Over a month after President Imomali Rahmon suggested abolishing Russian as a language of «interethnic communication,» Tajikistan remains abuzz with hype and fear about the potential change. Officials in Dushanbe argue that a policy alteration is needed to bolster Tajikistan’s sovereignty. But Russian leaders are warning that any move to alter the status quo would result in serious economic consequences for Dushanbe.

Under current legislation, all government documents must be in either or both Tajik and Russian. Under the new draft law, all government functions would be performed exclusively in Tajik.

Russian is still widely spoken in Tajikistan, especially in interactions involving members of different ethnic groups, such as Tajiks and Uzbeks. Many non-Tajik residents of Tajikistan do not have a solid grasp of the Tajik language. Russian has enjoyed official status since 1989, prior to the demise of the Soviet empire.

Rahmon’s administration has been coming under increasing domestic pressure in 2009, as the country’s economy has struggled during the global financial slowdown. Some experts see the proposed language revisions as an effort to bolster the president’s domestic position. «The destiny of the nation depends on the destiny of its language,» Rahmon said on July 22, in comments marking the 20th anniversary of Tajik becoming the state language. «One can judge the greatness of the nation by judging the respect to the national language among representatives of this nation.» At the time, he urged the Tajik parliament to rapidly act on his initiative to alter the official status of Russian.

Russian politicians angrily responded to Rahmon’s initiative, suggesting that any effort to reduce the status of Russian would provoke punitive economic measures by Moscow. One called for the implementation of a visa regime for Tajiks, a move that could drastically curtail the number of Tajik guest workers in Russia. Labor migrant remittances are a crucial pillar of the Tajik economy. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Moscow and Dushanbe have traded frequent barbs over the past year over the poor treatment of Tajik guest workers in Russia and the low level of Russian investment in Tajikistan.

Immediately prior to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s late July visit to Dushanbe, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily quoted Russian presidential aide Sergey Prihodko as saying the Tajik authorities «should be interested in this [preservation of Russian language] more than us. If they stop speaking Russian, Tajik guest workers will not be able to work here.»

Some Russian MPs have ominously warned that meddling with language policy could prove politically destabilizing for Rahmon at home. «The implementation of the law, according to which the Russian language is losing its status of interethnic communication will provoke a mutiny [in Tajikistan],» said Alexei Ostrovsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Committee on CIS Affairs on July 23.

The Tajik Foreign Ministry in late July sought to mollify Moscow, issuing a statement noting that the Russian language’s status was protected in the Tajik Constitution. It went on to assure Russian authorities that no changes to the constitution were anticipated.

But analysts believe that Rahmon is perfectly capable of engineering constitutional amendments. «Regrettably, nationalistic moods are very strong among some parliamentarians and government officials. The constitution can be changed by means of a referendum,» Lidia Isamova, a Tajik journalist and political expert, told EurasiaNet.

On condition of anonymity, another Russian-speaking ethnic Tajik journalist predicted that a language change could have unpredictable domestic economic ramifications. «More than a half of my colleagues would lose their jobs if the draft law is adopted. We won’t be able to ask questions at press conferences, and our employers won’t find interpreters for us,» the journalist said. Institutions of higher learning, at which Russian is the primary language of instruction, would also suffer, some experts warn.

Rahmon has shown a previous willingness to make language-related changes. In 2007 — amid another ebb in relations with Moscow — he refashioned his own family name, and forbade newborns from bearing their parents’ Russified family names ending in «-ov.»

Analysts believe the president is trying to use lansguage as leverage, aiming to increase the amount of financial assistance flowing to Tajikistan from Russia. Some add that the language issue has proven to be a double-edged sword in the past for Tajikistan. «In 1989 the endorsement of the language law [making Tajik the official language] resulted in a mass exodus from the country. Adoption of the new law can provoke the repetition of the ’1989 syndrome,’» Victor Kim, coordinator of the Tajik Alliance of National Minorities, told the Asia Plus news agency on July 22, referring to the brain drain of the early 1990s.

