Tajikistan. The country of Islam, Mountains and Rivers - Romans Arzjancevs

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about it, my heart feels the same feelings that maybe Tajik people feel now. It is now so hard to feel also the same sun, the same air and environment that you feel in that country which is very far from here. But now i will try to recall all of that memories and knowledge that was very interesting to me. So as maybe you already know this country is situated in that part of the world that is called Asia, more precisely in one part of the Asia because Asia is very large, I mean has a very large area. Of course it is not situated not in South part of Asia, not in North, not in East and also not in South part of Asia. If you want to know exact location in this continent, Tajikistan is situated in the central part of Asia where winters are cold and summers – hot, where nights are much colder than days. And that area which many people call Central Asia have so many traditions and history, actually all of the nations that live in that part of the world, in that part of Asia. Not only Tajikistan, but also other nations around it have some things and history in common before they were independent countries and started to build up their life from blank page. It was very hard to do so and take a step further. Now we are living in the time that we can see that people from these countries are free and feel this freedom that they did not have before. And that is why it was very interesting and good to understand, that culture, traditions, religion, some styles are very important and precious to them. when your country is oppressed you are forced to feel not how you would like to, but how foreigner oppressors want you to feel. And when your country becomes independent you truly start to understand what is freedom.

      Just a few words about one thing that I want to write about, what initiated my interest and what I feel in my heart and soul from the past and also present. This country is very close to my heart, I hold on to it every day. Maybe it sounds funny to you but Tajikistan can give me understanding how i can learn from all hard moments and things that can happen in one’s life. It was hard and very long road when economy and other important parts of life started to recover. If this bloom could happen and happened to Tajikistan after hard ten years then the life of each of us can start to rise and see some changes and all of what happened in recent years can give you life lessons, how to feel stronger and more clever that before. Past events that took place in this Central Asia’s republic were very terrible and dangerous, fortunately life does not stay in one place for eternity and after a while it gets better. And I will start to write about my lovely Republic of Tajikistan from that happy day when the life has gotten better.

      29 April, 2015, Wednesday

      I don’t have many ideas to write about, but there are some moments that recalls some feelings about the lovely Tajikistan. In the beginning I need to tell you about the Tajikistan’s landscapes. It is situated in the Central Asia next to Pamir Mountains with so many rivers that flow down the mountains, so many lakes with clean, cold and fresh water. Mountain areas can be really cold during winter. These areas are very isolated, with several villages and not so largely populated towns that are situated in that region which Tajik people call – Gorno Badakhshan. Badakhshan in fact is an autonomous district which is one of the official administrative division districts situated in the East part of Tajikistan near the China on the East and Afghanistan on the South. This part of the Tajikistan differs from other areas because the people of this district belong to other denomination. As maybe you already know Tajikistan’s official religion is Islam more accurately, Sunni Islam that is represented by majority of the Muslims in the world. Of course this means that the majority of Tajik people belong to Sunni Islam but inhabitants of the Gorno Badakhshan belong to Ismaili Islam. Very interesting to know about these differences. So Ismailism belongs to the Shia main stream of Islam. Although they are both branches of Islam they still have differences that you can see in everyday life of the Tajik people living in other parts of the country. Ismaili Muslims have different views of life which are not in the West parts of the Republic where the native Tajik people live. Also very interesting to tell about the population of 8.5 million is that despite all problems that Tajikistan has in all parts of country life, economy, poverty because of what many residents are forced to go to other countries, civil war for five years, the population grows every year. It was a hard time for nation during the civil war that took place in Gorno Badakhshan because large portion of population went to other countries, mostly to Afghanistan as immigrants in the beginning of nineties, so in 1992. The war ended only in 1997. Tajikistan was the poorest country in former Soviet Union. The impact of this war is not so important now because the country changes and life along with it and problems that seemed to be very difficult to overcome in the past is not so now because the viewpoint has changed. You know it is very hard to concentrate thinking so maybe now little bit about the capital – Dushanbe city. The capital is situated in the central part of Tajikistan on the West. The city is not so modern, not so comfortable without modern buildings but often it is like this in large cities that are situated near mountains. Also streets and roads are not so modern comparing to other capitals of Central Asia’s republics for instance in Astana (Kazakhstan) and Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) whose capitals are very modern and have amazing views of countries landscapes. But Tajikistan can be more interesting because of its unique way of living.

      Gorno Badakhshan autonomous district was today’s main theme. Long and hard years of war that took place in this area brought a lot of suffering and problems which this district already had before the conflict began. The conflict started soon after the collapse of Soviet Union. When Tajikistan declared its independence from Soviet Union this autonomous district declared it s for Tajikistan. But Tajik government was not comfortable with this decision and so started the five year long conflict between the official Tajikistan’s government and government forces of Gorno Badakhshan. Probably the reason for this war was based on differences between two cultures – native Tajik people and nations that populated in Gorno Badakhshan. Also religious differences between two branches of Islam – Sunni and Ismaili. These were probably the hardest years in the history of the Republic of Tajikistan.

      30 April, 2015, Thursday

      Now for today it is important to start writing about one more interesting place or sight on your list and it is Dushamble Zoo which of course is situated in the Tajikistan’s capital. Well the zoo opened its doors in 1960 and now has a large collection of animals. The zoo owns something around 600 animals from various continents but mainly from Asia and Africa. During the civil war from 1991—1997 zoo had big problems, many animals died others get lost. During that time it was very hard to save all inhabitants of the zoo. Probably I need to tell something about the place where the zoo is built. It is situated in the centre of the Tajikistan’s capital – Dushanbe city on the Luchob river bank. One of the most interesting things to write about will be also the capital of Republic of Tajikistan so about Dushanbe city. The populations of this Central Asia’s city is 780 000 residents according to information collected in 2014. The population of this city consists of 75% of Tajik nation as it is common in many cities of Central Asia republics that there is a high percentage of native nation’s people. It is also interesting to mention Dushanbe Flagpole, national flagpole that is 165m high and since the 2011 it is the highest flagpole in the world. So that is one symbolic place which represents the national flag of the country. It is located near the Palace of Nations in Dushanbe. Well the flag of Tajikistan have three lines and these are red line at the top of the flag, after that in the centre is large white line and an the bottom or under the white one is green line. More over in the centre of the Tajikistan’s flag is symbolic figure with seven yellow stars. You know it is very difficult to write about other facts of Tajik’s capital but I will tell a little bit more about traditional food. Many families has a problem with food that means many families has low income and the traditional Tajik family’s menu consists of simple products which are often used for meals such as bread, potatoes and as in all traditional Islamic Asian countries – tea. These are the most popular products in Tajikistan, but also vegetables and fruits are cultivated. But the most popular still remains bread and potatoes because largest part of the population can get it. Many inhabitants live in poor districts under the poverty line. People has problems with food and they can not include

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