Political forces and their structures in Tajikistan

Central Asian Survey

Volumn 16, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 611-622

  Shirazi, Habibollah Abolhassan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GEOPOLITICAL RELATIONS; POLITICAL INSTABILITY; POPULAR PROTEST;

TAJIKISTAN;

EID: 0031412711     PISSN: 02634937     EISSN: None     Source Type: Trade Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02634939708401014     Document Type: Article

References (70)

1. There were two failed attempts to establish Popular Fronts in Tajikistan prior to the formation of Rastokhez. The first, Yaverani Bazsazi (Helpers of Perestroika) founded in late 1988, was launched by prominent writers, journalists and other members of the Tajik intelligentsia, including USSR Supreme Soviet Deputy, Bazar Sabir. The group organized a number of demonstrations in Dushanbe and Kulyab calling for Tajik to be made the state language and for action on environmental issues. Soon after the publication of its platform in the Tajik press, however, the group's activities were criticized by the Communist Party First Secretary Kakhar Makhkamov. Many of its founding members were threatened by the KGB and the organization was soon dissolved. Marifat (Talent) was created shortly after Yavereni Bazsazi disbanded again by elements of the indigenous intelligentsia. Like its predecessor, it was criticized by Party press, condemned by officials and broke up not long after it was founded. See Suzanne Crow, 'Informal groups in Tajikistan: will they have a role?', Report on the USSR, 23 February 1990, pp 20-23.
2. Bess Brown, 'The role of public groups in perestroika in Central Asia', Report on the USSR, 26 January 1990, pp 19-25.
3. Interview with Davood Bavand, Deputy of Political Science Department in an Iranian University, 14 October 1994.
4. Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, 'The bloody path of change: the case of post-Soviet Tajikistan', Forum, Vol 6, No 11, pp 1-10.
5. Nazif Shahrani, 'Muslim Central Asia: Soviet development legacies and future challenges', The Iranian Journal of International Affairs, Vol IV, No 2, summer 1992, pp 330-342.
6. As part of that process, Moscow's fiat established Tajikistan as an autonomous republic within the new Uzbekistan Soviet Republic in 1924. Ian Bremer and Ray Taras, Nations and Politics in the Soviet Successor States (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp 361-384.
7. Ibid, p. 337.
8. Rajan Menon and Henri J. Barkey, The transformation of Central Asia: implications for regional and international security', Survival, Vol 34, No 4, Winter 1992-93, pp 68-89.
9. Alireza Sheykhattar, The Roots of Political Behaviour in Central Asia and Caucasia (Tehran: IPIS Press, 1994), pp 159-179.
10. Members of this clan controlled power in Dushanbe for 40 years. Virtually all of the republic's last Communist leadership such as Makhkamov, Nabiev, Kenjayev and others belong to it. Current Digest, Vol XLIV, No 37, 1992, p 10. See also Megapolis-Epress, 16 September 1992, p 20.
11. Members of this clan controlled power in Dushanbe for 40 years. Virtually all of the republic's last Communist leadership such as Makhkamov, Nabiev, Kenjayev and others belong to it. Current Digest, Vol XLIV, No 37, 1992, p 10. See also Megapolis-Epress, 16 September 1992, p 20.
12. Almost one-third of the population was listed as Uzbek in the census of 1989, and many of Khujand's nominally Tajik inhabitants may actually consider themselves Uzbek as well. See Bess Brown, 'Whither Tajikistan', RFE/RL Research Report, 12 June 1992, pp 4-5.
13. Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone, Russia and Nationalism in Central Asia: The Case of Tadzhikistan (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1970), pp 54-55.
14. According to FBIS, in 1991 Leninabad oblast was reported to have accounted for 65 per cent of Tajikistan's gross national product. See FBIS, 3 June 1992, p 56.
15. Shi'i believe that leadership of the Islamic community belongs to the members of the family of Prophet Mohammad. They trace a series of such leaders (called Imams) after the prophet. The Twelver sect, dominant in Iran, recognizes twelve Imams. The Ismailis recognize only seven Imams, the last of whom, Ismail, is regarded as the founder of their sect. The Aga Khan is the principal worldwide leader of the Ismaili sect. Mehdi Hosseini Esfidvajani, 'Agakhan and the Ismaili sect in Tajikistan's Badakhshan Province', The Iranian Journal of Central Asia and Caucasia Review, Vol 3, No 5, Summer 1994, pp 49-69.
16. Ibid, p 63.
17. Rahim Mosalmanian Ghobadyani, Tajikistan: Freedom or Death (Tehran: ISLAMIC Culture Press, 1994), pp 5-17.
18. Nafizullah Emadi, 'State, ideology and Islamic resurgence in Tajikistan', Central Asian Survey, Vol 13, No 4, pp 565-573.
19. It accounted for 80,000 of the population of Gorno-Badakhshan, 9,000 of them living in urban areas and 71,000 in rural areas. See Lawrence Krader, People of Central Asia (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993), p 235.
