CENTRAL ASIA The coup obsession of the rulers of Central Asia

From Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan, former high-ranking political officials are being tried for high treason only for having been identified as possible alternatives to “dynastic” successions. Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, a group is being tried that allegedly “menacingly” planned to attack the presidential palace with a tractor and a cannon loaded with potato fragments.

Astana () – In times of wars and revolutions in all latitudes of the globe, Central Asia feels like the epicenter of a tornado not only Asian, but universal, and any suspicion of possible disorders is described as an “attempted coup d’état ». This allows the presidents, heirs of the Soviet satraps, to impose increasingly authoritarian and repressive policies, justifying themselves with the defense of stability and peace in the region.

In Tajikistan, a large and spectacular trial is currently taking place in which the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, the former President of the Supreme Court and several colonels of the security services, all of them representative figures, sit in the dock. certain political opposition, accused of attempting to seize power by violence, inciting national and religious hostility, various frauds and high treason. Journalists and spectators are not allowed at court sessions, and even family members have to sign a confidentiality agreement for what is called the “exemplary pillory,” organized by President Emomali Rakhmon, to prepare for the succession of his son Rustam Emomali in the presidency, according to Central Asian tradition.

In Kazakhstan, in the 30 years after the Soviet war, there have been several “quasi-revolutions”, some bordering on the absurd, and a group is currently on trial who supposedly expressed their intention to “tar Akorda with a tractor”, reducing the sumptuous palace presidential to a pile of ruins. The security services confiscated the menacing tractor along with a “potato cannon”, a tool that shoots potato fragments to scare away birds, or even for fun; In the attackers’ arsenal there was also an air rifle, a large kitchen knife and pieces of field armor. The seven suspects have been in prison since November 2022, on the eve of the presidential elections that confirmed the power of the “great successor” Kasym-Žomart Tokaev.

The country where there have been setbacks in power the most times, with alternating political-oligarchic teams, is Kyrgyzstan, where the so-called “Kempir-Abad case” has been dragging on since the end of 2022. About twenty people, including politicians, activists human rights activists and well-known publicists, are accused of treason for opposing the transfer of the important reservoir to the neighbors of Uzbekistan, a position considered “public disorder.” What was considered an “island of democracy” in Central Asia, under the presidency of Sadyr Žaparov, is increasingly adapting to the system that prevents any voice outside the chorus.

Also in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, procedures that are difficult to understand are being carried out, described as attacks on the lives of presidents and key leaders. In Tashkent, the last real coup took place in February 1999, with powerful explosions around the government palace and in the central square, which left 13 dead and 100 injured. Then-president Islam Karimov blamed these events on “religious extremists”, excluding from the country’s political life any movement that had anything to do with Islam, and guaranteed himself a quarter of a century of unchallenged power. His successor, Šavkat Mirziyoyev, has maintained the line of absolutist secularism, and lately he has also thrown into the cauldron of local mafia wars some potential opponents who endanger the “bright future” of Uzbekistan.

In 2002, Turkmenistan’s secret services claimed to have thwarted a coup attempt when gunfire attempted to disrupt the procession of President Saparmyrat Nijazov, predecessor of the current Berdymukhamedov dynasty. The then deputy prime minister Boris Šikhmuradov was charged, and 46 people were detained with him. Since then, there have been several arrests and resignations of officials, even recently, for unclear or completely non-existent reasons, under the general suspicion of “attacking the established order” of the “fathers and sons of the Turkmen homeland.” As Central Asia expert Bruce Pannier says, the classic accusation of “terrorism” has long been put aside because it “doesn’t work,” since it lacks too much credibility, while it is enough for opposition figures to come together to talk of “conspiracy and treason” against the State and its representatives, to close the doors of prisons and courts and ensure undisputed power.