- You disgraced me to the whole world! — an enraged Karimov attacked Gulnara, who was waiting for her father, immediately after getting out of the car. Grabbing the collar of Gulnara’s jacket, Karimov first slapped her in the face and then began to really beat her.
- What kind of photographs are these?! By going half naked in front of journalists’ cameras, didn’t you think that you were disgracing not only yourself, but also me, my mother, and our entire family?!
When Gulnara Karimova threw herself at her father’s feet, saying: “Forgive me!”, the enraged president, in a fit of anger, kicked his daughter and left the residence.
This is how opposition Uzbek journalists describe the disappearance of Gulnara Karimova four years ago - since then, nothing really is known about the fate of the “Uzbek princess”.
It is also unknown what actually happened between the daughter and father then - the Karimov clan knows how to keep family secrets.
Iron Lady of Tashkent
But the conversation about Gulnara Karimova should begin not with her father, but with her mother, Tatyana Karimova.
Today, many media outlets call Tatyana Karimova an “Eastern paradox.” On the one hand, she, as befits an exemplary Eastern woman, always keeps in the shadows. An exemplary Uzbek housewife and mother of two daughters Gulnara and Lola, a silent and submissive-looking keeper of the hearth.
On the other hand, people close to the Karimovs argued that it was Tatyana Akbarovna who was the real “engine” and “brain of Tashselmash”, then switched to. By the way, this was already his second marriage - back in 1961, after graduating from the Polytechnic Institute in Tashkent, he married classmate Natalya Kuchmi. But the marriage did not work out - however, Karimov had a son, Peter, from his first marriage, with whom the future president of Uzbekistan broke off all relations.
But meeting Tatyana completely changed his life.
It was the energetic and far-sighted Tatyana who forced Islam to first join the CPSU, and then, leaving his job as an engineer, to go to study at the Institute of National Economy. Tatyana Akbarovna, as Uzbek politicians say, wrote a dissertation for her husband, thanks to which Islam Abduganievich, without having any family ties, received the position of chief specialist of a department in the State Planning Committee of the Uzbek SSR, which ensured his further path to the top.
Her mother’s tough and assertive character was also inherited by her daughters, the eldest Gulnara and the youngest Lola. Moreover, if Gulnara can boast more of her mother’s energy, then Lola boasts of feminine cunning and secrecy.
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The contender for the status of the first lady of Uzbekistan is from a well-known family in the Fergana Valley. She has been in the shadow of her husband for many years, but has remained with her maiden name.
According to unconfirmed data from the dunyouzbeklari website, the photo shows Ziroathon Khoshimova, wife of Shavkat Mirziyoyev; photo: dunyouzbeklari
The wife of Prime Minister and Acting President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is called Ziroathon Khoshimova. Sources claim that she was born and raised in Kokand, Fergana region.
Mirziyoyev's wife has never been seen on official trips or posed at social events. She has no pages on social networks; until recently, even her name was not known to the general public.
The first mention of Ziroathon Khoshimova was in the official biography of the presidential candidate of Uzbekistan, published in early November on the website of the Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan (UzLiDeP).
The data is meager: “The wife is Z. M. Khoshimova, an engineer-economist by training, currently a housewife.”
The extreme degree of secrecy can be explained by the fact that during Karimov’s time all officials were in the shadow of the first person; even the first photograph of Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev appeared on the Internet around 2006, three years after he took his position in the Cabinet of Ministers.
However, Ziroathon Hoshimova, the wife of the strongest candidate for the post of head of state, if he wins the presidential elections on December 4, will have to come out of the shadows to accompany her husband on foreign visits, as well as at charity events.
The romance began at the institute
Ziroathon Hoshimova grew up in a devout and very wealthy family. At home they called her Oikhon, reports the website dunyouzbeklari.com.
According to this source, the future president of Uzbekistan met his future wife at the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Land Reclamation, which he graduated from in 1981. Moreover, Shavkat Mirziyoyev was already teaching and was a Komsomol organizer at the university, and his future wife was in the status of a student.
However, the Ziroathon family opposed the marriage - the father of the president’s wife was a very rich and influential man. Sources claim that Mukhmujon Khoshimov headed the working supply department of the Central Asian Railway in Kokand, including Dorrestoran, mobile dining cars.
Mirziyoyev’s father-in-law allegedly had access to the distribution of the deficit, which he received from the USSR State Supply Committee, and also managed 10 of his own refrigerated cars.
They carried fruits and vegetables from Uzbekistan to Russia, and industrial goods and scarce furniture were sent in the opposite direction.
According to dunyouzbeklari.com, this activity allowed Khochimov to become one of the richest people in the Fergana Valley.
