Voices from Central Asia

No. 18, August 2014

The Voices from Central Asia series is a platform for experts from Central Asia, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, and the neighboring countries. The series promotes the diversity of opinions expressed by Central Asians and is a venue for researchers, senior officials, opposition figures, and civil society activists.

From Pamirs to the outside world: Seeking decent jobs

Kavikas Kuhistoni PhD, independent journalist, Khorog

Migration, a dangerous rite of passage revealed that the crime had been committed by a group of radical Russian nationalists. The remote Pamiri village of Pashor, situated in the Shugnan region, recently received its worst On December 28, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs news about one of its migrant workers: 32-year- of , concerned by this brutal murder, old Shohdzhon Rakhmatshoev was brutally handed a protest note to the Russian Embassy in murdered while abroad. This news has outraged Tajikistan demanding a thorough investigation people. The incident unfolded as follows: On the into the murder, a speedy arrest, and swift evening of December 26, the body of a murdered punishment for the culprits. Moscow prosecutors man was found on General Antonov Street in did act by filing a criminal case over the murder, Moscow. As reported at the time in the Russian however four months have passed with no media, the murder was committed with extreme results. brutality. The man's throat was cut and the body riddled with 25 stab wounds. During the Pashor villagers say that when Shohdzhon’s body investigation it was discovered that the victim was returned home, they deliberately hid the was Shohdzhon Rahmatshoev, a citizen of cause of his death to his aging parents, opting Tajikistan. Unfortunately, Rakhmatshoev’s body rather to tell them that their son had passed away and face were so badly mutilated that identifying as a result of food poisoning. Shohdzhon had him took quite some time. Further investigation worked in Moscow for the past five years. He, VOICES FROM CENTRAL ASIA No. 18, August 2014 along with his three brothers, had been one of the of work in 2013. Among them, about 33,000 are thousands of migrant workers from Badakhshan recorded as residents of Badakhshan, of which working in Russia. One month prior to his murder men constitute an overwhelming majority. he was married to a girl from his village who had However, according to unofficial data, the current also come looking for work in Moscow. total number of migrant workers from Badakhshan is around 80,000 people. Shohdzhon’s brothers bitterly recall that his tragic death came at the end of his honeymoon. Main reasons for migration According to them, xenophobia is on the rise in Moscow, and there is particularly strong hatred Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) toward Central Asian migrants. They also say that is part of the Republic of Tajikistan. This is the there is no escape: to sit at home without work is only autonomous region in the republic. It was not an option. They need to work in order to legislated into existence on January 2, 1925 by support and provide for their families. Thus, they central decree of the USSR. Badakhshan borders continue to leave home for Russia. three countries with different styles and levels of development and political structures. It borders The Migration Service of the Government of the Kyrgyzstan to the north, China to the east, and Republic of Tajikistan recently stated that in Afghanistan to the south and to the west. The 2013 the bodies of about 600 Tajik citizens were total area of Badakhshan is 64,200 km² (44.9% of returned home, dead of various causes in foreign the territory of Tajikistan). The city of Khorog, an lands, mainly Russia. This is an average of almost administrative center with a population of about two bodies per day. Islam Rakhmatullaev, a chief 30,000 people, is located 527 km east of the specialist of the Migration Service, believes that capital city of Dushanbe. this is a high figure. He says that the figure “includes 67 Tajik citizens killed by violence, The GBAO has a population of 200,260 people (and) 238 dead from diseases.” According to Jafar (according to the 2010 census) and is Ozodbekov, deputy head of the migration service characterized by ethnic and religious diversity. of the Ministry of Labor, Migration, and According to the census, 94% of the population of Protection in GBAO, there were 54 individuals GBAO is Tajik and 5.8% Kyrgyz. Tajik Pamiri live from Pamir killed in Russia in 2013. In the first mainly in the western part of the region two months of 2014 five bodies have already (historical Badakhshan), subdivided into several arrived from Russia, of which two are homicides. ethnic and religious groups; the bulk of the Pamiri (about 60% of the population) speak Referring to the increasing deaths amongst ancient languages from the Eastern Iranian migrant workers, Jafar Ozodbekov stated his branch: Shugni, Rushan, Ishkoshim, Wakhan, and belief that labor migration to Russia has become . Most of the Pamiri who live in more dangerous for Tajiks. The number of Shugnon, Rushan, Roshtqala, Ishkoshim, and migrants who are tragically killed in Russian partly those in the Darvoz districts, adhere to the cities is increasing from year to year. However, Shia Muslim strand of Islam. Darvoz and the number of people migrating to Russia and people, as well as the population from the other CIS countries is also increasing. Ishkashim district of Badakhshan all speak local (Badakhshani) Tajik-Persian dialects. Vanj, most In early March of this year, the Federal Migration of Darvoz, Yazgulem, and Kyrgyz from Eastern Service of Russia published a memo on foreign Pamir adhere to Sunni Islam. nationals living on the territory of the Russian Federation. According to it, as of March 2014, Today many people from Badakhshan live there were roughly 1,034,000 Tajik citizens in outside the region. Even in pre-Soviet times labor Russia (while Tajikistan’s total population is only migration from Darvoz and Vanj to outside about 8 million). This includes roughly 854,000 regions was high. In addition, during the Soviet men and more than 180,000 women. According era, people from Darvoz, Vanj, and were to the Migration Service of Tajikistan, about resettled by the regime in the valleys and cotton 800,000 Tajik citizens left the country in search growing regions of southern Khatlon. 