Gaffor Juraev, head of the government commission on implementation of the state language law, and one of the authors of the draft bill, believes «the law is needed» to promote Tajikistan’s sovereignty. «All citizens of Tajikistan must know the state language — at least out of respect to the country where they live,» he said, in comments to Asia Plus. He added that talk of a fresh exodus caused by any new, potential changes was «absurd.»

For many ordinary Tajiks, however, the move would represent an unnecessary intrusion into their daily lives. «My mother is a Pamiri Tajik, and my father is Russian. My husband is from Belarus, but he is not sure about his ethnic roots. And who are my children? They are not Tajiks, but they are Tajikistani! We have always been proud of our multiethnic past,» said Nigina Ruslanova, a schoolteacher in Dushanbe.

The chairman of Tajikistan’s Communist Party, Shodi Shabdolov, is among those Tajiks who oppose tinkering with language legislation. «The exclusion of Russian language as the language of interethnic communication from the new draft law [would be] a serious mistake,» he told Asia Plus. «The status of Russian language in the draft law is underestimated — in political, educational and scientific respects. Russian is acknowledged as the language of international communication in CIS countries. Moreover, Russian is one of the official UN languages.

Editor’s Note: Konstantin Parshin is a freelance correspondent based in Dushanbe.

Konstantin Parshin

Источник: http://eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav082609a.shtml

The governor of Tajikistan’s southern Khatlon Province has ordered local authorities to increase the number of media outlets in the region, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports.

Ghaibullo Afzalov announced today that Khatlon’s population does not have sufficient access to news and information via traditional media platforms, which he said is a threat to Tajikistan’s national security.

Nusratullo Abdulloev, the editor in chief of a regional newspaper in Khatlon’s Khuroson district, told RFE/RL that he fully agrees with Afzalov’s statement, adding that 2.5 million citizens in Khatlon do not have enough newspapers to receive the latest international and domestic news.

A Tajik media analyst, Jamoliddin Saifiddinov, told RFE/RL that residents of Tajikistan’s Qabodyon, Shahritus, and Nosiri Khisrav districts, which border Uzbekistan, watch mainly Uzbek TV stations because the Tajik television channels have a very weak signal in the region.

Khatlon TV Deputy Director Sherali Saidov confirmed Saifiddinov’s assessment of the TV reception in those areas and said the Khatlon TV channel is not even available in the region’s Kulob district, which borders Afghanistan.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajik_Governor_Orders_Better_Regional_Media_Access/1805793.html

Jovid always dreamed of becoming a police officer, but now he finds himself taking exams to become a tax collector.

«My family couldn’t afford the amount of bribe we would have had to pay to get a place at the police academy,» the 18-year-old high-school graduate explains.

Seeking to ensure an affordable future for their son, his parents — farmers in Tajikistan’s northern Maschoh region — instead paid out a $1,000 bribe to ensure he would be enrolled to study tax law at a Tajik finance university.

«We had to sell several of our cattle to raise the money,» Jovid says. «The rest we borrowed from relatives. We didn’t have any other choice. I wish it was possible to enter the university with my knowledge, but here things don’t work like that.»

Jovid says his parents paid the money to middlemen, who promised to pass it on to professors who would be making enrollment decisions based on exam results.

It is a common practice throughout Central Asia, where people say it is a fact of life that most university entrants must pay bribes to get enrolled into institutions of higher education.

Paying To Learn, Earn

In Turkmenistan, there is even a name for such bribes, «elaklyk,» which literally means «thanks giving.»

Throughout the region there are unofficial price lists for different universities and colleges, ranging from $600 to $15,000.

For instance, applicants have to pay at least $2,000 to get a place in the English-language department in Tajikistan’s provincial universities.

In Turkmenistan, entrants may pay much more. Depending on the number of people competing for university places, prices in the most popular schools can rise to over $40,000.

