A Political History of Tajikistan’s Autonomous Mountainous Badakhshan Region

Abstract

The aim of this research is to examine the political history of the Mountainous Badakhshon Autonomous Veloyat (MBAV) of Tajikistan. Chronologically, research is divided into two periods. The first one covers the so-called colonial period (1880s1917) and the Soviet period (1917-1991). During this time, the region started to get its current geo-political shape, first within the Russian Empire, and later it became an autonomous province as part of the Soviet Union. The second part of the thesis is on the political history of MBAV as autonomous veloyat (province) of the independent Tajikistan (1991-present). The MBAV is the only autonomous province in Tajikistan, recognizing its distinct Pamiri inhabitants and reflecting its geographical isolation from the central government in Dushanbe. Following the Soviet collapse and during the Tajik civil war, especially in 1992, calls for MBAV's independence heightened. During the postwar period, especially in 2009-2012 and even in 2018 political processes in MBAV have been complex and its relations with central government remains controversial and even tense. The political history of MBAV is, mostly, about Pamirian elite’s effort to collectively safeguard and secure the survival of a unique Pamirian ethnoconfessional and cultural identity. This thesis particularly, studies the issue of political implications of the self-identification sentiments amongst the people of MBAV and their collective resistance to central government’s violent efforts to take the province under its full control via frightening the Pamiri population.