According to local media reports, at least six other top officials within the state security apparatus and Interior Ministry have been sacked.
Photo: president.uz
Intrigue surrounds President Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s family in Uzbekistan following a failed assassination attempt on a former top aide, which led to a purge within the country's power ministries, The Caspian Post reports citing Eurasianet.
As is often the case in Uzbekistan’s opaque political system, most of the action is occurring behind closed doors. Thus, a precise understanding of the alignments and motivations driving recent developments is difficult to discern. Definitive answers may never be determined.
What is certain is that Mirziyoyev is carrying out a major overhaul of the State Security Service and Interior Ministry. It also appears the Defense Ministry has gained influence, while one of the president’s sons-in-law is on the outs.
Mirziyoyev issued decrees transferring Defense Minister Bahodir Kurbanov to lead the State Security Service and elevated the first deputy defense minister, Shukhrat Khalmuhamedov, to the top spot at the ministry, the EAdaily outlet reported November 25.
In a corresponding move, the president shifted the former Security Service chief, Abdusalom Azizov, to the “cadre reserve” within the secretariat of the Security Council, a possible euphemism for a dank basement cell in a secure government building, or perhaps house arrest.
According to other local media reports, at least six other top officials within the state security apparatus and Interior Ministry have been sacked. The chief of the president’s personal security detail, Alijon Ashurov, has also lost his job and an investigation into potential misdeeds is ongoing.
The chain of events that led to the purge appears to stretch back to the early September departure of a top presidential adviser, Komil Allamjonov, from Mirziyoyev’s team to pursue various business ventures. In an unusual move, the president’s eldest daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, who some observers in Tashkent suggest is being groomed to eventually succeed her father, offered public thanks for Allamjonov’s government service during the announcement that he was leaving.
Allamjonov has reportedly acted as a mentor to Mirziyoyeva in several governmental positions in recent years. Over the same timeframe, a rivalry reportedly developed behind the scenes between Allamjonov and Otabek Umarov, the husband of the president’s youngest daughter. Umarov reportedly used his high level post within the security services to establish a lucrative business network. He and Allamjonov reportedly vied for access to new ventures.
On October 26, Allamjonov, along with his driver, escaped serious injury after gunmen fired multiple shots at his vehicle. Since then, authorities have rounded up seven suspects, one of whom was extradited from South Korea. Several of the suspects had alleged underworld connections, as well as possible links to Umarov, according to an investigative report published by RFE/RL. That same report indicated that Umarov left Uzbekistan on November 23 and it remains uncertain whether he intends to return to the country or not.
Where this all leaves the relationship between the president’s two daughters is anybody’s guess. Meanwhile, Allamjonov has kept a low profile since the assassination attempt. The recent turn of events offers evidence that President Mirziyoyev is not amused.