The amount of the bribe often depends on the profitability of the future profession. The most popular among universities are law schools, because people believe lawyers are in a position to earn lots of money in a relevantly short period of time.

Alymbek Ata, whose son has applied to enter Kyrgyzstan’s Osh University, says he accepts bribery as «today’s reality,» and questioning the practice has never crossed his mind.

«Other parents who brought their children are paying bribes, and so do I — I’m not any different,» he says.

Rot In The System

The problem of bribery in the education system has been a topic of political debate in Central Asia in recent years, with officials warning that corrupt practices and widespread bribery have severely damaged the quality of education.

High-school teachers throughout the region complain that students skip lessons and don’t take their studies seriously, raising fears that they are not properly prepared as they take the next step in their education.

At the university level, corruption does not stop with the entrance exam. Once in the classroom, students routinely pay bribes to get better grades and to pass exams. It is common for professors to have different fees, so-called «stavki,» to pass their exams.

Emil Sarybaev, who studies medicine in Osh university, says some students opt to pay bribes instead of attending classes.

«There are five or six students in my group who don’t show up for lessons, but who take care of any problems with the professors. They pay about around $500-$600 to pass an exam,» Sarybaev says.

«I can’t even imagine what kind of doctors they will become, or how they would treat patients in Kyrgyzstan. I’m afraid that they won’t be able to treat patients, they will kill them.»

Local experts in the region warn that Central Asia is in danger of ending up with a generation of specialists who are not properly trained in their field.

Many people in the region have already lost their trust in university graduates, particularly in the medical field, leading them to seek out older doctors or graduates of foreign medical schools.

Arrest Teachers, Or Empower Them?

Meanwhile, education authorities insist they are fighting the rampant corruption in the system.

Last month, for example, several professors in the region — including the head of the Ashgabat University of World Languages, a department head in Tajikistan’s Khujand Medical College, and two university professors in Bishkek and Osh — were fired in connection with bribery.

Prosecutors in the three countries in question have opened criminal cases against the professors, who now face corruption charges.

Public opinion, however, is unmoved by these individual cases. Few expect that weeding out a handful of offenders can really end the problem. Some even accuse the education officials themselves of being involved in corruption.

«I don’t believe this issue will be solved as long as we have the current officials in place,» says Faridun Rahnavard, a Dushanbe-based analyst.

Suggestions have been made that raising teachers’ and university professors’ wages could help eliminate corruption. State university professors throughout Central Asia receive meager wages, ranging between $70 and $400 a month.

Concerns have also been raised that the continuation of unfair practices will deny the children of non-wealthy families the opportunity to build a better future for themselves through education.

Regardless of the level of their knowledge, some already consider entering universities as beyond their reach, leading them to become migrant laborers instead.

Editor’s Note: RFE/RL’s Central Asian services contributed to this report

Farangis Najibullah, a EurasiaNet Partner Post fro

Источник: http://eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp082009.shtml

The Union of Journalists of Tajikistan (UJT), the Tajik National Association of Independent Media (NANSMIT) and the Tajik Media Alliance (MAT) launched a joint statement, expressing concern over the termination of broadcasting of the private radio companu Imruz. The statements also describes unfavorable situation within Tajikistan’s information space.

Radio Imruz has recently celebrated its second anniversary, and during this relatively short period the company has won attention of a large audience. The radio station has become popular due to a new approach to management and pluralism of opinions expressed in its daily programs.

Radio Imruz has been repeatedly facing problems with the authorities. On 11 August broadcasting was terminated. Officials from the State Broadcasting Committee’s technical unit refer to temporary problems of technological character, but the radio company’s management states that these explanations are poorly grounded.

Tajik media organizations consider such impediments absolutely unacceptable, especially on the eve of the forthcoming parliamentary elections in Tajikistan. Actions of the Tajik authorities are interpreted as serious limitations of the freedom of speech and expression, which affects the image of Tajikistan in the world arena.

http://www.asiaplus.tj/

On 7 August the Avesta news agency posted an article titled “Hemorrhagic fever came to Tajikistan from Russia”.

