German-Tajik relations

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German-Tajik relations
Location of Germany and Tajikistan
GermanyGermany TajikistanTajikistan
Germany Tajikistan

The German-Tajik relations describe the bilateral relationship between Tajikistan and Germany .

Germany and Tajikistan have had diplomatic relations since 1992. In the same year, both the German embassy in Dushanbe and the Tajik embassy in Berlin were opened. Until December 2001, Germany was the only member state of the European Union (EU) with an embassy in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. The German-Tajik Society has existed since 2001 and is based in Berlin.

history

Tajikistan had been an independent Soviet republic since 1929 . In 1989, Tajik became the official language of Tajikistan. At the beginning of 1990 the EU , of which Germany is one of the six founding members, began to be active in Central Asia and thus also in Tajikistan. The basis for this was a trade and cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union that was signed in 1989 and entered into force in 1990. In 1991 Tajikistan declared independence from the Soviet Union and shortly afterwards it joined the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). However, the newly formed Republic of Tajikistan refused to recognize the agreements previously concluded as part of the Soviet Union, which meant that no agreement could be reached with the EU.

Germany, however, recognized the independent republic in 1992 and founded an embassy in the capital Dushanbe. Until 2001 it was the only EU member state with a permanent representation in Tajikistan. In September 1992 a civil war broke out in Tajikistan between the government and Islamic opposition members. In 1994 a ceasefire agreement was signed and Emomalij Rahmon was elected President. In 1997 the government and the United Tajik Opposition signed a peace treaty, ending the five-year civil war. In the following year, however, there were again unrest and heavy fighting between government troops and units of the Islamic opposition. The annexation of Tajikistan to the Community of Integrated States was followed in 1999 by the dissolution of the armed units of the United Tajik Opposition. President Rahmon was elected for another seven years.

At the end of 2003 there was finally an agreement with the EU, the prerequisites of which were the obligation to transition to a free market economy and the development of democratic principles. The main focus of this agreement was on trade and economic cooperation as well as political dialogue. In 2006, Rahmon was re-elected for a third time as president.

General relationships

Interest of Germany

Germany's interests in Central Asia consist mainly of modernizing the state infrastructure. The support Germany has been providing in Central Asia since 1992 specifically aimed at building a market economy , promoting the financial and health sectors and reforming the legal system. The priorities in Tajikistan were emergency aid, health care and support for agriculture. The primary goal (as of 2005) of the federal government in Central Asia is to contribute to sustainable internal and external stabilization, with the fight against poverty as a priority. This is also in line with the goals of the governments in partner countries, including Tajikistan. In this context, Germany pledged 150 million euros in funds for development aid. This makes Germany the largest bilateral donor to the European Union in Central Asia. The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) sees the main task in the fight against poverty and the related crisis prevention and peacekeeping . This can most likely be achieved through closer networking of the Central Asian partner governments. This would also strengthen regional links and cooperation.

State visits

The Tajik President Emomalij Rahmon was on a state visit in Berlin from December 12 to 15, 2011. On the first day, the main focus was on the economic relationship between the two countries, where he also met the then Federal Minister for Economics and Technology, Philipp Rösler . Following the conversation between the two, three new German-Tajik agreements were signed on the subjects of health, energy and geosciences. On December 14th, Rahmon visited the then Federal President Christian Wulff in his Berlin office at Schloss Bellevue . In the afternoon, Rahmon met with Chancellor Angela Merkel , who received him for an interview and then held a press conference with him.

Political tension

In 2013 there was a slight upset in the relationship between Tajikistan and Germany. Reports were published in the Federal Republic that the family of the Tajik President drove luxury limousines that had been stolen in Germany. The then Foreign Office spokesman for Tajikistan Abdulfajs Atojew immediately rejected these allegations as implausible. Research by journalist Johannes Edelhoff (Panorama - die reporter: use in front of the camera) proves, however, that the allegations are justified and correspond to reality.

