[Schwartz] א - Bukharan Jews support Karimov

Mr. J. Gajendra Singh has written a massive in-depth editorial entitled, After Non-Franchised Andijan Uprising East Closes Ranks for al-Jazeera Online. His editorial covers everything from the dusty history of Uzbekistan's Soviet era to the recent intrigues of the People's Republic of China and Afghan narco-traffickers (lions and tigers and bears, oh my!)

Mr. Singh has a curious section about Bukharan Jewish émigrés in the Big Apple:

Curiously [the] majority of [the] 40,000-strong Bukharan Jews in the New York, who immigrated in early 1990s, maintained their support for Islam Karimov. Many said that the United States should stand by Karimov, otherwise Islamists might take over the country and persecute the estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Jews still there. But they added that Karimov must allow more democracy and economic liberalization.

Rafael Nektalov, editor-in-chief of the community’s Bukharian Times, who was in Uzbekistan last week, said the Jews he met were calm and maintained staunch support for Karimov — a position he shared. “I think the U.S. must support Karimov at this moment,” he said. “Do people who call for a new regime in Uzbekistan really think those who carried out the uprising and prison break in Andijan are humanitarians who would govern democratically if they ever take power?”

But some like David and Sarah Tamayev [who moved to the USA 16 years ago from Bukhara and visited their hometown two years ago], disagreed. “We found that things were so bad economically in Bukhara that almost the entire male population of the city was away working in Russia in order to help their families survive,” “Karimov is guilty of creating a situation where people have nothing to eat. Karimov’s rule is good only for his relatives. The vast majority endure terrible poverty.” But they agreed that if Karimov falls, there might be a takeover by Islamic extremists. “Perhaps the U.S. should not try to push Karimov out, but we certainly should be pressing him to reform the system and allow democracy.” [my link inserts]

Thanks to Nathan Hamm over at The Registan for alerting me to this.