Referring to unofficial sources, the authors stated that the number of human casualties from hemorrhagic fever in the city of Tursunzade has reached 24, and among the victims is the chief infection doctor Askar Umarov. Avesta also informed readers on its web site that the village of Ziyoratut is blocked by law enforcement units, and neighboring areas are closed for quarantine. The article also said that the source of extremely contagious infection was the dead body of a Tajik labor migrant that arrived from Russia.

Here is the comment of deputy Minister of Health Azamjon Mirzoev:
“I have to say that the data in the publication is far from reality. The number of people who died from the disease is 3, not 24. Although, it’s a tragedy. Yes, among the people who died was a doctor from the city infection hospital. He died helping hospitalized patients”.

The entrance to Ziyoratut village was not blocked either, and nobody introduced any quarantine. There are no grounds for allegations that the disease came from Russia.

The Tajik Ministry of Health applied to the media with a request to refer to official and competent sources of information, and restrain from provoking panic among the population.

http://www.khovar.tj/

The Union of Journalists of Tajikistan (UJT) is preparing to create its own printing body.

The Union has already submitted its application to the Ministry of Culture. The new periodical is called “Sukhan” (the Tajik for “Speech” or “Language”). The first issue of the Tajik-language newspaper will be printed in September.
It should be noted that in the early 1990-s UJT already had a newspaper with the same name. it was founded under the initiative of a well-known journalist Otakhon Latifi.

http://www.khovar.tj/

Social-networking technology has helped make geographic borders almost irrelevant for young people seeking information about education programs or staying in touch with peers. Charlotte West is a freelance writer and former international student.

Students are increasingly using social-networking sites such as Facebook to research their study-abroad destinations and get information from people with experience. This technology has also proven to be an important way to keep in touch with friends made while abroad, as well as to make new ones.

Café Abroad was founded in 2006 by Dan Schwartzman, then a 24-year-old graduate from Pennsylvania State University recently returned home from a study-abroad stint in Australia. He wanted to “create a site by students, for students, where students can answer any question another student may have with genuine student-generated information.”

Katherine Lonsdorf, a recent graduate in diplomacy and world affairs from Occidental College in Los Angeles, wrote a series of articles for Café Abroad. Her writing inspired several students to get in touch with questions about her year abroad in Jordan and the Middle East.

“While writing for Café Abroad, I was contacted by at least a dozen or so other students from around the country who were thinking about studying in Jordan and wanted to talk with me about my experience,” she says. “They usually found me on Facebook, after picking up my name from a byline.”

Café Abroad InPRINT

In the several years since its launch, Café Abroad has blossomed into a nationally distributed magazine, Café Abroad InPRINT, currently distributed at more than 330 colleges and universities around the United States. Dan Schwartzman has also developed what he calls “The Café Abroad Networking Solution.” He says the concept is “a social network for study-abroad offices to connect students internally within their own schools in a private network overseen by study-abroad administrators — in addition to a global network where students could more openly share their abroad experience with other students at their school.”

The importance of student-generated content, such as the articles written by Lonsdorf, is also being increasingly recognized by educational institutions. The State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz, for instance, launched a series of study-abroad blogs written by students in various programs.

Penny Schouten, a study-abroad marketing consultant who was involved with getting the New Paltz blogs off the ground, explains that while the initial goal of the blogs was to lighten the workload for office staff, it became much more than that. In addition to chronicling students’ time abroad, the blogs created continuity and community between prospective and current students, who also felt “they were doing a great service to their campus.”

Schouten also spoke to the importance of students being able to get the information from their peers. “Students didn’t want to hear from me where the cool clubs are in London; they wanted to hear it from other students,” she says.

A Spirit of Collaboration

Schouten and Schwartzman both recognize the potential of social media in transforming how students go about making their study-abroad choices. Schwartzman, for his part, hopes that blogs, Facebook, and individual networking solutions are just the first step.

