country in Central Asia, bordered on the north by Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, on the east by China, on the south by Afghanistan, and on the west by Uzbekistan. From 1929 until 1991 it was the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Tajikistan contains an ethnically based political subunit, the former Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast, also known as the Badakhshoni Kuhi Viloyat, which occupies 44.5 percent of the republic. Tajikistan is extremely mountainous, and settlement is concentrated in the lowlands. Its area is 143,100 sq km (55,250 sq mi), and Dushanbe is the capital and largest city.
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Population
The population of Tajikistan (1996 estimate) is 5,916,373. Tajiks, an Iranian people with a Sunni Muslim heritage, constitute about 58 percent of the population. Uzbeks, the largest minority with nearly one-quarter of the population, live primarily in the Fergana Valley and in the vicinity of Kùlob in south central Tajikistan. Russians constitute about 8 percent of the population. Other minorities include Kyrgyz, Ukrainians, Germans, Turkmens, and Koreans. The proportion of Tajiks increased after civil war broke out in 1992, when Uzbeks and Russians began leaving the country in large numbers. Hundreds of thousands became homeless from the war, and the death toll was in the tens of thousands.
Tajikistan is the least urbanized republic of the former USSR, with more than two-thirds of its population living in rural areas. Since the late 1950s strong urban growth, fed by immigrants from other republics, has been matched by rapid growth in the rural population. In the late 1980s population grew by almost 3 percent per year-one of the highest population growth rates in the world. Dushanbe, the capital, grew from 227,000 in 1959 to about 602,000 in 1990. Khujand (formerly Leninabad), the country's second largest city, also underwent rapid expansion during the same time period.
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History
Although Tajiks have lived in the area of present-day Tajikistan for centuries, a distinct Tajik political entity was formed for the first time in the 1920s. Over the course of its history the area has been invaded by Macedonians, Arabs, Mongols, and other conquerors. The area was included in the Mongol Empire in the 13th century and the Bukhoro khanate (state) in the 16th century. Russian control was not established until 1868. The north was annexed by Russia, while the rest remained part of the Bukhoro khanate, which became a Russian protectorate. In 1916 many Tajiks and other Central Asians rebelled against the Russian government when it attempted to enlist them into the Czarist army.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, locals rebelled against Russian rule, and the area was not fully incorporated into the USSR until 1921, when it became part of the Turkistan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). The Turkistan ASSR also included portions of present-day Kazakstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. In 1924 the area of present-day Tajikistan was made an autonomous republic within the Uzbek SSR; it became a constituent republic in 1929, when it received the territory of Khujand, located in the Fergana Valley, from Uzbekistan. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 led to its independence as Tajikistan. It joined the United Nations (UN) in 1992.
Following Tajikistan's independence, the Soviet-era government retained control of the country, and their foreign policy included keeping the country politically and economically close to Russia. A struggle for control between pro-Communists and Islamic and democratic groups broke out in Tajikistan in 1992 and eventually led to the ouster of President Rakhman Nabiyev, who was chief of the Communist Party of the Tajik SSR in the early 1980s. Supplied by arms from Afghanistan, the Islamic-democrats gained control of the republic's capital. With the aid of Russian and Uzbek forces, pro-Communists retook the city, reestablished the Soviet-era government, and gained control of the entire country.
After seizing power, the government launched a campaign of suppression and persecution of the political opposition. Islamic and pro-democracy political groups were banned in 1992, and Lali Badakhshan, a party that sought greater autonomy for the Gorno-Badakhshan region, was banned in 1993. Activities of the press were severely constrained, and opposition newspapers were closed. Many journalists were arrested, several disappeared, and others were found dead. Prominent opposition leaders were also placed under arrest. In an attempt to control the Muslim clergy, the government established a separate religious structure for the republic. The former Communists in power also maintained the regional bias in the political power structure of the republic; most prominent officials are from the Khujand and Kùlob areas of the country.
Despite a September 1994 cease-fire accord, and promises from both sides to seek reconciliation through political means, the Islamic opposition continued to wage small-scale guerrilla warfare from bases in Afghanistan. The continuous fighting killed thousands and drove hundreds of thousands of people from their homes.
November elections, in which participation by the opposition was restricted, included a referendum on a draft constitution reinstalling the presidential system. The voters approved the constitution and elected Imamali Rakhmonov, a member of the former Communist government, as president. Legislative elections in 1995 were similarly restricted and many former Communists ran unopposed. In early 1995 about 25,000 Russian troops, as well as contingents from Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, were stationed to guard the Tajik border with Afghanistan and fight the Islamic guerrilla groups.
A new UN observer mission was deployed to Tajikistan in May 1996 to help restart talks between the government and the opposition. On December 23 peace talks resulted in a cease-fire agreement nominally that ended the civil war. Some rebel factions refused to recognize the agreement, and sporadic fighting continued. Meanwhile, the government and the main opposition held negotiations to establish the terms of a formal treaty.
By May 1997 the government agreed to legalize the opposition parties it had previously banned and to include opposition leaders in up to 30 percent of all government posts. The formal signing of the comprehensive treaty was slated for the end of June.
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"Tajikistan," Microsoft ® Encarta 98 Encyclopedia.
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All rights reserved.
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