Economic relationships

Economic relations between Germany and Tajikistan are currently at a low level. The imports from Tajikistan, which were primarily cotton and aluminum, totaled just 2.8 million euros in 2014. However, exports to Tajikistan, mainly electrical engineering, vehicles, vehicle parts and machines, reached 44.3 million euros. Tajikistan is, however, with a trade volume of 47 million euros in last place in the German eastward trade. In May 2015, members of the Eastern Committee of German Business made a delegation trip to Tajikistan, among other places, where they were received by Prime Minister Qochir Rasulsoda . They discussed projects in Dushanbe with representatives of the Tajik economy. The expansion of microfinance services through credit unions is essential for promoting a functioning economy, which also creates opportunities for the poorest part of the population to help themselves. In Tajikistan, too, this has resulted in effective partnerships, for example with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Cultural relations

migration

After Catherine the Great had offered privileges to foreign farmers in the 1860s, a mass resettlement of Germans began in what was then the Russian Empire. At the beginning of the 19th century, entire German villages sprang up in northern Tajikistan. During the Second World War , the number of Germans in Central Asia increased as a result of their deportation to the European part of the Soviet Union. In a census in 1989, 32,000 Tajik citizens were identified with German roots, of which about 20,000 German as their first language called. Since the beginning of the 21st century, however, many thousands of Germans have emigrated from Tajikistan, so that today there are an estimated 1,500 left.

An international town partnership has existed between the Baden-Württemberg city of Reutlingen and the Tajik capital Dushanbe since October 1990 . The former SPD city councilor Suse Gnant has been collecting donations in Reutlingen since 2001, which should be used to feed school children of two schools in Dushanbe. In addition, warm clothes and shoes are obtained from the donations generated, which enables the children to go to school even in winter. The town twinning between Reutlingen and Dushanbe celebrated its 25th anniversary in autumn 2015 and was able to raise a total of over € 150,000 for children from Dushanbe by 2018 as part of the fundraising campaign.

In Tajikistan, the poorest country in Central Asia, the German government is working to improve basic education , especially in rural areas . She tries to achieve this goal by building schools.

"The federal government has been pursuing a local aid policy for years and has been supporting the German minority with meeting places , language courses, youth work as well as training and further education through GTZ, the Goethe Institute and the embassy."

- Rainer Freitag-Wirminghaus, employee at the German Orient Institute in Hamburg.

education

"In Tajikistan, many young people are increasingly orientating themselves towards the Middle East , not Europe ."

- Muhidin Kabiri : (Chairman of the Party of Islamic Revival of Tajikistan , Dushanbe)

This fits in with Kabiri's statement, in which he adds that only about 400 Tajik students study in Europe and North America . A comparatively 500 Tajik students study in Iran . This shows the low level of interest that young Tajiks in particular have in Europe.

In 2010, a language learning center founded by the Goethe Institute was opened in Dushanbe . All levels of the GER are offered , from A1 to C1. The aim is to offer German courses of the highest level. However, there is also the opportunity to acquire basic knowledge in a short time. Some of the school's graduates are already studying in Germany. A total of around 65 scholarships are awarded annually by both the DAAD and the Pedagogical Exchange Service. In addition, the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) has been carrying out excavations in Tajikistan for many years, in cooperation with the Dushanbe Archaeological Museum.

Humanitarian aid

The German organization Doctors Without Borders has been active in Tajikistan since 1997. It initially focused on the treatment of children and adolescents under the age of 18 with resistant forms of tuberculosis . These were rarely treated before, if at all, and if so, then only with standard anti-tuberculosis drugs. Doctors Without Borders cooperated with the Ministry of Health and initially remained the only organization that offered such help. Gradually, other tasks were taken over in the Central Asian country. As talks with the Global Fund and the United Nations Development Program succeeded , treatments expanded.

Legal relations

The agreement drawn up in October 2011 during the Tajik-German government consultations, which provided for an increase in the funding of the project support for legal and judicial reforms , resulted in good cooperation between the Tajik and German justice ministries . The Tajik civil procedure law, the law on commercial jurisdiction and the law on enforcement proceedings were drawn up with the support of the German Society for Technical Cooperation . The law on cooperatives was also drawn up on the German model. Furthermore, there is an interest in continuing the cooperation regarding legislation in constitutional law and in private and commercial law.

