Tajikistan

	Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон
	Jumhurii Todschikiston
	Republic of Tajikistan
flag	emblem
Official language	Tajik (official language) and Russian ("language of inter-ethnic communication")
Capital	Dushanbe
State and form of government	presidential republic
Head of state	President ; Emomalij Rahmon
Head of government	Prime Minister ; Qochir Rasulsoda
surface	143,100 km²
population	9.3 million ( 95th ) (2019; estimate)
Population density	66 inhabitants per km²
Population development	+ 2.4% (estimate for 2019)
gross domestic product Total (nominal); Total ( PPP ); GDP / inh. (nom.); GDP / inh. (KKP);	2019 (estimate) $ 8.1 billion ( 147. ) ; $ 33 billion ( 133. ) ; 873 USD ( 172. ) ; 3,544 USD ( 157. ) ;
Human Development Index	0.668 ( 125th ) (2019)
currency	Somoni (TJS)
independence	September 9, 1991 ; (from the Soviet Union )
National anthem	Surudi Milli;
National holiday	September 9 (independence)
Time zone	UTC + 5
License Plate	TJ
ISO 3166	TJ , TJK, 762
Internet TLD	.tj
Phone code	+992

Tajikistan [ taˈd͜ʒiːkɪsta [ː] n ] ( Tajik Тоҷикистон Todschikiston , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , Tajik Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон Jumhernurii Todschikiston ) is a large landlocked country of 9.1 million km² in Central Asia . It borders Kyrgyzstan to the north, China to the east, Afghanistan to the south and Uzbekistan to the west .

The capital and largest city of the former Soviet republic with around 780,000 inhabitants is Dushanbe . Other important cities in the Islamic and authoritarian ruled country are Khujand , Kulob and Qurghonteppa .

geography

geology

Tajikistan is a high mountain country that borders Uzbekistan , Kyrgyzstan , the People's Republic of China and Afghanistan . More than two thirds of the area are high mountains . Almost half of the national territory is at an altitude of 3000 m and higher. The east of the country is dominated by the Pamir Mountains and most of the Pamir highlands. There is also the highest mountain in the country, the 7,495 m high Pik Ismoil Somoni (formerly Pik Communism ). The Alai mountain range extends in the north of the country . To the south of the Serafschankette in the west lies the Fan Mountains . Only in the far north Tajikistan has with some of the Ferghanatals lowland, which by the largest river in the country, the Syr Darya , watered is intense and agronomically can be used. In most of the country, due to the altitude and the relief, only extensive cattle breeding is possible. The largest lake is the Karakul (380 km² ) in the east of the country; other large lakes are the Saressee (≈ 80 km²) and the Zorkulsee 38.9 km². The largest reservoir is the Kairakkum reservoir (520 km²) on Syr Darja . Overall, Tajikistan has more than 60 percent of Central Asia's water resources in solid and liquid form.

climate

Climate diagram Dushanbe

Climate diagram Chorugh

Tajikistan is located in the arid subtropical climatic zone. The climate is extremely continental with cold winters and hot summers. Except in the valley and basin countries, where there is a subtropical, humid climate, temperatures of up to 45 ° C are reached in the summer months. There are large temperature differences between the lower and higher regions of the country. The annual rainfall is relatively low, so steppe vegetation predominates. In the Fergana Basin, the amount of precipitation is just 140 mm per year. Only the southern slopes of the Hissar Mountains are very rainy with 1700 mm per year.

population

Composition and development

With 84.3% of the population (2010) the Tajiks , an Iranian people , form the majority. About 13.8% of the population are Uzbeks and about 0.8% are Kyrgyz . Other minorities are Russians (0.5%), Tatars , Ukrainians , Germans and others. After leaving the Soviet Union and in the course of the civil war that followed, many non-Tajiks left the country. In 1989 almost 400,000 Russians were still living in Tajikistan, compared to just under 140,000 in 2005. Many Bucharian Jews and Ashkenazi (in 1989 about 15,000 people) left the country, so that the total number of Jews in Tajikistan was reduced to around 1,000. Some of the emigrants were flown to Israel in a little-known airlift in 1992. The proportion of Tajiks rose from 62% in 1989 to almost 80% in 2000.

The birth rate was 2.7 children per woman in 2016. 32.5% of the population were under 15 years old. Tajikistan has one of the youngest and fastest growing populations in Asia.

year	population
1950	1,532,000
1960	2,087,000
1970	2,930,000
1980	3,905,000
1990	5,284,000
2000	6,216,000
2010	7,642,000
2017	8,921,000

Source: UN

Religions

Over 90% of the residents of Tajikistan are followers of Islam , predominantly Sunni . Only in the east are there some followers of Shiite Islam, especially Ismailis . There are also around 230,000 (3.1%) Christians in the country ( Russian Orthodox , Evangelical Christian Baptists , Tajik Catholics , Seventh-day Adventists , Korean Protestants , Tajik Lutherans and Jehovah's Witnesses ). The Seventh-day Adventists and especially the Baptists are characterized by constant missionary work and disaster relief. Baha'is , Zoroastrians , followers of Hare Krishna and Jews (0.014%), including both Ashkenazim and Bukharian Jews, still live in Tajikistan .

The government's pretext for closing mosques since 2007 is that opposition Islamists are striving to establish an Islamic state of God . In the same year, the Ministry of Culture banned Jehovah's Witnesses because of their conscientious objection to military service (there is no alternative civil service in Tajikistan) and their public missionary work.

In 2009 a new, restrictive law on religion came into force. According to this "Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations", any religious activity without state registration is prohibited. All existing religious communities had to apply for new registrations. In the absence of registration, numerous mosques, the only synagogue in the country and some Protestant groups such as the Baptists are currently prohibited from operating, and places of worship have been confiscated by the state.

In 2011, a new law was passed prohibiting minors from participating in church services, religious events and religious instruction by unregistered religious communities. Parents who try to convey religious values and beliefs to their children are threatened with several years' imprisonment.

language

Two or more languages are spoken, especially in cities. The primary official language in Tajikistan is Tajik , which is classified as a dialect of the Persian language . The official name is “Tādschīkī” (Tajik), colloquially the term “Persian” (“Fārsī”) is also used and thus corresponds to the Arabic-Persian “ Darī ” of the Tajiks in Afghanistan. In contrast to the standard variety used in Iran and Afghanistan , Tajik has used the Cyrillic script instead of the Persian alphabet since the 1920s .

One of the most important colloquial languages is Russian , in Tajikistan the language of international politics and economics as well as a compulsory subject in schools. In 2011, Russian again received an official position. It was officially established in the Tajik constitution as the language of "interethnic communication". 25% of the population speak Russian fluently, 60% moderately and 15% poorly or not at all. The Uzbek language also plays a certain role due to the large Uzbek minority in the country. Many small Iranian languages still exist in the side valleys of the Pyanj and Pamirs, such as B. Jaghnobi .

The number of speakers of other foreign languages ( German , Turkish , French and English ) is very low at 1.5 to 2%.

German minority

A small minority of people of German origin still live in Tajikistan today . However, their number has fallen sharply, especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union .

year	number
1979	39,000
1989	20,000
2006	circa 1700

Today people of German descent belong to the poorest stratum of the population in Tajikistan. They now live less in their own villages (e.g. Thälmann, after Ernst Thälmann ) in the province of Chatlon than in the capital Dushanbe. Former German settlements such as the town of Taboschar , founded by Germans in the Sughd province in the 1940s, are now inhabited by Tajiks. The German-Tajik foundation “Wiedergeburt” aims to preserve German places of worship and cemeteries . A few years ago the German embassy in Dushanbe organized a Christmas party for the population of German origin.

Population pyramid Tajikistan 2016

education

Public spending on education was 3.5% of GDP in the period 2002–2005 . Around a quarter of girls in Tajikistan fail to complete primary school despite formal compulsory education due to poverty and gender-based discrimination. Tajikistan has several universities , the most famous being the Tajik National University .

health

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the previously well-developed health system collapsed, also due to the departure of part of the Russian population. The training and further education had to be rebuilt in a less specialized way.

Doctors often have hardly any income and sometimes have secondary jobs. The consultation with a village doctor in Tajikistan is in principle free of charge, but it does not include any medication or further examinations, which the residents often cannot afford. According to a Swiss helper, the infrastructure in 2017 corresponded to that in Switzerland over 100 years ago.

In 2004 public health expenditure was 1% of GDP. In the early 2000s, there were about 200 doctors per 100,000 population. In 2005, infant mortality was 5.9% of live births. In 2017 it was 3.0%.

In 2010 there was an increased incidence of flaccid paralysis ( polio ), by the end of June 2010 643 cases had been reported. Wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV type 1) was detected in 334 cases, including 14 deaths. These are 75% of the world's poliomyelitis cases in 2010. Tajikistan was previously declared polio-free by the WHO. A large-scale vaccination campaign was carried out in Tajikistan, and vaccination campaigns were also started in the neighboring countries of Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. The food situation in Tajikistan is considered unsafe and, according to the WHO, 33.3% of the population is undernourished.

