Mahmadsaid Ubaidullojew

Mahmadsaid Ubaidullojew

Mahmadsaid Ubaidullojew ( Tajik Маҳмадсаид Убайдуллоев ; born February 1, 1952 in Kulob ) is a Tajik politician and long-time mayor of the capital Dushanbe .

Career

Ubaidullojew was born in Kulob in southern Tajikistan and embarked on a political career in what was then the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic . In the 1980s he held several political offices in the Kulob region. At the time of Tajik independence in September 1991, Ubaidullojew was deputy chairman of the Kulob Region Executive Committee.

Independence and civil war

After independence, he quickly rose to join the country's political elite in the young Republic of Tajikistan. In 1992 he was already Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet and charged with monitoring and coordinating the country's energy authorities. On November 20, 1992, in the early stages of the Tajik Civil War , which lasted until 1997 , the current President of Tajikistan, Emomalij Rahmon , who comes from the same region as Ubaidullojew, was appointed President of Parliament. Ubaidullojew explicitly supported Rahmon and was at that time one of the most important supporters of Rahmon. After Rahmon was able to prevail in the civil war with the help of Uzbekistan and Russia , he officially became President of Tajikistan in 1994 and Ubaidullojew became Deputy Prime Minister in the new government. In 1996, while the civil war was still in progress, Ubaidullojew became mayor of Dushanbe. In this capacity, Ubaidullojew was involved in the negotiations on a peace agreement with the Tajik opposition, which ended on June 27, 1997 with the signing of a peace treaty.

After the civil war

After the civil war, the power relations that had developed in Tajikistan were consolidated. Rahmon expanded his power as president, while Ubaidullojew was perceived as the country's second most important politician. His influence became evident, among other things, in the fact that he was able to publicly criticize Rahmon in increasingly authoritarian Tajikistan. On February 16, 2000, a car bomb attack was carried out on Ubaidullojew, which he survived; a companion in the same vehicle died in the explosion. Ubaidullojev's power grew when he was elected first chairman of the National Assembly Maschlisi Milli on April 17, 2000 , officially becoming the second most powerful man in Tajikistan.

Ubaidulloev's term as mayor of Dushanbe ended in January 2017. He was replaced by Rustam Emomalij , the eldest son of the president. This measure was interpreted by observers as an attempt by Rahman to establish his son as a successor to the presidency. In addition, Rahmon weakened Ubaidullojew as a possible political rival with the measure. Despite this, Ubaidullojew is still one of the most powerful politicians in the country in his role as chairman of the National Assembly.

Political course

As mayor of Dushanbe and chairman of the National Assembly, Ubaidullojew is one of the defining figures in the history of independent Tajikistan. As mayor of Dushanbes, he followed a strict modernization course that gave the city a more modern appearance, but in many cases also involved the demolition of existing buildings without adequate compensation payments. He also advocated a ban on playing loud Western music in Dushanbe and criticized women who wear the hijab .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Analysis: Dushanbe's Ex-Mayor One Of The Last Of Civil War Era. Retrieved November 6, 2019 . 
2. ^ Catherine Putz: Hired: Tajik President's Daughter Lands Deputy Post at a Major Bank. Retrieved November 6, 2019 (American English). 
3. ^ Tajikistan Local Press Digest. November 20, 2008, accessed November 6, 2019 . 
4. ^ The editors: Tajikistan: The eldest son of the president becomes mayor of Dushanbe. In: Novastan German. January 18, 2017, accessed on November 6, 2019 (German). 
5. ↑ Chairman of the Majlisi Milli of Tajikistan: Russia's achievements are the basis for a stable peace. Retrieved November 6, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Analysis: Dushanbe's Ex-Mayor One Of The Last Of Civil War Era. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .