Uzbekistan president drops plan to remove autonomous region’s right to secede after protests

Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev [...] announced that he would not proceed with a planned constitutional reform to remove the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan‘s right to secede from Uzbekistan via referendum. [...] Mirziyoyev’s office said following the reversal: [T]he head of our state, taking into account the unique ethnic and cultural characteristics, national traditions and values, special legal status of Karakalpakstan, emphasized the need to leave the norms of the legal status of the Republic of Karakalpakstan unchanged in the project. That is, Articles 70, 71, 72, 74, 75 of the Constitution will remain unchanged. Other proposed constitutional reforms include reinforcing civil rights and extending the presidential term from five to seven years, which would allow Mirziyoyev to run again despite already having served two consecutive terms.
Read the full article here: Jurist