Sources from Ts-1 speak of the prime minister’s wife as a positive person who raised children all her life and did not leave her husband’s shadow.
Daughters loved discos
Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Ziroathon Khoshimova have three children. The two eldest daughters - Shakhnoza (Mirziyoyeva-Shakhanova) and Saida, as well as the son Davron - nothing is known about him.
Shakhnoza lives mainly in Moscow. Israeli media reported in 2010 that she gave birth to a girl in Tel Aviv.
Daughters of Shavkat Mirziyoyev: Daughters of the Prime Minister - Said and Shakhnoz Source: Facebook
As Uzbek human rights activist Ulugbek Khaidarov, who lives in Canada, said, the prime minister’s family is still remembered in Jizzakh, where he worked as khokim.
“The khokim’s daughters danced at the disco every Saturday, which was held in the central open-air concert hall. The girls were accompanied by a policeman and, according to rumors, one of the daughters fell in love with the bodyguard,” says Khaidarov.
Also in the prime minister’s homeland - in Zaamin, Jizzakh region, they still remember the scale with which the wedding of the prime minister’s daughter took place in 2007 - several days of the feast took place under the “landing” of foreign artists and a string of limousines.
There are many references on the Internet about Mirziyoyev’s sons-in-law, Otabek and Oybek, who, after Karimov’s death, allegedly lay claim to markets and restaurants owned by relatives of the late president.
Wife's niece sews dresses
Interestingly, after marriage, Zaroathon kept her maiden name. According to one version, she wanted to please her all-powerful father. After marriage, her sister, Siyora, also left the surname Hoshimova.
Siyora's fame was brought to her by her daughter, Diora. The girl married the nephew of the oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who died in a car accident in May 2013.
And three years later, in May 2016, the British tabloid Daily Mail published an article under the intriguing headline “Uzbek Marie Antoinette: “The stunning life of a glamorous “princess” who not only sells children's dresses for £5,000, but is also associated with a despot who “fries” his enemies in OIL.”
The accusations about the oil concern the late Islam Karimov, and the British publication recalled the assault on Mirziyoyev himself during the cotton harvest, which led to the death of a schoolteacher.
Diora owns a children's clothing boutique in Moscow that sells luxurious dresses.
According to the British publication, the price of one dress from Usmanova reaches 6 thousand US dollars, or equal to the annual salary of 13 ordinary Uzbek citizens.
The Russian magazine Tatler writes that the idea for the store arose after Diora’s daughter Mariam asked for a beautiful dress. The first outfit for her granddaughter was sewn by her grandmother, Siyora, who herself prefers Dior.
“Now Mariam, the daughter of Diora and Babur Usmanov, who died in a car accident in 2013, is four years old. Bibiona is a family nickname, given by my dad. Bibi already has a whole wardrobe of outfits, and her grandmother Siyora Hashimova, who looks only a year or two older than her mother Diera, is just as enthusiastic about sketching dresses,” reports Tatler.
On her Instagram, Diora published a photo of her grandmother, whom she affectionately calls Raneshka.
Mother-in-law of Shavkat Mirziyoyev and niece of his wife Diora; photo: Instagram of Diora Usmanova
Mirziyoyev’s mother-in-law in the photo has her head covered and is dressed in expensive clothes. Against this background, Dior’s granddaughter in a short dress looks very contrasting.
This is so far all the information that we have managed to find out about the family of Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyoyev. If readers have additional information, please share.
Unfeminine character
Gulnara’s education was typical for a representative of the golden youth of the republican elite. First - a prestigious school with a mathematical focus (now it is the Tashkent Youth Mathematical Academy), then she entered the department of international economics of the Faculty of Philosophy and Economics of Tashkent State University. In 1992, she went to study in America - at the Institute of Fashion Technology at New York University. In the early 90s, this name alone sounded like enchanting music. Later, Gulnara Islamovna graduated from Harvard University, receiving a Master of Arts degree.
In June 1995, Karimova began working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, receiving - as befits the daughter of a president - the position of adviser to the minister.
She also became an adviser to the permanent mission of Uzbekistan at the UN headquarters in New York.
Just at this time, Gulnara moved to New York for permanent residence - she not only studied the science of design at Harvard, but also set up a family home with her husband. Her chosen one was US citizen Mansur Maqsudi, an ethnic Uzbek from Afghanistan, to whom she gave birth to two children: the eldest son Islam and daughter Iman.
