Home calls for Uzbeks

Uzbekistan has summoned home 2,000 students from Turkey alleging that conditions are not safe enough there.

However, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported an Uzbek official claiming the real reason is a cooling of relations with Turkey because of the rise of fundamentalism there. Many Uzbek students had come under its influence.

Following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Turkey has been viewed as the natural role model and patron of the five ex-Soviet Republics of central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.