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Pamiri Ismaili, the bulk of their migration took dissatisfaction with it, also accounts for the place during the Soviet era when they constituted increasing migration of teachers from Pamir. a significant part of the Tajik intelligentsia based in the capital. During the civil war (1992-7) many Remittances role in GBAO economy of them were forced to return to Badakhshan. There is a sizeable diaspora of Pamiri Ismaili that According to the main department of the still lives in Dushanbe, Khujand, and Khatlon. Statistics Agency under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan in Badakhshan, about Mamadou Alimshoev, head of the Department of 1,000 new jobs were created in the region in History, Archeology, and Ethnography in the 2013, which is a 5% increase as compared with Humanities Institute of the Academy of Sciences the previous year. Most of the employment was in GBAO, believes that there are currently several created in small business, trade, and the service factors that are forcing the Pamiri population to industries. Average monthly wages in these migrate. According to him, Pamir, with its natural sectors range, according to the same source, geographic and climatic conditions, is considered between $200 and $300. However, given the very to be the “hardest” region in Tajikistan. Its high unemployment rate in Tajikistan, this salary available land, which is not arable, can feed a is not enough to suspend voluntary labor farmer for a maximum of six months. It is migration, which continues to develop, mainly in impossible to grow enough vegetables and fruits remote, underdeveloped, and poor regions such in the mountains to create a commercial supply. as Badakhshan. Another reason that pushes people to leave is the complete absence of industrial and commercial According to the Federal Migration Service of enterprises. During Soviet times Khorog was Russia, men constitute almost 83% of the total home to twelve manufacturing and industrial number of those leaving the country. Asadbek enterprises, while today none of them are Amonbekov, head of an independent community operational. Due to the distance of the region in Bidiz, in the Roshtqala district, says that today from large industrial and cultural centers and the the migration of young women is a much more small market of the GBAO, private business is frequent occurrence than in the past. According developing very slowly. to him, this can be explained by the fact that many young men leave home to work in Russia According to Alim Sherzamonov, chairman of the and forget about or neglect their families back Gorno-Badakhshan office of the Social home, or they indulge in alcohol and do not send Democratic Party of Tajikistan, migration growth money home to support them. Women then leave is also affected by domestic political intrigues. for Russia to “take control” of their husbands and During Soviet times the Pamiri worked in almost at the same time take on small jobs to accumulate all regions of the country, but mainly in the more savings. Many couples also migrate capital, including in government institutions, together to save money for their children's former party organizations, and law enforcement education. agencies. After the Rakhmon clan came to power as a result of the civil war, the Pamiri was turned Economists calculated that in 2013, thanks to an into a major ethnic group and thereafter largely increasing number of migrants, the volume of denied access to positions in the central remittances sent by individuals to Tajikistan authorities and to employment in government increased by almost 12% as compared with 2012. agencies. Additionally, there are only a limited Remittances amounted to 49.6% of GDP in number of job opportunities for them within law Tajikistan, which, according to the Statistics enforcement agencies. They do not have Agency, was just over 40.5 billion Somoni. businesses anywhere in the country except in the According to the Agency for Statistics under the territory of Badakhshan. Therefore, many good President of Tajikistan, this same year individuals specialists in different sectors from Badakhshan sent 20.1 billion Somoni, or about $4.2 billion to have been forced to leave Tajikistan in search of Tajikistan as compared to $3.7 billion the year decent work. The low salaries that government before. According to a branch of the National employees receive, and their express Bank of Tajikistan in Badakhshan, in 2013 local 3 VOICES FROM CENTRAL ASIA No. 18, August 2014 banks received $58 million from individuals identity. They completely accept the character, working abroad, which exceeds the total budget manners, and psychology of their host country, of the region. retaining nothing at all Pamiri. “These children do not belong to us. They all are almost entirely The marriage issue: looking for a “Russian Russian: they have Russian culture, language and woman” mentality. Only their names and color of their hair remain Tajik,” concludes Aydarov. One of the most important and pressing social issues to have arisen with labor migration, is the Simplified citizenship procedures will favor high number of young people who choose not to migration return to Tajikistan because they get married to Russian and other non-Tajik women. Alidin At the end of March 2014, the Russian State Bakhtibekov, a father from the remote Bidiz Duma ratified the protocol amending the village, says that all three of his sons who went to Russian-Tajik intergovernmental agreement, work in Russia married Russian women. “I have which envisages the issuance of a three-year not seen my sons for a long time. They almost work permit for Tajik citizens on the territory of never come to visit us,” says Alidin. “I talk to them the Russian Federation. A similar procedure for only by phone. Two of them already have issuing work permits for nationals of other children who attend schools, but we have not yet foreign states with which Russia has a visa-free seen our grandchildren. I don’t know why they regime provides a work permit for no longer than don’t come to us with their families. It may be one year. very expensive or maybe their wives do not want to come.” Additionally, according to the memorandum on migration, signed by the leaders of Tajikistan and Bidiz is a typical, small Tajik village. Most of its Russia in Dushanbe on January 14, 2014, Tajik residents live on money that is sent to them by citizens will have an extended period of up to relatives working abroad. Asadbek Amonbekov, a fifteen days in which to complete their leader of the local community, said that out of the registration in Russia. After recent events in roughly 3,200 residents, 763 individuals, or over Ukraine and Crimea, the Russian Federation also 23%, are migrant workers. According to him, to urgently announced plans to introduce a date, 26 young migrants are living in a civil simplified procedure for obtaining Russian marriage with Russian women. Of these, only six citizenship. The Russian State Duma will soon marriages are officially registered in Tajikistan. review expediting procedures for obtaining Russian citizenship by Russian-speaking According to historian Mamadou Alimshoev, residents of CIS countries. This review has voluntary labor migration from Badakhshan has a become a subject of serious debate in many negative impact on demographics. Not only is different circles in Tajikistan. Many experts there an increase in marriages between Tajik believe that the adoption of these amendments men and Russian and other European women, will have a negative impact on the future of their but some Tajik women, including natives from country. Pamir, are increasingly marrying Russians and men from other countries as well. According to Alisher Azizov, a former engineer and teacher him, such assimilation could have a terrible who has worked in Russia for about ten years, outcome for the nation's future, particularly for says that many Tajik migrants were ready to pay Pamiri minorities. as much as $5,000 to obtain a Russian passport. But these attempts would often fail because there Hushvakt Aydarov, one of the leaders of the Tajik were too many interested parties, while the quota diaspora in Russia and chairman of the allocated by the Russian government for new Sverdlovsk Oblast regional public organization citizens was relatively small. Speaking about his “Didor,” affirms that men who marry Russian own social, economic, and political situation, women prefer to stay in their wives’ homeland, Azizov said it is easier to apply for jobs in Russia and their children often forget their national as a Russian citizen than as a citizen of Tajikistan. 4 VOICES FROM CENTRAL ASIA No. 18, August 2014

“I am sure that the majority of Tajik migrants in Russian citizenship at the request of the Russia, some of whom are qualified specialists governor-general of Turkestan in 1904. and for whom Russian language is like a second According to unofficial data, today around 20% of mother tongue, would be happy to get Russian the native people of this region live in the Russian citizenship,” he says. “For our Tajiks, who are Federation, and many speak fluent Russian. Most temporarily or permanently residing in the have lived and worked in Russia for over a Russian Federation, it is better and safer to be a decade. Azizov says that for such people Russia, citizen of this country. When you are a [Russian] which provides them with work and a decent citizen, you get higher salaries, decent social salary, has already become more of a home than packages, and easier access to schools for kids.” their native country.

Many experts fear that a simplified procedure for Currently there is a tendency among Tajiks, obtaining Russian citizenship will trigger an including those from Pamir, to settle in Russia, outflow of many entrepreneurs, investors, and especially in the suburbs of big cities. According other rare specialists from the country. As a to Alimshoev, diasporas are officially beginning to result, Tajikistan may also lose young and highly form, whereas before they had acted aimlessly qualified cadres to be trained in Russian and erratically. In the cities of Moscow, St. universities. Petersburg, Vladikavkaz, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Tver, Kemerovo, and so on, there are already Local analysts often believe that people from the many officially registered Tajik-Pamiri diasporas. post-Soviet countries who live in a Russian- In addition to providing protection over the legal speaking environment have a different interests of their countrymen, these “mentality,” wherein the social, economic, and organizations are engaged in finding employment educational characteristics differ from those who for migrants and schools and preschools for their speak and think in their national languages. children. Many of them have also become Russian-speaking people, especially in Central noticeable contributors to raising the socio- Asian countries, are more loyal toward Russia economic level of the Pamir region. According to and more critical toward their own government. the migration service of the Ministry of Labor, Historian Mamad Alimshoev says that there are Migration and Protection, in 2013 these fears that if this law is adopted, the number of associations provided substantial financial Russian-speaking migrants will double, causing assistance to the organization of cultural, more damage to country's economy and educational, and sports activities as well as to the potentially to its political unity. He believes that if development of local infrastructure in previously there was an outflow of qualified Badakhshan. Russian-speaking cadres, that number will now be increased at the expense of local cadres unable to find employment in their country. Moreover, by simplifying procedures for obtaining citizenship after the Crimean crisis, Russia will strengthen its geopolitical influence in many former Soviet republics, including Tajikistan. In this case, the increase of Russian citizens at the expense of its CIS neighbors will give Moscow greater political leverage in the future.

It should be noted that the Pamir is one of the regions of Central Asia that in 1895 sought a voluntary union with Russia to protect it from continuing Afghan pressure. Another historical fact that connects this remote mountainous region with Russia is that people from the right bank of River (currently, GBAO) accepted 5