Before meeting Gulnara, Mansur was an ordinary mediocre businessman, engaged in a family business in the United States - electronics trading. But at the wedding, he received a luxurious dowry from his loving mother-in-law - Tatyana Akbarovna gave him the position of director of the regional representative office of the Coca-Cola company in Tashkent. The status of the president's son-in-law opened any doors for him. And soon Maksudi became one of the most prosperous foreign businessmen in Uzbekistan, taking control of many areas of the Uzbek economy, including trade in sugar, cotton and petroleum products. He was one of the few entrepreneurs in the republic who had the exclusive right to convert earned currency through his own offshore company in the Cayman Islands.
However, the marriage did not work out.
In July 2001, after a heated quarrel, Maksudi informed his wife that he was filing for divorce. The next day, Gulnara, taking the children, flew with them to Tashkent.
The reasons why Gulnara Karimova and Maksudi separated were apparently purely personal. The Maksudi family strictly observed Muslim customs. As Karimova herself said in one interview, Maksudi did not even celebrate the New Year, considering it Christian, while in Uzbekistan (and in the Karimov family) it was celebrated very widely. And Gulnara herself had no intention of becoming a wordless “shadow of her husband” - she had the character of a mother.
“This is a sad story that divided my life into “before” and “after,” - this is how Gulnara herself explained the reasons for the family drama. “His family, and I now understand that I was married to the whole family, coming from the most inveterate Afghan environment, have been trying to destroy me for the last seven years, primarily morally. Now they are seeking revenge by ordering negative press materials about me. But I never tried to make excuses or prove otherwise. Why? Yes, because tanks don’t crush bedbugs...
However, it was not without politics. At that time, there were rumors in Tashkent that the quarrel between the Maksudi family and their mother-in-law was to blame - they say, while discussing with the family the issues of buying real estate in Tashkent, Mansur’s father inadvertently ordered Tatyana Akbarovna to remain silent when his son, the future president of Uzbekistan, was speaking. And Tatyana Akbarovna, as they say, was very unpleasantly surprised by her son-in-law’s political ambitions.
The divorce crossed out a successful streak in the life of the Maksudi family.
The divorce proceedings lasted two years and turned into an international scandal. An American court granted custody of Maksudi's children; in response, the Uzbek authorities accused Mansur of fraud, tax evasion, receiving bribes on an especially large scale, theft of property and money laundering. In the blink of an eye, he lost his business in Uzbekistan, an international warrant was issued for his arrest, and some of his relatives were sentenced to prison. As a result, Gulnara still made it so that he could not see his children.
Children of Shavkat Mirziyaev
After Shavkat Mirziyaev became the President of Uzbekistan, the family and children of Shavkat Mirziyaev began to be closely discussed in the press. So, the current president has two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter is Mirziyaeva Saida Shavkaevna. She is married to Oybek. They have three children - two sons and a daughter. The president’s youngest daughter, Mirziyaeva Shakhnoza Shavkaevna, is married to Otabek Shakhanov.
Nowadays, Mirziyaev’s children, grandchildren and sons-in-law are often discussed in the press. There is a lot of scandalous material on this topic. For example, archives and old photos began to emerge, while Shavkat Mirziyaev was still prime minister. This includes photos of his daughters from social networks, as well as photos from parties and discos that young girls attended a long time ago.
"Princess" goes into politics
After the divorce, Gulnara moved to Moscow, receiving the position of Minister Counselor of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Russia. Soon she became bored with such “decorative” activities - her energetic nature demanded scope. She returned to Tashkent, deciding to get involved in real politics.
First of all, she organized the Center for Political Research (CPR) of Uzbekistan - a kind of political technology “think tank”, without whose recommendation not a single decision was made in the country in the field of energy and transit. Gulnara Islamovna also created the Fund for Support of Social Initiatives, which united non-governmental organizations of the country. The foundation’s projects include laying pipes to provide drinking water to remote arid regions of Uzbekistan, creating a “Forum of Socially Responsible Citizens of Uzbekistan,” and holding a charity festival of children’s creativity “Yangi Avlod.” Free children's creativity centers were created on the basis of the festival in Tashkent and Samarkand.
Her father appreciated her efforts - in 2008, Gulnara Karimova was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country for international cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere. True, she soon became bored with Tashkent, especially these hours-long meetings at the ministry, where boring bureaucrats spent hours pouring out empty things, desperately intriguing for her attention.
The soul demanded more.
In 2010, she received a new appointment from her father - to the post of Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Spain. And sets off to conquer Europe.
Gugusha is a superstar!
2012 became the peak of Gulnara Islamovna’s fame.
First, she launched her jewelry and accessories brand GULI in collaboration with Chopard, presenting a new collection at major fashion weeks such as Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York, Milan Fashion Week and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Russia.
