10 April 2017
12:07 - Appeal of Abdurahim Pulat, leader of the Birlik Party (Uzbekistan), to the Turks on the occasion of the referendum, which was scheduled for April 16, 2017
April 05, 2017

If the "Yes" supporters win the referendum, Turkey will be islamizated and eventually disintegrated. Saying "No", the Turks must save Turkey and the Turkic World


I am calling all Turkish citizens to say at the referendum on April 16 - "No". But since I am little known in Turkey now, first I have to present myself, my views and justify the necessity to say "No".

I am an Uzbek, Democrat Pan-Turkist, I am the leader of the main opposition democratic party in Uzbekistan - the Birlik Party. (Full information about me can be obtained here, but unfortunately only in English: Who is Abdurahim Polat? - http://harakat.net/en/news/?id=181)

I was born in 1945 in Tashkent. Starting in 1962, I lived in Moscow for 10 years, here I graduated from the Technical University with a new for that time major - Computer Engineering. Then I became a candidate for a doctor of science. After that I had continued to work in Tashkent. Over time, I became a doctor of science, a professor. Then I started to work with the problems of intelligent robots.

Since childhood, I dreamed of independence of Uzbekistan. Even during my studies in Moscow, I tried to organize Uzbeks in order to begin the struggle for independence. But the Soviet dictatorship was strong, moreover, the Uzbeks themselves were passive and tangible results were not achieved. But in the late 80's the Gorbachev's thaw began. The so-called popular movements and fronts began to be created in all the Soviet republics. I was involved in the process of creating the Popular Movement "Birlik" and was soon elected as its leader. Later it was transformed into a political party.

Yes, it was "Birlik", together with other similar organizations from other republics of the Soviet Union, that succeeded in the collapse of this empire in 1991 and Uzbekistan became an independent state. But the KGB's protégé, Tajik nationality Islam Karimov, taking advantage of the primitiveness of the Uzbeks and the lack of unity among the opposition, as well as bribing some of them, fulfilled the KGB's task - retained the dictatorial regime of the Soviet model and turned the Uzbeks, who are the most numerous non-Christian and non-Slavic nations in the post-soviet region, into a simple crowd that even lost the right to be called a nation. Now Uzbekistan occupies the last place in the list of countries in the world according to the rating of human rights.

Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, at the beginning of 1992, the then Secretary of State of the United States, James Baker, visited almost all post-Soviet republics, and only in Uzbekistan met with representatives of the democratic opposition, i.e. actually only with me. This meeting further increased the authority of both the "Birlik" and mine, in particular.

In response, Islam Karimov simply decided to kill me. On June 29, 1992, after returning from the United States, where I traveled by invitation of the organization of the followers of Ataturk - The Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA), an attempt to assassinate me was made in Tashkent near the Tashkent Prosecutor's Office building. The KGB agents who attacked me broke my head, but I miraculously stayed alive. July 7 in the hospital I was visited by US Senator Larry Pressler. After our meeting, Senator Pressler gave an emotional speech before the US Senate (see: Larry Pressler. “Time for caution in Central Asia”, Congressional Record, 138, No 21, July 21, 1992, pages 1-3) where he described in detail his meeting with me in a Tashkent hospital. Following Sen. Pressler’s speech, the announced official visit of Uzbekistan’s president to Washington was canceled.

After the assassination, I was treated in Tashkent, then in Baku and Istanbul. In September, I returned to Tashkent, in October there was a second attempt on me, but since I already had bodyguards, I was not injured. After that, I decided to temporarily leave Uzbekistan together with my family. For several days we lived in the Azerbaijan’s embassy in Moscow, then for several months in Baku and in the beginning of 1993 moved to Istanbul. Here I lived for 5 years. Then I was well known here, because since 1991 I had meetings here with Mesut Yılmaz, Süleyman Demirel, Alparslan Türkeş, Abdullah Gül, Recep Erdoğan, Meral Akşener and others. I had regular meetings with the now deceased Nevzat Yalchintash. In the last year of my life in Istanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan helped me a lot. I will never forget this. But, let's not forget, the truth is above all.

But the Turkish authorities, unwilling to spoil relations with the regime of Islam Karimov in Uzbekistan, did not give me an official permission to live in Turkey, although they said that I can live here unofficially, under the auspices of the government. For me, Turkey's relations with Uzbekistan were very important, so I decided to move to the United States. I was hoping for an early return to my homeland, but I live in the US for more than 15 years. But even here I continue to fight for the victory of democracy in Uzbekistan.

I must say that it was during my life in Turkey my beliefs that in Muslim countries there cannot be full-fledged democracy, it means, full-fledged development as well, since any democratization will lead to the rule of Islamic fanatics, because most Muslims still live with medieval mentality, has begun to become clearer and stronger. The processes taking place in Turkey for the last 2-3 decades completely prove my correctness. But, all this again proves the greatness of Ataturk. That is why Islamists fanatics regard as their main enemies - Ataturk and his followers.

