Tajikistan
The
Republic of Tajikistan (
Tajik: ,
Jumhurii Tojikiston) is a mountainous landlocked country in
Central Asia. It borders
Afghanistan to the south,
Uzbekistan to the west,
Kyrgyzstan to the north, and
China to the east. It is home to the
Tajiks, who share culture and history with the Iranians, and speak
Tajik, a language closely related to Persian. Once the location of the famous
Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic.
After independence, however, Tajikistan suffered from a devestating
civil war which lasted from
1992 to
1997. Since the end of the war, newly-established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow, so much so that it now surpasses such post-Soviet Central Asian states as Uzbekistan and
Turkmenistan. Its natural resources such as
cotton and
aluminum have contributed greatly to this steady improvement.
"Tajikistan" means the "Land of the
Tajiks". Some believe that the name Tajik is a geographic reference to the crown (
Taj) of the
Pamir Knot.
Tajikistan frequently appears as
Tadjikistan or
Tadzhikistan in English. This is due to a transliteration from the Russian
Таджикистан. In Russian there is no single letter
j to represent the phoneme /ʤ/ and
дж, or
dzh, is used.
Tadzhikistan is the most common alternate spelling and is widely used in English literature derived from Russian sources.
Tadjikistan is the spelling in French and can occasionally be found in English language texts.
Constroversy surrounds the correct term used to identify people from Tajikistan. The word
Tajik has been the traditional term used to describe people from Tajikistan and appears widely in literature. But the ethnic politics of Central Asia have made the word
Tajik a controversial word, as it implies that Tajikistan is only a nation for ethnic Tajiks and not ethnic Uzbeks, Russians etc. In addition, the
Pamiri population in
Gorno-Badakhshan also have sought to create an ethnic identity separate from that of the Tajiks. There is a growing census that
Tajikistani, which is not ethnic specific and is inclusive of ethnic Tajiks and non-Tajiks alike, is the correct term to call people from Tajikistan.
The land that is now Tajikistan has been inhabited continuously since 4,000
BC. It has been under the rule of various empires throughout history, mostly the
Persian Empire. Before
AD, it was part of the
Bactrian Empire.
Arabs brought
Islam in the
7th century. The Persian
Samanid Empire supplanted the Arabs and built the cities of
Samarkand and
Bukhara, which became the cultural centers of Tajiks. The
Mongols would later take partial control of Central Asia, and later the land that today comprises Tajikistan became a part of the emirate of Bukhara. A small community of
Jews, displaced from the Middle East after the Babylonian captivity, migrated to the region and settled there after 600 BC, though the majority of Jews did not migrate to Tajikistan until the 20th century.
In the
19th century, the
Russian Empire began to spread into
Central Asia during the
Great Game, and it took control of Tajikistan. After the overthrow of the
Tsar in
1917, guerillas throughout Central Asia, known as
basmachi waged a war against
Bolshevik armies in a futile attempt to maintain independence. The Bolsheviks would prevail after a four year war, in which
mosques and villages were burned down and the population heavily suppressed. Soviet authorities imposed a draconian secularization campaign, practicing
Muslims,
Jews, and Christians were heavily persecuted, and mosques, churches, and synagogues were closed.
In 1924 the
Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a part of
Uzbekistan, but in
1929 the
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was made a separate constituent republic.
Moscow did little to develop Tajikistan and it remained relatively behind other
Soviet Republics in living conditions, education and industry. In the
1970s dissident Islamic underground parties began to form and by the late 1980s Tajik nationalists were calling for increased rights. Real disturbances did not occur within the republic until
1990. The following year, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Tajikistan declared its independence.
The nation almost immediately fell into a civil war that involved various factions fighting one another, these factions were often distinguished by clan loyalties. The non-Muslim population, particularly Russians and Jews, fled the country during this time because of persecution, increased poverty and better economic opportunities in the West.
Emomali Rahmonov came to power in 1992, and continues to rule to this day. However, he has been accused of ethnic cleansing against other ethnicities and groups during the
Tajikistan Civil War. In
1997 a
ceasefire was reached between Rahmonov and opposition parties (United Tajik Opposition). Peaceful elections were held in 1999, but they were reported by the opposition as unfair, and Rahmonov was re-elected by almost unanimous vote.
