Everything about Tajikistan totally explained
Tajikistan (or /təˈdʒiːkɨstæn/;, or [tɒːʤikɪsˈtɒn]), officially the
Republic of Tajikistan is a mountainous
landlocked country in
Central Asia.
Afghanistan borders to the south,
Uzbekistan to the west,
Kyrgyzstan to the north, and
People's Republic of China to the east. Most of Tajikistan's population belongs to the
Tajik ethnic group, who share culture and history with the
Persian peoples and speak the
Tajik language. Once part of the
Samanid Empire, Tajikistan became a constituent republic of the
Soviet Union in the 20th century, known as the
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (
Tajik SSR).
After independence, Tajikistan suffered from a devastating
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. Its natural resources such as
cotton and
aluminium have contributed greatly to this steady improvement, although observers have characterized the country as having few natural resources besides hydroelectric power and its strategic location.
Etymology
Tajikistan means the "Land of the Tajiks" in
Persian. Some believe the name Tajik is a
geographic reference to the crown (
Taj) of the
Pamir Knot, but this is a folk etymology. The word "Tajik" was used to differentiate Iranians from Turks in Central Asia, starting as early as the 10th century. The addition of 'k' might have been for the purpose of euphony in the set phrase "Turk-o Tajik" ("Turks and Tajiks") which in Persian-language histories is found as an idiomatic expression meaning "everyone."
According to some other sources, the name Tajik (also spelled Tadjik, Tadzhik) refers to a group of people who are believed to be one of the pure and close descendents of the ancient
Aryans. Their country was called
Aryana Vajeh and the name "Taa-jyaan" from which came the word Tajik is mentioned in The
Avesta. The Zoroaster's Gathas were also directed to an Aryan audience and there are several references to this community as being situated in the "home" of the Aryans.
Tajikistan frequently appeared as
Tadjikistan or
Tadzhikistan in English. This former transliteration of
Tadjikistan or
Tadzhikistan is from the Russian
Таджикистан. (In Russian there's 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. In the
Perso-Arabic script, "Tajikistan" is written تاجیکستان.
Controversy 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. Likewise, ethnic Tajiks live in other countries, such as China, making the term ambiguous. In addition, the
Pamiri population in
Gorno-Badakhshan also have sought to create an ethnic identity separate from that of the Tajiks.
History
Early history
The territory of what is now Tajikistan has been inhabited continuously since 4000
BCE. It has been under the rule of various empires throughout history, for the longest period under the
Persian Empire.
Most of modern Tajikistan had formed parts of ancient
Kamboja and
Parama Kamboja kingdoms, which find references in the ancient Indian epics like the
Mahabharata.
Linguistic evidence, combined with ancient literary and inscriptional evidence has led many eminent
Indologists to conclude that ancient
Kambojas (
an Avestan speaking Iranian tribe) originally belonged to the
Ghalcha-speaking area of
Central Asia. Achariya
Yasaka's
Nirukta (
7th century BCE) attests that verb
Śavati in the sense "to go" was used by only the Kambojas. It has been shown that the modern
Ghalcha dialects,
Valkhi, Shigali, Sriqoli, Jebaka (also called Sanglichi or Ishkashim), Munjani, Yidga and Yagnobi, mainly spoken in
Pamirs and countries on the headwaters of the
Oxus, still use terms derived from ancient Kamboja
Śavati in the sense "to go" . The Yagnobi dialect spoken in Yagnobi province around the headwaters of
Zeravshan valley in
Sogdiana, also still contains a relic
"Śu" from ancient Kamboja
Śavati in the sense "to go" . Further, Sir G Grierson says that the speech of
Badakshan was a Ghalcha till about three centuries ago when it was supplanted by a form of
Persian . Thus, the ancient Kamboja, probably included the
Badakshan,
Pamirs and northern territories including Yagnobi province in the
doab of the
Oxus and
Jaxartes . On the east it was bounded roughly by
Yarkand and/or
Kashgar, on the west by
Bahlika (
Uttaramadra), on the northwest by
Sogdiana, on the north by
Uttarakuru, on the southeast by
Darada, and on the south by
Gandhara. Numerous Indologists locate original Kamboja in
Pamirs and
Badakshan and
the Parama Kamboja further north, in the Trans-Pamirian territories comprising Zeravshan valley, north up parts of Sogdhiana/Fargana--in the Sakadvipa or Scythia of the classical writers . Thus, in the pre-
Buddhist times (
7th–6th century BCE), the parts of modern Tajikistan including territories as far as Zeravshan valley in Sogdiana formed parts of ancient
Kamboja and the
Parama Kamboja kingdoms when it was ruled by Iranian
Kambojas till it became part of
Achaemenid Empire.
