Uzbek Foreign Affairs Minister Counter-criticized Rights Violations

According to EUbusiness.com, the Uzbek Foreign Affairs Minister, Vladimir Norov, reacted to the criticisms over human rights violations in Uzbekistan and provided a counter-criticism accusing the West of "Islamophobia". 

The following excerpt from EUbusiness.com details what has been said by the minister:

"There is very widespread Islamophobia in the West, prejudice against Asian and Muslim states. It's that which we must act against," he said.

On the question of the use of torture he said that this was not a solely Uzbek problem as "torture is a problem that exists everywhere ... in Europe as well."

We have nothing to hide," Norov insisted, stressing that his Central Asian nation allowed International Red Cross visits throughout the country.

"We have 142 prisoners per 100,000 people. That's among the lowest figures in the world," he told reporters.

"We are open to listening to criticism but we also assume this a dialogue among equal partners," he said.

"We are an Asian Muslim society very much integrated into the Eurasian area. We do not depend on the European Union," he stressed.

I believe "Islamophobia" exists not only in the West, but also within the Uzbek government. The Uzbek government supports only "official Islam" meaning that it has to be within the government standards and anything out of it will be considered as extremism.


For example, this year's arrests of "Nur" movement followers and former graduates of joint Uzbek-Turkish high schools can be considered as an act of "Islamophobia" on the part of the Uzbek government (relevant information can be found here Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, UNHCR).