Your own Art and Fashion Week Art Week Style.uz. Gulnara Karimova also spent time in Uzbekistan.
She also decided to become a pop star: under the pseudonym Gugusha, she recorded the album Gugusha in the club-dance style.
Interestingly, after the release of the album, the performer posted on her website a screenshot allegedly from Billboard magazine, according to which the song Round Run took fifth place on the club songs chart. Subsequently, the screenshot of the magazine was recognized as a fake - moreover, it turned out that the Billboard editorial staff had not heard of the rising Uzbek pop star at all.
Gugusha also advertised herself as the author of “national Uzbek yoga,” posting a series of photographs on her Twitter that outraged the entire conservative Uzbek society.
However, Gugushi’s creative baggage also included a collection of poems dedicated to Father Islam Karimov.
She sang one of these songs on national television. Among all the other lush oriental praises, there were these words: “If you want, I can replace you with a thousand sons...” The sensitive audience in Tashkent heard in this line the call of the daring Googooshi to take on the difficult male burden of the presidential successor.
Since then, according to Uzbek politicians, a hunt was announced for Gulnara among the Uzbek security forces, who had their own ambitions for the post of president of the republic.
According to another version, Gulnara was ruined by money. After the fashionable presentations of her GULI collection, publications about the “mafia princess” began to appear one after another in the Western press.
In particular, it was alleged that the Swedish cellular company TeliaSonera paid $300 million to enter the Uzbek cellular communications market, which allegedly went to the accounts of Takilant Limited, a company associated with Gulnara Karimova. Other figures were also mentioned: for example, the Takilant company, registered in Gibraltar, received $75 million from Vimpelcom and Alfa Telecom, and the Russian MTS transferred more than 350 million. (It is noteworthy that this information came against the backdrop of a scandal associated with an attempt to seize the property of a “daughter” of the Russian company MTS in Tashkent, after which there was information about the arrest of three apartments in Moscow of the daughter of the Uzbek president; the information was refuted, but the court in Tashkent immediately ruled return all MTS property.)
With this money, Karimova purchased not only living space in Moscow, but also a luxurious penthouse on the 80th floor of the Arch residential complex in Hong Kong, apartments in Paris, a villa near the French resort of Saint-Tropez and, finally, a real castle in Ile-de-France , near Paris.
Height, weight, age. How old is Shavkat Mirziyaev
As befits any president of the country, Shavkat Mirziyaev is very popular. In particular, many fellow citizens are interested in his height, weight, and age. How old Shavkat Mirziyaev is can be easily found on the Internet. Today he is 60 years old. As for weight, Shavkat Mirziyaev, the President of Uzbekistan, weighs 75 kg. The height of the President of Uzbekistan is 168 cm.
The good physical shape of Shavkat Mirziyaev indicates that the president is worried and closely monitors his health. And this is right, because he still has a lot of things to do and tasks that need to be accomplished for the good of the country as president. Photos on the topic: “Shavkat Mirziyaev, photos in his youth and now” are very popular on the Internet.
Homemade Jaslychok
At the beginning of 2013, Rustam Inoyatov, who headed the National Security Service of Uzbekistan, placed a folder with compromising evidence against his daughter in front of Islam Karimov. The folder also contained a copy of a request from the US Department of Justice to the Swedish prosecutor's office with a request to open a criminal investigation into a bribe from TeliaSonera. With an eye to opening a criminal investigation against US citizen Gulnara Karimova on suspicion of fraud, tax laundering and other crimes punishable by 20 years in prison.
But most of all, according to Uzbek politicians, the father was outraged by the photographs of his daughter in yoga classes.
After this, Gulnara, dismissed from all posts, disappeared from public life.
Rumors spread throughout Tashkent that it was Tatyana Akbarovna who arranged for her daughter to live in an apartment “zhaslyk” for educational purposes (Zhaslyk is one of the most terrible prisons in Uzbekistan).
These rumors were indirectly confirmed in London from the mouth of Islam Karimov Jr., who lives in Britain, and who hired the law firm Davidson, Ryan, Dore to protect the interests of Gulnara Karimova. Lawyers distributed an illegal recording in which Gulnara Islamovna complained that her daughter Iman needed urgent medical attention, and the guards treated them “worse than dogs”:
“The area of the house is basically surrounded by hundreds of cameras and special equipment that blocks any means of communication, so this is a huge pressure and strain on me and my daughter. We urgently need medical help!
In a statement on a new website called Free Gulnara, her son says Gulnara is making a direct appeal to the international community "to ensure that her fate is determined by independent courts and not by individuals vying for political gain."
