NCSJ - Tajikistan page

Population: 6.86 million

Ethnic Composition:
64.9% Tajik, 25% Uzbek, 3.5% Russian, 6.6% other

Religion: 85% Sunni Muslim, 5% Shia Muslim, 10% other

Jewish population: 100 (est.)
2002 Aliyah
(emigration to Israel): 30
2002 Emigration
to United States: 5

Size: 143,100 sq km
Capital: Dushanbe
Major cities: Dushanbe, Kalininabad, Khudzhand, Kulyab

Freedom House Rating:
Not Free

Currency: 3.081 somoni = $1 (October 3, 2003)

GDP: $1.2 billion (2002)
GDP per capita: $190 (2002)
GDP Growth: 9.1% (2002)

Head of State:
President Emomali Rahmonov

Head of Government:
Prime Minister Oqil Oqilov

Foreign Minister:
Talbak N. Nazarov

Ambassador to United States:
Khamrohon Zaripov

U.S. Ambassador to Tajikistan:
Richard Eugene Hoagland

Chronology of all U.S. envoys to Tajikistan

SUMMARY

Tajikistan has been under the control of various empires throughout its history. Since independence in September 1991, civil war and unrest have devastated the economy. Many areas of this mountainous country are under the sole control of local warlords, and the situation remains unstable. Tajikistan’s closest ties are with Russia. The human rights situation in Tajikistan is considered poor, though religious freedom is generally respected.

As the poorest of the successor states, Tajikistan’s economy was nearly wiped out by the Soviet collapse and subsequent civil war. It is lightly industrialized and its economy is primarily agricultural. Poverty and unemployment are very high, and much of the population depends on international aid to survive.

Bukharan Jews have lived in Tajikistan for over 1,000 years without experiencing anti-Semitism. They were joined by a small Ashkenazi presence following World War II. Mass emigration has reduced the Jewish population significantly.

Tajikistan served as a staging area for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in 2001-02, and relations with the United States have subsequently improved.

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REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN

INTRODUCTION
POLITICAL SITUATION
ECONOMIC SITUATION
JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM
U.S. POLICY

Tajikistan is a landlocked country slightly smaller than Wisconsin, bordered by Afghanistan, China, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan; 96 percent of its area is covered by high mountains. The territory of Tajikistan has passed at various times in its long history under Persian, Mongol and – from 1868 – Russian control, its culture integrating influences from the Russian Empire and from neighboring Eurasian lands. Soviet demarcation of the Tajik Republic in 1924 lent a superficial cohesion to an ethnically diverse populace, planting the seeds of post-Soviet ethnic strife. Tajikistan declared independence from the Soviet Union on September 9, 1991.

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POLITICAL SITUATION

The 1994 Constitution provides for a republican government with executive, legislative and judicial branches but, like its Central Asian neighbors, concentrates power in the President. In December 1999, an election law shifted the legislature to a 96-member bicameral structure – a lower house (Majlis Namoyandogon) and an upper house (Majlisi Milliy). The President serves as Chairman of the Parliament and has wide discretion in appointing and dismissing officials. A Council of Ministers serves as the cabinet. The judicial branch consists of a Supreme Court, whose judges are appointed by the President.

Tajikistan’s post-independence history has been tumultuous. Independence touched off a power struggle and civil war (1992-97) between Russian-backed Soviet-style parties on the one hand and democratic and Islamic forces under the banner of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) on the other. Prolonged, bloody fighting claimed 40,000 lives and brutal ethnic purges by the government generated about 500,000 refugees, many of whom fled to northern Afghanistan. The current government came to power in December 1992 with the election of establishment candidate President Emomali Rahmonov. In 2000, Rahmonov concluded implementation of the 1997 government-UTO peace accords.

Rahmonov was reelected in November 1999 amid charges of election corruption from international observers. Rahmonov’s term expires in 2006, although a widely criticized June 2003 constitutional referendum permits him to rule until 2020, subject to reelection. While all official power is concentrated in Rahmonov and his Council of Ministers, his narrow base of support allows some regions of Tajikistan to remain effectively outside his control.

