Prominent Tajik Figures of the Twentieth Century

PROMINENT TAJIK FIGURES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Dr. Iraj Bashiri Professor The University of Minnesota Dushanbe, Tajikistan 2002 Copyright © 2002 by Iraj Bashiri All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, by photograph or mimeograph or by any other means, by broadcast or transmission,by translation into any kind of language, nor by recording electronically or otherwise,without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in critical articles and reviews. Dushanbe, Tajikistan 2002 Acronyms and Abbreviations AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome BBC British Broadcasting Corporation CIS Commonwealth of Independent States CNR Commission for National Reconciliation CP Communist Party CPSU Communist Party of the Soviet Union CPT Communist Party of Tajikistan DPT Democratic Party of Tajikistan DSU Department of State Road Construction GES Hydroelectric Station (at Norak) GVAO (Russian) Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region GVBK (Tajik) same as GVAO HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency IMU Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan IRPT Islamic Resurgence Party of Tajikistan KGB State Security Committee KOMSOMOL Communist Youth League KPSS same as CPSU MIRT Movement for Islamic Revival in Tajikistan MSS Manuscript MTS Machine Tractor Stations RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty SSR Soviet Socialist Republic SSSR same as USSR STD Sexually Transmitted Diseases STE Soviet Tajik Encyclopedia STI Sexually Transmitted Infections Tajik SSR Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic TIPEMS Tajik Institute of Post-graduate Education of Medical Staff TS Tajik Scholars UNAIDS The Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics UTO United Tajik Opposition TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS v INTRODUCTION vii BIOGRAPHIES 1 APPENDIX I ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 357 APPENDIX II MEDIA 381 APPENDIX III EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS 384 APPENDIX IV AUTHOR'S BIOGRAPHY 385 INDEX 387 INTRODUCTION On my first trip to Tajikistan in 1990, after visiting the Academy of Sciences and the Firdowsi State Library in Dushanbe looking for sources of information on contemporary Tajik figures, I felt the need for a comprehensive volume to help the growing number of scholars, business people, and international officials who would visit the beautiful Republic. The only volume available in Tajiki, Adiboni Tojik (Tajik Scholars, 1966), henceforth TS, was already outdated. Additionally, it covered only literary scholars, and not everyone in it was Tajik. Talking to American, British, and German colleagues, as well as colleagues from other coun- tries working in Dushanbe at the time, I learned that their difficulty was compounded by the fact that they did not know Tajiki either. Since I was in Dushanbe to participate in the 1400th Anniversary Celebration of the birth of Borbad, the famed Sassanian musician and singer, I did not give the matter more thought. In 1997, I was asked to serve as the online and print editor of the Tajiki text of an extensive series produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty called Tojikiston dar Qarni Bistum (Tajikistan in the 20th Cen- tury, 1999). The series consisted of thirty segments, each dealing with a particular aspect of the life and culture of the Tajiks, emphasizing the role of prominent individuals in the establishment of Soviet power in the Republic. Undertaking this project required familiarity with Tajik history before, during, and after Sovietization. In other words, once again I needed an extensive amount of material on prominent figures in twentieth century Tajikistan. To meet this need, I created a database which included every person who had an entry in Ensaiklopediai Sovetii Tojik (Soviet Tajik Encyclopedia, 1978-1988), henceforth STE. I also made extensive use of the Central Asian entries in the Daneshnama-i Adab-i Farsi (Encyclopedia of Persian Culture, Vol. 1, Central Asia, 1997). This source provided updates for a number of authors whose biographies would have otherwise remained incomplete. The Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan, 2002, provided information on some of the most recent figures. I also made use of the data that I had collected during my five trips to Tajikistan. In 1993 and 1994, when I was IREX Resident Scholar in Tajikistan, I culled a large amount of information by analyzing news items, perusing relevant literature, and by talking to people. Finally, before traveling to Tajikistan during the summer of 2001, I prepared the foundation for a comprehensive volume on the lives of prominent figures of Tajikistan. Since the Academy of Sciences of Taji- kistan had played a major part in the education and civilizational development of these individuals, while I was in Dushanbe, I took the project to the Academy of Sciences and asked for assistance. Dr. Ulmas Mirsaidov, the President of the Academy, listened to me with great en- thusiasm, asked questions, then assured me that the Academy would ex- tend every possible assistance. To that end, he asked Dr. Askarali Rajabov of the Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography to assist me in the collection of new materials, as well as in updating biographies of not only the Academicians but also of all prominent figures that should be included in the volume. Finally, he appointed Miss Zulfiya Rahimova to act as liaison for me with the Academy. My return trip to the United States began on September 11, 2001, thus stranding me in Munich for a week. During that time, I prepared a questionnaire, which would be sent to Askarali Rajabov and Zulfiya Rahimova to disseminate among potential participants. Firuza Abdullo, daughter of author and playwright Ghani Abdullo, volunteered to help with the project by contacting the medical community. Once back in the United States, with my wife Carol's help, I drew up a list of all the individuals in the database and wrote up biographies for the nearly 630 entries. I sent that list back to Tajikistan so that dated biographies could be updated. I also asked for more information on new figures that I had found in other sources. While working with the materials, I came across several difficult points that I feel should be shared with the reader. The first concerns Tajik names. While all Tajiks have a given name, some names appear in two, or sometimes three forms. For instance, before the October Revolu- tion, due to their Iranian ethnic background, Tajiks used either the suffix "-zod" or the suffix "-zoda(h)" (son of) to indicate their familial relation. During the Soviet rule, the majority replaced those suffixes with "-ov." After the fall of the Soviet Union, some returned to the "-zod" and "- zoda(h)" suffixes while others, for various reasons, vacillated. In some cases the first and family name are not clearly distinguished. These fac- tors, of course, are reflected in the names. Some use their penname as if it were their actual name. Sorbon (caravan leader), for example, is the penname of Obloqul Hamroev. He is known as Sorbon by many more people than he is known by his actual name. viii In this material, in order to make the information as accessible as possible, all of an individual's names are cross-referenced. The actual entry always appears under the individual's given name. The entry for Sorbon, therefore, is found under Hamroev, Obloqul, but there is an entry for Sorbon, which directs the reader. The spelling of names also created some problem. Some people have already chosen how their name should appear in English. For the others, the names are rendered as closely as possible to the spelling of the STE. Publication dates for books posed another major problem. Some individuals provided a list of books without indicating either the date or place of publication. For the more important cases, the entries were recorded without a publication date. Some participants merely indicated that they have written many books and articles--the numbers mentioned by some range from 10 to 650 books and articles. Since they did not pre- sent citations, their contributions must go unmentioned. In the case of accolades, too, there was a problem, While most participants painstakingly identified their awards by date and type, some others claimed that they had received all the prizes awarded by the State. Again, if they did not specify actual awards, none were mentioned for them in this volume. As mentioned above, a large number of the entries in this volume are based on the information in the STE. This encyclopedia, however, ac- cording to its own admission, pursued several lines of socialist and anti- capitalist propaganda. The biographies that it presented, therefore, were influenced by this agenda. Great care was taken so that individuals who were chosen for inclusion in this volume were meritorious on the basis of their education and hard work, and that neither political nor ideological concerns play a role either in the selection of entries or in the nature of the information provided. The authors and personalities of the end of the twentieth century are given more coverage, but this has not happened at the expense of those belonging to the earlier decades. Even though Ahmad Donish died in 1893, due to his singular position in Tajik culture, he is given a substantial place in this volume. Many painters and carvers are treated in the same manner. In many cases, the biographies are not complete and, unfortunately, they will remain so. These are lives and careers that were interrupted by the fall of the Soviet Union. In some cases only a notice of retirement or death is recorded. In post-Soviet times, people who lost their jobs and the prominent positions they held, disappeared from the public arena.

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