Tashkent International Airport Renamed After Late Islam Karimov

The late Uzbek President Islam Karimov

TASHKENT -- Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyaev has signed a resolution to name Tashkent International airport after the Central Asian nation's first president, Islam Karimov.

Uzbek state media reported on May 4 that the resolution was signed in accordance with Mirziyaev's January resolution on preserving Karimov's memory.

In December, Mirziyaev signed another resolution that announced an international competition to erect a monument to his late predecessor.

Uzbekistan's government said on September 2 that Karimov died at 78, after suffering a stroke. He had ruled Uzbekistan tightly since 1989, when it was still a Soviet republic.

In mid-September, a reconstructed ancient mosque in Tashkent was named Islam-Ota (Father Islam) in his honor.