President of the Republic of Tajikistan

Address on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the National Unity Day

26.06.2015 09:33, Dushanbe city

Dear compatriots,
Distinguished students,

Tomorrow the glorious people of Tajikistan will celebrate the eighteenth anniversary of the National Unity Day in the atmosphere of lasting peace and stability.

To achieve this day the Tajik people overcame severe ordeals of history and due to its age-long wisdom put an end to the armed confrontation imposed by the Civil War. The Tajik people has proven to the mankind that it is able to unite under the banner of unity and mutual understanding, to live in the atmosphere of peace, stability with patriotic efforts to modernize the land of their ancestors.

That is why, with the sense of gratitude for peace, tranquility, political stability, sustainable development and progress in our homeland, I heartily congratulate all the glorious people of Tajikistan and all our overseas compatriots on the occasion of the National Unity Day, and I wish peace, tranquility, happiness, pride and prosperity to every family.

National unity is our most valuable achievement, the main condition for the well-being of our people, a solid foundation of development and progress of our beloved homeland. Therefore, the task of every self-conscious person and a patriot is to defend the national unity as a priceless treasure, a very important achievement, respect it, along with our other national values.

National unity, as a symbol of victory and happiness gave new strength to the Tajik people, sparked a ray of hope in the heart of every inhabitant of the country for a brighter and peaceful future, and filled the hearts of the people with joy and happiness.

This rare historic event strengthened a sense of respect in the hearts and minds of citizens to beloved Tajikistan and its holy places; it assured them that only because of this life saving idea the ancient Tajik people will be able to modernize, to leave well-organized and prosperous homeland for future generations.

The relatively short historical period has shown that the Tajiks are really creative, patriotic, civilized, and culture-loving people and capable of its unity and cohesion to build a truly modern democratic, legal and secular society.

In this regard, in referring to you, young people, I encourage you to respect this great achievement of our nation – the national unity, preserve and honor it, to be visionary, to raise the banner of unity even higher, to be faithful to our beloved Motherland, and love every piece of land of your ancestors.

Today, in comparison with disunity, which embodies the tragedy, disaster and misfortune, the meaning and the value of national unity achieved by the loss of lives of our thousands of compatriots, have a special place in the hearts of young and old citizens of our country.

For it is indeed the national unity which saved Tajik people from the threat of disunity, and the young Tajik state – from extinction. It created the basis for unity and modernization of our country by ensuring step by step development of our beloved Tajikistan.

Historical, scientific and comparative analysis shows that we can present the path we traveled during  the period of independence and our national unity as a rare achievement of our people. That is why the experience of Tajik national unity is being comprehensively studied and analyzed in the internal and external scientific and political circles, as well as the international community.

In this regard, I would like to express some of my thoughts and concrete proposals on the importance and the need for strengthening of national unity, attention to which is very important in today at this stage of development and the future of our country.

In today's environment, we need at the state level to represent the essence and content of national unity as an expression of mutual understanding and co-existence of all citizens, generations and ideas. Such a transformation of the concept will strengthen and give a comprehensive feature to national unity and will further expand it in the society as an essential element of national self-awareness.

Therefore, it is essential that our people, especially the younger generation of the country accept the idea of peace and unity as an essential and integral part of national culture and mentality, and make every effort to strengthen it.

The idea of ​​national unity as a unifying factor of our society played a great and invaluable role at an important historical juncture. Now it is the time to strengthen the concept of national unity as an integral and powerful part of the national idea that every self-aware citizen honors and respects the unity of society as the gift.

I emphasize again that every citizen, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political views, must recognize that the development of society and the implementations of its aspirations and hopes can be realized only if the there is peace, stability and national unity in the country.

(Oral addition: Each of you witness the events that take place in recent years in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Egypt and some other countries. The picture of refugees, who for the sake of their life, flee from Syria to other countries, including Turkey, bring about sympathy of every sensible and conscientious person. These developments make each of us to remember that we and our country have experienced the same difficult days. You, young people, must always remember the terrible and tragic days, sufferings, ordeals that have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians in the country).