20. See 'Realignment in Central Asia' Strategic Survey, 1992-93, pp 174-182.
21. Ibid, p 180.
22. See Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, 'Causes and consequences', p 10. And see also Roy, 'Tajikistan'.
23. See Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, 'Causes and consequences', p 10. And see also Roy, 'Tajikistan'.
24. Ahmed Rashid, The Resurgence of Central Asia: Islam or Nationalism (London: Oxford University Press), pp 159-168.
25. Teresa Rakowska-Harmstone (1970) Russia and Nationalism in Central Asia (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press), pp 54-55.
26. Ibid, p 57.
27. Ibid, p 57.
28. Andreas Ruesch, 'Conflict and collapse in Tajikistan', Swiss Review of World Affairs, March 1994, pp 10-12. And also interview with Rasul Musavi, the Iranian expert in Central Asia, in 1994.
29. Resalt, 19 July 1993, p 3.
30. Ibid.
31. Shadman Yusuf, 'Tajikistan: The value of freedom', p 64.
32. Interview with Takher Abdulzhabbor, leader of Rastokhez Party, December 1994.
33. Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, 'The Tajik spring of 1992', Central Asia Monitor, No 2, 1993, pp 21-29.
34. These demands were included for the improvement of the environment, the reversal of monoculture, and the preparation of local specialists in different fields. See Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, 'The bloody path of change', op cit., p 2.
35. Interview with Khalif-Zade, one of Rastokhez leaders, July 1991. See 'Tajikistan: The resurgence of authoritarian or democracy', Strategic Studies, p 10.
36. Eden Naby, 'Tajik political legitimacy and political parties', The Iranian Journal of International Affairs, Vol 7, No 1, Spring 1993, pp 195-201.
37. In the founding congress of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan in August, the candidate of philosophical science Shadman Yusupov was elected chairman of the party in an unopposed election. See FBIS-SOV-90-157, 14 August 1990, p 92.
38. Shadman Yusuf, 'Tajikistan: the value of freedom', ibid, p 78.
39. A large membership of around 4,000 were attracted to this party. See FBIS-SOV-90-157, 14 August 1990, p 92.
40. Ibid, p 91.
41. Rahim Mosalmanian Ghobadiani, 'Tajikistan: freedom or death', ibid, p 23.
42. Interview with Mohammad Sharif Hemmat-Zadeh, leader of IRP, 6 December 1994. See also Kayhan Havaie, No 971, 26 February 1992, p 22.
43. A scholar like Ahmed Rashid believes that a much more political and militant Islam was introduced in the 20th century by the Ikhwan ul Muslimeen, or the Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt as a movement to bring about an Islamic revolution and the creation of an Islamic state, The brotherhood created a number of secret cells in Central Asian cities in 1930 although strictly underground. The movement has come out into the open and flourished since the advent of perestroika. The Islamic Revival Party exists in all five Central Asian republics, 'Bless Perestroika and send Korans', Independent, 4 June 1990.
44. Interview with Mohammad Sharif Hemmat-Zadeh, 6 December 1994.
45. Interview with Ali Mojtahed Shabestari, 18 November 1994.
46. See 'Iran and Tajikistan: renewal of ancient bonds', Echo of Islam, November 1992, pp 13-16.
47. In early fall of 1990, two of the participants in the Astrakhan Congress, D. Usmanov and I. Gadoev, along with other supporters of the Islamic Revival Party in Tajikistan, formally requested the permission of the authorities to hold a regional conference of the party in Dushanbe. Their request was rejected in a Supreme Soviet resolution. Despite the prohibition, a constituent Conference formally established a branch of the Islamic Revival Party in Tajikistan at the beginning of October. TASS, 8 October 1990. See also Bess Brown, 'The Islamic Renaissance Party in Central Asia', Report on the USSR, 10 May 1991, p 13.
48. Interview with Ali Mojtahed Shabestari, the Iranian Ambassador in Tajikistan, 18 November 1994.
49. See 'Conflict in the Soviet Union: Tadzhikistan', A Helsinki Watch Report, July 1991, pp 64-65.
50. Interview with Mohammad Sharif Hemmat-Zadeh, 6 December 1994.
51. Akbar Turajanzada followed the path of official Islam in the Soviet Union: education at the medrese (religious school) in Bukhara and the Islamic Institute of the Muslim Religious Board for Central Asia and Kazakhstan (MRBCAK) in Tashkent, followed by a sojourn at the sharia (Islamic law) faculty of Amman University in Jordan. Appointed Kazikalon - the supreme religious authority of official Islam in Tajikistan, but subordinate to the MRBCAK mufti in Tashkent - in 1990, he first made a name for himself with fervent appeals for reconciliation following the Dushanbe riots in February 1990. This also marked the beginning of the Qazi's efforts to bridge the gap between official Islam and the unofficial mullahs of parallel Islam, who were blamed for the February riots. Elected to Tajikistan's Supreme Soviet in 1990, he spearheaded a campaign to have several 'non-political' Islamic elements included in Tajikistan's legal code, such as the adoption of Islamic high holy days as official holidays, the substitution of Friday for Sunday as the weekly day off, the slaughtering of livestock according to Islamic law, and the exemption of mosques and other religious institutions from land taxes. Spirited opposition in the Supreme Soviet to all but a few of these proposals was the principal reason for Turajanzada to align himself formally with the opposition; he had previously assessed that the Qazi's role was apolitical. Hamshahri, 25 May 1993, p 14. See also Keith Martin, 'Tajikistan: civil war without end?', op cit, p 21.
