Tajikistan: A Political and Social History

420 Pages·2013·2.275 MB·English

by  Kirill Nourzhanov, Christian Bleuer

Tajikistan
A Political and Social History

Tajikistan
A Political and Social History
Kirill Nourzhanov and
Christian Bleuer
Published by ANU E Press
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
Email: [email protected]
This title is also available online at http://epress.anu.edu.au
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author: Nourzhanov, Kirill, author.
Title: Tajikistan : a political and social history / Kirill Nourzhanov ; Christian Bleuer.
ISBN: 9781925021158 (paperback) 9781925021165 (ebook)
Subjects: Tajikistan--Politics and government--1991-
Tajikistan--Social conditions.
Tajikistan--Social life and customs.
Other Authors/Contributors:
Bleuer, Christian, author.
Dewey Number: 958.6086
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
Cover design and layout by ANU E Press
Cover image: A statue of Lenin in eastern Tajikistan rises in front of a portrait of Tajik President
Emomali Rahmon by Theodore Kaye: www.theodorekaye.com
Printed by Griffin Press
This edition © 2013 ANU E Press
Contents
List of Maps, Figures and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Note on Transliteration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 . Tajiks on the Crossroads of History, from Antiquity to
the Age of Colonialism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 . Forging Tajik Identity: Ethnic Origins, National–Territorial
Delimitation and Nationalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3 . State Formation in the Soviet Era, 1917 to the 1960s . . . . . . 51
4 . Traditional Society and Regionalism in Soviet Tajikistan . . . . . 75
5 . Formal and Informal Political Institutions in Soviet Tajikistan . 109
6 . Experimentation, Turmoil and Fragmentation under
Gorbachev, 1985–1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7 . The Rise of Opposition, the Contraction of the State and
the Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
8 . Islam in Society and Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
9 . From Political Confrontation to Civil War, 1991–1992 . . . . . 277
Epilogue: The Civil War of 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Appendix I: Districts of Tajikistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Appendix II: Major Ethnic Groups of Tajikistan . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

List of Maps, Figures and Tables
Maps
Map 1 Tajikistan’s Neighbours and Major Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Map 2 Satellite View of Tajikistan with the Vakhsh
Valley Circled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Map 3 Original Provinces of Tajikistan, 1924–29 . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Figures
Figure 5 .1 The Leninobod-Kanibodom Group of Families . . . . . . 132
Figure 5 .2 The Gharm-Pamirs Group of Families . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 6 .1 Spatial Hierarchy of Identities in Soviet Tajikistan . . . 175
Tables
Table 3 .1 Dynamics of Industrial Output in Tajikistan,
1913–40 (1913 = 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Table 3 .2 Comparative Behavioural Parameters of Workers in
Central Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Table 4 .1 Number and Size of Families in Tajikistan, 1993 . . . . . 77
Table 4 .2 Comparative Social Indicators in Tajikistan and the
Soviet Union as a Whole, 1988 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Table 4 .3 Motivation for Marriage amongst College Students,
1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Table 4 .4 Urban and Rural Populations of Tajikistan, 1989 . . . . . 95
Table 4 .5 Regional and Ethnic Composition of the CPT Central
Committee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Table 4 .6 Indices of Regional Economic Development, 1990 . . . . 99
Table 5 .1 Changes in the Membership and Ethnic Composition
of the CPT, 1933–38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Table 5 .2 Composition of the Supreme Soviet of Tajikistan . . . 114
Table 5 .3 Ministries in Tajikistan, 1976 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Table 5 .4 Examples from Nomenklatura Lists of Party
Organisations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Table 5 .5 Ethnic Composition of the CPT Leadership . . . . . . . . 122
Table 5 .6 Educational Levels of Secretaries of Regional, City
and District Committees of the CPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Table 5 .7 Main Criteria for Admission to Higher Education
Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Table 6 .1 Birth and Mortality Rates and Natural Population
Growth in the USSR and Soviet Republics (per 1000 of
population) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Table 7 .1 Who is to Blame for the Events in February 1990
in Dushanbe? (Results of a poll conducted throughout
Tajikistan in May–June 1990) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Table 7 .2 Public Support for Political Parties in Tajikistan in
November 1991 and June 1992 (percentage of those
polled) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Table 9 .1 Regional Composition of Tajikistan’s Electorate . . . . . 285
Table 9 .2 Personal Qualities Most Appreciated by Loyal Voters
in Presidential Candidates, October 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Table 9 .3 Election Preferences of Ethnic Groups,
October– November 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge The Australian National University and
especially its Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS), which nurtured this
project intellectually, administratively and financially. We could not have had
a better environment in which to complete the book. Many people in Australia
and beyond helped us with inspirational ideas, sources of information, by
reading draft chapters and correcting errors and infelicities; we name but a few
of them below and hasten to add that the mistakes that remain are wholly our
responsibility.
Kirill Nourzhanov would like to thank Dr Christian Bleuer—that the book has
been completed at all is due to his tireless energy, enormous expertise, and
impeccable work ethic. Professor Amin Saikal, the CAIS Director, took personal
interest in the project and gave me valuable support. I owe a debt of gratitude
to Associate Professor Matthew Gray, Dr Doug Sturkey and Ms Leila Kouatly at
CAIS for their friendship and sage advice. Professor Reuel Hanks at Oklahoma
State University read the entire manuscript and offered criticism while seriously
ill—you are a true champion! My thanks go to Professor Craig Reynolds, who
had faith in the project despite Tajikistan’s low profile on the Australian research
agenda. I am forever in debt to Iskandar Asadulloev, Safar Haqdod and Zafar
Saidi, who helped and sheltered me during the civil war in Tajikistan, and who
have contributed to my research immensely over the past two decades.
Christian Bleuer would like to acknowledge the people who were instrumental
in helping him complete his PhD dissertation, much of which made up his
contribution to this book. First of all, I thank my dissertation committee:
Professor Amin Saikal, Dr Kirill Nourzhanov and Dr Robert L. Canfield. I am
extremely grateful to have had the benefit of this high level of expertise on
Central Asia while a PhD candidate at CAIS. Professor Saikal provided the
firm guidance that kept me on track and reasonably on time with my work.
His knowledge of Central Asian culture, history and politics was invaluable.
Dr Nourzhanov’s deep understanding of Tajikistan and Central Asia is what
allowed me to produce my dissertation. He never failed to guide me towards
the best sources, and the feedback he provided on my numerous drafts enabled
me to vastly improve on the work that I had produced. I am also very grateful
to Dr Canfield, who, despite being far away at Washington University in
St Louis, graciously agreed to be on my dissertation committee. His comments
and criticism were valuable in refining my work into the state that it is now in.
Additionally, I would like to thank Professor Saikal and Dr Nourzhanov for
working to secure a scholarship that allowed me to come to The Australian
National University for my studies. I am indebted to the government and
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Tajikistan: A Political and Social History
taxpayers of Australia for funding my scholarships (the ANU PhD scholarship
and the Endeavour International Postgraduate Research Scholarship). And for
helping me through the bureaucratic and administrative processes here at the
ANU I would also like to express my gratitude to Carol Laslett, Anita Mack
and Leila Kouatly. Outside the university, I would like to thank my parents for
supporting my education. I would also like to thank my numerous friends who
encouraged me at every step of my time in university. As for those many people
in Tajikistan who helped me in so many ways, I will, due to the current social
and political situation there, thank them personally—and privately.
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