In order to further strengthen national unity, progress and prosperity of our beloved Homeland it is very important to properly understand the concept of "civil honor and dignity, patriotic pride."

That is, the fact that you are a citizen of Tajikistan shall play an effective role in shaping the worldview of each person as a major unifying factor of the society.

Along with this, it should be remembered that security and national unity in Tajikistan can become vulnerable under the impact of processes and events of today’s contradictory world, including new growing threats such as fanaticism, religious extremism, terrorism and other transnational organized crimes.

 

The increase of impact of a terrorist organization called the "Islamic state" in Syria and Iraq, the desire of its militants to capture new regions of these countries, ruthless killings of thousands of Muslims and destruction of cultural heritage, as well as the strengthening of radical ideologies in some neighboring countries, including in Afghanistan, are the main factors of concern in the current situation.

In this process, one of the most important and valuable matters is that we should always be alert, should not respond to the various intrigues and deceptions of alien interested circles, should unite people and should further strengthen political stability. In such situation, no single country, including Tajikistan, can feel safe from negative impact of recent events and changes in which there are involved representatives of a dozen countries around the world.

From this perspective, maximum strengthening of national unity and preservation of the normal state of political and ideological space of the Tajik statehood have become of paramount and even crucial importance.

That is why a broad, deliberate and constant promotion of the idea of strengthening and enhancing national unity, peace and stability in today's society is of vital necessity.

To this end, it is necessary for the Ministries of Education and Science, of Culture, Committees for Youth, Sports and Tourism, of Women and Family, of Religious Affairs, Regulation of National Traditions, Celebrations and Ceremonies, the Academy of Sciences, the Center for Strategic Studies, the Islamic Studies Center, political scientists, historians, philosophers and other researchers to continue to promote the concept of national unity as one of the main elements of national ideology with the involvement of relevant institutions and civil society.

Taking this favorable opportunity, I appeal to the strong-willed and honest youth of our Homeland, who are the future of our state and nation, to understand that you are the ones who build the future of the country. You must sincerely love your Motherland like your lives, to honor water and soil of this land, to protect it from all sorts of threats and challenges, to strive with all of your might for the prosperity of this paradise land. I believe in your will and the will of the entire youth of the country, and I know that you are proud to complete this glorious mission.

Brave and proud youth of our country with deep sense of patriotism and responsibility should be faithful to their state and Homeland, be well aware of the danger of adherence to alien ideas, intrigues of terrorist and extremist organizations, especially their tragic actions that are performed under the sacred name of Islam, to understand well, not to stay ignorant, not to lose political vigilance, to feel committed  and responsible for defense of their Motherland from modern challenges and threats.

Today the majority of radical groups and movements, abusing the sacred name of Islam, organize shameful conflicts between its branches and this process will undoubtedly be a reason for the decline of place and role of the sacred religion in the minds of the world community.

(Oral addition: People of Tajikistan, including youth, must not forget that we do not need another worldview or branch of the religion. We have our tolerant branch which is Hanafia, the leader of our branch is Imam Azam, the 1310thAnniversary of whom we celebrated a few years ago at a high level. In addition, in order to bring the content and essence of the Word of the Almighty – the Holy Qur'an to every Tajik reader, we have translated this heavenly book into the state language and published it several times in large editions).

The Holy Quran does not put a believer against another believer, on the contrary it calls for solidarity, mutual understanding and tolerance. However, in today's conditions the extremist and terrorist movements and trends interpreting the content of the verses of Quran in their own way, intensify conflicts and enmity between the followers of Islam, and they even started a devastating war in some Muslim countries.

(Oral addition: You are the witnesses of tragic actions by these movements, including the so-called terrorist group "Islamic State" which is not supported by anyone in the civilized world, on the contrary everyone condemn their medieval brutality. It should be remembered that the "Islamic State" has no relation to the sacred religion of Islam, on the contrary its followers carry out the plans and intentions of the enemies of Islam and do not want the development of Muslim countries).

Joining of our young people to these movements must not leave indifferent any responsible man or woman, on the contrary, it should encourage them to struggle against this plague and to defend their State and Motherland from all dire challenges.

