Rafiq Nishonov

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Rafiq Nishonovich Nishonov (

In 1950, he worked as the head of the department of the Oktyabrsky district committee of the Komsomol of Uzbekistan in the city of Tashkent. In 1956, he became the head of one of the departments of the Tashkent City Committee of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan. In 1959, he graduated from the Tashkent Evening Pedagogical Institute with a degree in history teacher. In 1969 he received a Candidate of Historical Sciences degree. In 1962, he became Chairman of the Tashkent City Executive Committee.

Diplomatic career

From 1970 to 1978, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Sri Lanka and the Maldives.^[6] Sergey Lavrov, who has since 2004 served as the Foreign Minister of Russia, served as his Sinhala interpreter.^[7] Since 1978, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Jordan. In 1985, Rafik Nishanov returned to his homeland, where he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Uzbek SSR  .

Leader of the Uzbek SSR

Like many other leaders in the Uzbek SSR, he strongly opposed allowing Crimean Tatars the right of return and rebuked them for wanting to return to Crimea, even saying that Crimean Tatars who want to leave the Uzbek SSR should find "their place" in faraway Kazan.^[8]

Career in Moscow

On June 6, 1989, he was elected chairman of the Council of Nationalities of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He was a People's Deputy of the USSR from 1989-1991. In September 1991, he became an advisor to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Later life

He retired in November 1991, living in Moscow. In 2012, he published a book of memoirs, “Trees Turn Green Before Snowstorms”. In 2013, he was elected to the Council of the Association of Russian Diplomats. Nishonov died on 11 January 2023, 4 days before his 97th birthday.^[9] He was buried in the Muslim Cemetery of Geneva next to his wife  .

Personal life

His wife Rano Nazarovna was a deputy minister of culture of the Uzbek SSR. His son Sabir was an officer in the Soviet and later Uzbek army. Then - head of AF Telecom Holding LLC. His daughter is a teacher.

Awards

• Gratitude of the Government of the Russian Federation (January 14, 2011)
• Order of Honor (December 22, 2015)
• Order of Alexander Nevsky (January 15, 2021)

References

Party political offices
Preceded by Inomjon Usmonxo‘jayev	Communist Party of the Uzbek SSR 1988–1989	Succeeded by Islam Karimov
Preceded by Augusts Voss	Chairman of the Soviet of Nationalities 6 June 1989 – 5 September 1991	Succeeded by Anuarbek Alimzhanov

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