Rahmon and Karimov, with Nazarbaev in the center. Photo credit: Radio Azattyq.

Here’s a fun story, perhaps more a rumor, related to the ongoing Roghuan saga.  Before his recent announcement, Emomali Rahmon’s four-hour speech in December in front of some fifty Tajik journalists on 8 December had been his boldest, and from Tashkent’s predictable point-of-view, his most audacious, too.  Having sympathized with the country’s current energy security situation and general instability, the Tajik president proceeded to “come down” to the people, cited by Vremia novostei columnist Arkadii Dubnov:

Every winter, when the country experiences an energy crisis, I suffer with the people. It hurt me greatly when, as head of state, the energy shortages in 2008 caused the deaths of newborn children.

Following an established tradition, Emomali-aka did not fail to remind those present about the importance of building the Rogunskaia hydroelectric dam, which, the Tajik leader believes, is “a question of life and death for the country.” After denying that he has ordered forcible purchase of stocks (RUS, ENG), he reiterated:

Donations for the Rogun and the purchase of stocks are purely voluntary. We aren’t forcing anyone to do it… you’re not building the dam for me, you’re building it for the state!

Perhaps, he wanted to stare down opposition not only in his country. For his peers among Central Asia’s leadership, it seems, talk is very cheap, because the people are footing the bill: every Tajik is expected to contribute at least 3000 somoni ($690).

The drawn-out meeting culminated in the president making confessions, which, informants told Vremia novostei, were supposed to “remain behind closed doors” at the leader’s request. As Dubnov notes,

He underestimated the fact that with so many journalists were in the room, it is impossible to keep anything from leaking out.

As it turned out, Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov used to enjoy more respect than he does these days. Emomali Rahmon shared his memories:

I used to like him a lot… We called him ‘otamiz’ ['our father' in Uzbek] but then we found out more about him. This man is opposed to all things Tajik… he doesn’t want our country to develop; he blocks roads, turns off our electricity in the cold winter…

One time – professor Muhammadzhon Shukurov was there, he can confirm this – I was in Samarkand with [Karimov]. I asked a man standing nearby, ‘What is your nationality?’ He looked at Karimov with fear and said, ‘I’m from Samarkand.’ That’s the position Tajiks find themselves in over there.”

According to one Russian observer, Rahmon has touched a nerve. In 1924, when the Soviet Union partitioned Central Asia, Samarkand and Bukhara, cities the Tajiks believe to be part of their historical and cultural heritage, were given to the Uzbek SSR.  Moreover, as if to sour headlines for the next few days, Rahmon added:

I’ve argued many times [with Karimov]. We even fought twice. The first time, Nazarbaev had to drag us apart; the second time it was Kuchma (the current president of Kazakhstan and the former president of the Ukraine – Ed.). I said to him, ‘We’ll take Samarkand and Bukhara anyway!’

However you look at it, it’s a brave thing to say. Now Tajiks living in these historical cities have real support in the Tajik head of state. Except, might this not lead to further repressions against the minority in Uzbekistan? So far, no reply has come from Tashkent.

Editor’s note: Translation from neweurasia’s  Russian site.