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“Б И Р Л И К” Х А Л Қ Ҳ А Р А К А Т И П А Р Т И Я С И
P O P U L A R M O V E M E N T “B I R L I K” P A R T Y (U Z B E K I S T A N)

March 25, 2023
To: President of the United States Joseph Biden
From: Abdurahim Polat (name on documents - Abdourakhim Poulatov)
Chairman of Popular Movement “Birlik” Party (Uzbekistan)

Letter about the need to avoid the threat of Islamic terrorists in the United States

Dear Joseph Biden,

I have been living as a political refugee in the USA for 25 years. I am very glad that I had written correspondence with previous presidents - George Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. I am also very glad that I am now addressing you on about a very important issue, about the threat of Islamic fanaticism and terrorism to the whole world, as well as to very respected by me the United States.

1. About myself, about slogan of Popular Movement “Birlik” Party and about Uzbekistan

I was born in 1945 and grew up in a remote village in Uzbekistan. In 1962 I entered the Moscow Technical University and graduated in 1968. Then I worked for 4 years at the Computing Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow) and 19 years at the Institute of Cybernetics of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan (Tashkent). In 1987, I created the "Intellectual Robots" laboratory at the Institute of Cybernetics. I thought that all my life I would be engaged in intelligent robots.

But I want to say that since youth I have been interested in and followed the political events in Uzbekistan and around the world. That's why, when Soviet Union’s leader Mikhail Gorbachev launched comprehensive reforms in USSR, I became involved in politics. I participated in the activities of Popular Movement "Birlik" which was founded in the end of 1988. Soon I was elected as Chairman of this organization. I announced that our main slogan is “For the independence of Uzbekistan!”

Very soon, "Birlik" became world famous organization. That is why I was the only opposition leader in the Soviet Union, who had a personal meeting with the country's leadership. For example, I had the meeting with the Prime Minister of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov in June of 1989.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union by our efforts at the end of 1991, Uzbekistan became independent state. Unfortunately, the dictatorship is survived and the president-dictator Islam Karimov began to suppress his political opposition. He really was and remains a servant and an agent of the State Security Committee of the Soviet Union.

On February 16, 1992 Secretary of State of the US James Baker visited Uzbekistan. After Secretary Baker met with president Karimov, he had meeting with me, an event that won widespread attention and prestige for both “Birlik” and for me. During that meeting with me, Secretary Baker and I discussed problems of development of democratic processes in Uzbekistan and he told me that the United States would support in every possible way these processes. After that, many foreign statesmen who came to Uzbekistan began to meet with me.

In response to my meeting with James Baker, Uzbek authorities tried to limit my political activity. In June 29, 1992, after I returned from my first visit to the USA, I was badly beaten by agents of the State Security Committee of Uzbekistan. I was hospitalized with a broken skull and suffered a serious head trauma.

2.
On July 7, 1992 I was visited in the hospital by the U.S. Senator Larry Pressler. After our meeting, Senator Pressler gave an emotional speech before the U.S. Senate (see: Larry Pressler. “Time for caution in Central Asia”, Congressional Record, 138, No 21, July 21, 1992, pages 1-3). Following Sen. Pressler’s speech, the announced official visit of Uzbekistan’s president to USA was canceled.

After that I spent a long time in treatment and recovery in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Then I returned to Uzbekistan, continued to lead “Birlik”, but after agents of the Uzbek government once more attempted to kill me in Tashkent in October 1992, I decided that I had to leave our country with my family.

First, through Russia and Azerbaijan we went to Turkey, but the Turkish government refused to give us refugee status. Then I applied for refugee status in the U.S. My application was approved and I arrived in U.S. with my family in the beginning of 1998.

After my arrival in the U.S., I have continued to campaign for democracy in Uzbekistan. Here I have testified 4 times before the US Helsinki Commission. The text of some speeches is available here:

http://www.csce.gov/ -- Hearings and Briefings -- Hearings -- June 24, 2004 -- Dr. Abdurahim Polat
http://www.csce.gov/ -- Hearings and Briefings -- Briefings -- May 19, 2005 -- Dr. Abdurahim Polat

In those years with the assistance of other “Birlik” members, I have begun to publish the democratic journal, “Harakat”, and have organized its delivery to Uzbekistan. At the same time, we have organized in USA a network of persons to collect financial support for the activities of our associates in Uzbekistan.

2. Second slogan of “Birlik” - “For democracy and democratic elections in Uzbekistan!”

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Uzbekistan became a partner of the U.S. in the war in Afghanistan. As a result of the partnership with America, the political climate in our country began to soften. On May 6, 2003, “Birlik” convened its own congress for the first time in ten years.

The congress took place in Uzbekistan. Here Popular Movement “Birlik” was transformed into a political party - Popular Movement “Birlik” Party. I participated in the Congress by phone and was elected chairman of “Birlik” Party. At my initiative, the Congress adopted a new slogan of our Party: “For democracy and democratic elections in Uzbekistan!”

After that, we began to greatly intensify our activities. I began to prepare for my return to Uzbekistan.

However, in May 13, 2005, Islamic terrorists carried out bloody attacks in the Uzbek city Andijan. The authorities began bloody pressure on Islamic terrorists. After that, the situation in Uzbekistan deteriorated significantly even for the Democrats. Numbers of prominent activists of “Birlik” Party were arrested under false accusations of attempt on constitutional system. Relations between Uzbekistan and the United States also deteriorated sharply.

In such situation I could not return to Uzbekistan, and I decided to continue to fight for democracy in Uzbekistan, while living in the US. Of course, it was necessary to take into account the new conditions.

It was in those years that the Internet became widely available even in Uzbekistan. Therefore, we have created a website of the Independent News Agency “Harakat” (Harakat.net) in Uzbek and partly in English. This has brought us great success.

For example, in April 12, 2013 the "Harakat" Agency received a letter from Sarah Poissonner, Partnerships and Rights Executive BBC Monitoring (Tel: +44 (0) 118 9486204, Email: sarah.poissonnier@mon.bbc.co.uk). In that letter, the news agency of global significance asks us to give permission to use our materials to them.

3.

Even the US State Department recognizes the "Harakat" Agency as a serious media outlet. On March 24, 2015, I was invited as a representative of "Harakat" Agency in Camp David residence of the US President, where the joint press conference of President Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani and State Secretary John Kerry took place. (http://harakat.net/en/news/?id=198).

So we were optimistic about the future. In September, 2016, the dictator president of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov died. I wrote a letter to Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who unlawfully seized power, with a request to hold democratic elections with the participation of the democratic opposition. But he did not even respond me and in December 04, 2016, held the usual for dictatorial regimes elections and became president.

Then Shavkat Mirziyoyev released from prison several human rights activists, some businessmen and dozens of radical Islamists who sat in jail for more than 10-15 years. There were no any other important and notable changes.

On May 15-17, 2018, Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid an official visit to the USA. As soon as I found out about this, I wrote a letter to the Embassy of Uzbekistan, as well as to the President Donald Trump, asking to help me organize a meeting with the President of Uzbekistan. A letter to Mr. Donald Trump had the following title: “Dictators should not be isolated, but integrated into a democratic world”.

The Embassy of Uzbekistan did not even respond to my letter. But Donald Trump answered me by letter only on July 25, 2018. The detailed letter just outlines the general goals of US foreign policy.

In order to improve the image of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the new President-dictator Shavkat Mirziyoyev allowed the media to publish news such as car accidents and indicate the number of dead and injured. But there was no freedom of the press in other matters.

It was also allowed to criticize the work of some government officials. The campaign to attract investments to Uzbekistan was begun. Therefore, Western countries, even high-ranking US officials, began cautiously praise Uzbekistan for the fact that this country is following the path of democratization and the transition to a market economy.

But it quickly became clear that only those whom Shavkat Mirziyoyev wanted to replace with his proxies were criticized in Uzbekistan. But the country's economy remains and will remain socialist, so serious companies do not want to invest in the Uzbek economy.

And here is the result. Freedom House has recently published the report “Freedom in the World 2019”. In this report, Uzbekistan is included in the “worst of the worst” countries in the world in terms of human rights: - freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2019/democracy-in-retreat.

On the same days, the World Bank published a list of countries of the world - “Doing Business - 2019” - doingbusiness.org/content/dam/doingBusiness/media/Annual-Reports/English/DB2019-report_web-version.pdf. Uzbekistan is in this list behind all Western countries and developed Asian countries. Of the former USSR countries, only Tajikistan was behind us. Not a single serious company in the world will invest in Uzbekistan after getting acquainted with this list. So, Uzbekistan will not develop economically.

And so, the conclusion is clear. Uzbekistan was and remains a dictatorial country with socialist economy. This means that we democrats are obliged to continue our struggle against the dictatorship in Uzbekistan and to achieve democratic changes, both in the field of human rights and in the economic sphere. This shows that the slogan we chose was the right one - “For democracy and democratic elections!”

In 2022, Mr. Mirziyoyev organized his second presidential election. The elections were, as always, far from democratic principles, but falsely announced the victory of Shavkat Mirziyoyev.
4.
Thus, the dictatorship in Uzbekistan continues to exist with cosmetic changes, but there are no fundamental reforms, the democrats are under constant severe pressure from the authorities. The authorities refuse to recognize the “Birlik” Party and register it as an official organization. So we still can't participate in any elections.

3. The world is faced with another fundamental problem - the threat of Islamic terrorism.

In order to understand the essence of this problem, it is necessary to know the economic situation of Muslim countries and the foundations of the Islamic religion.

Yes, except for Saudi Arabia and the BAA, which have huge oil reserves, the rest of the Muslim countries are poor and backward. And Western countries and the United States do not have such reserves, but they are the richest and most advanced in the world. Why? Because the West and the US are based on the ideas of democracy and democratic elections. Therefore, they are rich and advanced.