From the last quarter of fourth century BCE till the first quarter of the second century BCE, it was part of the
Bactrian Empire, from whom it was passed on to
Scythian Tukharas and hence became part of
Tukharistan. Contact with the Chinese
Han Dynasty was made in the second century BCE, when envoys were sent to the area of Bactria to explore regions west of China.
Arabs brought
Islam in the 7th century
CE. The
Samanid Empire Persians supplanted the Arabs and built the cities of
Samarkand and
Bukhara, which became the cultural centers of Tajiks (both of which are now in
Uzbekistan). 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 BCE, though the majority of the recent Jewish population didn't migrate to Tajikistan until the 20th century.
Russian presence
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 Imperial Russia in 1917, guerrillas throughout Central Asia, known as
basmachi waged a war against
Bolshevik armies in a futile attempt to maintain independence. The Bolsheviks prevailed after a four-year war, in which
mosques and villages were burned down and the population heavily suppressed. Soviet authorities started a campaign of secularization, practicing
Muslims,
Jews, and Christians were persecuted, and mosques, churches, and synagogues were closed. The Jews of Tajikistan are known as
Bukharian Jews. In the 1970s to 1990s there was a huge emigration of Bukharians to the United States of America. Today, there are flourishing Buharian communities in New York City, United States and in many other east coast cities of the U.S.
Soviet Tajikistan
In 1924, the
Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a part of
Uzbekistan, but in 1929 the
Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (
Tajik SSR) was made a separate constituent republic. The predominantly ethnic Tajik cities of
Samarkand and
Bukhara remained in the
Uzbek SSR. In terms of living conditions, education and industry Tajikistan was somewhat behind the other
Soviet Republics. By the late 1980s Tajik nationalists were calling for increased rights. Real disturbances didn't occur within the republic until 1990. The following year, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Tajikistan declared its independence.
Post-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 or in other former Soviet republics.
Emomali Rahmonov came to power in 1992, and continues to rule to this day. However, he's been accused of ethnic cleansing against other ethnicities and groups during the
Civil war in Tajikistan. 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,
Indian and
French troops have also been stationed in the country.
In 2008, the harshest winter in a quarter century caused financial losses of $850 million.
Russia pledged $1 billion in aid.
Saudi Arabia sent about 10 planes carrying 80 tons of relief and emergency supplies in February and another 11 tons in March.
Politics
» See also: Human rights in Tajikistan
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.
"Longtime observers of Tajikistan often characterize the country as profoundly averse to risk and skeptical of promises of reform, a political passivity they trace to the country’s ruinous civil war," Ilan Greenberg wrote in a news article in
The New York Times just before the country's November 2006 presidential election.
Administrative divisions
Tajikistan consists of 4 administrative divisions. These are the provinces (
viloyat) of
Sughd and
Khatlon, the autonomous province of
Gorno-Badakhshan (abbreviated as GBAO), and the
Region of Republican Subordination (RRP – Raiony Respublikanskogo Podchineniya in Russian; formerly known as
Karotegin Province). Each region is divided into several districts (
Tajik: Ноҳия,
nohiya or
raion).
| Division |
ISO 3166-2 |
Capital |
Area (km²) |
Pop (2006) |
| Sughd | TJ-SU |
Khujand |
25,400 |
2,060,900
|
| Region of Republican Subordination | TJ-RR |
Dushanbe |
28,600 |
1,531,300
|
| Khatlon | TJ-KT |
Qurghonteppa |
24,800 |
2,463,300
|
| Gorno-Badakhshan | TJ-BG |
Khorugh |
64,200 |
218,400
|
Source: Population and area from State Statistical Committee of Tajikistan
Geography
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
About 1% of the country's area is covered by lakes:
| Mountain |
Height |
Location |
| Ibn Sina Peak (Lenin Peak) |
7,174 m |
23,537 ft |
Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range, north-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak |
| Kyzylart Pass |
4,280 m |
14,042 ft |
Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range |
| Ismoil Somoni Peak (highest) |
7,495 m |
24,590 ft |
North-western edge of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), south of the Kyrgyz border |
| Independence Peak (Revolution Peak) |
6,974 m |
22,881 ft |
Central Gorno-Badakhshan, south-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak |
| Peak Korzhenevskaya |
7,105 m |
23,310 ft |
North of Ismoil Somoni Peak, on the south bank of Muksu River |
| Akademiya Nauk Range |
6,785 m |
22,260 ft |
North-western Gorno-Badakhshan, stretches in the north-south direction |
| Concord Peak |
5,469 m |
17,943 ft |
Southern border in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range |
| Karl Marx Peak |
6,726 m |
22,067 ft |
GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range |
| Mayakovskiy Peak |
6,096 m |
20,000 ft |
Extreme south-west of GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan.
|
Economy
Tajikistan was the poorest country in Central Asia as well in the former Soviet Union 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 21,
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.