“To me,” Schwartzman says, “the next level of study-abroad social networking is a spirit of true collaboration where information about programs, schools, program providers, and study abroad destinations is interchanged in a free-flowing, centralized forum. In this forum, students would be able to communicate with each other about study abroad uncensored and openly. This, of course, is a bit of an idealistic outlook — but it’s worth striving towards.”

You can check out these social-networking sites on the Internet at http://www.cafeabroad.com and http://www.abroadblogs.newpaltz.edu.

The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. government.

http://dushanbe.usembassy.gov/

Representatives of the Tajik media community appealed to the authorities with a request to support “the fourth power” suffering from the global crisis
Forty media professionals and experts signed a joint appeal, which says that “Tajikistan’s mass media, as an integral part of the national economy and the society, is badly affected by the global financial crisis”.

Referring to latest independent studies among printing and electronic media, experts say that more than 90 percent of the domestic media are experiencing serious financial and logistical difficulties. “Circulation of newspapers has dropped on the average by 30-40 percent. This is caused by the lowered buying interest, the growing prices on services and expandable materials, and inability to advertise media products”, the appeal says.

Tajik journalists note that in most of developed countries governments pay due attention to the special role of the media in the system of governance and public life, creating favorable conditions to the press.

“Many governments introduce tax incentives for the media; they provide the media with financial donations. One such example is Kazakhstan, where the government provides the media with grants and exempts them from excessive taxes”, — says the appeal. Many of the Tajik media are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Media experts also say that the lack of the government’s support might lead to closure of many printing outlets, TV and radio companies, which might seriously affect Tajikistan’s information security and deteriorate its image.

NANSMIT Monitoring Service

Muhammad Jafar Behdad, director general of the Iranian news agency suggested to create a joint information agency for the countries members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

This proposal was voiced at a meeting between Behdada and Vitaly Ignatenko, director general of the Russian ITAR-TASS news agency.
Behdad noted a positive character of relations between Moscow and Tehran – in both political and economic spheres. He stressed the necessity of expanding the information space.

Ignatenko for his part said that the proposal is interesting and perspective, and for its practical implementation the countries should solicit support from the Chinese Sin’khua news agency.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization consists of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan; Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia are observers; and Turkmenistan and Afghanistan are guests.

http://www.iran.ru/

This is a compilation of reports from Tajikistan’s media and private reports from the NANSMIT monitoring network in the country

Coordinator of the Monitoring Network in Tajikistan:
Abdufattokh Vokhidov

Head of the Legal Service:
Orifjon Azimov

Head of the Project in Tajikistan:
Nuriddin Karshibayev

Freedom of Speech in Tajikistan
July 2009

In July 2009 the NANSMIT Monitoring Service received 18 reports. Eleven of them describe the factual situation in the media in the light of socio-legal and political environment; three reports describe direct violations of rights of media professionals; and four reports describe conflicts and accusations against the media and journalists.

I. PECULIARITIES OF POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ADMINISTRATIVE AND LEGAL CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY DEFINING THE FACTUAL SITUATION IN THE MEDIA

1. Public speeches and statements of government officials defining factual situation in the media

21 July
Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan, Dushanbe

“Specific and interesting broadcasts dedicated to the Tajik language on central and local radio and TV channels, promotion of its distinctive character, and mainstreaming the mass media into the state language is one of the most relevant tasks”, — said Emomali Rakhmon, President of Tajikistan in his public message on the occasion of the 20-th anniversary of the adoption of the National Language Law.

Rakhmon noted that the state language should be reinforced on the basis of literary norms, and freed from artificial and extraneous models and dialectisms. The President expressed criticism regarding some Tajik periodicals, “which language does not meet requirements of the lingual standards and healthy taste”. “Certain journalists – deliberately or ignorantly – use sophisticated and strange words and terms”, — said Rakhmon.

