Ferghana.Ru, Tashkent, 20 Jan 2009 – A group of Uzbek opposition activists presenting themselves as “representatives of democratic organizations” that operate in Uzbekistan and abroad issued a statement condemning Radio Ozodlik (RLE/RF Uzbek Service). Copies of the statement were mailed to the US Congress, its International Directorate of Funding of Broadcasts, and RFE\RL director. Some Uzbek web-sites of the opposition posted the text of the document.
Authors of the statement accuse some Radio Ozodlik personnel of partiality. They believe that Radio Ozodlik highlights activities of the opposition insufficiently and distorts them whenever it does. As a result, “… the audience is conditioned into forming a wholly wrong opinion of the democratic forces of Uzbekistan.”
Signatories claim that Radio Ozodlik became a mouthpiece of Erk, a party of the opposition headed by Muhammed Salikh. They maintain that the Babajanovs, brothers working for Radio Ozodlik, anonymously post their pieces on web site Ponauz.info they own.
“The web site in question hails Erk and its leader Mukhammad Salikh. Condemning every critic of the party and its leader, chekist Ikram Yakubov accuses opposition members of collaboration with the National Security Service,” the statement read. “The Babajanovs meanwhile broadcast exactly these materials, which is suspicious.”
The statement bears the signatures of poet and dissenter Dadakhon Khasanov, human rights activists Rafuk Ganiyev, Nuriddin Nizamuddinov, Jakhangir Mamatov, Bakhodir Chariyev, Ismail Dadajanov, Vasila Inoyatova, Mukhiddin Kurbanov, Khotam Khojimatov, and Abdukadyr Nazarov.
Erk activist Pirmuhammed Kholmuhammed living in Turkey claims in the meantime that Radio Ozodlik’s contribution to advancement of freedom of thought in Uzbekistan over the last two decades cannot be overestimated.
“Radio Ozodlikl is playing an increasingly more important part. Journalists referred to in the statement are among the most active in subjecting Karimov’s regime to repeated blows.” Kholmuhammed said. “Radio Ozodlik is an efficient tool in our struggle with the dictatorship nowadays. No wonder the government opened the second front against it. This provocation (a reference to the statement – Ferghana.Ru) is a thrust at Radio Ozodlik and at the Uzbek people.”
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