Tajikistan is an active member of the
Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
The recently completed
Anzab tunnel which connects the previously hard to access Northern part of the country to the capital
Dushanbe has been labeled as part of the new
Silk Road. It is part of a road under construction that will connect Tajikistan to
Iran and the
Persian Gulf through
Afghanistan.
A new bridge between Afghanistan and Tajikistan has been built which will help the country have access to trade lines with
South Asia. The bridge was built by the
United States.
The primary sources of income in Tajikistan are
aluminium production, cotton growing and remmittances from migrant workers.
Aluminium industry is represented by the state-owned Talco - the biggest aluminium plant in Central Asia and one of the biggest in the world.
Tajikistan has great hydropower potential, and has focused on attracting investment for projects for internal use and electricity exports. Tajikistan is home to the hydroelectric power station
Nurek with the highest dam in the world. The latest development is the Russia's
RAO UES energy giant working on Sangtuda-1 hydroelectric power station (670 megawatts (MW) capacity) commenced operations on
18 January 2008. Other projects at the development stage include Sangduta-2 by Iran, Zerafshan by Chinese SinoHydro and
Rogun power plant with a projected dam height of to be built by Russia's UES. Other energy resources include sizable coal deposits and smaller reserves of natural gas and petroleum.
Foreign remittance flows from Tajik migrant workers abroad, mainly in Russia, has become by far the main source of income for millions of Tajikistan's people and represents additional 36.2% of country's GDP directly reaching the poverty-stricken population. Migration from Tajikistan and the consequent remittances have been unprecedented in their magnitude and economic impact. Tajikistan has achieved transition from a planned to a market economy without substantial and protracted recourse to aid (of which it by now receives only negligible amounts), and by purely market-based means,
simply by exporting its main commodity of comparative advantage — cheap labor. The World Bank Tajikistan Policy Note 2006 concludes that remittances have played an important role as one of the drivers of Tajikistan's robust economic growth during the past several years, have increased incomes, and as a result helped significantly reduce poverty. Drug trafficking is the major illegal source of income in Tajikistan as it's an important transit country for
Afghan narcotics bound for Russian and, to a lesser extent, Western European markets; some
opium poppy is also raised locally for the domestic market. However with the increasing assistance from international organizations, such as UNODC, and cooperation with the US, Russian, EU and Afghan authorities a level of progress on fight against illegal drug-trafficking is being achieved. Tajikistan holds the third place in the world for
heroin and raw
opium confiscations (1216.3 kg of heroin and 267.8 kg of raw opium in the first half of 2006.) Drug money corrupts the country's government; according to some experts the well-known personalities that fought on both sides of the
civil war and have held the positions in the government after the armistice was signed are now involved in the drug trade.
Demographics
Tajikistan has a population of 7,320,716 (July 2006 est.).
Tajiks who speak the
Tajik language are the main ethnic group, although there's a sizable 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 the Tajik language, while
Russian is largely spoken in business and for government purposes. 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 sizable number of
Shi'a are present as well.
Bukharian 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 who have lived in the mountainous district of
Sughd Viloyat for many centuries.
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 World Bank's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
Culture
Historically, Tajiks and Persians come from very similar stock, speaking variants of the same language and are related as part of the larger group of Iranian peoples. The
Tajik language is the mother tongue of around two-thirds of the citizens of Tajikistan. Ancient towns such as
Bukhara,
Samarkand,
Herat,
Balkh and
Khiva are no longer part of the country. The main urban centers in today's Tajikistan include Dushanbe (the capital), Khujand, Kulob, Panjakent and Istaravshan.
The
Pamiri people of
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in the southeast, bordering
Afghanistan and
China, though considered part of the
Tajik ethnicity, nevertheless are distinct linguistically and culturally from most
Tajiks. In contrast to the mostly
Sunni Muslim residents of the rest of Tajikistan, the
Pamiris overwhelmingly follow the
Ismaili sect of
Islam, and speak a number of
Eastern Iranian languages, including
Shughni,
Rushani,
Khufi and
Wakhi. Isolated in the highest parts of the
Pamir Mountains, they've preserved many ancient cultural traditions and folk arts that have been largely lost elsewhere in the country.
The
Yaghnobi people live in mountainous areas of northern Tajikistan. The estimated number of Yaghnobis is now about 25,000. Forced migrations in the 20th century decimated their numbers. They speak the
Yaghnobi language, which is the only direct modern descendant of the ancient
Sogdian language.
Transport
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