See also

literature

  • Matthias Lücke, Jacek Rothert: Central Asia's comparative advantage in international trade. Kiel Inst. For the World Economy, Kiel 2006, ISBN 3-89456-279-X .
  • Marie-Carin von Gumppenberg: Central Asia: history, politics, economy; a lexicon. Beck, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51113-9 .
  • Stefan Hülshörster, Dirk Mirow: German advice on legal and judicial reforms abroad: 20 years of the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation IRZ. Berliner Wiss.-Verl., Berlin, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8305-3125-8 .
  • Catherine Schiemann, Austrian Study Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution: Crisis Prevention: Theory and Practice of Civil Conflict Management; Results of the International State of Peace Conference 1998. Rüegger, Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-7253-0640-0 .
  • Thomas Paulsen, Bergedorf Round Table (137, 2007, Astana), Körber Foundation Bergedorf Round Table: European Politics in Central Asia. 137th Bergedorf Round Table, May 4-6, 2007, Astana. Ed. Körber Foundation, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89684-248-0 .
  • Michael Charles Kaser, Santosh K Mehrotra, Royal Institute of International Affairs (London): The Central Asian economies after independence. Royal Institute of International Affairs, London 1992.
  • Marit Borcherding, Karl Julius Ploetz: The great Ploetz. The encyclopedia of world history. Edition 35. Vandenhoeck & Puprecht, Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-32008-2 .
  • Michael Venhoff: Central Asia, East Asia, Back India. In: Brockhaus - the world. 6, Gütersloh 2013, ISBN 978-3-577-09806-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Embassy in Tajikistan. ( Memento of the original from January 26, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 25, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.duschanbe.diplo.de
  2. ^ Embassy of Tajikistan in Berlin. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  3. ^ German-Tajik Society eV . Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ Federal Agency for Civic Education. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  5. ^ A b Marie-Carin von Gumppenberg: Central Asia: History, Politics, Economy; a lexicon. Beck'sche Reihe, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51113-9 . P. 74.
  6. ↑ a b c Marit Borcherding, Karl Julius Ploetz: The great Ploetz. The encyclopedia of world history. Vandenhoeck & Puprecht, Göttingen 2008, edition 35, ISBN 978-3-525-32008-2 . P. 1711.
  7. ^ Federal Foreign Office, German-Tajik Relations , as of November 2015. Accessed on January 26, 2016.
  8. ↑ a b Michael Venhoff: Central Asia, East Asia, Indochina. In: Brockhaus - the world. 6, Gütersloh 2013 ISBN 978-3-577-09806-9 . P. 67.
  9. ^ Marie-Carin von Gumppenberg: Central Asia: History, Politics, Economy; a lexicon. Beck'sche Reihe, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51113-9 . P. 75.
  10. ^ Marie-Carin von Gumppenberg: Central Asia: History, Politics, Economy; a lexicon. Beck'sche Reihe, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51113-9 . Pp. 55, 56.
  11. ↑ a b c Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Central Asia Concept April 2005 ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Retrieved January 27, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bischkek.diplo.de
  12. ↑ German Embassy in Dushanbe, visit by Emomali Rahmon to the Federal Republic of Germany ( Memento of the original from January 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved January 28, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.duschanbe.diplo.de
  13. ^ Spiegel, Tajikistan outraged by reports of stolen luxury cars from December 20, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  14. ↑ Eastern Committee of the German Economy, Tajikistan. As of October 2015. Accessed January 27, 2016.
  15. ↑ Working group of German minorities in FUEN, German minority in Tajikistan . Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  16. ↑ Sarina Kosybajewa, Nigora Buchari-sad, German Cultural Heritage in Tajikistan, January 16, 2005. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  17. ↑ https://www.swp.de/suedwesten/staedte/reutlingen/liebenswuerdig-und-beharrlich-26830604.html . Retrieved July 7, 2018
  18. ^ City of Reutlingen, twinning with Dushanbe. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  19. ↑ Donations for Dushanbe are running out. In: Reutlinger Wochenblatt. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  20. ^ Marie-Carin von Gumppenberg: Central Asia: History, Politics, Economy; a lexicon. Beck'sche Reihe, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-406-51113-9 . P. 57.
  21. ↑ Thomas Paulsen, Bergedorf Round Table (137, 2007, Astana), Körber Foundation Bergedorf Round Table: European Politics in Central Asia: 137th Bergedorf Round Table, May 4-6, 2007, Astana. Ed. Körber Foundation, Hamburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89684-248-0 , p. 39.
  22. ↑ Dushanbe Language Learning Center. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  23. ^ Federal Foreign Office, Country Info - Tajikistan - Culture and Education. As of November 2015. Accessed January 26, 2016.
  24. ↑ Stefan Hülshörster, Dirk Mirow: German advice on legal and judicial reforms abroad. 20 years of the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation. Berliner Wiss.-Verl., Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-8305-3125-8 , pp. 444, 445.