Russian troops were stationed in southern Tajikistan, in order to guard the border with
Afghanistan, until summer
2005. Since the
September 11, 2001 attacks,
American and
French troops have also been stationed in the country.
|
Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov |
Almost immediately after independence, Tajikistan was plunged into a
civil war that saw various factions, allegedly backed by Russia and
Iran, fighting one another. All but 25,000 of the more than 400,000 ethnic Russians, who were mostly employed in
industry, fled to Russia. By
1997 the war had cooled down, and a central government began to take form, with peaceful elections in
1999.
Tajikistan is officially a
republic, and holds
elections for the
President and
Parliament. The latest elections occurred in
2005, and as all previous elections, international observers believe them to have been corrupt, arousing many accusations from opposition parties that President
Emomali Rahmonov manipulates the election process.
Tajikistan to this date is the only country in Central Asia to have included an active opposition in its government. In the Parliament, opposition groups have often clashed with the ruling party, but this has not led to great instability.
*
Account of events from independence leading to the Bishkek agreement of 1997 |
Administrative divisions of Tajikistan. |
The country is divided into regions, or
provinces (singular:
viloyat, plural: viloyatho) (the administrative center name follows in parentheses):
#
Sughd Viloyati Sughd (
Khujand)#
Karotegin (
Kofarnihon)#
Khatlon Viloyati Khatlon (
Qurghonteppa)#
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province (GBAP)
Viloyati Mukhtori Kuhistoni Badakhshon (
Khorugh).
Additionally, the area containing the capital (RRS,
Region of Republican Subordination),
Dushanbe, has no viloyat-level administrative divisions.
|
Satellite photograph of Tajikistan |
Tajikistan is landlocked, and is the smallest nation in
Central Asia by area. It is covered by mountains of the
Pamir range, and more than fifty percent of the country is over 3,000 meters (approx. 10,000
ft) above
sea level. The only major areas of lower land are in the north which is part of the Fergana Valley, and in the southern Kafirnigan and Vakhsh valleys which form the Amu Darya and have much higher rainfall. Dushanbe is located on the southern slopes above the Kafirnigan valley.
The
Amu Darya and
Panj rivers mark the border with
Afghanistan, and Tajikistan's mountains are the major source of
runoff for the
Aral Sea basin.
About 1% of the country's area is covered by lakes:
*
Kuli Sarez*
Obanbori Norak*
Qarokul*
Shorkul*
Yashilkul*
Zorkul |
A photograph of Ismail Samani Peak peak (then known as Peak Communism) taken in 1989 when Tajikistan was part of the Soviet Union. |
| Mountain | Height | Location |
| Independence Peak | 7,174 m | 23,537 ft | Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range |
| Kyzylart Pass | 4,280 m | 14,042 ft | Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range |
| Ismail Samani Peak (highest) | 7,495 m | 24,590 ft | North of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province |
| Avicenna Peak | 6,974 m | 22,881 ft | North of Ismail Samani Peak |
| Peak Korzhenievski | 7,105 m | 23,310 ft | Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province |
| Qatorkuhi Akademiyai Fanho | 6,785 m | 22,260 ft | Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province |
| Concord Peak | 5,469 m | 17,943 ft | Southern border in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range |
| Qullai Karl Marks | 6,726 m | 22,067 ft | Southern border in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range |
| Qullai Mayakovskiy | 6,096 m | 20,000 ft | Along the border to Afghanistan. |
Exclaves
There are three Tajik
exclaves [
1], all of them located in the
Fergana Valley region where
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan meet. The largest is
Vorukh (exclave area between 95–130 km²/37–50 sq mi, population estimated between 23,000 and 29,000, 95% Tajiks and 5% Kyrgyz, distributed among 17 villages), located 45 kilometres (28
mi) south of
Isfara on the right bank of the
Karafshin river, in Kyrgyz territory. Another exclave in Kyrgyzstan is a small settlement near the Kyrgyz railway station of Kairagach. The last is the village of Sarvan, which includes a narrow, long strip of land (about 15 km (9 mi) long by 1 km (over ½ mi) wide) alongside the road from
Angren to
Kokand; it is surrounded by Uzbek territory.