Life expectancy fell after the collapse of the Soviet Union and was 70.4 years between 2010 and 2015 (men: 67.7 years, women: 73.5 years).

Development of life expectancy

Period	Life expectancy	Period	Life expectancy
1950-1955	53.1	1985-1990	64.1
1955-1960	55.1	1990-1995	62.3
1960-1965	57.2	1995-2000	64.5
1965-1970	59.3	2000-2005	66.4
1970-1975	60.8	2005-2010	68.7
1975-1980	62.1	2010-2015	70.4
1980-1985	63.2

Source: UN

history

Flag of the Tajik SSR (1929-1991)

The proto-urban settlement of Sarasm , which dates from around 3500 BC, is an example of the transition from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age and from nomadism to a sedentary agricultural culture in Tajikistan . Until 2000 BC Existed. During this time, Sarasm developed into one of the largest centers for processing tin and copper in Central Asia and for long-distance trading in metals as far as Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley .

From the 6th century BC The area of Tajikistan was alternately under the rule of the Persians and Saks , from about 330 BC. BC it belonged to the empire of Alexander the great . Islam reached the region in the 8th century . During the Middle Ages, Tajikistan was part of the Persian Empire . In 1868 Tajikistan became a colony of Russia , in 1924 the Tajik ASSR , subordinated to the Uzbek SSR , was established , which in 1929 - expanded to include the region around Khojent - was elevated to the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic . In 1924, under Soviet administration, active and passive women's suffrage was introduced.

In 1991 Tajikistan declared itself independent. The women's suffrage was confirmed. The state immediately sank in the Tajik civil war between Islamic fundamentalists and the government of Emomali Rahmonov . The civil war ended with the participation of the fundamentalists in the government.

After twelve years of negotiations, the Tajik parliament ratified a law on January 12, 2011 to hand over 1,100 km² of uninhabited highlands in the Pamir to the neighboring country to the east in order to settle border disputes with China that had been going on for centuries. This is intended to ensure the stability and security of the country.

After the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 in the USA , US troops were stationed in Chorugh and Dushanbe and French soldiers in Dushanbe. Nevertheless, through its troop presence, Russia continues to play the role of an important regulatory power in the region (the border to Afghanistan was secured by Russian troops until the summer of 2005).

At the end of October 2016, the Tajik government began implementing the world's largest dam project on the Wachsch River , which dates back to the Soviet era , in order to relieve the country's energy shortage with a hydropower plant. Construction work on the Rogun Dam is expected to be completed by the end of 2018. The project led to resentment, especially with neighboring Uzbekistan, which is also suffering from water scarcity.

politics

overview

Tajikistan's President Emomalij Rahmon

Palace of the Nation, Parliament

According to its constitution, Tajikistan is a democratic presidential republic . The national holiday is September 9th (Independence Day). Tajikistan includes the Berg-Badachschan Autonomous Province in the east of the country, which covers 44.5% of the country's area.

President of Tajikistan is Emomalij Rahmon , who was last re-elected in 2013 and received 83.92% of all votes in the election on November 6, 2013. The democratic achievement of the result is questioned because three serious opponents withdrew their candidacy, which is not least due to the fact that Rahmon takes rigorous action against the opposition.

At the end of April 2015, one of the central figures of the Tajik security apparatus, the commander of the Tajik OMON (“Mobile Police Command of Special Purpose ”), 40-year-old Colonel Gulmurod Chalimov, defected to the Islamic State . In September 2017, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Khalimov's death.

On September 4, 2015, according to government information, there were armed attacks on a barracks and a police station in Dushanbe and in the Wachdat, which is about 20 km to the east . Eight police officers and nine attackers are said to have died. A few hours later, the Ministry of the Interior accused General Abduchalim Nasarsoda, the allegedly dismissed the previous day, the Tajik Civil War commander of the United Tajik Opposition (VTO) with the battle name Haji Halim, of standing behind the incidents described as an attempted coup and with the Islamic Rebirth Party Tajikistan ”(PIWT), which he denied. As a result, Nasarsoda and about 60 of his supporters were killed in the Romit Valley, about 45 km northeast of Dushanbe, after 12 days of fighting. Alternative sources, on the other hand, suggest other processes and backgrounds using testimony. Afterwards, Nasarsoda and other VTO supporters learned of their imminent arrest and fled Dushanbe fighting for fear of the detention conditions, which the government used to finally break up the PIWT. On August 4, 2016, Attorney General Yusuf Rachmon announced that 170 people involved in the events had already been convicted.

