Tatyana Karimova’s tears. Grandchildren of Islam Karimov, Iman and Maryam also came to the memorial ceremony

Tatyana Akbarovna Karimova is the 74-year-old former First Lady of the country.  After the death of her husband Islam Karimov, the first President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, she decided to perpetuate his memory.

She supervised the opening of the museum and library named after Islam Karimov, annually together with the current President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, visits the grave of Karimov and puts flowers on the foundation of the statue.  She also manages the public fund named after Islam Karimov.  She holds a memorial ceremony in early September as part of the commemoration week for the former President Islam Karimov.

A similar ceremony was held on 3 September in the complex “Oqsaroy” of the capital.  Tatyana Karimova made a speech and remembered moments spent with her husband.

“It has become a tradition twice a year to remember Islam Karimov with the most intense emotions.  Memory is a wonderful thing, it inspires us to love, dream and move forward.  My destiny is connected with the service of Islam Abduganievich.  I gave him the maximum opportunity to work, especially when he became President.  I knew that the most important thing for him was work.  Islam Abduganievich was a strong and combative man; he was very busy.

When we got married, he was already a man of rank and I felt the scale of his character, his personality.  I knew that he would have a great future ahead of him and that this future would be difficult and heavy, but he was able to pass this path with diligence”, - Tatyana Karimova says.

At the end of her speech, she thanked President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for the respect and honor given to the memory of the first President of the country.

The ceremony was attended by people who knew Karimov closely, artists, journalists, heads of state and non-state organizations, and representatives of the public.  One of such guest, Gulnara Makhkamova, a journalist who worked in Uzbekistan, talked about Karimov’s reputation in the eyes of foreign journalists:

“Regardless of which foreign country we got to, when the presidents of all countries come, if it was said that “President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Abduganievich Karimov visited” journalists from all countries would run and try to interview Islam Karimov.  Some presidents noticed this and said, “Why don’t they pay us as much attention?”.

In addition, the head of the security service of Islam Karimov spoke about the bravery of Karimov and handed one of his medals to Tatyana Karimova.
“After being sick for 2-3 years, I was very happy to read that in the 90's, I was entrusted with the protection of the president”, - she recalls.

Unlike the ceremonies of previous years, this year the event was also attended by granddaughters of Islam Karimov, Maryam Tillyaeva and Iman Karimova.
During the event, patriotic and love songs were played in memory of Islam Karimov.  Listening to them, Tatiana Karimova could not hide tears.

It should be remembered that Islam Karimov, the first President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, died on 2 September 2016, due to serious illness at the age of 78 years. Gulnara Karimova, the eldest daughter of Islam Karimov, is currently in prison.  Lola Karimova, the youngest in the family, after her father’s death left all business and official positions in Uzbekistan and moved to the United States.  Maryam Tillyaeva also lived with her mother until she married.  After marrying blogger Amiran Sardarov, and then divorcing, she now travels the world.  She still has ties with Moscow.

The son of Gulnara Karimova Islam and daughter Iman study and live in London.  Islam is married and has a son, Iman occasionally comes to Uzbekistan.  Iman and Maryam recently reconnected.

You can watch the video report prepared about the memorial ceremony in the video player above or on the YouTube page of QALAMPIR.UZ.

Ҳулкар Муртазоева