In October 2024Four activists from Karakalpak – Tleubike Yuldasheva, Ziuar Mirmanbetova, Raisa Khudaibergena and Zhangeldi Zhaksymbetov – received a word in the asylum in the United States.
The four had been detained in Kazakhstan between September and November 2022 at the request of Uzbekistan with Koshkarbai Toremuratov (who was Awarded asylum in Poland in January 2025). Their detentions came in the wake of violence in Karakalpakstan – An autonomous republic with a complicated story with Tashkent – earlier in 2022, when the Uzbek authorities offered a constitutional revision which would have deleted Karakalpakstan’s constitutional law to separate.
The four activists were detained in pre -trial detention in Almaty for about a year each before being released in the second half of 2023. Although they were released rather than being expelled in Uzbekistan, their Asylum requests in Kazakhstan have been refused – Put them in a sort of limbo.
A few months later, another Karakalpak activist, Aqylbek Muratbaiwas detained, illustrating the precariousness of staying in Kazakhstan and the desire on the part of certain Uzbeks authorities to cross the border. (Muratbai was released in February 2025).
In the following interview, Yuldasheva, Mirmanbetova, Khudaibernova and Zhaksymbetov speak for themselves of the events of 2022, their activism, their links with the international community of Karakalpakstan and Kazakhstan, and the stages they hope.
The diplomat thanks the intermediary who helped to translate and edit the interview responses.
In October 2024, you and other Karakalpak activists, who had already been detained in Kazakhstan, at the request of Uzbekistan, obtained asylum in the United States. What can you tell us about this process and your arrival in the United States?
According to their own words, Karakalpak refugees express a deep gratitude in the United States for having granted them asylum and the protection of their rights. We are grateful to everyone, in particular to the United States government, to protect ourselves and to provide shelter in the United States, allowing us to be here instead of a prison in Uzbekistan.
Ziuar Mirmanbetova remembers the terror of being targeted by the Ouzbekistan authorities: “When Uzbekistan’s special services oppressed us in Kazakhstan, we felt desperate. It is thanks to international human rights organizations – and, above all, the protection offered by the United States government – that we were spared and that the purposes were granted. We suffered.
This act of protection from the United States is a symbol of democracy and a headlight of hope for those who suffer under oppressive regimes.
Media coverage has greatly described you as “activists”. How would you describe yourself?
We are not only activists; We are defenders of Karakalpakstan’s sovereignty.
The 1990 declaration of sovereignty established that Karakalpakstan is independent of Uzbekistan and has the right to self -determination. However, Tashkent violated this legal status. The story of Karakalpak has been deleted from the programs, replaced by Uzbek history. Karakalpak panels have been replaced by Uzbeks. Although Karakalpak is the language of the state, everything was in Uzbek. Uzbek authorities have started to sterilize Karakalpak women. Young men were forced to do surgeries on the pretext of the disease.
Tell me about your life in Kazakhstan and your links with Karakalpakstan. What do you want people to know about Karakalpakstan?
Karakalpak are not confronted with discrimination in Kazakhstan and are treated with dignity.
However, Uzbekistan has created a severe economic environment in Karakalpakstan, forcing a lot to look for opportunities in other countries where jobs are available.
Raisa Khudaibergenova worked as a cardiologist in Almaty. She was falsely accused of being intoxicated in Karakalpakstan during Nukus demonstrations on July 2, 2022. In reality, she was never in Karakalpakstan that day; She was in Kazakhstan, working and assistant to patients as usual.
What was your reaction to the Uzbeks constitutional amendments proposed in the spring of 2022, which abandoned the specific articles referring to the sovereign status of Karakalpakstan and right to separate?
We were indignant because the sovereignty of Karakalpakstan was threatened directly. The Karakalpak diaspora in Kazakhstan met the Uzbek Embassy to express our concerns. Our families and friends of Karakalpakstan expressed their opposition on social networks, called and sent letters to government representatives. However, the government completely ignored these demonstrations, which finally led to the organization of a peaceful demonstration.
These arrangements were finally kept, but not before considerable violence in the Nukus in July 2022. What is important, what is important for the world to understand the events of this summer?
The tragedy in Karakalpakstan in July 2022 was a horrible display of state violence, constituting clear war crimes and crimes against humanity in the hands of the Uzbek government. The demonstrators, unarmed and peacefully defending their constitution, encountered a ruthless force as a lot and military grenades from Uzbekistan. The government has deliberately minimized the true scale of atrocities, but the truth cannot be hidden.
In a desperate attempt to blame themselves, the Uzbek authorities falsely accused demonstrators of having set fire to a truck. However, there were no burn marks on the ground, revealing the prosecution nature. The burned truck, brought from another region of Uzbekistan, was used as an accessory to wrongly involve the demonstrators. The subsequent internet power failure and the systematic destruction of evidence only highlights government efforts to cover these crimes.
It was not only a brutal repression against peaceful demonstrators; It was an intentional effort and calculated by the Uzbek government to remove dissent and erase the truth. The world must recognize these atrocities for what it is – an attempt to silence the request for justice and self -determination of a people.
What measures should be taken to approach the situation in Karakalpakstan? By local leaders, by Uzbekistan, by the international community?
We want the international community to understand that Karakalpakstan stands at a historic crossroads. This is a nation that declared its independence on December 14, 1990, becoming the second state after Lithuania to free itself from Soviet domination. The daring affirmation of the self -determination of Karakalpakstan is not only a legal and moral affirmation, but also a strategic affirmation. Rich in critical mineral resources and strategically located near Russia, China and Iran, the independence of Karakalpakstan is crucial for regional stability and global economic interests.
For decades, Karakalpakstan has suffered under Uzbek domination, lasting cultural erasure, forced assimilation and systematic human rights abuses, including forced sterilizations, massive detention and the suppression of its language and customs. Despite these difficulties, the 1990 declaration of sovereignty remains a testimony to his sustainable mind and the legitimacy of his quest for the nation.
Reinforcing his complaint further, Karakalpakstan has signed a 20 -year agreement with Uzbekistan, recognizing that its inclusion in Uzbekistan is only temporary. The constitutions of Karakalpakstan and Uzbekistan recognize Karakalpakstan as a sovereign entity, reaffirming its right to self -determination.
The international community should not look at these violations. Maintaining the principles of justice and self -determination means recognizing that when a people is systematically oppressed and has denied their fundamental rights, their quest for independence is not an act of rebellion, but a necessary step towards freedom.
It is now time for decisive action. The world must be united with Karakalpakstan by:
- Recognizing his sovereign right to self -determination.
- Condemning human rights violations perpetrated by the Uzbek regime.
- Release all political prisoners from Karakalpak.
- Support international legal processes to keep responsible authors.
- Recognizing the strategic, economic and legal case of the independence of Karakalpakstan.
The international community has both responsibility and the possibility of ensuring that another nation is not refused its independence right.