In accordance to the existing information, at present more than 300 citizens of Tajikistan, some of them with their wives and children, a great number of which are the youth of 18-25 ages, have joined religion conflicts within the terrorist structure named the “Islamic State”. Up to present, more than 100 of them are killed in battles.

At present, there have been registered 7 cases of involvement of Tajik students learning abroad in the Syrian conflict. There have been also registered facts of participation of 11 college students from Tajikistan in the activities of the so called “Islamic State”.

(Oral addition: For instance, Eldarbek Alimardonov who was a student of the Agrarian University).

The parents of some of them have already received information of the death of their sons, they are ashamed of their relatives, neighbors and the society for the ignominious deed of their children, because their children betrayed the Motherland and the creed of Hanafiya.

(Oral addition: In the course of history, no people and no nation have not forgiven and will not forgive the treason towards Motherland, State and Nation. In particular, the glorious Tajik Nation will never forget the treacherous deed of some groups and persons who in the early of 1990th pulled the Motherland of our ancestors into the bloodshed and our newly independent country into flame of war).

One of the basic reasons for attraction of youth to such kind organizations is the longing for earning more money and property at short time. They, trusting the deceitful promises of foreign emissaries, take the path of death. Or, in some cases, they are tempted by such deceitful slogans as “Achievement of Justice” only by means of this fight.

In this regard, I would like to once again warn the youth: Dear sons and daughters, without the hard work no one can easily achieve peaceful and decent life.

Therefore, do not fall into the nets of deception of mercenary agitators.

One of our national proverbs says that “There is no wealth without labor”.

This wisdom of the ancient and civilized Tajik nation brought up our fathers and grandfathers, and came to us through historical memory of nation.

You must learn a life lesson from this wisdom, prepare yourself to labor and only by this method determine your life path for achievement of decent life.

This wisdom of our ancestors must become your, young people, life credo and you must strive to learning science, profession and crafts, in order to ensure a decent future for this Motherland and this Holy Land.

In this regard, the Ministries of Education and  Science, Culture, the Committee for Youth Affairs, Sports and Tourism, Women and Family, Religion, Committee on national traditions, celebrations, ceremonies, Academy of Sciences, Centre for  Strategic Researches, Islamic Studies Centre, Council of Ulema, Public Council, Movement for National Unity and Revival of Tajikistan, Council of Eldersare tasked jointly with executive bodies of Government in regions, cities and districts to reinforce the explanatory works among communities and especially among the youth.

In this regard, primary importance must be given to the propaganda of the essence of modern national state and statehood, respect for the supremacy of law, defense of interests of Government and People of Tajikistan, values of the national unity, peace and political stability, defense of values and achievements of the State Independence, as well as prevention of involvement in any kind of radical groups and movements.

Dear Youth!

I would like to note it again that all aspirations, strategic plans and goals of the Government are directed at the creation of decent conditions of life for every citizen of the country, ensuring energy independence, elimination of the communication deadlock and ensuring food security in the country.

It is the matter of honor that our honest and glory people with strong will and intentions for achievement of these goals have implemented great works, achieved noticeable successes under the flag of our Sovereign State for the sake of development and prosperity.

In spite of negative influence of the world financial and economical crises and other existing difficulties, only by effective implementation of reforms the increase in GDP during the last two decades has been achieved at the level of more than 7% and in 2014 it reached 45.6 billion somonies.

By ensuring sustainable development of economy and implementation of relevant budget and tax policy year by year the profitable part of state budget is increasing; in 2015 it equaled with the planned 15.3 billion somonies, while in 1992 it made up only 43.2 million somonies. The increase is 353 times higher than in 1992.

For the effective implementation of the strategic and priority goals of the country from all financing sources in the fields of energy, transport, communications, education, health, agriculture, land reclamation and irrigation, 55 public investment projects for nearly 14 billion somoni are under implementation, and from this fund 6.4 billion somoni have been disbursed.

As a result, approximately 2 thousand kilometers of roads, 200 bridges, 31 kilometers of tunnels and 132 kilometers of railway lines has been renovated, constructed and put into operation.

