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Iran Extends Influence in Central Asia's Tajikistan
Iran is competing with Russia as it seeks to forge closer ties with Tajikistan, the one Persian-speaking nation of the former Soviet1 Central Asia.
The capitals of Iran and Tajikistan are 1,000 kilometers apart, but when their presidents meet, they don’t need interpreters.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke2 in Dushanbe, with Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon. They lead the world’s two majority Persian-speaking nations.
Twenty years ago, when the Soviet Union collapsed4, Iran was the first nation to recognize an independent Tajikistan. Iran’s red, white and green tricolor flag served as a model for Tajikistan’s flag.
Muhiddin Kabiri is head of Tajikistan’s Islamic Renewal5 Party:
Kabiri notes that Iranians are Shi'ite Muslims and Tajiks are Sunni Muslims. Otherwise, he says the two peoples are united by a common history, literature, and language.
Iranian President Ahmadinejad has called the relationship “one spirit in two bodies.”
The Iranian president was here in September to inaugurate a hydroelectric plant and sign an agreement for a second one. Iran is to operate both plants until it has recouped its investments through electricity sales.
Sayfullo Safarov is deputy director of Tajikistan’s Center for Strategic Studies, a government-affiliated think tank:
He says that the two nations’ interests align6 in energy, trade and culture.
Iran is the second largest foreign investor7 in Tajikistan after China. Now, China and Iran are planning to build a connecting rail line through Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
But Russia is still the dominant8 power here. Kabiri’s Islamic Party works closely with Tajik migrant workers in Russia.
He says Iran will never replace Russia. He notes that one million Tajik men now support their families by working in Russia.
But Moscow’s rule of Tajikistan lasted only one century, compared to Tajikistan’s 2,500 years of common history with the ancient Persian Empire.
Zafar Abdullayev, a pro-democracy blogger here, believes that Iran and Tajikistan will eventually form a visa-free common market.
He says that for Tajikistan, an officially largely secular9 nation, keys to closer ties will be more democracy and more tolerance10 in Iran.
Two decades after the collapse3 of Soviet power in Central Asia, Abdullayev and others say that now it is Iran’s turn to liberalize.
1 Soviet | |
adj.苏联的,苏维埃的;n.苏维埃 | |
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2 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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3 collapse | |
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷 | |
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4 collapsed | |
adj.倒塌的 | |
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5 renewal | |
adj.(契约)延期,续订,更新,复活,重来 | |
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6 align | |
vt.使成一线,结盟,调节;vi.成一线,结盟 | |
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7 investor | |
n.投资者,投资人 | |
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8 dominant | |
adj.支配的,统治的;占优势的;显性的;n.主因,要素,主要的人(或物);显性基因 | |
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9 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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10 tolerance | |
n.宽容;容忍,忍受;耐药力;公差 | |
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