52. Interview with Akbar Turajanzada, Izvestia, 5 October 1991, translated in the Current Digest of the Soviet Union, Vol XLIII, No 40, p 4. See also Strategic Studies, 'Tajikistan: the resurgence to totaliarism or democracy', op cit, p 9.
53. Interview with Akbar Turajanzada, Izvestia, 5 October 1991, translated in the Current Digest of the Soviet Union, Vol XLIII, No 40, p 4. See also Strategic Studies, 'Tajikistan: the resurgence to totaliarism or democracy', op cit, p 9.
54. Ibid, p 9. See also Robert M. Danin, 'Tajikistan's turbulent spring', Middle East Insight, October 1992, p 37.
55. Ibid, p 9. See also Robert M. Danin, 'Tajikistan's turbulent spring', Middle East Insight, October 1992, p 37.
56. Keith Martin, 'Tajikistan: Civil war without end?', RFE/RL Research Report, p 19.
57. Bess Brown, 'Tajikistan: the fall of Nabiev', RFE/RL Research Report, Vol 1, No 38, 25 September 1992, pp 12-18.
58. Interview with Ali Mojtahed Shabestari, 18 November 1994.
59. See 'Iran and Tajikistan: renewal of ancient bonds', Echo of Islam, November 1992, p 15.
60. See Alexander Bennigsen and Broxup (1983) The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State (Croom Helm), and Alexander Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush (1986) Muslims of the Soviet Empire (New York, St Martin's Press). See also Shirin Akiner (1987) Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (New York: Routledge & Hall); and Muriel Atkin (1989) The Subtlest Battle: Islam in Soviet Tajikistan (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute). See also Leon Aron (1990) 'The Soviet Union's underbelly: Muslim Central Asia', Global Affairs, Vol 5, No 4.
61. See Alexander Bennigsen and Broxup (1983) The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State (Croom Helm), and Alexander Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush (1986) Muslims of the Soviet Empire (New York, St Martin's Press). See also Shirin Akiner (1987) Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (New York: Routledge & Hall); and Muriel Atkin (1989) The Subtlest Battle: Islam in Soviet Tajikistan (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute). See also Leon Aron (1990) 'The Soviet Union's underbelly: Muslim Central Asia', Global Affairs, Vol 5, No 4.
62. See Alexander Bennigsen and Broxup (1983) The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State (Croom Helm), and Alexander Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush (1986) Muslims of the Soviet Empire (New York, St Martin's Press). See also Shirin Akiner (1987) Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (New York: Routledge & Hall); and Muriel Atkin (1989) The Subtlest Battle: Islam in Soviet Tajikistan (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute). See also Leon Aron (1990) 'The Soviet Union's underbelly: Muslim Central Asia', Global Affairs, Vol 5, No 4.
63. See Alexander Bennigsen and Broxup (1983) The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State (Croom Helm), and Alexander Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush (1986) Muslims of the Soviet Empire (New York, St Martin's Press). See also Shirin Akiner (1987) Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (New York: Routledge & Hall); and Muriel Atkin (1989) The Subtlest Battle: Islam in Soviet Tajikistan (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute). See also Leon Aron (1990) 'The Soviet Union's underbelly: Muslim Central Asia', Global Affairs, Vol 5, No 4.
64. See Alexander Bennigsen and Broxup (1983) The Islamic Threat to the Soviet State (Croom Helm), and Alexander Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush (1986) Muslims of the Soviet Empire (New York, St Martin's Press). See also Shirin Akiner (1987) Islamic Peoples of the Soviet Union (New York: Routledge & Hall); and Muriel Atkin (1989) The Subtlest Battle: Islam in Soviet Tajikistan (Philadelphia: Foreign Policy Research Institute). See also Leon Aron (1990) 'The Soviet Union's underbelly: Muslim Central Asia', Global Affairs, Vol 5, No 4.
65. Graham E. Fuller, Central Asia: The New Geopolitics (Santa Monica: RAWD, 1992), pp 63-66.
66. Muriel Atkin, 'The Survival of Islam in Soviet Tajikistan', Middle East Journal, Vol 43, No 4, Autumn 1989, pp 604-618.
67. Leon Aron, 'Can Islamic revolution spread to Soviet Central Asia, The Current Digest of the Soviet Union, Vol XLIII, No 40, 1991, pp 5-6.
68. Interview with Qazi Akbar Turajanzada, 5 October 1991.
69. Interview with some Tajik and Iranian analysts in 1995.
70. FBIS-SOV-92-047, 10 March 1992. p 46.