The leader who applied the repressions of the "Cotton Affair" – why was Rafiq Nishonov recalled to Moscow?

The leader who applied the "Cotton Affair" repressions – why was Rafik Nishonov recalled to Moscow?

Our next article about the former leaders of Uzbekistan is dedicated to Rafik Nishonov, who spent the last 35 years of his life in Russia. Various rumors circulated regarding why this figure did not return to Uzbekistan after the dissolution of the USSR and remained living in Moscow. So, why did he not return to Uzbekistan after the collapse of the USSR?

### A leader who emerged from teaching

Rafik Nishonov was born in 1926 in the city of Ghazalkent, the center of the Bostanlyk district. He began working on a collective farm in 1942. Soon after, he joined the Komsomol and worked in the Bostanlyk district branch of this organization.

In 1945–1950, he served in the military, and upon returning to Uzbekistan, he continued his work in the Komsomol organization in one of the districts of Tashkent city.

In 1955, he was appointed head of the political department of the Fire Safety Administration under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later, he became an official in the October district party committee in Tashkent. In 1959, he became the leader of that district.

In 1962, Rafik Nishonov was appointed chairman of the Tashkent City Executive Committee, and in 1963, he was appointed leader of Tashkent city. That same year, he became a member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan.

In 1970, Rafik Nishonov transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and was appointed Soviet Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

Sergey Lavrov, who currently holds the post of Russian Foreign Minister, worked under Nishonov at that time. In 1978, Nishonov was transferred to the position of USSR Ambassador to Jordan, where he worked until 1985.

After Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR on March 11, 1985, Nishonov returned to Tashkent and was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan on March 30.

In 1986, Nishonov became Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of Uzbekistan. In 1987, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

In January 1988, the leader of Uzbekistan, Inomjon Usmonkhojayev, was dismissed from his post, and Rafik Nishonov became the leader of the republic in his place.

Mikhail Gorbachev, who was leading the USSR at that time, played a major role in Rafik Nishonov's rapid rise up the career ladder starting in 1985.

Rafik Nishonov maintained friendly relations with Gorbachev, which is why he was behind his back called "Gorbachev's Rafik."

The prominent Uzbek politician Nuritdin Mukhitdinov noted in his memoirs that Rafik Nishonov was extremely loyal to Gorbachev and placed the interests of the Center above the interests of Uzbekistan at that time.

On June 3–12, 1989, bloody events took place in the Fergana region. As a result of pre-planned provocations, Meskhetian Turks living in the region were attacked by Uzbeks.

When the incident occurred, Rafik Nishonov and other leaders of the republic were in Moscow. After receiving the news, instead of immediately returning to Uzbekistan and taking urgent measures, Nishonov remained in Moscow and continued to participate in the Congress of People's Deputies.

He sent only the Chairman of the Republic's Council of Ministers, Ghayrat Kadyrov, and the leader of the Fergana region, Shavkat Yuldashev, to Uzbekistan. When Mikhail Gorbachev asked about the incident during the meeting, Rafik Nishonov made various statements, failing to grasp the scale of the tragedy or aiming to downplay it.

In particular, answering Gorbachev's question, he claimed that the bloody conflict in Fergana was sparked over a bowl of strawberries. He stated that a buyer of Meskhetian Turk ethnicity acted rudely toward an Uzbek seller and pushed over a basin of strawberries, which led to the brawl starting.

He recalled this in an interview with UzA in 2020 as follows:

"1989, the second week of the sessions of the First Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR was underway. On the evening of June 3, one of the most terrifying phone calls of my life rang in the hotel room. I was told that a disaster had occurred in Toshloq, Komsomol villages, and the city of Margilan in Fergana. An organized gang of marauders was breaking into homes, carrying out looting, brutal murders, and burning down buildings.

In the morning at the congress, there was panic: I couldn't wrap my head around what would happen. Gorbachev turned to me and asked: 'What can you report?' I didn't even have reliable information from commission members, let alone an analysis of the situation. I stated this from my seat, without taking the podium. Then I added that according to my information, the riots stemmed from a heated brawl at the market — a Meskhetian Turk fought with an Uzbek seller and knocked over his bowl of strawberries. Later, I was harshly criticized for this statement."

Alarming news continued to arrive from Uzbekistan, and two days after the tragedy began, Nishonov returned to Uzbekistan together with the Minister of Internal Affairs of the USSR. However, even then he displayed slowness in containing the tragedy.

According to Nuritdin Mukhitdinov, Rafik Nishonov showed weakness as the leader of Uzbekistan at that time and acted with inertia. He assessed Nishonov's words about the "bowl of strawberries" as managerial irresponsibility and an attempt to hide the true scale of the calamity that befell the people.

