Thursday, 22 Farvardin, 1387/10 April, 2008
According to the information of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tajikistan service, Nurmohammad Amirshahi, a specialist of the Institute of Oriental Studies of Tajikistan, has asked the President, Emamali Rahman, to return to the Persian script. This issue was also raised during the annual meeting of the President with the Tajik intelligentsia.
It should be noted that this issue first came up in 1989 AD. Based on the Language Law, which was approved by the Shura-ye Ali (Supreme Council – Legislature of Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic) in that year, Tajikistan was supposed to return to the Persian script in 1997 AD. Although I was young, I do remember the days after the Law was approved. I remember that all signs in the city were written in Cyrillic and Persian scripts. However, start of the imposed civil war in Tajikistan and the coming of a new government to power, anti-Persian sentiment increased in Tajikistan, and all the Persian writings were removed from the avenues and streets of Dushanbe. Let us remind that Tajikistan turned away from the Persian script in 1930 AD by the wish of the Soviet government, turning to Latin script; and then turned to Cyrillic in 1939 AD based on the new decision.
According to Mr. Amirshahi, Cyrillic script has “separated Tajikistan from the world and kept it without any information about the world. World achievements are not available to us in this script.” Mr. Amirshahi also notes that “all of the world literature is available in Iran in Persian script.” It is true that today the people of Tajikistan receive world literature and the latest scientific and technological achievements in Russian. This process does not only not support the reduction of the Russian language’s influence and lifting the status of the official, national language and bringing it to its rightful place, but it increases the influence of the Russian language.
Some analysts believe that turning to the Persian script will make the Tajik people illiterate. As they say, learning of the Persian script has many difficulties, and in order to write correctly in this script, the knowledge of the Arabic language is necessary. In this case, the Ministry of Education will have to enter Arabic language into the curriculum. Without question, knowledge of Arabic helps improve Persian (also referred to as “Tajiki”); just as the knowledge of Latin helps an English-speaker. However, it is not necessary at all. Writing in Persian script has no difficulty and it is not more difficult than writing, for instance, in English and Russian. When a person normally reads in that script, they get used to it. Russian, European, and American scholars of Persian literature are all able to write and read in this script, while almost none of them have learned Arabic.
The other concern is that changing the script will create problems for Tajikistan's current economy. This is surely an important issue, and it should be considered. However, changing the script is not impossible. Countries like Iran and perhaps even Arab countries are interested that Tajikistan returns to Persian script. Even today Iran is providing textbooks for learning Persian script free of charge to the schools of Tajikistan. I am sure that Iran will help as much as it can. The government officials of Tajikistan should look into it more.
The issue of script pulls us to another hurtful question, which is the issue of our language. The goal of forceful change to Cyrillic was to separate the people of Tajikistan from Afghanistan and Iran with whom we speak the same language. The government of the Soviets creates a story based on which the word “Tajiki” appears. In other words, the language of the Tajiks of Central Asia is “Tajiki,” while the language of Iran and Afghanistan is Persian. The word “Tajiki” does not appear anywhere until the 20th century AD. If our language is not Persian, then what is it? What is the “Tajiki” language? When one person from Tajikistan, one from Iran, and one from Afghanistan speak to each other, do they need a translator? The Language Law of Tajikistan used to say that “The official language of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic is the Tajiki (Persian) language.” However, the Constitution that was passed in 1994 AD, states: “The official language of Tajikistan is the Tajiki language.” Of course, some people say that it is only a name, and what does it matter. However, in the times of Globalisation, is it better if we speak a language spoken in Greater Tajikistan (meaning today’s Tajikistan and our lands in Uzbekistan), or a language spoken by the people of Greater Tajikistan, Afghanistan with 30 million population, and Iran with 70 million population? Our language is our identity, and loosing our identity will lead to the disappearance of our statehood.
According to the information of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tajikistan service, Nurmohammad Amirshahi, a specialist of the Institute of Oriental Studies of Tajikistan, has asked the President, Emamali Rahman, to return to the Persian script. This issue was also raised during the annual meeting of the President with the Tajik intelligentsia.
It should be noted that this issue first came up in 1989 AD. Based on the Language Law, which was approved by the Shura-ye Ali (Supreme Council – Legislature of Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic) in that year, Tajikistan was supposed to return to the Persian script in 1997 AD. Although I was young, I do remember the days after the Law was approved. I remember that all signs in the city were written in Cyrillic and Persian scripts. However, start of the imposed civil war in Tajikistan and the coming of a new government to power, anti-Persian sentiment increased in Tajikistan, and all the Persian writings were removed from the avenues and streets of Dushanbe. Let us remind that Tajikistan turned away from the Persian script in 1930 AD by the wish of the Soviet government, turning to Latin script; and then turned to Cyrillic in 1939 AD based on the new decision.
According to Mr. Amirshahi, Cyrillic script has “separated Tajikistan from the world and kept it without any information about the world. World achievements are not available to us in this script.” Mr. Amirshahi also notes that “all of the world literature is available in Iran in Persian script.” It is true that today the people of Tajikistan receive world literature and the latest scientific and technological achievements in Russian. This process does not only not support the reduction of the Russian language’s influence and lifting the status of the official, national language and bringing it to its rightful place, but it increases the influence of the Russian language.
Some analysts believe that turning to the Persian script will make the Tajik people illiterate. As they say, learning of the Persian script has many difficulties, and in order to write correctly in this script, the knowledge of the Arabic language is necessary. In this case, the Ministry of Education will have to enter Arabic language into the curriculum. Without question, knowledge of Arabic helps improve Persian (also referred to as “Tajiki”); just as the knowledge of Latin helps an English-speaker. However, it is not necessary at all. Writing in Persian script has no difficulty and it is not more difficult than writing, for instance, in English and Russian. When a person normally reads in that script, they get used to it. Russian, European, and American scholars of Persian literature are all able to write and read in this script, while almost none of them have learned Arabic.
The other concern is that changing the script will create problems for Tajikistan's current economy. This is surely an important issue, and it should be considered. However, changing the script is not impossible. Countries like Iran and perhaps even Arab countries are interested that Tajikistan returns to Persian script. Even today Iran is providing textbooks for learning Persian script free of charge to the schools of Tajikistan. I am sure that Iran will help as much as it can. The government officials of Tajikistan should look into it more.
The issue of script pulls us to another hurtful question, which is the issue of our language. The goal of forceful change to Cyrillic was to separate the people of Tajikistan from Afghanistan and Iran with whom we speak the same language. The government of the Soviets creates a story based on which the word “Tajiki” appears. In other words, the language of the Tajiks of Central Asia is “Tajiki,” while the language of Iran and Afghanistan is Persian. The word “Tajiki” does not appear anywhere until the 20th century AD. If our language is not Persian, then what is it? What is the “Tajiki” language? When one person from Tajikistan, one from Iran, and one from Afghanistan speak to each other, do they need a translator? The Language Law of Tajikistan used to say that “The official language of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic is the Tajiki (Persian) language.” However, the Constitution that was passed in 1994 AD, states: “The official language of Tajikistan is the Tajiki language.” Of course, some people say that it is only a name, and what does it matter. However, in the times of Globalisation, is it better if we speak a language spoken in Greater Tajikistan (meaning today’s Tajikistan and our lands in Uzbekistan), or a language spoken by the people of Greater Tajikistan, Afghanistan with 30 million population, and Iran with 70 million population? Our language is our identity, and loosing our identity will lead to the disappearance of our statehood.
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