Political indices

Political indices issued by non-governmental organizations
Name of the index	Index value	Worldwide rank	Interpretation aid	year
Fragile States Index	75.5 out of 120	66 of 178	Stability of the country: increased warning 0 = very sustainable / 120 = very alarming	2020
Democracy index	1.94 out of 10	159 of 167	Authoritarian regime 0 = authoritarian regime / 10 = complete democracy	2020
Freedom in the World Index	9 out of 100	-	Freedom status: unfree 0 = unfree / 100 = free	2020
Freedom of the press ranking	55.52 out of 100	162 of 180	Very serious situation for freedom of the press 0 = good situation / 100 = very serious situation	2021
Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)	25 out of 100	149 of 180	0 = very corrupt / 100 = very clean	2020

Human rights

Tajikistan is one of the most repressive states in the world. An authoritarian regime has emerged under President Emomali Rahman. Amnesty International reports numerous and serious human rights violations. Under the pretext of ensuring national security and fighting terrorism, basic democratic rights are massively curtailed in Tajikistan year after year and opposition members are ruthlessly persecuted. In 2016, for example, the drastic measures taken against members of the Islamic Rebirth Party of Tajikistan made headlines, with the party's leadership being sentenced to long prison terms in unfair and publicly secret trials. In December 2017, the journalist and head of the satire association KVN Khayrullo Mirsaidow , who previously worked as a media trainer for Deutsche Welle and is one of the last critical voices in Tajikistan, was accused of alleged embezzlement, of calling for ethnic-religious hatred and false statements to the security authorities arrested.

According to the results of the Transformation Index (BTI) 2018, which the Bertelsmann Foundation publishes every two years, Tajikistan is one of the biggest losers in terms of democracy, human rights and the efficiency of the state apparatus, alongside Burundi , as autocratic tendencies have increased in recent years.

Threat from Islamic Terrorism

Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 , there have been repeated fears that armed Islamist groups might also settle in neighboring Tajikistan. But apart from regional tensions, for example in the Isfara Valley around Chorkuh , jihadist and Islamist groups have barely managed to exert any significant influence since the fall of the Soviet Union . Since 2018, however, the headlines relating to the Islamic State terrorist militia in Tajikistan have been increasing. This is repeatedly associated with a new advance by the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. However, it is unclear to what extent the harsh approach of the authoritarian regime towards any form of political opposition leads to an influx of jihadist terrorist groups. According to a report published in October 2017 by the New York- based Soufan Center, 5,000 fighters from Central Asian countries joined the Islamist terrorist groups in the Middle East. 1300 of them are said to come from Tajikistan.

In April 2020, German security forces arrested four Tajiks with alleged links to the Islamic State in North Rhine-Westphalia . The four arrested persons as well as another suspect who is already in custody are said to have originally planned actions against the government in Tajikistan, but then switched to Germany as the target country. In July 2020, the indictment process began against the first suspect, who was already in custody in March 2019. In order to raise funds for the terrorist militia IS, the accused is said to have tried unsuccessfully to carry out a contract killing in Albania .

Administrative corruption

This makes the country one of the most corrupt states in the world. The United Nations non-governmental organization Freedom House , based in Washington, DC , characterized Tajikistan in its 2019 country report as a “family kleptocracy ”.

houses of Parliament

The Parliament, the Supreme Assembly of Tajikistan , is a bicameral parliament consisting of the Assembly of Representatives and the National Council (Senate). The Assembly of Representatives has 63 members.

In 2010 these were split between the following parties:

People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan 46 seats

Communist Party of Tajikistan 2 seats

Islamic Party of the Rebirth of Tajikistan 2 seats

Farmers' Party 2 seats

Economic Reform Party 2 seats

Independent 9 seats

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe saw the election as a violation of democratic electoral standards. The persecution of the opposition, the inaccuracy of the ballot papers and the fact that some heads of families voted for all eligible voters in their families were cited.

The National Council has 33 members, 25 of whom are elected by local parliaments and a further eight are appointed by the President.

Foreign policy

Locations of the diplomatic missions of Tajikistan

Tajikistan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Due to its landlocked location, Tajikistan depends on good relations with its neighboring countries. The most important foreign policy partners are Russia and the People's Republic of China. Russia maintains a military base in the country on which around 7,500 Russian soldiers are stationed. The contract for the military base was extended to 2051 in 2012. Russia is considered a protecting power and over a million people of Tajik descent live in Russia, which gives the relationship additional political and cultural significance. In the civil war 1992–1997, Russia supported the Tajik government against the Islamist rebels.