The government of Tajikistan continues to violate civil liberties. Tajikistan drew international praise when it abolished exit visa requirements in August 2002, but freedom of assembly and the press is frequently restricted. Rahmonov has harassed and imprisoned journalists and opposition groups critical of his government, especially banned Islamic movements such as Hizb ut-Tahrir (“Party of Emancipation”), which advocates the overthrow of Central Asia’s governments and the creation of an Islamic caliphate. Though the group claims to be peaceful, it promotes strong anti-American and anti-Israel views.

Despite the government’s enunciated policy of active “secularism” in the public sphere, it is the only Central Asian former republic with Islamic opposition representatives (from the “Islamic Renaissance Party”) in the legislature.

High levels of criminal and political violence and corruption in the judiciary and law enforcement further compromise public security. Heavily armed clan-based factions compete to control markets and narcotics trafficking, and terrorism remains a threat. Past incidents include three separate assassinations of Tajik politicians, a marketplace bombing, and a suicide bombing in 2001. Moreover, while their numbers were greatly reduced, Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) guerillas, seeking to overthrow Uzbek President Islam Karimov, may still operate from Tajikistan.

Tajikistan’s strategic location and history of instability have attracted the attention of its neighbors and regional powers. Russian troops in the area bolster the regime and allow Russia greater influence. In return, Tajikistan receives military assistance in its efforts to contain drug trafficking and related criminal activity. Tajikistan is a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (formerly Shanghai Five), a regional group including Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, China, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Even so, border disputes are ongoing with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Israel and Tajikistan have full diplomatic relations, and Israel is represented by its ambassador in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

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ECONOMIC SITUATION

Tajikistan is the poorest of the successor states. In the 1990s, its economy was completely devastated by five years of civil war and the loss of Soviet markets for its products. The Tajik economy was never heavily developed under Communism; even today, much of the workforce is engaged in agriculture, part of which remains collectivized. Aluminum is its primary export, with the traditional cotton crop a distant second. Oil and gas are mostly imported, and domestic reserves are minimal. Prospects for the construction of pipelines in the region remain uncertain, and the benefits of development are contingent on the establishment of a more stable political atmosphere.

Poverty is the norm. Unemployment runs over 50 percent, and there is rarely electricity or clean water. The educational system, factories, and most other institutions are in a state of ruin. Foreign trade is limited; principal partners are Uzbekistan, Russia, and members of the European Union.

Tajikistan depends on aid from Russia, Uzbekistan and the international community for many of its basic needs. A drought from 1999 to early 2001 caused severe food shortages.

In view of its very high external debt, Tajikistan joined the CIS-7 initiative, created in 2001 by international lending organizations to reform the financial structure of new loans. In 2002 and 2003, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a total of over $100 million in aid to Tajikistan, over a three-year period, for poverty reduction and economic reform. The Asian Development Bank in 2002 approved loans to Tajikistan totaling $52 million.

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JEWISH COMMUNAL LIFE & ANTI-SEMITISM

The Jewish community in Tajikistan is comprised of Bukharan and Ashkenazi Jews. The Bukharan Jews have a long history in Central Asia, while the Ashkenazi Jews arrived during World War II to escape the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe. In 1993, many functions of the Jewish community halted due to civil war and emigration, and most never recovered.

Emigration and aliyah (emigration to Israel) – beginning before the Soviet collapse and continuing during the civil war – have depleted the Jewish population. Facing a shattered economy, lack of infrastructure and services, and violence against non-Central Asians – especially Russian-speakers like the Ashkenazi Jews – about 10,000 Tajik Jews have immigrated to Israel since 1989. In 1992, there was a little-known but successful airlift operation to bring Jews out of Tajikistan and into Israel. The one remaining synagogue, in Dushanbe, is scheduled for demolition in 2004 as part of city reconstruction plans.

Although some Muslim leaders have claimed that minority religions undermine national unity, anti-Semitism is not a serious problem in Tajikistan.

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U.S. POLICY

Defense Department photo: R.D. Ward

November 2001: President Emomali Rahmonov welcoming U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to Presidential Palace in Dushanbe