Tajikistan
Landlocked country in Central Asia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Tajikistan,[lower-alpha 1] officially the Republic of Tajikistan,[lower-alpha 2] is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital and most populous city. Tajikistan is bordered by Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China to the east. It is separated from Pakistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor.
Republic of Tajikistan | |
---|---|
Motto: Истиқлол, Озодӣ, Ватан (Tajik) Istiqlol, Ozodí, Vatan "Independence, Freedom, Homeland" | |
Anthem: Суруди Миллӣ (Tajik) Surudi Milli "National Anthem" | |
Capital and largest city | Dushanbe 38°33′N 68°48′E |
Official languages | |
Spoken languages | |
Ethnic groups (2020[2]) | |
Religion |
|
Demonym(s) | |
Government | Unitary presidential republic under an authoritarian dictatorship[7] |
Emomali Rahmon | |
Kokhir Rasulzoda | |
Legislature | Supreme Assembly |
National Assembly | |
Assembly of Representatives | |
Formation | |
24 August 1990 | |
31 August 1991 | |
9 September 1991 | |
26 December 1991 | |
Area | |
• Total | 143,100[8][9][10] km2 (55,300 sq mi) (94th) |
• Water | 2,575 km2 (994 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 1.8 |
Population | |
• 1 Jan 2023 estimate | 10,077,600[11] (92th) |
• Density | 48.6/km2 (125.9/sq mi) (155th) |
GDP (PPP) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | $53.679 billion[12] (119th) |
• Per capita | $5,360[12] (148th) |
GDP (nominal) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | $11.816 billion[12] (151st) |
• Per capita | $1,180[12] (167th) |
Gini (2015) | 34[13] medium |
HDI (2021) | 0.685[14] medium (122nd) |
Currency | Somoni (TJS) |
Time zone | UTC+5 (TJT) |
Date format | dd.mm.yyyy |
Driving side | right |
Calling code | +992 |
ISO 3166 code | TJ |
Internet TLD | .tj |
|
The territory was previously home to cultures of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age, including the city of Sarazm,[16] and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of faiths and cultures, including the Oxus civilization, Andronovo culture, Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Islam. The area has been ruled by empires and dynasties, including the Achaemenid Empire, Sasanian Empire, Hephthalite Empire, Samanid Empire, and Mongol Empire. After being ruled by the Timurid Empire and Khanate of Bukhara, the Timurid Renaissance flourished. The region was later conquered by the Russian Empire and subsequently by the Soviet Union. Within the Soviet Union, the country's borders were drawn when it was part of Uzbekistan as an autonomous republic before becoming a full-fledged Soviet republic in 1929.[17]
On 9 September 1991, Tajikistan declared itself an independent sovereign nation as the Soviet Union was disintegrating. A civil war was fought after independence, lasting from May 1992 to June 1997. Since the end of the war, newly established political stability and foreign aid have allowed the country's economy to grow. The country has been led by Emomali Rahmon since 1994, who heads an authoritarian regime and whose human rights record has been criticised.[18][19]
Tajikistan is a presidential republic consisting of four provinces. Tajiks form the ethnic majority in the country,[20] and their national language is Tajik, a variety of Persian.[21] Russian is used as the official inter-ethnic language. While the state is constitutionally secular, Islam is nominally adhered to by 96% of the population. In the Gorno-Badakhshan oblast, there is a linguistic diversity where Rushani, Shughni, Ishkashimi, Wakhi and Tajik are some of the languages spoken. Mountains cover more than 90% of the country. It is a developing country with a transitional economy that is dependent on remittances, and on production of aluminium and cotton. Tajikistan is a member of the United Nations, CIS, OSCE, OIC, ECO, SCO, CSTO and a NATO PfP partner.
The term "Tajik" itself ultimately derives from the Middle Persian Tāzīk, the Turkic rendition of the Arabic ethnonym Ṭayyi’, denoting a Qahtanite Arab tribe who emigrated to the Transoxiana region of Central Asia in the 7th century AD.[22] Tajikistan appeared as Tadjikistan or Tadzhikistan in English prior to 1991. This is due to a transliteration from the Russian: "Таджикистан". In Russian, there is no single letter "j" to represent the phoneme /d͡ʒ/, and therefore дж, or dzh, is used. Tadzhikistan is the alternate spelling and is used in English literature derived from Russian sources.[23][citation needed] "Tadjikistan" is the spelling in French and can occasionally be found in English language texts.[citation needed] The way of writing Tajikistan in the Perso-Arabic script is: تاجیکستان.
