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February 2, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 4
Uzbek President Mirziyoyev sacks veteran security chief Inoyatov
but there is enough evidence to suggest he was driven from his post. Sometimes seen as a rival
to Mirziyoyev, Inoyatov, who is notoriously shy
of publicity, seems to have fallen victim to the president's campaign to purge officials left over from his predecessor Karimov and surround himself with his own allies. Given how many noses Mirziyoyev has put of joint with his extensive economic, human rights and media reforms in the past year, that may be a make or break ploy.
At a gathering at the SNB headquarters on January 31, the Uzbek leader harshly criticised the security service in front of a crowd made up of lawmakers, foreign diplomats as well as local and foreign journalists. Mirziyoyev’s speech also targeted other law enforcement entities alongside the SNB for having almost unlimited rights to abuse Uzbek citizens. He denounced torture and the tactics of intimidation frequently used by the Uzbek law enforcement bodies and declared that they should no longer be allowed to run wiretaps and searches without court orders.
“The [SNB] operates on the basis of a statute adopted by the government 26 years ago. We must reform this structure,” Mirziyoyev said. “It is unacceptable to arrest people on the basis of false testimonies. Until investigators can prove a person’s guilt, they should not be placed in prison,” he added.
General Prosecutor Ikhtiyor Abdullayev, 51,
a long-standing government official who once served as an adviser to Karimov, has been named as Inoyatov's successor.
End of the power struggle
Though Mirziyoyev won the battle to take the presidency, he found himself dependent on two
other members of what was an unofficial ruling trio. It is thought that political infighting became
a real problem — analysts saw the situation as akin to the power struggle that ensued following Stalin’s death in the USSR between Beria, Malenkov and Khrushchev. Inoyatov and former finance minister Rustam Azimov were seen as the two people that along with Mirziyoyev made up the ruling Uzbek triumvirate.
That interpretation was partially proven when Mirziyoyev sidelined Azimov from the ruling triumvirate. Moreover, on June 1 last year the publication of the contents of a leaked tape featuring Mirziyoyev confirmed that Azimov was under pressure. Azimov has been credited as the force behind the initial financial and economic reforms that followed Karimov’s death. The changes prompted the return of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to Uzbekistan.
The departure of Azimov left Mirziyoyev with Inoyatov as his only powerful rival. Inoyatov — who, as the son of a KGB colonel, Rasul Inoyatov, was inducted into the KGB while serving in
the Red Army during the 1976-1981 Soviet engagement in Afghanistan — was reportedly opposed to some policy changes which Mirziyoyev has brought in such as switching the embattled Uzbek currency over to a floating exchange rate regime. Critics claimed his stance was related
to the reality that representatives of the state security apparatus controlled the black market for the Uzbek currency, engaging in the manipulation of foreign exchange rates for their own profit.
The security chief’s conservative influence, nonetheless, did not get in the way of the currency liberalisation launched last September 6.
Mirziyoyev reshuffled senior security officials last September 4, sacking defence minister Qobul Berdiyev and leaving Inoyatov as the only security official left over from Karimov’s era. Mirziyoyev replaced Berdiyev with his ally Abdusalom Azizov. Berdiyev had served as Uzbekistan’s defence minister since 2008.