DISARRAY IN EGULIK'S JIZZAK BRANCH LEADS TO CLOSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 000247

SIPDIS


SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/CACEN, SA, AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/16
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL UZ
SUBJECT: DISARRAY IN EGULIK'S JIZZAK BRANCH LEADS TO CLOSURE

REF: TASHKENT 103

CLASSIFIED BY AMB. JON R. PURNELL, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).


1. (C) Summary: In December 2005, the head of the Ezgulik Human
Rights Society, Vasila Inoyatova, filed a request with Jizzak
Province registration authorities to dissolve Ezgulik's Jizzak
regional branch. As she explained to poloff, the decision was
the result of more than two years of internal conflict, which
culminated in the defection of the Jizzak branch to a rival
political party. Ezgulik's problems are symptomatic of the
larger issue of destructive rivalry in Uzbekistan's small and
dwindling human rights community. End summary.


2. (C) On January 23, Vasila Inoyatova, director of the Ezgulik
Human Rights Society, told poloff about the disarray within
Ezgulik's Jizzak regional branch that recently led her to ask
Jizzak authorities to dissolve the branch. In 2003, Ezgulik was
the second independent human rights organization registered by
the GOU. According to Inoyatova, the original head of Ezgulik's
Jizzak branch, attorney Abay Baybulatov, failed to file annual
activity reports as required by Ezgulk's charter, and he began
speaking out publicly against Inoyatova. (Note: Baybulatov has
phoned poloff on two occasions to complain that Inoyatova is a
government agent. End note.)


3. (C) According to Inoyatova, in August 2004, after other Jizzak
activists complained to Inoyatova about Baybulatov's ineffective
leadership, she authorized the members to meet and elect a new
regional coordinator. After he was ousted, Baybulatov reportedly
refused to relinquish the organization's corporate seal. (Note:
The seal is simply a stamp used to legalize documents. In
Uzbekistan, as in other former Soviet countries, an
organization's documents must be stamped with its seal in order
to have legal validity. End note.) The new coordinator, Jamshid
Mukhtarov, also failed to submit regular reports, and reportedly
complained to Inoyatova that financing from the Tashkent
headquarters was insufficient to provide him a living income. In
May 2005, according to Inoyatova, Mukhtarov went to Russia to
work and earn money for six months. With Mukhtarov absent, and
Baybulatov holding the seal, Inoyatova said, "there was no one to
defend human rights." Mukhtarov returned to Uzbekistan in
October, and reportedly refused to apply to local registration
authorities for a new corporate seal. Finally, in December,
Mukhtarov and other Ezgulik activists decided to break relations
with Inoyatova and allied with the Free Farmers Party (reftel).
(Note: Ezgulik is affiliated with the rival opposition party
Birlik.)


4. (C) Inoyatova characterized the ideological difference between
Birlik and the Free Farmers Party. She said that the Free
Farmers calls for a revolution in Uzbek society - for nothing
less than regime change - while Birlik calls for a more gradual
evolution in public attitudes toward civil society. According to
Inoyatova, the Free Farmers Party seeks to call Uzbek citizens
onto the streets in protest. Birlik, in contrast, recognizes
that opposition political forces cannot mobilize enough activists
to force change in the government, and the population as a whole
is not sufficiently politically aware to recognize and act for
change. Jamshid Mukhtarov believes Inoyatova is too reluctant to
mount open demonstrations and protest publicly against the
government, and says that his politics are more consistent with
those of the Free Farmers (reftel).


5. (C) Inoyatova said that, with Mukhtarov's rebellion, she
realized that she had irretrievably lost control over the Jizzak
branch, and she filed a request with Jizzak authorities to
formally close it. She said that Ezgulik veteran Mamarajab
Nazarov has already joined with Bakhtiyor Hamroyev, Jizzak
regional coordinator of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan,
and eight others to form an initiative group, which will soon
apply for registration as Ezgulik's new regional affiliate.
(Note: Hamroyev informed us of this group in December, as
reported reftel, but did not mention that they were seeking
Ezgulik affiliation. End note.) Inoyatova said that she has
proposed changes to the Ezgulik charter, which, in the future,
will centralize authority and prevent renegade local members from
using the Ezgulik name for their own aims. As a postscript to
Ezgulik's troubles in Jizzak, Free Farmers Party contacts phoned
the embassy on January 27 to report that Jamshid Mukhtarov has
fled Uzbekistan, presumably to apply for asylum in a neighboring
country.


6. (C) Comment: The conflict within Ezgulik is symptomatic of a
larger problem in Uzbekistan's small community of human rights
and political activists. As funding and technical support for
human rights work dwindle and government pressure on activists

TASHKENT 00000247 002 OF 002


mounts, activists have become their own worst enemy, bickering
among themselves and vying for scarce grant money. In the case
of Ezgulik, there is the additional fact that the organization is
only one of two independent human rights groups registered with
the government, and therefore able to operate legally. Those who
can claim to work on behalf of Ezgulik have at least a modicum of
legal cover for their human rights activity. This is one
explanation for the competition over the right to represent
Ezgulik in Jizzak.

PURNELL