Tajikistan–Uzbekistan relations refers to the relations between the
Republic of Tajikistan
Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and China t ...
and the
Republic of Uzbekistan
, image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
, image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg
, symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem
, national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
.
During the presidency of
Islam Karimov
Islam Abduganiyevich Karimov (30 January 1938 – 2 September 2016) was an Uzbek politician who served as the first president of Uzbekistan, from the country's independence in 1991 until his death in 2016. He was the last First Secretary of the ...
, analysts said that the two countries are "engaged in an undeclared cold war" and have the worst bilateral relations in
Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
.
However, with the election of
Shavkat Mirziyoyev
Shavkat Miromonovich Mirziyoyev (born 24 July 1957) is an Uzbek politician who has served as President of Uzbekistan and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan since 14 December 2016. Previously, Mirziyoyev led the gover ...
as
President of Uzbekistan
The president of the Republic of Uzbekistan () is the head of state and executive authority in Uzbekistan. The office of President was established in 1991, replacing the position of Chairperson of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Uzb ...
Uzbek-Tajik relations, as well as relations between
Uzbekistan
, image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg
, image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg
, symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem
, national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...
and its neighbors in
Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
, reached a new era of potential.
Practical implementation of this potential is yet to be seen and by 2020 the Central Asian region remains one of the least integrated regions in the world.
Historical relations
The
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
(1721–1917) controlled
Russian Turkestan
Russian Turkestan () was a colony of the Russian Empire, located in the western portion of the Central Asian region of Turkestan. Administered as a Krai or Governor-Generalship, it comprised the oasis region to the south of the Kazakh Steppe, b ...
as a singular unit; the creation of "nations" within Central Asia was not on the agenda of Russian policy makers. However, revolutionary fervor from the
Turkish War of Independence
, strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...
(1919–1923) spilled over from the former
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
into Russian lands. Based on the ideology of
Pan-Turkism
Pan-Turkism () or Turkism () is a political movement that emerged during the 1880s among Turkic intellectuals who lived in the Russian region of Kazan (Tatarstan), Caucasus Viceroyalty (1801–1917), South Caucasus (modern-day Azerbaijan) and th ...
, which seeks to unite all speakers of
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
from Anatolia to China into a single state, the
Young Turk
The Young Turks (, also ''Genç Türkler'') formed as a constitutionalist broad opposition-movement in the late Ottoman Empire against the absolutist régime of Sultan Abdul Hamid II (). The most powerful organization of the movement, a ...
leader
Enver Pasha
İsmâil Enver (; ; 23 November 1881 – 4 August 1922), better known as Enver Pasha, was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish people, Turkish military officer, revolutionary, and Istanbul trials of 1919–1920, convicted war criminal who was a p ...
lead the
Basmachi Revolt
The Basmachi movement (, derived from ) was an uprising against Imperial Russian and Soviet rule in Central Asia by rebel groups inspired by Islamic beliefs. It has been called "probably the most important movement of opposition to Soviet rul ...
in
Soviet Central Asia
Soviet Central Asia () was the part of Central Asia administered by the Russian SFSR and then the Soviet Union between 1918 and 1991, when the Central Asian Soviet republics declared independence. It is nearly synonymous with Russian Turkest ...
. However, pan-Turkist reformers and
Jadid
The Jadid movement or Jadidism was an Turco-Islamic modernist political, religious, and cultural movement in the Russian Empire in the late 19th and early 20th century. They normally referred to themselves by the Tatar terms ''Taraqqiparvarlar ...
s, even members of the anti-Basmachi
Communist Party of Turkestan
The Communist Party of Turkestan (; ; ; ) was a branch of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU),. Abbreviated in Russian as КПСС, ''KPSS''. at some points known as the Russian Communist ...
, were hostile to the claim of Tajiks and other non-Turkic peoples to a separate identity in Central Asia.
The establishment of the
Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic
The Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic (, ), also known as Soviet Uzbekistan, the Uzbek SSR, UzSSR, or simply Uzbekistan and rarely Uzbekia, was a Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic of the Soviet Union. It was governed by the Communist ...
(commonly known as Uzbekistan) in 1924 as part of
national delimitation in the Soviet Union
In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), national delimitation was the process of specifying well-defined national territorial units (Soviet socialist republics SR autonomous Soviet socialist republics SSR
SSR may refer to:
Businesses, entertainment and products
* Solid State Records, a Christian record label
* Chevrolet SSR, a Chevrolet small truck
* Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
* Small Screen Rendering, a technology part of Opera Min ...
autonomous oblasts resulted in the
ro ...