House Demolitions Spread to Northern Uzbekistan

One night in June, 71-year old Yefrosinya Glazkova was woken by loud crashing noises and yelling. Seconds later, she heard the roar of a digger as it narrowly missed smashing through the wall of her bedroom.

Glazkova lives in a two-storey apartment block in the centre of Urgench, a town in northwest Uzbekistan. The area she lives in is scheduled for redevelopment, which will mean 20,000 people having to relocate.

The 300 residents of her block and three others like it on Al-Khorezmi street were told in April that they would have to move out. They refused to go because they did not regard the 14,000 US dollars they were offered, in cash or the equivalent in land, as fair compensation.

The demolition workers who arrived to tear down Glazkova’s block were repulsed by residents who shouted at them and threw stones at their excavator. In their defence, they said they had been told the building was empty and they had no idea anyone was inside.

After residents called the police, the demolition squad moved to the next street, where the same story was repeated – they started work and claimed not to know people were living in the houses.

In towns all across Uzbekistan, the authorities are tearing down houses and other buildings as part of plans to modernise urban spaces. All too often, residents are evicted without proper notice or compensation. (See Uzbek Demolitions Spark Protests.) There is added urgency as the authorities want progress to be made in time for the 20th anniversary of independence this September.

The reconstruction of Urgench gained momentum in May after Prime Minister Shavkat Mirzioyev paid a visit and demanded that the local government "demolish old houses right away".

A local town planning official said that by 2015, the old two-storey blocks are to be replaced by nine five-storey buildings and eight three-storey buildings.

"After Mirzioyev’s visit, the residents of houses scheduled for demolition came under heavy pressure from the police and prosecution service," one local resident said. "The majority of residents gave in to this unprecedented level of pressure and agreed to move out terms they knew were unacceptable."

The town hall in Urgench has taken out lawsuits against reluctant householders.

A woman whose home has already been cleared away described the authorities’ attitude. When she met Urgench’s prosecutor Qudrat Rahmonov, she cited the Uzbekistan’s Civil Law Code, but he replied, “Is the Civil Code the law for us?”

This article was produced as part of IWPR's News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.