Fourth: relations between Iran and Uzbekistan
Like Tajikistan, Uzbekistan is a country that was historically in the Persian cultural path and politically, has been connected to Iranian states at some historical stages. The invaders who came from the south called it “the other side of the river”, to the Persians they were known as Farhud, to the Greeks known as the other side of the Okuz River then to the Arabs they were known as the valley between two rivers. The most negotiated point on the area is “does the area ethnically belongs to Persian or Turkish? In the Shahnameh, the name Turan is used for the other side of the Amu Darya River. Then the concept of Turan altered with the Turkish country or Turkestan (the region of the Turks). Consequently, this region has always been the crossroads of both Turkish and Persian civilizations.
In the post-Soviet Union, Tehran-Tashkent relations began with problems. Several problems are behind this starter, include; first, Uzbeks are more devoted to religion than Central Asian Turks. Even the Soviet atheist government could not eradicate this religiosity of the Uzbeks.
The second reason is related to the presence of a large Tajik minority in Uzbekistan. The percentage of this Tajik minority is not confirmed by official sources, although experts estimate of Tajiks at 5% of the total Uzbek population. Iran’s growing influence in Central Asia worries Tashkent that it will inspire Persian nationalism.
Third, Uzbekistan, compared to other Central Asian countries, established closer ties with the United States until the events in Andijan in 2005 to escape from Russian’s influence. This situation has naturally affected Tashkent-Tehran relations.
When we are observing at the domestic equations in Central Asia, Tashkent appears to have confronted Iran by supporting the Islamists because he supported the official government in Tajikistan’s civil war.
When it comes to talking about economic relations between Iran and Uzbekistan, Tashkent detached its doubts about Tehran in the initial years started building healthier relations from 2000s onwards. In this regard, the Iran-Uzbek Intergovernmental Commission works on trade, economic, scientific and technological relations. 116 entrepreneurs operate in Uzbekistan under the shadow of Iranian investment. Cooperation and coordination in the field of transportation between Iran and Uzbekistan is particularly important. The two countries have been working together with Turkmenistan and Oman since 2011 on the Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Iran-Oman railway corridor.
As a result, relations between Iran and Uzbekistan are beginning to strengthen. The main problem between the two countries is security. Iran’s growing coordination with Tajikistan and Afghanistan, referred to as a Persian front, is seen to surrounding Tashkent on the southern. Uzbekistan suspects Tehran of exploiting the country’s Tajik minority. In other words, Tajikistan is always in the equation in relations between Tehran and Tashkent.