While the Library of Congress's 1997 Country Study of Tajikistan found it difficult to definitively state the origins of the word "Tajik" because the term is "embroiled in twentieth-century political disputes about whether Turkic or Iranian peoples were the original inhabitants of Central Asia,"[24] scholars concluded that contemporary Tajiks are the descendants of the Eastern Iranian inhabitants of Central Asia, in particular, the Sogdians and the Bactrians, and possibly other groups, with an admixture of Western Iranian Persians and non-Iranian peoples.[25][26] According to Richard Nelson Frye, a historian of Iranian and Central Asian history, the Persian emigration to Central Asia may be considered the beginning of the Tajik nation, and ethnic Persians, along with some elements of the Eastern Iranian Bactrians and Sogdians, as the main ancestors of the Tajiks.[27] In later works, Frye expands on the complexity of the historical origins of the Tajiks. In a 1996 publication, Frye explains that "factors must be taken into account in explaining the evolution of the peoples whose remnants are the Tajiks in Central Asia" and that "the peoples of Central Asia, whether Iranian or Turkic speaking, have one culture, one religion, one set of social values and traditions with only language separating them."[28]
Regarding Tajiks, the Encyclopædia Britannica states:
The Tajiks are the direct descendants of the Iranian peoples whose continuous presence in Central Asia and northern Afghanistan is attested from the middle of the first millennium BC. The ancestors of the Tajiks constituted the core of the ancient population of Khwārezm (Khorezm) and Bactria, which formed part of Transoxania (Sogdiana). Over the course of time, the eastern Iranian dialect that was used by the ancient Tajiks eventually gave way to Farsi, a western dialect spoken in Iran and Afghanistan.[29]
Cultures in the region have been dated back to at least the fourth millennium BC, including the Bronze Age Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex, the Andronovo cultures and the pro-urban site of Sarazm, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[32]
The earliest recorded history of the region dates back to about 500 BC when most, if not all, of Tajikistan, was part of the Achaemenid Empire.[24] Some authors have suggested that in the seventh and sixth centuries BC, parts of Tajikistan, including territories in the Zeravshan valley, formed part of the Hindu Kambojas tribe[33][34] before it became part of the Achaemenid Empire.[35] After the region's conquest by Alexander the Great it became part of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, a successor state of Alexander's empire. Northern Tajikistan (the cities of Khujand and Panjakent) was part of Sogdia, a collection of city-states which was overrun by Scytho-Siberians and Yuezhi nomadic tribes around 150 BC. The Silk Road passed through the region and following the expedition of Chinese explorer Zhang Qian during the reign of Wudi (141BC–87 BC) commercial relations between Han Empire and Sogdiana flourished.[36][37] Sogdians played a role in facilitating trade and worked in other capacities, as farmers, carpetweavers, glassmakers, and woodcarvers.[38]
The Kushan Empire, a collection of Yuezhi tribes, took control of the region in the first century AD and ruled until the fourth century AD during which time Buddhism, Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism were practised in the region.[39] Later the Hephthalite Empire, a collection of nomadic tribes, moved into the region and Arabs brought Islam in the eighth century.[39]
Samanid Empire
The Samanid Empire, 819 to 999, restored Persian control of the region and enlarged the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara which became the cultural centers of Iran and the region was known as Khorasan. The empire was centered in Khorasan and Transoxiana; at its greatest extent encompassing Afghanistan, parts of Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, parts of Kazakhstan, and Pakistan. Four brothers Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, and Ilyas founded the Samanid state. Each of them ruled territory under Abbasid suzerainty. In 892, Ismail Samani (892–907) united the Samanid state under 1 ruler, thus putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was under him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority. The Kara-Khanid Khanate conquered Transoxania (which corresponds approximately with what later is Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kyrgyzstan, and southwest Kazakhstan) and ruled between 999 and 1211.[40][41] Their arrival in Transoxania signalled a definitive shift from Iranian to Turkic predominance in Central Asia,[42] and gradually the Kara-khanids became assimilated into the Perso-Arab Muslim culture of the region.[43]
In the 13th century, the Mongol Empire swept through Central Asia, invaded Khwarezmian Empire and sacked the cities, looting and massacring people. Turco-Mongol conqueror Tamerlane founded the Timurid Empire in and around what later is Tajikistan and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty.[44]
Bukharan rule
What later is Tajikistan fell under the rule of the Khanate of Bukhara during the 16th century and with the empire's collapse in the 18th century it came under the rule of the Emirate of Bukhara and Khanate of Kokand. The Emirate of Bukhara remained intact until the 20th century and during the 19th century, for the second time in world history, a European power (the Russian Empire) began to conquer parts of the region.[45]
Imperial Russia
Russian Imperialism led to the Russian Empire's conquest of Central Asia during the 19th century's Imperial Era. Between 1864 and 1885, Russia gradually took control of the entire territory of Russian Turkestan, the Tajikistan portion of which had been controlled by the Emirate of Bukhara and Khanate of Kokand. Russia was interested in gaining access to a supply of cotton and in the 1870s attempted to switch cultivation in the region from grain to cotton (a strategy later copied and expanded by the Soviets).[46]
During the 19th century, the Jadidists established themselves as an Islamic social movement throughout the region. While the Jadidists were pro-modernization and not necessarily anti-Russian, the Russians viewed the movement as a threat because the Russian Empire was predominantly Christian.[47] Russian troops were required to restore order during uprisings against the Khanate of Kokand between 1910 and 1913. Further violence occurred in July 1916 when demonstrators attacked Russian soldiers in Khujand over the threat of forced conscription during World War I. While Russian troops brought Khujand back under control, clashes continued throughout the year in locations in Tajikistan. [48]
Soviet period
After the Russian Revolution of 1917 guerrillas throughout Central Asia, known as basmachi, waged a war against Bolshevik armies in an attempt to maintain independence.[49] The Bolsheviks prevailed after a 4-year war, in which mosques and villages were burned down and the population suppressed. Soviet authorities started a campaign of secularisation. Practising Islam, Judaism, and Christianity was discouraged and repressed, and mosques, churches, and synagogues were closed.[50] As a consequence of the conflict and Soviet agriculture policies, Central Asia, Tajikistan included, underwent a famine that claimed lives.[51]
In 1924, the Tajikistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as a part of Uzbekistan,[49] and in 1929 the Tajikistan Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajikistan SSR, Таджикская ССР) was made a separate constituent republic;[49] the predominantly ethnic Tajik cities of Samarkand and Bukhara remained in the Uzbek SSR. Between 1927 and 1934, collectivisation of agriculture and an expansion of cotton production took place, especially in the southern region.[52] Soviet collectivisation policy brought violence against peasants and forced resettlement occurred throughout Tajikistan. Consequently, some peasants fought collectivization and revived the Basmachi movement. Some industrial development occurred during this time along with the expansion of irrigation infrastructure.[52]
2 rounds of Stalin's purges (1927–1934 and 1937–1938) resulted in the expulsion of nearly 10,000 people, from all levels of the Communist Party of Tajikistan.[53] Ethnic Russians were sent in to replace those expelled and subsequently Russians dominated party positions at all levels, including the top position of first secretary.[53] Between 1926 and 1959 the proportion of Russians among Tajikistan's population grew from less than 1% to 13%.[54] Bobojon Ghafurov, First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan from 1946 to 1956, was the only Tajik politician of significance outside of the country during the Soviet Era.[55]
Tajiks began to be conscripted into the Soviet Army in 1939 and during World War II around 260,000 Tajik citizens fought against Germany, Finland and Japan. Between 60,000 (4%)[56] and 120,000 (8%)[57] of Tajikistan's 1,530,000 citizens were killed during World War II.[58] Following the war and Stalin's reign, attempts were made to further expand the agriculture and industry of Tajikistan.[55] During 1957–58 Nikita Khrushchev's Virgin Lands Campaign focused attention on Tajikistan, where living conditions, education and industry lagged behind the other Soviet Republics.[55] In the 1980s, Tajikistan had the lowest household saving rate in the USSR,[59] the lowest percentage of households in the 2 top per capita income groups,[60] and the lowest rate of university graduates per 1000 people.[61] By the 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 on 9 September 1991, a day which is celebrated as the country's Independence Day.[62]
Independence
In February 1990, riots and strikes in Dushanbe and other cities began due to the difficult socio-economic situation, lack of housing, and youth unemployment.[49] The nationalist and democratic opposition and supporters of independence joined the strikes and began to demand the independence of the republic and democratic reforms. Islamists began to hold strikes to demand respect for their rights and independence of the republic. The Soviet leadership introduced Internal Troops in Dushanbe to eliminate the unrest.[49]