2. Factual status of the media and freedom of speech

2 July
All media, Dushanbe

Speaking at a round table on 2 July in Dushanbe, Akbarali Sattorov, chairman of the Tajik Union of Journalists, said that the Tajik media community is going to approach the government with an appeal to support the Tajik media in the period of financial crisis.

Sattorov stressed the necessity of creating an anti-crisis journalistic unit.

Many newspapers in Khatlon province are published irregularly; they are issued mainly on the occasion of national events or celebrations. Most of the periodicals in Khatlon have affiliation to the government, but the authorities have stopped their financing.

The situation in Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous province (GBAO) is similar.

10 July
Muso Dinorshoev, Vice President, Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe

Vice President of the Tajik Academy of Sciences Muso Dinorshoev suggested to hold press conferences in three main scientific directions. There are about 30 subordinate structures and scientific-research institutions under the Academy. Dinorshoev suggested to regularly update journalists on main achievements in the spheres of humanitarian, economic and exact sciences. The official said that the financing of science in the country at present amounts only to 0,03% of the national budget.

II. VIOLATION OF RIGHTS IN THE MEDIA

1. Impediments to professional activities in the media

10 June
Paikon weekly, Dushanbe

A policeman confiscated an ID card from a correspondent of the Paikon weekly in Dushanbe, when the journalist came to the dwelling facilities of the National Conservatory of Music. The full story on that is published in the Paikon issue #17, 08.07.09.

The policeman did not get into any explanations, advising the journalist to ask his editor to come and pick up the ID. After a while, the officer returned the document.

2. Ungrounded limitations in access to public information

2 July
State Statistics Committee, Dushanbe

Freelance journalist Gulnora Nosirova approached the Justice Council’s statistical unit requiring information on the number of journalists bound to pay fines for defamation. Head of the statistics unit Zaragul Abdukodirzoda advised the journalist to apply to the State Statistics Committee.

The official stated that the requested information refers to national security, and she is not in the position to make it public.

3 July
Minister of Health, Dushanbe

The Minister of Health forbade all employees of the Ministry to communicate with the media. This order is related to the recent death of Khurshed Bobokalonov, who allegedly was killed in an incident with the police. Bobokalonov was a well-known physician.

Fotima Yakubova, head of the Ministry’s press center advised journalists to approach the Minister with a written request if they need any particular information.

III. CONFLICTS. VIOLATIONS INCRIMINATED TO THE MEDIA AND JOURNALISTS

1. Claims for protection of honor, dignity and business reputation affected by publication of certain information

12 July
Khudoyor Valiev, correspondent, TV Kulyab, Khatlon province

Karakhon Makhmudov, head of the province education department came into conflict with Khudoyor Valiev, correspondent of the local TV station. On 9 July private newspapers SSSR and Pazhvok published detailed stories on that conflict.

Representatives of NANSMIT monitoring service in Kulyab officially approached Juraboi Sobirov, head of the Khatlon province education department with a request to discuss the actions of the official, and to inform about the results.

23 July
Ozodagon weekly, Dushanbe

Tabassum Tagaeva, professor of the Tajik State University sent an open letter to the editor of Ozodagon weekly requiring refutation on the recently published article, which allegedly was published on her behalf.

Tagaeva says that the published article may be wrongly interpreted by her colleagues and students, who may think that she had sordid motives.

14 July
Ikrom Mirzoev, Somonion TV, Khatlon province

On 14 July the Khatlon province Economic Court made a decision to deny the legal claim of Ikrom Mirzoev, director of Somonion TV against the TV and Radio Committee under the government.

According to Mirzoev, the claim was initiated upon the decision of the Supreme Economic Court (20 September 2007), which acknowledged illegal the refusal of the Committee’s licensing commission to prolong the TV station’s broadcasting license. Mirzoev in his claim asked the court to acknowledge the losses caused by the licensing commission in the amount of 86 thousand Somoni (about $20 thousand).

This report is based on compiled materials from the media and private information presented by correspondents of the NANSMIT Monitoring Network

Project Manager
Nuriddin Karshibaev