So, my take on Tajikistan has been a little chaotic. Khjuand was the first place I went to in Tajikistan. We took a Marhsutka from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which isn’t that far over the border. It’s about 3 hours nonstop from Tashkent, but this doesn’t count the passport control between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Also, if you are taking a shared ride. You almost always change drivers on the other side.
When people go to Tajikistan, they often skip Khujand for logistical reasons. It’s not as close over the border as Penjakent is from Samarkand. Many Silk Road tourists go to Penjakent to count Tajikistan on their list or to make a 2-day trip to the Seven Lakes. Also, other tourists go to Tajikistan for the sole purpose of doing the Pamir highway; they usually fly in from Dushanbe. But it’s still on the beaten path in Tajikistan, just not as much as the last places I mentioned.
What makes Khujand interesting
Khujand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia. It dates back to the time of Alexander the Great. In 329 BC, during his conquest of Central Asia, Alexander the Great reached the region that includes present-day Tajikistan. Khujand, one of Central Asia’s ancient cities, was known as Cyropolis then. Khujand was also a central hub on the Silk Road. You can see this with several of the sights in the city. The first is Panjshanbe Bazaar, which is next to the mausoleum of Sheikh Muslihiddin Khujandi, a renowned Central Asian Sufi philosopher and poet.
Another must-see in Khujand is the Kamoli Khujandi Park. Kamoli Khujandi was a beloved Persian Sufi and Persian ghazal poet of the 14th century. He was born in Khujand, as his last name suggests. It is a relaxing place to stroll and enjoy greenery. It features fountains, sculptures, and walking paths. Now, you can take a cable car from it across the river to the monument dedicated to Ismoil Somoni, who I explained in my post about Dushanbe, who is one of the national heroes of Tajikistan.
You can also see a memorial to the Second World War in Khujand. No City in Central Asia is complete without it.
The Arbob Cultural Palace. It was the former headquarters of a Soviet collective farm, built in the 1950s and modeled on the winter gardens of Peterhof, St Peters. Now, it is a cultural center that hosts various events, including concerts, theater performances, and exhibitions.
Also there is an abandoned airplane across the river. I think it is a failed project of some sort. It would be really cool if someone revisits this and makes it a cafe or hipster cultural center of some sort.
But Khujand has a lot of things surrounding “personality cults” as well, just as much as Dushanbe, if not more so. For those who read my blog semi-regularly, you can see it is a term I often use. I’m going to explain it.
What is a personality cult?
A simple definition of a personality cult can be a situation where a political leader, typically in authoritarian or totalitarian regimes, is excessively glorified, idealized, and often presented as a near-deity figure. It’s kind of up there with “hero worship.” You can also argue what can count. Perhaps there are leaders from nonauthoritarian regimes that also count, such as Donald Trump.
So, what personality cults are there to see in Khujand?
The dear President Emomali Rahmon, of course! He was more present there than I think in Dushanbe. We first noticed this when we arrived in Khujand, where all the billboards were next to him. They even have his recorded speeches constantly playing on loudspeakers at the park.
Oh, and get a load of these pictures from Khujand airport! They were completely decked out. The Dushanbe airport didn’t have all this. I’m not quite sure why. Maybe they wanted it toned down for international dignitaries or business people in the capital?
You see his face much more than the main Tajik heroes and national treasures. But here is another massive monument to a very well-known personality cult.
LENIN
The statue was built in 1974 when Khujand was known as Leninabad from 1936 to 1991. It used to be in the city center but has been moved out of the center into an area called ” Victory Park” in 2011. It was the largest Lenin statue in Central Asia.
The park also featured an impressive monument to the Tajik fighters who fought for the Soviet Union in 1979-1980.
This raised an interesting question for Igor and me: Just how enthusiastic were these Tajiks to go over the border and fight the people who were likely more related to them than any of the Soviets?
Which now ushers into my point!
Hey, who are the Tajiks?
So, the Tajiks are different from many in Central Asia because they are more similar to Persians than Turks. Most Central Asian nations believe that they are more loosely related to Turkic tribes, and many of their languages are related to the Turkish language. The Tajik language is related to Farsi, and they identify culturally more with Persians than Turks.
Alright, I lied a little in the heading when I said I met the Tajiks for the first time in Khujand. They are a sizable minority in many parts of Uzbekistan. We met a cool guy in Bukhara from Couchsurfing who was an ethnic Tajik and explained that many ethnic Tajiks lived around Bukhara. When you look at a map of the current Central Asian borders, you can see how many borders are tangled up and cut up funny.
A lot of it has to do with many aspects. A lot of it has to do with population transfers from the Stalin era. Joesph Stalin enjoyed transferring populations ( often violently) around to play the divide-and-conquer game. People couldn’t resist as much against the primary authority figures if they were too busy arguing with their neighbors and were less likely to want to break free if they couldn’t determine which area was theirs. This proved effective when it came to the break up of the Soviet Union and determining the borders of these Central Asian countries. But not all of this is solely the Soviets’ fault.
Throughout human history, consistent movement has been a thing. You can’t tie people neatly into little square boxes that span the globe, nor would you want to. Persians, Mongolians, Uzbeks, and everyone else was moving around before the Soviet population transfers were a thing. So, this element is simply one variable when creating Central Asian calculus.
Anyways, speaking of which, I will stop before I go on a full tangent on Central Asian Identity. I’m far from qualified ( and underpaid) to do that. I will mention that the hospitality in Tajikistan seemed to be more on par with Persian hospitality, as far as I know.
Tajiks seemed more interested in talking to and receiving us as a whole than maybe Uzbeks. When I was crossing the border, many older teenage girls wanted to talk to me. The Tajik border guy told me to welcome and to contact him if I had any issues. As I said in my post about the Seven Lakes, the principal we helped was trying to insist that we stay at this place. But this was just my experience.
So there we have it. Here has been my take on Khujand, Personality Cults, and Tajiks in general. Thank you for reading. Feel free to comment with any of your experiences, comments, or questions.