Following independence, the nation fell into civil war among factions; distinguished by clan loyalties.[63] More than 500,000 residents fled during this time because of persecution and increased poverty, seeking better economic opportunities in the West or in other former Soviet republics.[64] Emomali Rahmon came to power in 1992,[49] defeating former prime minister Abdumalik Abdullajanov in a November presidential election with 58% of the vote.[65] The elections took place after the end of the war. The estimated dead numbered over 100,000. Around 1.2 million people were refugees inside and outside of the country.[63] In 1997, a ceasefire was reached between Rahmon and opposition parties under the guidance of Gerd D. Merrem,[49] Special Representative to the Secretary General, a result praised as a successful United Nations peacekeeping initiative. The ceasefire guaranteed 30% of ministerial positions would go to the opposition.[66] Elections were held in 1999 and were criticised by opposition parties and foreign observers as unfair and Rahmon was re-elected with 98% of the vote.[49] Elections in 2006 were again won by Rahmon (with 79% of the vote) and he began his third term in office. Opposition parties boycotted the 2006 election and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) criticised it, while observers from the Commonwealth of Independent States claimed the elections were legal and transparent.[67][68] Rahmon's administration came under further criticism from OSCE in October 2010 for its censorship and repression of the media. OSCE claimed that the Tajik Government censored Tajik and foreign websites and instituted tax inspections on independent printing houses that led to the cessation of printing activities for a number of independent newspapers.[69]
Russian border troops were stationed along the Tajik–Afghan border until summer 2005. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks, French troops have been stationed at Dushanbe Airport in support of air operations of NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. United States Army and Marine Corps personnel periodically visit Tajikistan to conduct joint training missions of up to several weeks duration. The Government of India rebuilt the Ayni Air Base, a military airport located 15 km southwest of Dushanbe, at a cost of $70 million, completing the repairs in September 2010.[70] It is the main base of the Tajikistan air force. There have been talks with Russia concerning use of the Ayni facility,[71] and Russia continues to maintain a base on the outskirts of Dushanbe.[72]
In 2010, there were concerns among Tajik officials that Islamic militarism in the east of the country was on the rise following the escape of 25 militants from a Tajik prison in August, an ambush that killed 28 Tajik soldiers in the Rasht Valley in September,[73] and another ambush in the valley in October that killed 30 soldiers,[74] followed by fighting outside Gharm that left 3 militants dead. The country's Interior Ministry asserts that the central government maintains full control over the country's east, and the military operation in the Rasht Valley was concluded in November 2010.[75] Fighting erupted in July 2012.[76] In 2015, Russia sent more troops to Tajikistan.[77]
In May 2015, Tajikistan's national security underwent a setback when Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, commander of the special-purpose police unit (OMON) of the Interior Ministry, defected to the Islamic State.[49][78]
In 2021, following the Fall of Kabul, Tajikistan allegedly got involved in the Panjshir conflict against the Taliban on the side of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan.[79][80]
In September 2022 armed clashes, including the use of artillery, erupted along most of the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.[81]
After independence, Tajikistan was plunged into a civil war. Factions were supported by foreign countries including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Russia. Russia and Iran focused on keeping peace in the warring nation to decrease the chances of U.S. or Turkish involvement. Russia backed the pro-government faction and deployed troops from the Commonwealth of Independent States to guard the Tajikistan-Afghan border.[82] 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 ended after a peace agreement between the government and the Islamist-led opposition, a central government began to take form, with peaceful elections in 1999.[83]
"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 before the country's November 2006 presidential election.[84]
The parliamentary elections of 2005 aroused accusations from opposition parties and international observers that President Emomali Rahmon corruptly manipulates the election process and unemployment. Elections in February 2010 saw the ruling PDPT lose 4 seats in Parliament, yet still maintain a majority. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe election observers said the 2010 polling "failed to meet many key OSCE commitments" and that "these elections failed on many basic democratic standards."[85][86] The government insisted that only minor violations had occurred, which would not affect the will of the Tajik people.[85][86]