At the same time in the period of independence dozens of small and large power plants, thermal power station for 1020 megawatts were built and commissioned which is equal to 24% of the power used from the Soviet era to the present day.

At present, due to the aforementioned initiatives and other measure by the Government the welfare of the people has noticeably increased.

During this period, the poverty rate reduced from 86.6% to 32%.

Regardless of the abovementioned measures, the Government continues to fulfill its commitment in solving social issues, first of all, in improving conditions in spheres of education, health care, employment of the population and further improvement the living standard of the people of our beloved Homeland.

To achieve these good intentions we need the support of the citizens of our dear Motherland, and I am deeply convinced that our glorious and patriotic people will show even greater commitment to achieve the strategic objectives of the Government, especially in improving the well-being of the population.

Every year, the number of Tajikistan students is increasing. In 1992, in the country there were functioning totally 13 higher educational institutions with 70 thousand students.

Now in the country there are 38 higher educational institutions with 170 thousand students.

If in 1992 only 10 thousand students graduated from higher educational institutions, in 2014 the number of graduated students has reached 31 thousand.

In recent years, the usage of social networking in the Internet and exchange of information through electronic means has increased.

Although, this process has positive effect for development of intelligence and the formation of public thoughts, on the other hand, it becomes one of the factors for attraction of some young people to extremist organizations.

In this regard, the parents should intensively control communication and correspondence of their children, in order to protect them from the negative influence of networks advocating violence, extremism and other immoral acts, as well as from any kind of radical appeals and campaigns.

I appeal to you, Dear children, too. You have to remember that today's conflicts with the use of information and communication technologies are widely distributed and becoming the reason of exacerbation of the tragic conflicts in the world.

This situation requires from every informed and conscious human being to be vigilant, responsible and to honor our Motherland.

When using the internet information, reading materials from social network always rely on your wisdom and knowledge, do not yield to all kinds of intrigues and alien mercenary propaganda, and consult with adults and parents on every issue, because you will not find the best advisers as they are.

God-fearing, and an exemplary child has to act with the consent of parents and, in the first instance, ask a blessing from them.

But when a child does not obey his/her parents, willfully joins various illegal formations and becomes the cause of disgrace and shame for parents, he/she will never achieve anything good in his/her life.

Dear parents, beware of informal education of your children at the religious institutions abroad, since another factor contributing the extremist ideas is study of the youth in such training institutions.

Although until today a part of those students has returned home, still dozens of others are illegally enrolled in foreign religious schools.

So again, I would like to ask the parents assistance in returning their children and relatives, because in our Homeland all conditions for study and constructive activities are created.

Being ungrateful to the Motherland of ancestors is the great sin, since patriotism is an integral part of belief. Each of us has to honor our Motherland and constantly strive for prosperity, progress and development of our beloved Tajikistan, and its credibility and image in the international arena.

That is the civic duty, a factor of solidarity, loyalty to the Motherland and the rule of the state!

It is disturbing that in the recent years there has been a spread of alien culture in some cities and regions of the country; however the executive state bodies and other local organizations, activists in cities and districts show indifference towards this phenomenon.

At the meeting with women on Mother's Day, I highlighted that "in order to destroy a country, it is enough to destroy its language and culture."

This issue is quite serious, being indifferent to it and ignoring it would lead to dire consequences.

Therefore, the executive bodies of the Government in regions, cities and districts are once again tasked together with public and community institutions take all necessary measures to promote the national culture, to prevent worshiping alien ideals and parroting alien cultures, spread of any adverse phenomenon, radicalism and eradicate fanaticism.

Also, all republican and local structures need to take additional measures in terms of proper explanations of the sense ​​and spirit of the two national laws – the Laws of the Republic of Tajikistan "On regulation of traditions, celebrations and ceremonies" and "On parental responsibility for education and nurture of children", and obligatory compliance with their provisions.

Enforcement and compliance of the national laws will allow to reduce the intensity of abuse, prevent wastefulness and prejudices and to further improve the welfare of the people.