I consider myself a follower of Atatürk, it means my duty is to develop his ideas. So I came to a fundamental conclusion - the roots of Islamic terrorism are in the wrong notions of Islam, stemming from the untrue tafsir (interpretation) of the Koran, which was made even before the Middle Ages, when people did not even know that Earth was round. Therefore, we Muslims should fundamentally reform Islam, as a result of which, first of all, Islam itself must admit the principle of secularism. As a result of the reforms there will be other profound changes, but they are the subject of a separate conversation.

At the same time, we must understand that now Muslims and Islamic clerks are not ready to make fundamental reforms inside Islam themselves. Therefore, we need the help of the progressive part of humanity. At present I am dealing with these historical problems.
Before turning to the main topic of my appeal, I will allow myself to boast with my ability to predict historical processes. There are a lot of examples, but I will only talk about three.

First. In December 1990, i.e. almost in the year before of the collapsing of the Soviet Union, I wrote an article "Uzbekistan on the eve of an independent dictatorship." Even my colleagues laughed: "Do you speak about independence soon?" "What kind dictatorship after Gorbachev's changes?" But everything happened as I predicted. Not even one year passed and the USSR disintegrated, and Uzbekistan became independent and it is the worst dictator country in the world.

Second. In early 2015, I wrote a letter to then-US President Barack Obama on the impossibility of defeating Islamic terrorism without fundamental reforms in Islam and said that Turkey and Central Asia would be the next centers of Islamic terrorism. My prediction was justified; Turkey is already the center of Islamic terrorism. Now the Central Asia's turn.

Third. In another letter to Barack Obama on February 1, 2016, I predicted the victory of Donald Trump in the presidential race and despite the fact that the political elite and the mainstream US media supported Hillary Clinton, I and our website harakat.net expressed confidence until the election day that Donald Trump will become president because he understands the challenges of the 21st century, in particular, from Islamic terrorism, which is rooted in Islam itself. My prediction proved to be correct.

Today I am predicting the following. If the "Yes" supporters win in the referendum on April 16, then in Turkey not just a dictatorship will be established, but very soon Turkey will be declared an Islamic state and an Islamic dictatorship will be established. This is the ultimate goal of both Recep Erdoğan and Fetullah Gulen. The fact that they quarreled because of the struggle for power does not change anything.

Now Recep Erdoğan and his team call Fatullah Gülen's supporters - FETO (Fethullah Gülen’s Terrorist Organization). If Fathullah Gülen's supporters won, they would call the other side - RETO (Recep Erdoğan’s Terrorist Organization).

We must remember the past, the history. When in the world everything was decided by the power of the sword, militant Islam managed to create a powerful Caliphate and soon was going to conquer the whole world. But, Christians went into secularism and began to solve the all problems not by only sword, but by the power of the mind as well. The West began to develop amazingly fast. Very soon the Caliphate was completely destroyed. 100 years ago Istanbul and Izmir were already conquered, and the whole territory of modern Turkey was on the threshold of conquest. If there was no Ataturk, it would have happened. Atatürk, who created first secular state in the Islamic world, preserved the State of Turks.

One must understand that in the 21st century there is no place for religious, in particular, Islamic states. It is obvious. If Recep Erdoğan and his non-white Justice and Development Party will win in a referendum on April 16, and then they will be able to make Turkey an Islamic state living along the medieval Shariat, then Turkey will start marching towards the Middle Ages, all the followers of Ataturk, that is, secularists who will not escape from Turkey at the time, will be physically exterminated.

This kind situation will be a threat for Turkey itself, for the secular part of the Islamic world and the whole of mankind. Almost all world will unite against such Turkey and in the end Turkey itself will collapse, like the Ottoman Caliphate. Istanbul will again be Constantinople. The western and south-western part of Turkey with the support of the West will transfer to Greece, the north of Turkey with the support of Russia and Iran will transfer to Armenia, and the eastern and southeastern parts of Turkey will be in the hands of Iran, Iraq and Syria. Turkey will have Ankara and its small surroundings.

This will be the death not only of Turkey, but will be an almost fatal blow to the entire Turkic World. This will be a huge, almost fatal blow for my homeland - Uzbekistan. Russia and China are already preparing to celebrate such outcomes.

Dear Turkic friends! On April 16, say "No" to Erdoğan and his non-white party. Save Turkey and the Turkic World! We, i.e. the Turkic-speaking nations of the whole world, together will achieve great successes, open the way to the development of the Islamic world, which is now the poorest and backward part of the Earth, and we will open the way for the real integration of the Islamic world to the modern civilization of mankind.


Abdurahim Polat
Chairman of “Birlik” Party of Uzbekistan