The Tajik government has reportedly clamped down on facial hair as part of a crackdown on Islamic influence and due to its perceived associations with Islamic extremism, which is evident in bordering Afghanistan.[87][88]
The presidential election held on 6 November 2006 was boycotted by "mainline" opposition parties, including the 23,000-member Islamic Renaissance Party. 4 remaining opponents "all but endorsed the incumbent", Rahmon.[84]
Freedom of the press is officially guaranteed by the government, and independent press outlets remain restricted, as does an amount of web content.[89] According to the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, access is blocked to local and foreign websites, and journalists are sometimes obstructed from reporting on some events. In practice, no public criticism of the regime is tolerated and all direct protest is suppressed and does not receive coverage in the local media.[90]
In the 2020 Democracy Index by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Tajikistan was ranked 160th, after Saudi Arabia, while receiving the designation of "authoritarian regime".[91]
In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Tajikistan, signed a joint letter to UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region.[92]
In October 2020, President Emomali Rahmon was re-elected for another seven-year term with 90% of the vote, following a largely ceremonial election.[93]
In April 2021, a conflict over water with Kyrgyzstan escalated into one of the border clashes between the two countries since independence.[94][95]
In July 2021, Tajikistan appealed to members of a Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) of ex-Soviet states for help in dealing with security challenges emerging from neighboring Afghanistan.[96] The safety concerns emerged as foreign troops such as the US and British army exited the country, causing over 1,000 Afghan civilians and servicemen to flee to neighboring Tajikistan after Taliban insurgents took control of parts of Afghanistan.[97]
Tajikistan is landlocked, and is the smallest nation in Central Asia by area. It lies mostly between latitudes 36° and 41° N, and longitudes 67° and 75° E. It is covered by mountains of the Pamir range, and most of the country is over 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) above sea level. The areas of lower land are in the north (part of the Fergana Valley), and in the southern Kofarnihon and Vakhsh river valleys, which form the Amu Darya. Dushanbe is located on the southern slopes above the Kofarnihon valley.
Mountain | Height | Location | ||
Ismoil Somoni Peak (highest) | 7,495 m | 24,590 ft | North-western edge of Gorno-Badakhshan (GBAO), south of the Kyrgyz border | |
Ibn Sina Peak (Lenin Peak) | 7,134 m | 23,537 ft | Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range, north-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 | |
Independence Peak (Revolution Peak) | 6,974 m | 22,881 ft | Central Gorno-Badakhshan, south-east of Ismoil Somoni Peak | |
Academy of Sciences Range | 6,785 m | 22,260 ft | North-western Gorno-Badakhshan, stretches in the north–south direction | |
Karl Marx Peak | 6,726 m | 22,067 ft | GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range | |
Garmo Peak | 6,595 m | 21,637 ft | Northwestern Gorno-Badakhshan. | |
Mayakovskiy Peak | 6,096 m | 20,000 ft | Extreme south-west of GBAO, near the border to Afghanistan. | |
Concord Peak | 5,469 m | 17,943 ft | Southern border in the northern ridge of the Karakoram Range | |
Kyzylart Pass | 4,280 m | 14,042 ft | Northern border in the Trans-Alay Range |
The Amu Darya and Panj rivers mark the border with Afghanistan, and the glaciers in Tajikistan's mountains are the source of runoff for the Aral Sea. There are over 900 rivers in Tajikistan longer than 10 kilometres.
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 transliteration from Russian or NTJ – Ноҳияҳои тобеи ҷумҳурӣ [Nohiyahoi tobei jumhurii] in Tajik; formerly known as Karotegin Province). Each region is divided into districts (Tajik: Ноҳия, nohiya or raion), which in turn are subdivided into jamoats (village-level self-governing units) and then villages (qyshloqs). As of 2006[update], there were 58 districts and 367 jamoats in Tajikistan.[98]
Division | ISO 3166-2 | Map No | Capital | Area (km2)[98] | Pop. (2019)[99] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sughd | TJ-SU | 1 | Khujand | 25,400 | 2,658,400 |
Region of Republican Subordination | TJ-RR | 2 | Dushanbe | 28,600 | 2,122,000 |
Khatlon | TJ-KT | 3 | Bokhtar | 24,800 | 3,274,900 |
Gorno-Badakhshan | TJ-GB | 4 | Khorugh | 64,200 | 226,900 |
Dushanbe | Dushanbe | 124.6 | 846,400 |
Biodiversity
Tajikistan contains 5 terrestrial ecoregions: Alai-Western Tian Shan steppe, Gissaro-Alai open woodlands, Pamir alpine desert and tundra, Badghyz and Karabil semi-desert, and Paropamisus xeric woodlands.[100]