.
Another Tajik independent expert, Abdullo Qodiri, noted that presidential elections in Central Tajikistan were held in accordance with similar scenarios. The Uzbek presidential election’s scenario was based on clan and authoritative factor that allowed Islam Karimov to win the third term.
As far as further development of Tajik-Uzbek relations is concerned, Mr. Qodiri is optimistic of it. “The last visit of Uzbek president to Tajikistan in October to attend the CIS, EAEC and CSTO summits and repeated statements of President Emomali Rahmon about readiness for friendly dialogue are evidence of this,” Qodiri stressed.
In the meantime, Mouso Asozoda, the head of the organization of ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDPT) for Dushanbe, hailed Islam Karimov’s victory in the presidential election.
According to him, “this choice of the Uzbek people will be for good of bilateral cooperation and problems existing in relations between our countries such as visa regime and Uzbek landmines will be resolved soon.”
