DUSHANBE, July 23, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- There are no any objective reasons for shifting Tajik writing system to Arabic script. 

President Emomali Rahmon remarked this while addressing a ceremonial meeting dedicated to State Language Day that was held in Dushanbe on July 22.        

            “Our ancestors had used  Arabic script for ages.  It had also been used by our famous poets and scholars to write their works.  However, history has shown that Cyrillic script is more simple and accessible,” the head of state noted.     

            “We have enough problems in different aspects of life, and I consider that calls of some representatives of our intelligentsia for making shift to Arabic script are irrelevant,” stressed President Rahmon, “At present, we should direct our efforts to studying modern technologies and promoting introduction of them in the country but not be involved in unnecessary discussions on changing alphabet.”  

Tajiks celebrate State Language Day on July 22, the anniversary of the designation of Tajik as the state language in 1989.  Tajikistan was the first among the former Soviet republics to introduce the notion “state language.”  In the former Soviet Union, there had been notion “language of the international and interethnic communication.”

The law determining role and status of the Tajik language in society was adopted in Tajikistan on July 22, 1989.  In accordance with Tajikistan’s Constitution, the Tajik language has the status of the state language and the Russian language has the status of the language of the interethnic communication.       

We will recall that President Emomali Rahmon proposed designating 2008 the Year of the Tajik Language, and publishing by September 2008 a new two-volume Tajik dictionary, together with grammars for the classical and modern literary languages.