When the oil reserves run out, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates will also be poor and backward, because they expect everything from Allah. They don't understand what democracy and elections are.

If you listen to the Islamic terrorists, they claim that everything is from Allah; Allah ordered by any means to make all the states of the world Islamic Emirates, then everything will be fine for the Muslims. Muslim democrats Opinion - Allah Couldn't Say that. After all, all 3 major religions are created by a single god, should Islamic terrorists destroy other worshipers of a single god or proponents of secularism? It's stupid, Allah can't order that.

In the world, only the “Birlik” Party and its “Harakat” News Agency are engaged in the promotion of democratic ideas in the Islamic world. Muslims also need to understand that only democracy will solve all the problems of the countries of the world. Yes, “Birlik” and “Harakat” are doing a colossal job. Here are two examples.

First: It should be specially emphasized that at that time "Harakat" News Agency was already a world-famous news agency. For example, in April 12, 2013 the "Harakat" Agency received a letter from Sarah Poissonner, Partnerships and Rights Executive BBC Monitoring (Tel: +44 (0) 118 9486204, Email: sarah.poissonnier@mon.bbc.co.uk). In that letter, the news agency of global significance asks us to give permission to use our materials to them.

Second: Even the US State Department recognizes the "Harakat" Agency as a serious media outlet. On March 24, 2015, I was invited as a representative of "Harakat" Agency in Camp David residence of the US President, where the joint press conference of President Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani and State Secretary John Kerry took place. (http://harakat.net/en/news/?id=198).

Yes, we are the first in the world to do inexhaustible complex and colossal work. But we do not have sufficient funds to expand the propaganda of the ideas of democracy in the Islamic world through Arabic, Russian, English and other languages of the world. We hope that Western countries and the United States will help us in this matter.

We were also alerted by the events in neighboring Afghanistan, where the Taliban terrorists seized power in 2021 and restore the Islamic Emirate here. If we do not continue to educate the Uzbek people through the Internet about the superiority of a democratic transitional system, then the ideas of the Islamic Emirates will increase dramatically in Uzbekistan, since the historical roots of Uzbekistan's ties with Afghanistan are very deep.

But we have to understand that the overwhelming majority of the population of Uzbekistan and other Muslim countries of the world are not only Muslims, but Islamic fanatics. The distance between Islamic fanaticism and Islamic terrorism is not one step, but several millimeters.

5.

Yes, according to the Constitution, Uzbekistan is a secular state, which means that in such a country there cannot be complete freedom of religion for Islam, because Islamic fanatics argue, according to the holy book of Muslims - the Koran, the state must be Islamic, Muslims must live by the laws Sharia, men have the right to have up to three or four wives, petty thieves have to cut off their hands, etc. What to do?

It must be borne in mind that in a country where the majority of the population is Muslim, there can be no complete democracy, because, using democracy, fanatics will turn their countries into Islamic Emirates. Then democracy will be destroyed. Now Turkey is on this path. More importantly, the strengthening of the role of Islam in society will lead to an increase in fanaticism, extremism and, finally, terrorism.

We repeat once again that Islamic terrorists use the wrong interpretation of the Koran. God created 3 world religions and could not order to destroy the followers of other religions. Therefore, it is clear that Islamic terrorism is invincible until there is a new interpretation of the Quran and Islam recognizes the principle of secularism.

Based on these considerations, “Birlik” Party and the “Harakat” Agency began to pay great attention to reform issues in Islam, as a result of which Islam should adopt the principle of secularism, after which democracy will develop in Islamic countries and Islamic terrorism will disappear by itself.

Now we have a single goal - to achieve recognition of the principle of secularism by Islam and thus to destroy the roots of Islamic extremism and terrorism for the future. Without any doubt, we will achieve our goals - Islam must get rid of misinterpretations of the Quran and should adopt the principle of secularism. But now we need the help of the progressive part of humanity.

Now one of the true democrats Komron Kodirov is promoting the ideas of democracy here with me, and together with the democrats of Uzbekistan we are peacefully fighting against the ideas of Islamic terrorism. Now Komron Kodirov is in the United States and his application for refugee status is being considered in a court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These days, the court must make a very important final decision for us.

As we know, the number of Muslims in the US is growing very fast. If we do not achieve the destruction of potential Islamic terrorists by peaceful means, that is, by reforming Islam, Islamic organizations will soon appear here demanding to transform the United States into the Islamic Republic of the United States.

I want to emphasize once again that the struggle of Birlik and Harakat for the secularization of Islam is very important for the entire West, in particular for the United States. It must be understood that Islamic extremism and terrorism are becoming the main challenge of the 21st century. Therefore, we ask the United States to help us in solving the problems arising from the possible threats of Islamic fanaticism and terrorism in the United States and around the world.

Sincerely yours,

Abdurahim Polat

Address: 7318 Fountain Spring Ct,
Springfield, VA 22150

On the picture: Joseph Biden and Abdurahim Polat .