China has become increasingly important for Tajikistan as an investor and trading partner in recent years. Tajik-Chinese cooperation in the areas of politics and security has also deepened in recent years. In 2017, Russia's eastern neighbor overtook Tajikistan's largest trade and economy partner. President Rahmon's official visit to Beijing in August of that year focused mainly on securing a $ 2.3 billion Chinese loan. In addition to the benefits, the experts warn of the dangers of a cheap credit policy in China, which could lead to increased monetary dependence of Tajikistan and increase its foreign debt. Against the background of China's earlier territorial claims against Tajikistan, this would also put the country's national security at risk.

The relationship with Iran, with which there is a linguistic and cultural relationship, also plays a special role.

The European Union formulates its political goals vis-à-vis the country through, among other things, its EU Central Asia Strategy .

administration

Political structure

Provinces of Tajikistan

Tajikistan is divided into two provinces (вилоятҳо / wilojatho orولایتها; the capitals in brackets ):

Chatlon ( Qurghonteppa )
Sughd ( Khujand )

an Autonomous Province (вилояти мухтор / wilojati muchtor orولایت مختار):

Mountain Badakhshan (Chorugh)

a district directly administered by the central government (Ноҳияҳои тобеъи ҷумҳурӣ or ناحیه‌های تابع جمهوری):

Nohijahoi tobei dschumhurij (Dushanbe) (German areas subject to the republic ; former province of Karotegin ( Kofarnihon ))

as well as the capital Dushanbe, which has a special status (ша / р / schahr resp.شهر, dt. "City") owns.

Administrative unit	ISO 3166-2	Capital	Area [km²]	Population (2011)	No.
Sughd	TJ-SU	Khujand	26,100	2,228,000	1
Nohijahoi tobei dschumhurij	TJ-RA	Dushanbe	28,400	1,710,000	2
Chatlon	TJ-KT	Qurghonteppa	24,600	2,766,000	3
Mountain Badachshan	TJ-BG	Chorugh	63,700	0.226,000	4th
Dushanbe	TJ-YOU	Dushanbe	00.300	0.720,300

Source: Statistical Yearbook, Dushanbe, 2006 (Russian)

The provinces, the autonomous province and the district administered by the central government are divided into a total of 58 districts ( Nohija ), and Dushanbe also into four city districts.

Cities

The six largest cities (2016):

Dushanbe 802,700 inhabitants
Khujand 175,400 inhabitants
Qurghonteppa (Russian Kurgan-Tjube ) 105,400 inhabitants
Kulob (Russian Kuljab ) 102,400 inhabitants
Istaravschan (Russian Ura- Tyube) 61,200 inhabitants
Tursunsoda 52,800 inhabitants

economy

overview

Twenty somoni note with a portrait of Avicenna .

The gross domestic product (GDP) for 2017 is estimated at 7.3 billion US dollars. In purchasing power parity , GDP is $ 28.4 billion or $ 3,200 per inhabitant. This makes Tajikistan one of the poorest countries in the world and the poorest of the former Soviet republics. What makes economic development more difficult is the fact that Tajikistan is a landlocked developing country (with no access to the sea). The shares of industry in GDP and employment in 2016 were 15.1% and 10.6%, respectively, and those of the service sector were 64.2% and 46.4%, respectively.

The main industries in the country are mining, metal processing, and agriculture. Tajikistan's economy is heavily dependent on remittances from nearly 1 million foreign stadjiks living and working in Russia. It is estimated that their remittances account for almost 50% of economic output. The international remittance allows Tajikistan to partially offset its high trade deficit.

Key figures

All GDP values are given in US dollars ( purchasing power parity ).

year	1993	1995	2000	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
GDP (purchasing power parity)	6.61 billion	4.73 billion	5.92 billion	10.41 billion	11.48 billion	12.70 billion	13.97 billion	14.62 billion	15.77 billion	17.29 billion	18.93 billion	20.65 billion	22.43 billion	24.04 billion	26.02 billion	28.38 billion
GDP per capita (purchasing power parity)	1,186	836	945	1,504	1,625	1,760	1,895	1,943	2,070	2,216	2,376	2,540	2,702	2,836	3,008	3.212
GDP growth (real)	−11.1%	−12.5%	8.3%	6.7%	7.0%	7.8%	7.9%	3.9%	6.5%	7.4%	7.5%	7.4%	6.7%	6.0%	6.9%	7.1%
Inflation (in percent)	2,000.6	612.5	32.9	7.3	10.0	13.2	20.4	6.4	6.4	12.4	5.8	5.0	6.1	5.8	5.9	7.3
Public debt ( as a percentage of GDP)	...	...	111	46	37	34	30th	37	37	36	32	29	28	34	42	48

Agriculture

Agriculture is still very important. It contributed 20.7% of GDP in 2016, while 43.0% of the workforce worked in agriculture. Only about 7% of the land can be used intensively for agriculture. One focus is the cultivation of cotton . The planting of cereals, vegetables, fruits and tobacco is secondary. The extensive irrigation contributes massively to the salinisation of the soil and to the drying up of the Pyandj river . In addition, cattle, sheep and goats are kept and silkworms are bred.

