There is no hospital in the Yaghnob Valley, and the elementary school is only up to the fourth grade. In October, the roads already are covered with snow and communication with the “big land” is lost for six months. The Yaghnobi people live here. They have preserved the ancient Iranian language, a direct descendant of Sogdian. Follow us on Facebook In the morning, after waking up in the Piskon village of the Yaghnob Valley, we headed to the bank of the river, which flows at a little distance from the village. Suddenly, we heard a mother calling her son. “Hey, Sughdmehr (translated as “Sun of Sughd- Ed.), where are you, it is too late already, take your cattle to pasture!” The boy, about ten or twelve years old, stuck his head out from the wall and answered his mother: “In a moment…” We washed our face with cold mountain water and returned home. On the way back, we met Sughdmehr, who drove several cows and sheep with a stick to the pasture. There are only schools up to the fourth grade in the Yaghnob Valley. Photo: CABAR.asia On our way, we met the mother of the child who was walking to bring some water. “Auntie, will your son not be late for school?” asked one of us. “He has already graduated from school, he has nothing else to do,” the mother replied. “He is a child still, how could he graduate from school?” “Apparently, you are not locals and do not know that in our and in the neighboring villages, there are only schools up to the fourth grade.” The child’s grandfather, 84-year-old Inoyatullo Atovulloev, who hosted us, said that this problem worried all the villagers. “There are only seven villages in this valley, but just one school that has modern teaching equipment. Other schools have no conditions; lessons are taught at home. During Soviet times, kids studied for 10 years at schools of the Yaghnob Valley,” said boboi (grandfather) Inoyatullo. According to him, today, those who have opportunities to do so, take their children after the fourth grade to the places where there are secondary schools. “However, most Yaghnobi residents do not have such opportunities,” says Atovulloev. The high school absence is not the only problem of the Yaghnob Valley. “We do have any modern medical units, not speaking about hospitals. We do not know where to take sick people, especially pregnant women. It gets even harder during the winter,” Atovulloev complained. Nature of the Yaghnob Valley. Photo: CABAR.asia Atovulloev’s grandson has been sick for two months now, and relatives cannot take the child for treatment due to impassable road. “It seems that time is frozen in the Yaghnob Valley,” added the 84-year-old man. Inoyatullo Atovulloev with his wife, children and grandchildren lives in the Piskon village of the Yaghnob Valley. In 1970, his family, along with other residents of the valley, was taken to the Zafarobod district by decision of the government of the Tajik SSR. However, there were no conditions for the settlers in the district, and the devotion to the birthplace prevailed. In 1978, Atovulloev secretly returned to the village of his ancestors. Today, seven more families live along with him in this village. Winter Isolation Lasts Six Months The village where Inoyatullo lives is located at an altitude of 2500 meters above sea level. The road from the Ayni district center to the Piskon village is approximately 150 kilometers long. There are no guarantees that the car can get to the doors of Inoyatullo’s house, since the roads and bridges leading here are obsolete. The roads to the Yaghnob Valley are blocked already in October. Photo: CABAR.asia Therefore, family members bring home food supplies for the winter on foot or on a donkey once or twice a year. Already in October, it snows in the valley and avalanches occur: the roads are blocked; no one can go anywhere and only reserved supplies help to live until May of the next year. There are no shops or shopping centers in this valley. The only store is in the Anzob village, but the road on foot or on horseback is 50-60 kilometers long. Residents of the valley store supplies of flour, butter, sugar and rice. Other locally produced products are mainly dairy and meat. In recent years, Yaghnobi people have mainly been living off livestock and farming. According to Atovulloev, wheat was sown here earlier. The grain was ground in a watermill that still exists. Recently, residents have shifted to growing potatoes. Mountains as a Natural Fortress The Yaghnob Valley lies between 2,500 and 3,000 meters above sea level; there are mountain rivers, springs, underground minerals and astonishing nature. Tajik philologist Saifiddin Mirzozoda has published several books that are devoted to the language and culture of this people, in particular, “Yaghnob language” and “Yaghnob-Tajik dictionary”. According to him, the Yaghnobi people are “descendants of the most ancient Sogdian civilization”; they arrived to these places fleeing the Arab conquerors. “Unreachable and impassable for the enemies mountains saved a small group of Sogdians from misfortunes and misery,” Mirzozoda writes. Another Yaghnobi scholar, candidate of philological sciences Bahriddin Alizoda says that mainly legends about the resettlement of Yaghnobis to these places live on; certain scientific sources are missing. However, Alizoda refers to a research conducted at the Center for the Study of the Yaghnobi Language, which operated at the Institute of Language and Literature of the Tajik Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. This research states that when the Panjakent ruler Divashtich was defeated in the battle with the Arabs, he sent all those who could not fight, the elderly and children to the upper reaches of Zeravshan (currently Ayni, Kuhistoni Mastchoh districts and Yaghnob Valley). That is, in 722-723, these people fled from the Arab conquerors to these inaccessible places. “Another popular legend says that when Devashtich took refuge in Qalai Mug, he sent his people to three regions: Falgar (currently Ayni district), Kuhistoni Mastchoh district and Yaghnob, and they began to live there permanently. This version seems to be true, since the first settlements in Yaghnob appeared 1300 years ago, which coincides with the Arab invasion,” Alizoda added. Map of Yaghnob Valley villages, including abandoned. Created for CABAR.asia based on Saifiddin Mirzozoda’s data Before the resettlement in the 60s of the last century, there were 32 villages in Yaghnob, where about four thousand people lived. Now, according to Mirzozoda, there are no official data on the Yaghnobi population. However, according to Mirzozoda’s research, 18 Yaghnob villages now are more or less maintained, there are about 65 families with a total number of about 400 people. 8 to 10 families live in each village. Other villages look abandoned, and roads and paths to them have become impassable. The villages are located in two areas, the distance from the first area Khishortob to the last area Kiryonti is almost 100 kilometers. Bahriddin Alizoda specified that he also took part in this research. He and Mirzozoda, as employees of the Center for the Study of the Yaghnobi Language, made the lists of residents of Yaghnobi villages. Violent Uprooting During Soviet Times According to the Yaghnobi scholar Saifiddin Mirzozoda, in March 1970, the valley residents were forcibly relocated to Zafarobod district on helicopters. In total, 3194 Yaghnob residents were resettled to a new place. He documented it in the book “The Yaghnobi Language” and referenced the list of settlers from the Yaghnob, which is archived in the Main Archival Directorate under the Government of Tajikistan. According to his data, some Yaghnobis followed the instructions of the leaders of districts, regions and republic of that time and resettled their families beforehand to Dushanbe, Hisor and Varzob districts. In the aforementioned book, he noted that administration of Aini district stated poor living conditions in the valley to be the reason for resettlement. However, Inoyatullo Atovulloev himself believes that they were resettled as a labor f0rce for cotton fields, and the authorities were going to turn their valley into a pasture. Atovulloev said that after the resettlement, many highlanders died, having failed to adapt to the new hot climate. Yaghnobi scholar Bahriddin Alizoda also believes that back in those years, a manpower was required to develop the Zafarabad district. He also confirmed the mass death among immigrants who failed to adapt to the new climate. Alizoda believes that the resettlement had both positive and negative sides. “From a social point of view, it was positive, but from the point of view of protecting the language and culture – it was negative,” he said. In 1978, according to Atovulloev, part of the Yaghnobians secretly returned to the lands of their ancestors using mountain paths. 84-year-old Inoyatullo Atovulloev claims that two representatives went to Moscow on behalf of Yaghnob residents to clarify the situation to the Soviet authorities. According to him, the instructions that came after read not to resettle the inhabitants of Yaghnob, since this would lead to the disappearance of the descendants of the Sogdian language. He says that the issue of the resettlement of the Yagnob people was no longer standing after this, and many people returned to their villages. How Many Yaghnobis Live In Tajikistan? According to a 2019 study by the Yaghnobi scholar Saifiddin Mirzozoda, today the following number of families and residents live in the Yaghnob Valley. Map of the populated villages of the Yaghnob Valley. Created for CABAR.asia based on Saifiddin Mirzozoda’s data According to the book of Yaghnobi scholar Saifiddin Mirzozoda, in addition to the Yaghnob Valley, a number of Yaghnob families live in Dushanbe, Varzob, Rudaki, Yavan, Shahrinav, Hisor, and Vahdat districts.