Nowadays, Central Asia can be considered as the "Heartland", that is to say the center of geopolitical positioning, given the abundance of natural resources in the region. Indeed this area, particularly Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, benefits from oil and natural gas reserves among the largest in the world, which explains the timorous attitude of Western countries toward Central Asian leaders. As we will study later on, the perspectives of human rights in the region are not as promising as those of the economy. From the tsarist conquest to the setting up of the Soviet regime, Central Asian people have submitted to strong powers. Gorbatchev's perestroika and then the collapse of the Soviet Union which led to the independence of the five former Soviet Republics gave big hopes to the population of this region.
Keywords: Bloodbath, Censorship, Constitution, Cult, Democracy, Jail, Opposition, Repression, Torture, Uprising
[...] Formers Soviet republics of Central Asia constantly deny these accusations. Concerning the case of opponents murders, like that of Altynbek Sarsenbaiuly, independent media protested against an unfair trail, a biased justice. The last example is the method employed by the Uzbek police in Andijan uprising. The authorities did not hesitate to shoot the demonstrator, which remind us the dark episode of the Tiananmen Square in China. In scale, the events bear comparison with that of Beijing in 1989, the example which is the most frequently used to express the State repression. [...]
[...] Quotation: “Karimov had already ratcheted up the repression in the wake of the so- called Rose and Orange Revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, former Soviet republics where public demonstrations helped usher in democratically elected governments; he didn't want their freedom fever to spread to his land” (from “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, Time Asia, 2006-07-30). Translation of the quotation: “Karimov avait déjà renforcé la répression suite aux prétendus Révolutions Rose et Orange en Géorgie et en Ukraine, ancienne républiques soviétiques où des manifestations ont aidé à mettre en place des gouvernements élus démocratiquement; il ne voulait pas que leur fièvre de liberté s'étende sur ses terres.” Torture Definition: Grammatical label: Noun Meaning in the text: Torturing; infliction of severe bodily or mental suffering. [...]
[...] In reality, a woman approached him at a bus stop and put some banknotes in his pocket, that he directly rejected throwing them on the ground. Police arrested him a few seconds later. A court in Jizak sentenced him to six years in prison before he was freed without explanation a month later. These few examples and the others given above hide a long list of unfair arrests or cases behind them and are a proof that the Central Asian governments' methods are directly inspired from those of the former Soviet era. [...]
[...] Quotation: “Unemployment is now rampant in Central Asia; poverty, censorship and government repression are the norm.” (from “Meet the Stans”, BBC News, 2003- 09-29) Translation of the quotation: chômage est maintenant endémique en Asie Centrale; la pauvreté, la censure et la répression exercée par le gouvernement sont la norme.” Constitution Definition: Grammatical label: Noun Meaning in the text: The system of fundamental laws and principles that prescribes the nature, functions, and limits of a government or another institution. Other meanings: - The act or process of composing, setting up, or establishing. [...]
[...] The recent death of Turkmenistan's former autocratic leader during the conception of this report, on December 21st, could have been probably a turnover for democracy in the whole area as Saparmurat Niyazov's state was the most tightly-controlled in Central Asia. On the contrary, its successor, Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, became president, thanks to an orchestrated election, a tradition in the region. I. A region characterised by tightly-controlled states More than fifteen years after the 1991 turning point, the organisation of Central Asian republics on the political level is still strongly influenced by that of the Soviet era. [...]
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