Natural resources and industry

The country has reserves of oil , natural gas and lignite . The most important export good with a share of 50% of the export revenues is aluminum from the aluminum factory TALCO in Tursunsoda ; 23% is achieved through the export of electricity , which is mainly generated by hydropower at the Nurek Dam . Further hydropower plants are currently being built or planned with Russian and Chinese support, among others.

An international high-voltage network CASA 1000 is planned . This project is intended to provide the technical and infrastructural basis for energy exports from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In addition, other ores including tin, lead, antimony, rare earths , mercury, silver, gold and uranium occur in Tajikistan , some of which are still mined and smelted.

The legacies of uranium mining, which took place in the north of the country until the beginning of the 1990s, lead to a possible risk of radioactive substances to the population, drinking water and the environment in these regions with spoil heaps , sedimentation lakes and technical facilities.

State budget

The state budget in 2016 comprised expenditures equivalent to the equivalent of 1.98 billion US dollars , which was offset by income equivalent to 1.81 billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 2.9% of GDP .
The national debt was 35.3% of GDP in 2016.

In 2015, the share of government expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) was in the following areas:

Health : 6.9% (2014)
Education : 5.2% (2015)
Military : 3.9% (2005)

Infrastructure

M34 trunk road not far from the Ansob Pass over the Hissar Mountains

The development of traffic in Tajikistan is very difficult due to the surface shape of the country.

Streets

The traffic relies mainly on the poorly developed road network. The Pamir Highway is the only trunk road in the east of the country that connects the Kyrgyz Osh with the Tajik city of Chorugh .

Since 2007 there has been a bridge over the Pandsch river at the Pandschi Pojon (formerly Russian Nizhny Pyandsch ) on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan . It is 670 meters long and was financed by the USA with the participation of Norway . The bridge significantly shortens the transport routes in the region. Since then, many times more vehicles have been able to cross the river on this transition.

railroad

The country has a total of 510 kilometers of railway lines . The capital, Dushanbe, is connected to the international rail network by the Trans-Caspian Railway , with connections to Moscow via Tashkent . Since 2016, the previously isolated networks from Dushanbe and Qurghonteppa to Termiz in Uzbekistan have been linked by a newly built mountain stretch between Wahdat and Jovon directly across Tajik territory. However, cross-border traffic to Termiz has been interrupted since November 2011 because of a blown bridge. After it was repaired, this connection along the Amu Darya was reopened in early March 2018.

In 2018, the planning of a cross-border railway line from Kolkhozobod via Pandschi Pojon, the border river Pandsch to Shirchan Bandar in Afghanistan, is ready for construction . Construction should start at the end of 2018. An extension to Kunduz is also being considered.

Culture

The Tajiks are linguistically, culturally and ethnically closely related to the Persians and also make up 30 percent of the population in neighboring Afghanistan. One of the oldest and most important customs in the country is the traditional New Year festival , Nouruz , which is celebrated at the beginning of spring . The coat of arms of Tajikistan is a reinterpretation of the coat of arms from the time before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The traditional mud houses in the old town quarters ( Mahalla ) and villages (Kischlak) in the west of the country are built around an inner courtyard and separated from the outside world by a high, windowless wall, through which only a wooden gate leads. The houses, stables and outbuildings are covered with a flat roof made of wooden beams and clay, which is surmounted by a gable roof, mostly made of corrugated iron, under which winter feed is stored for the animals. In summer the inner courtyard is the main living space for the family. A square wooden platform ( Taptschan ) set up in the inner courtyard serves as a place to sleep, rest and eat. The food is served there on a tablecloth (dastarchan) .

The Tajik music is an art in music with roots mainly in the Persian tradition divided, which is played in cities in the west and in the Fergana Valley, and in folk music in the South and in rural areas. The most important style of art music cultivated in the Emirate of Bukhara is the Shashmaqam . The singing voice is accompanied by various plucked long necks , the string Ghichak and the frame drum Doira . Popular vocal styles in folk music are called Falak and Katta Aschula . In Badachschan's own musical tradition, the Rubab lute is used primarily for singing. Since the beginning of the 20th century, a number of Tajik composers have combined the Shashmaqam and other styles of their own with Western classical music.

The most important author and “national poet” of Tajikistan is Sadriddin Aini (1878–1954), who revived the Tajik language, which was suppressed during the Emirate of Bukhara , during the Soviet Union . (Until the 1920s, the Chagatai language was the official language of the emirate.) Muhammadschon Shakurij (1925–2012) also made a contribution to preserving the Tajik language.

media

The media in Tajikistan includes 268 newspapers , 136 periodicals ( public , professional , etc.) and 8 press agencies . The press freedom situation in Tajikistan is rated "very serious" by Reporters Without Borders . A journalist was detained in Tajikistan in 2018.

In 2017, 22 percent of Tajikistan residents used the internet .

Sports

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing , judoka Rassul Boqijew won bronze, the first ever Olympic medal for Tajikistan. The hammer thrower Dilschod Nazarow won the first gold medal for Tajikistan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro .

Town twinning

Dushanbe has been a twin town of the Carinthian state capital Klagenfurt since 1973 and of the Baden-Württemberg city of Reutlingen since 1990 .

literature

Kamoludin Abdullaev, Shahram Akbarzaheh: Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan. 2nd ed. Scarecrow Press, 2010.
Paul Bergne: The birth of Tajikistan. National identity and the origins of the republic. London / New York 2007, ISBN 978-1-84511-283-7 .
Sonja Bill, Dagmar Schreiber: Tajikistan: Between Dushanbe, Pamir and Fan Mountains. Travel guide, Trescher, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-89794-291-2 .
Renee Browning: Tajikistan. Including Its History, the Dushanbe Zoo, the Yagnob Valley, and More. Earth Eyes Travel Guides, 2012, ISBN 978-1-249-22252-1 .
Sophie Ibbotson, Max Lovell-Hoare: Tajikistan. Bradt Travel Guides, Bucks 2013, ISBN 978-1-84162-455-6 .
Thomas Kunze : Central Asia. Portrait of a region. Portrait of a region. Christoph Links Verlag , Berlin 2018. ISBN 978-3-86153-995-7 .
Edward Lemon: The Political System of Tajikistan . In: Jakob Lempp , Sebastian Mayer, Alexander Brand (eds.): The political systems of Central Asia. Internal change, external actors, regional cooperation . Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2020, ISBN 978-3-658-31633-4 , pp. 91-103.
Elke Windisch: Central Asia: Political travel reports. Dagyeli, J & D, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-935597-80-7 .

Web links

Wikimedia Atlas: Tajikistan geographical and historical maps

Commons : Tajikistan - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: Tajikistan - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Wikinews: Tajikistan - on the news

Wikivoyage: Tajikistan Travel Guide

Individual evidence

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↑ Table: Human Development Index and its components . In: United Nations Development Program (ed.): Human Development Report 2020 . United Nations Development Program, New York 2020, ISBN 978-92-1126442-5 , pp. 345 (English, undp.org [PDF]).

↑ Sonja Bill, Dagmar Schreiber: Tajikistan: Between Dushanbe, Pamir and Fan Mountains. (Travel Guide) Trescher, Berlin 2016, p. 27

^ Website of the Jewish Virtual Library. Accessed November 30, 2013

^ Online document of the National Coalition Supporting Eurasian Jewry. , accessed on July 7, 2016

↑ Demoskop weekly. Online Edition No. 191 (Russian), accessed November 30, 2013

^ ^A ^b The World Factbook - Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved July 25, 2017 .

↑ World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved July 25, 2017 .

↑ Jehovah's Witnesses: Site of the Office of Public Information of Jehovah's Witnesses .

^ Message on the website of the Evangelical Alliance in Germany

↑ Message on the website of the Catholic magazine for church and culture .

↑ http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?menu=004&LangID=66

↑ ^a ^b 2007/2008 Human Development Report ( Memento from April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive )

↑ unicef.org

↑ ^a ^b ^c General Practitioners for Tajikistan , Primary and Hospital Care, Journal for General Internal Medicine in Practice and Clinic, Number 8-2018, Pages 142–144

↑ General Practitioners for Tajikistan - Facts , accessed August 24, 2018

↑ Freiämter doctor helps his professional colleagues in Central Asia , Aargauer Zeitung, October 23, 2017

↑ Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births) - Tajikistan | Data. Retrieved October 31, 2019 .

↑ Polio outbreak in Tajikistan - current status . In: Epidemiological Bulletin . No. 27, 2010 ( rki.de ).

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↑ World Population Prospects - Population Division - United Nations. Retrieved July 14, 2017 .

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^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 373.

↑ - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. September 9, 1991, accessed October 7, 2018 .

