Asymmetry by Design: Deciphering Karakalpakstan's Autonomous Status

According to Article 85 of the Uzbekistan Constitution, “[t]he sovereign Republic of Karakalpakstan is part of the Republic of Uzbekistan”. The Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan is one of the two territorial autonomies of Central Asia. It covers approximately 37% of Uzbekistan’s total surface and is the country’s largest single administrative unit. It is located to the north of the rest of the country, it borders Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and is Uzbekistan’s region that is the closest to the sea. The Autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan has 16 municipalities (rayon) and one municipal-level city, Nukus. The Karakalpak and Uzbek languages are the official languages of Karakalpakstan although Kazakh and Russian are also widely spoken by officials and the population in general. The territory of Karakalpakstan has a natural gas reserve and it covers the southern side of the Aral Sea. The partial disappearance of the Aral is an environmental catastrophe that affected the lives and livelihoods of all inhabitants of the region. Karakalpakstan has the Karakalpak ethnic group as its titular nationality. The name Karakalpak means “black hat”, and it was used to refer to the particular costume worn by the peoples of the area. In the last hundred years or so, the Karakalpak ethnic group has diverged from other Central Asian Turkic groups by their language, a Kipchak Turkic Karakalpak language, different from Uzbek (a Karluk Turkic language) and Kazakh (also a Kipchak language). Their origin as a distinct group is not known with precision and some even claim that it was a Soviet invention meant to divide the Turkic peoples of the region (Chmykh et al 2021, 68).

Access work

https://www.world-autonomies.info/territorial-autonomies/karakalpakstan