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TAJIKISTAN
Independence date: 9 September 1991
Population: 6.4 million
Capital: Dushanbe
President: Emomali Rahmonov (since 6 November 1994)
 Country profile
Timeline
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VIEWPOINTS
Today we can buy everything in the shops and markets. But people have tiny salaries. The minimum wage is just over a dollar a month, which doesn’t even buy a kilogram of meat. We’ve also got massive unemployment. We didn’t have this sort of problem in Soviet times. Crowds of men stand around at each market, ready to do any work. Building material is very expensive now. Some people build nevertheless, others just live in ruins.
Tolib, 59, unemployed
Among the negative consequences of the break-up of the USSR I would name the local conflicts, including the one in Tajikistan. I lost my father and many friends. But I don’t regret taking this route, or demonstrating against the coup-plotters or their followers in Tajikistan. During the civil war I hid in the mountains, then emigrated. I did many different jobs - I travelled half the world, working as a customs official, a lorry driver, and a translator. Upon returning to Tajikistan, I was struck by the decline in educational standards. But on the other hand we now have the chance to teach ourselves and our children, not just in our own country, but also abroad. Before I would never have believed that my children would study in the West.
Zafir, 37, biologist
For 75 years, we were guinea pigs in the Soviet system. The experiment didn’t work. Nobody in Moscow thought that in 10 or 12 years, the former republics would really be able to stand on their own two feet. Most importantly, we now have the right to vote and to live where we want. All roads have been opened for us now.
Zarpari Khushvakhtova, actress, Dushanbe
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