According to official data, over 100 people were killed, and more than a thousand were injured at that time. Most analysts and contemporaries believe that if Nishonov had shown determination at that time, the Fergana tragedy could have been contained before it escalated.

After the dissolution of the USSR, it was revealed that Moscow had orchestrated the Fergana tragedy, and after that, many people realized that unjust actions had been committed against the Meskhetian Turks.

Unfortunately, due to the disease deeply ingrained in Uzbek leadership at the time — "hiding the problem from the higher-ups and minimizing its scale" — the Fergana tragedy fell as a stain on the reputation of the Uzbek nation.

At this point, we would like to present an important piece of information. The conflict between Meskhetian Turks and Uzbeks occurred exclusively within the territory of the Fergana region. No clashes occurred in other regions.

For this reason, Moscow evacuated only a portion of the Meskhetian Turks living in the Fergana region; in other regions, they continued to live in peace and harmony. Today, more than 50,000 Meskhetian Turks reside in various regions, contributing to the development of our homeland as citizens of Uzbekistan.

When Rafik Nishonov was the leader of Uzbekistan, the "Cotton Affair" repressions were ongoing in the republic, and Gdlyan and Ivanov were continuing their wave of arrests.

At that time, the situation reached a point where Moscow decided to punish even the former leader of Uzbekistan, Inomjon Usmonkhojayev. First, he was dismissed from his post. Then he was removed from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, and subsequently from membership in the Central Committee of the CPSU. In October 1988, Usmonkhojayev was arrested and accused of a series of crimes.

Although the winds of glasnost were beginning to blow in the USSR in late 1988 and early 1989, and the Baltic republics were demanding independence, Rafik Nishonov, as the leader of the republic, turned a blind eye to the repressions in Uzbekistan.

Instead of asking Moscow to recall the investigators led by Gdlyan and Ivanov, he supported them. In particular, at one of the meetings, he spoke in support of the "Cotton Affair" repressions and used the term "Sharafrashidovshchina" there.

At that time, this action by Rafik Nishonov displeased many activists in Uzbekistan and caused his reputation to fall in the eyes of the public. Later, in an interview with UzA, Rafik Nishonov answered a question about this as follows:

"When I gave a speech as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet regarding the October Revolution anniversary, I used this term for the first time to describe the situation in Uzbekistan at that time, where, as in the entire Union, an authoritarian style of governance prevailed. I never thought the phrase 'Sharafrashidovshchina' would become so widely used. There were those who supported my speech and shared my attitude. At the same time, there were those who asked: 'Why are you sharpening the topic, is it necessary to recall what happened?'"

Even later, even 30 years down the line, Rafik Nishonov did not change his views on the "Cotton Affair" and accused Uzbek officials of taking and giving bribes. In particular, in a 2020 interview with UzA, he said the following about this:

"First of all, the atrocity was directed specifically against the people; the money unpaid to cotton growers was used for bribes both in the republic and in Moscow, and was used to buy them 'Volga' cars, luxurious palaces, and jewelry."

In that same interview, Rafik Nishonov cited the words of Veniamin Yarin, who served as chairman of the commission investigating the investigative group led by Gdlyan and Ivanov, that one hundred million rubles and jewelry were confiscated from the accused.

The Uzbek people know very well how Gdlyan and Ivanov's group acquired those one hundred million rubles and valuable jewelry.

At that time, they would deceive the relatives of a detainee, saying: "If you find and bring such and such an amount of money, we will release your relative from prison." After the relatives borrowed money and brought the requested sums, they used those funds as physical evidence against the detainee himself.

In general, from what Nishonov wrote in his books and said in his interviews, one can understand that he considered the punishment of responsible officials in Uzbekistan due to the "Cotton Affair" to be the right thing to do. This can be understood even from his interview with UzA.

The "Cotton Affair" and the slowness during the Fergana tragedy caused Rafik Nishonov's reputation to fall in Uzbekistan. Especially due to the "Cotton Affair" repressions, the people's patience was wearing thin.

Under such conditions, Mikhail Gorbachev recalled his "Rafik" to Moscow and appointed him Chairman of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

When the USSR dissolved in August 1991, this organization was also abolished, and Rafik Nishonov retired. However, he did not return to Tashkent and remained living in Moscow.

During the era of Islam Karimov, Rafik Nishonov was seen as a symbol of the Soviet regime and the "Cotton Affair" period, and politically, there was a cold attitude toward him in Uzbekistan. Perhaps that was the reason he did not return to his homeland.

During his years living in Moscow, Rafik Nishonov was awarded several times and received orders from Putin. The former leader of Uzbekistan spent the final moments of his life in Switzerland, where he passed away in 2023.