^ Max Meier: Project country: Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan). (PDF; 700 kB) In: Quarterly Report I / 2011, p. 4. Hanns Seidel Foundation , 2011, accessed on July 13, 2012 .

↑ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Tajikistan begins construction of the world's highest hydropower plant | Currently Asia | DW | October 30, 2016. Retrieved January 26, 2018 .

^ Commander of elite Tajik police force defects to Islamic State. In: Reuters , May 28, 2015. Retrieved May 16, 2015.

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^ Dossier Internal Conflicts in Tajikistan. In: Federal Agency for Civic Education , November 11, 2015. Accessed August 4, 2016.

↑ ^a ^b Chronicle: Tajikistan in 2015. In: Country analyzes, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde eV , accessed on August 4, 2016.

↑ Hunt for a general in Tajikistan. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , September 8, 2015. Accessed August 4, 2016.

↑ Tajikistan: Digging for Answers About Armed Clashes. In: EURASIANET.org , September 8, 2015. Accessed August 4, 2016.

^ Tajikistan: mass conviction for military revolt. In: Sputnik Germany , August 4, 2016. Accessed August 4, 2016.

^ Fragile States Index: Global Data. Fund for Peace , 2020, accessed February 20, 2021 .

^ The Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index. The Economist Intelligence Unit, accessed February 20, 2021 .

^ Countries and Territories. Freedom House , 2020, accessed February 20, 2021 .

↑ 2021 World Press Freedom Index. Reporters Without Borders , 2021, accessed May 10, 2021 .

^ Transparency International (Ed.): Corruption Perceptions Index . Transparency International, Berlin 2021, ISBN 978-3-96076-157-0 (English, transparencycdn.org [PDF]).

↑ Tajikistan 2017 | Amnesty International. Retrieved December 6, 2017 .

↑ Barbara Oertel: Opposition in Tajikistan: Just locked away . In: The daily newspaper: taz . December 14, 2017, ISSN 0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed January 18, 2018]).

↑ Max Holscher: Study: 3.3 billion people are governed autocratically . In: Spiegel Online . March 22, 2018 ( spiegel.de [accessed March 22, 2018]).

^ Leo Wigger: The Tajikistan Connection. In: Zenith , April 17, 2020

^ Edda Schlager: Tajikistan. Worrying political change. In: Deutschlandfunk. January 13, 2018, accessed October 10, 2020 (German).

^ The Tajikistan Connection. April 17, 2020, accessed June 2, 2020 .

^ Charges against Tajiks for IS attack plans. In: Deutsche Welle. July 21, 2020, accessed on October 10, 2020 (German).

^ Transparency International eV: Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 . In: www.transparency.org . ( transparency.org [accessed February 9, 2018]).

^ Democracy in Retreat - Freedom in the World 2019. Freedom House, accessed November 30, 2019 .

↑ bpb.de/wissen .

^ Tajikistan's government aims at its opponents , NZZ, July 31, 2018

↑ Sputnik: National debt can cost Tajikistan territorial integrity. Retrieved February 16, 2018 .

^ Tajikistan: Foreign Policy. In: Federal Foreign Office , September 13, 2017. Retrieved September 13, 2017.

↑ Tajikistan: Provinces, Cities & Urban Settlements - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved December 22, 2017 .

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^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved September 8, 2018 (American English).

↑ Economy, politics and culture of the Persian-speaking area. In: Swiss-Persian.ch

↑ M. Schläger, Kh. Murtazaev, B. Rakhmatuloev, P. Zoriy, B. Heuel-Fabianek: Radon Exhalation of the Uranium Tailings Dump Digmai, Tajikistan. Radiation & Applications. Vol. 1, No. 3, 2016, pp. 222–228, doi: 10.21175 / RadJ.2016.03.041 (Open Access).

↑ Zoriy, P., Schläger, M., Murtazaev, K., Pillath, J., Zoriya, M., Heuel-Fabianek, B .: Monitoring of uranium concentrations in water samples collected near potentially hazardous objects in North-West Tajikistan . Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. No. 181, 2018, pp. 109–117, doi: 10.1016 / j.jenvrad.2017.11.010 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c The World Factbook

^ Report for Selected Countries and Subjects. Retrieved July 14, 2017 (American English).

↑ Press release: Secretary Gutierrez Opened Afghanistan - Tajikistan Bridge with Presidents Karzai and Rahmon. In: Office of the Chief Information Officer website , August 26, 2007, accessed July 7, 2016

^ Bureau of International Information Programs, US Department of State: Afghanistan-Tajikistan Bridge Links Central, South Asia. In: america.gov , August 29, 2007, accessed July 7, 2016