In this regard, I wish to emphasize that the citizens of our country, especially the youth must deeply realize that the mentioned laws, which are considered as one of the most important national achievements of independence period, are the pride of our people and exponent of the purposes and intentions of our state.

In accordance with the today’s requirements, the role of non-governmental organizations as influential centers of consolidation of power and different political and social views should also be very effective in the future.

In particular, the Public Council of Tajikistan, whose main objective is to unite the political powers and civil society of the country should enhance its activity and make it more effective.

Furthermore, additional measures should be taken to improve the performance of regional, city and district councils of the Movement for National Unity and Revival of Tajikistan.

Since this constructive force may also play a constructive role in strengthening of national unity.

Institutions of civil society, leaders of political parties, social organizations, media representatives, representatives of non-governmental organizations and other public organizations for the sake of strengthening of national unity, peace and stability in the country should recognize the national and state interests over their personal and group interests, to contribute to education of the younger generation, to make efforts for abstaining of youth from involvement in extremist parties and movements, as well as to contribute to the fight against extremism and terrorism, the politicization of religion, in collaboration with the Government to develop specific projects, programs and concepts on these issues.

To protect the people of the country from the threats and challenges of globalization and to ensure the security of the state and society is a vital and supreme duty of every patriotic individual, especially you, the promising youth.

In this regard, it is necessary for the relevant ministries and agencies, entities and bodies to strengthen the awareness campaign and work in society for the sake of prevention of the spread of worship for alien values, for correct understanding of the essence of secularism, and for preservation of the national unity.

Law enforcement agencies and security forces in a growing clash of interests of superpowers for their own control over the regions and countries of the world, that is, sharpening the separation process of the world and the desire for control over energy resources and with the signs of a new stage of "cold war”, should not lose their political vigilance and always be ready to protect borders and boundaries of Tajikistan, interests of the state and the nation.

To ensure security of the state and the society, to love Motherland, to defend it, to be faithful to the land of ancestors, to honor state symbols are vital duties of every officer and soldier of the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies of our beloved country. Only such attitude, respect and loyalty to the Motherland protect us from all dangers and will provide an opportunity for a quiet life of the people.

In this regard, I appeal once again to all the heads of law-enforcement structures, valiant, brave officers and soldiers to be always vigilant in order to strengthen the national unity, peace and political stability, to protect our beloved Motherland, to exalt the glorious name of the “Defender of the Motherland”.

In order to ensure security of the state and society and reliable protection of the state border, to ensure the rule of law, the task of all state structures and institutions, as well as every conscious and honest member of the society is to assist law enforcement and security agencies as well as to establish close cooperation with them.

Every single citizen, in particular youth, must be aware that without knowing of legal regulation, respect for law and moreover, unquestioned adherence to them i.e. ensuring the rule of law, we will never be able to solve the existing problems in our society.

In this regard, I have repeatedly said and will stress it again, that tranquility, peace and stability in the society, national unity in our country are great heroic and historical merit of the Tajik people and the result of the daily activity of honest sons of the Motherland for the sake of prosperity and progress of the land of our ancestors.

National unity, being the core of the internal policy of our State, firmly and consistently protects it. The sacred duty of all of us is the constant commitment to further strengthen the foundations of our Sovereign State.

At this stage we need to be more vigilant than at any other time. Honestly, responsibly and with high creative spirit work in order to achieve the strategic goals of our State.

The next year will be 25th anniversary of the newest and crucial date of our nation – the State Independence of Tajikistan.

For decent celebrating of this great anniversary every member of society should seriously prepare to work honestly and faithfully, efficiently use every hour and every day for the sake of prosperity of our motherland, progress and prosperity of our country, quiet life of our glorious nation.

In this kind and constructive process I wish health and success to all glorious people of Tajikistan, overseas compatriots and to all of you, dear teachers and students, and to our dear Homeland – sustainable and strong unity, eternal peace and stability, and for every family in the country – happiness, bright and decent life.

May the National Unity of Tajiks be eternal and strong!

Happy National Unity Day, dear compatriots!

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