There are no enclaves within Tajikistan.
Tajikistan was the poorest country in Central Asia following a civil war after it became independent in 1991. With foreign revenue precariously dependent upon exports of cotton and aluminium, the economy is highly vulnerable to external shocks. In FY 2000, international assistance remained an essential source of support for rehabilitation programs that reintegrated former civil war combatants into the civilian economy, thus helping keep the peace. International assistance also was necessary to address the second year of severe
drought that resulted in a continued shortfall of food production. On
August 21st,
2001, the
Red Cross announced that a
famine was striking Tajikistan, and called for international aid for Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan. Tajikistan's economy grew substantially after the war. The GDP of Tajikistan expanded at an average rate of 9.6% over the period of 2000-2004 according to the World Bank data. This improved Tajikistan's position among other Central Asian countries (namely Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), which seem to have degraded economically ever since.
BBC's Guide to Central Asia.
Tajikistan has a population of 7,011,556 (July 2004). The major ethnic group is the
Tajik, although there is a sizeable minority of
Uzbeks, and a small population of
Russians, whose numbers are declining due to emigration.
Pamiris of
Badakhshan are considered to belong to larger group of
Tajiks. Likewise, the official language of Tajikistan is
Tajik, while
Russian is largely spoken in business and for government purposes. Although the Tajik and Uzbek are now classified as separate ethnic groups, on account of their languages, this is a relatively new phenomenon and originates from the conquest of Central Asia by the Russian Empire in the
19th century. Despite its poverty, Tajikistan has a high rate of literacy with an estimated 98% of the population having the ability to read and write. Most of the population follows
Sunni Islam, although a sizeable number of
Shi'a are present as well.
Bukharan Jews had lived in Tajikistan since the 2nd century BC, but today only a few hundred remain. There is also a small population of
Yaghnobi people.
The Tajik Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare reported that 104,272 disabled people are registered in Tajikistan (2000). This group of people suffers most from poverty in Tajikistan. The Tajik government and the World Bank considered activities to support this part of the population (described in the [
2]) Poverty Reduction Paper.
The culture of Tajikistan was originally shared with that of Uzbekistan, but during Communist rule, the cultural fabric of the region was disrupted by the Soviet leadership imposing artificial boundaries and the notion of nation-state - alien to the region - on the area. This has not been completely detrimental though, as Tajikistan was known for its theater and famous novelists during the Soviet era. Among these writers were individuals who strove to purify the
Tajik language by tying it in more with
Dari and eliminating Russian words and Arabic words.
Most citizens of Tajikistan are
Sunni Muslim. The impact of Islam has grown in recent years, and was a strong bonding force during Tajikistan's fight against Soviet rule and during its civil war. Historically, a lot of Tajik culture ties it to the
Persian past of the region, and Persian writers, scientists and poets such as
Ibn Sina,
Firdausi,
Rudaki, and
Omar Khayyám are especially revered.
Tajikistan is home to a small Jewish community and used to have a
synagogue, the
Dushanbe synagogue.
*
Music of Tajikistan*
Islam in Tajikistan*
Public holidays in Tajikistan*
Communications in Tajikistan*
Foreign relations of Tajikistan*
Ittihodi Scouthoi Tojikiston*
Military of Tajikistan*
Transportation in Tajikistan*
Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan by Kamoludin Abdullaev and Shahram Akbarzadeh
*
Land Beyond the River: The Untold Story of Central Asia by Monica Whitlock
*
Tajikistan: Disintegration or Reconciliation by
Shirin Akiner*
Tajikistan: The Trials of Independence by
Shirin Akiner, Mohammad-Reza Djalili and Frederic Grare
* Text in the sub-articles from the
CIA World Factbook [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ti.html article on Tajikistan].
*
BBC Country Profiles: Tajikistan*
Tajikistan general portal site*
Khovar Tajikistan news agency.
*
Tajik Development Gateway*
neweurasia Tajikistan blog*
Tajikistan Tourist info and photos
