Ethnic minorities in Tajikistan set up alliance

Ethnic minorities in Tajikistan set up alliance

Asia-Plus news agency, Dushanbe
10 Jan 05

Dushanbe, 10 January: An alliance of ethnic minorities living in
Tajikistan has been set up in the country. The leaders of
[Tajikistan’s] Korean, German, Ossetian and Arab communities and
Tatar-Bashkir centre took the decision in Dushanbe on 8 January.

The head of the Korean diaspora in Tajikistan, Viktor Kim, who
attended the meeting, told Asia-Plus today that the interests of
representatives of 100 ethnic groups living in Tajikistan, 1 per cent
of the country’s population, were not protected. He added that state
bodies and political parties did not take into account their
interests.

“In this connection it was decided to set up an alliance. However, the
leaders of only five communities, with the exception of the Turkmen
and Uighur ones, supported the decision,” he said. “Now we intend to
get the consent of the leaders of the Armenian, Azeri and Georgian
communities to join the alliance,” Kim added.

He said that the main task of the alliance was to attract the
attention of the state agencies to resolving the issues of ethnic
minorities, specifically, the issues of preserving and developing
their traditions and language.

“The alliance will not register at the Justice Ministry since it was
set up temporarily, for the coming two years. We hope that we will
fulfil the main task of the alliance during this period of time,” Kim
said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress