A 128-year old Uzbekistan woman may be the oldest person on Earth

A 128-year old Uzbekistan woman may be the oldest person on Earth
Nigora Yadgarova
06/02/2009

UZBEKISTAN — Tuti Yusupova of the Turtkul region of the Karakalpakstan Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan may be declared the world's oldest person. Journalists report that according to her passport Tuti Yusupova is more than 128 years old.

Born on July 1, 1880, in Karakalpakia, which at that time was a part of the Khiva Khanate vassal state of the Russian empire, she married at the age of 17, bore two children, was widowed 60 years ago and has more than 100 descendants. For a long time, Yusupova worked on the construction of the local Shakhtaarna and Bogen canals. Local residents respect her qualities of honesty and enthusiasm, and youth listen to her exhortations. The long-living woman notes that she is in good health with hearing loss as her only problem.


Her age became known when officials decided to count how many people in the country had passed the 100-year mark. Last year, Yusupova and Uzbekistan’s other centenarians were awarded the Shukrat (Glory) medal.

The main proof of the Uzbek woman's age is her passport. But because Yusupova has not undergone a gerontological examination, however, she has not yet been entered into the Guinness Book of Records. As of today the oldest person in the world according to Guiness is 116-year old Maria Luisa Febron-Mayler of Quebec, Canada,

Tashkent celebrates 2,200th anniversary

Tashkent celebrates 2,200th anniversary
Andrey Aleksandrov
05/09/2009

TASHKENT — Tashkent, Central Asia's largest city and Uzbekistan's capital, marked its 2,200th anniversary on Sept. 1. UNESCO's General Assembly passed a resolution recognising the holiday as one of worldwide significance. To mark the occasion, a gala concert was held at the city's International Convention Centre, built especially for the anniversary. Visitors from 60 countries attended the festivities.

"Anniversary celebrations of all sorts have been going on since July 15. Every part of the country, however remote, has been visited by performers and historians giving lectures on our past," said Farida Abdurakhimova, director of the anniversary preparations headquarters.

The history lectures are vital, as most Uzbeks have not yet forgotten the 1984 celebrations of Tashkent's 2,000th anniversary. Playing on the confusing dates, jokes have been circulating about how life in the country, as on the frontlines in wartime, makes each year feel like ten.

In Moscow, Uzbek Ambassador Ilkhom Nematov attempted to explain the 200-year discrepancy to journalists. Apparently, carbon-dated archaeological artefacts recovered from a dig in the ancient city of Shashtep outside of Tashkent were determined to be 2,200 years old. The diplomat did not mention, however, that carbon dating has a built-in margin of error of 70 years to 300 years.

Some suggest that such historical dates are dictated by modern necessity. With half the population living below the poverty line, entertaining displays of pomp have become absolutely essential to morale.