[Translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"How the Agalarovs, Aliyevs, and Mirziyoyev are building a 'sea resort' on Charvak, Tashkent's main water source", 23 July 2025

The Charvak Reservoir is the main source of drinking water for more than four million residents of Tashkent. But the reservoir is facing serious problems: the Uzbek authorities are planning to build a huge resort on the reservoir — Sea Breeze Uzbekistan...

The resort will occupy 577 hectares of coastal territory, and, as critics of the project warn, could destroy the local ecosystem. But the green light for construction has already been given: after all, in addition to the ruling family of Uzbekistan (the project was personally approved by President Mirziyoyev), the idea of the resort is supported by Russian-Azerbaijani businessman Emin Agalarov, the former son-in-law of the president of Azerbaijan.

The Charvak reservoir... is the main source of drinking water for the huge city... it is not just a means of collecting water from mountain rivers and protecting the capital from floods. The reservoir supplies agricultural farms in the Tashkent region and the Fergana Valley with water, and there is also a hydroelectric power station on it that provides Tashkent with electricity.

But, as environmentalists note, the condition of the reservoir is deteriorating every year. The main reasons for this are unregulated mass tourism, and especially the use of motorboats and scooters, which pollute the water. The waste that visitors leave on the banks of Chervak causes serious damage to the environment...

On December 16, Russian-Azerbaijani businessman Emin Agalarov presented Shavkat Mirziyoyev with a project to create the Sea Breeze resort on the Charvak reservoir in Uzbekistan...

It was decided to allocate 577 hectares in the most picturesque and green part of the reservoir for the project. And this, according to the plan, will be one of the largest plots of land in the history of independent Uzbekistan transferred for construction to a private investor.

Agalarov is a well-known Russian and Azerbaijani singer in the post-Soviet space, the son of Russian-Azerbaijani entrepreneur Araz Agalarov. Agalarov Sr. was called "an oligarch with access to three presidents": Putin, Aliyev and Trump...

Initially, the land for the resort was seized from its owners under the pretext that it was intended for state use. But then 30 hectares of land located directly on the coast were transferred to the Crocus Group, which belongs to the Agalarov family.

The owners of 18 confiscated plots filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against the government in Baku. In November 2021, the court found the Azerbaijani state guilty of violating property rights and ordered the families whose lands were confiscated to pay a fine of 307,500 euros. But the land was never returned to the owners.

The Sea Breeze mega-project has also been criticized for violating Azerbaijani law and harming the Caspian ecosystem...

A protest against the resort has started on social networks under the hashtag #savechorvoq ("Save Chervak")...

Lawyers interviewed by Radio Liberty journalists said that before construction is allowed, in accordance with Uzbek law, the megaproject proposed by Agalarov must undergo a series of serious examinations, including public discussion of the resort...

Emin Agalarov... has already stated that his project will improve the quality of water in the reservoir and prevent the discharge of waste and sewage water into it.

Also, in response to mounting criticism, last week the businessman organized a press tour for Uzbek journalists to the Sea Breeze resort in Baku. During it, Agalarov said that the idea to build the complex in Charvak allegedly belonged not to him, but to Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev.