Rare public protests have broken out in Uzbekistan’s Karakalpakstan autonomous republic over a planned constitutional reform that would change its status.
- Among the suggested constitutional changes was the rewriting of Karakalpakstan’s political position within Uzbekistan, stripping the region of its sovereignty and right to hold a secession referendum.
- Karakalpakstan, that enjoys close ties with Russia, occupies about 2/4th of western Uzbekistan.
- It is home to Karakalpaks, a distinct ethnic minority group that speaks one of the Turkic languages.
- Karakalpakstan is a sparsely populated autonomous republic within Uzbekistan.
- The region is mostly desert now, thanks in large part to the environmental catastrophe that is the Aral Sea.
- Karakalpakstan constitutes around 40 percent of Uzbekistan’s territory, though its population of 2 million is less than 6 percent of the country’s total population of 34 million.
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