BREAKING: UZBEK PRESIDENT, KARIMOV IS DEAD---DIPLOMATIC SOURCES

Three diplomatic sourc­es on Friday in a report in Tashkent confirmed the death of 78 years old, Uz­bek President, Islam Karimov, after suffering a stroke. The Uzbek government did not immediately confirm the reports, but agreed that the health of Karimov, who has been in hospital since last Saturday, had sharply deteri­orated. Karimov was long criticised by the West and human rights groups for his authoritarian style of leadership,
Karimov had ruled Uzbekistan since 1989, first as the head of the local Communist Party and then as president of the new­ly independent republic from 1991.
Meanwhile, critics said that Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, became the first for­eign leader to offer condolenc­es over the death of Karimov, whose former Soviet republic has close ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey. They said that Karimov did not designate a successor and said that the transition of pow­er is likely to be decided be­hind closed doors by a small group of senior officials and family members. ``If they fail to agree on a compromise, however, open confrontation could destabi­lise Uzbekistan, which shares a border with Afghanistan and has become a target for Islam­ist militants. They said that a hint at suc­cessor may come with the gov­ernment’s announcement of his death, ``The funeral appeared like­ly to take place in Karimov’s hometown of Samarkand, where his mother and two brothers are also buried.

``Municipal authorities there mobilise public work­ers to clean the central streets late on Thursday,’’ they said. The critics said that accord­ing to the constitution, Nig­matilla Yuldoshev, the Chair­man of the Upper House of Parliament, is supposed to take over after Karimov’s death, and elections must take place within three months. They noted that unfortu­nately the man was detained and thus eliminated from the line of succession. They warned that whoev­er that succeeded Karimov would need to balance care­fully between the West, Rus­sia and China, which all vie for influence in the resource-rich Central Asian region. They added that another task of the new leader would be resolving tensions with ex-Soviet neighbors Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan over borders and the use of common re­sources such as water. Uzbekistan is a major cot­ton exporter and is also rich in gold and natural gas.
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