At five in the morning on September 3, people began forming lines in Uzbekistan’s capital along the route of the funeral cortege of the late President Islam Karimov.
Cars drew out of the president’s official residence and drove toward the airport. As with most other mass public events in Uzbekistan, the crowds were organized by government workers, students and activists with neighborhood committees.
Mobilization efforts were spearheaded by the Tashkent city hall, whose employees were tasked with bringing out the numbers.
As cars passed through the crowds in the capital, people threw flowers under the wheels and women cried.
“Islam Karimov was a great man and will always be so for us. He was in charge in the 1990s, when it was so difficult. In other countries [in Central Asia] there were wars, revolutions, ethnic conflict. But Karimov didn’t allow any of this,” Sherali Kudratov, a university teacher, told EurasiaNet.org.
At nine in the morning, Karimov’s coffin was loaded onto a plane and flown to Samarkand, his native city, for burial.
The entire spectacle was broadcast in full on state television. Television announcer Alisher Badalov read a lengthy and emotional tribute listing Karimov’s life achievements over the images.
“The bright memory of the first president of the republic of Uzbekistan, the great son of the Uzbek people, Islam Abduganievich Karimov, will forever remains in the hearts of our people and in the grateful memories of our compatriots,” the announcer read.
The funeral ceremony took place in the afternoon on Samarkand’s historic Registan square with several international dignitaries in attendance, including the presidents of Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and the prime ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.
Also present were Karimov’s wife, Tatyana, and his youngest daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva. Conspicuous by her absence was Karimov’s elder daughter, Gulnara, who is believed to still be under house arrest.
Karimov was laid to the rest at Samarkand’s Shah-i-Zinda necropolis complex.
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