Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Environment

Economy

Politics

Kazakhstan's Bloody January 2022
Kyrgyzstan 2020 unrest

Security

Society

American diplomats in Central Asia
Arts and Culture
Coronavirus
Student spotlight
X

Visual Stories

Podcast
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

EurasiaChat
Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.

The Roots Of Uzbekistan And Tajikistan's Water Conflict

Joshua Kucera Jun 10, 2013
image Sign promoting Rahmon and the Rogun hydropower project, in the town of Rogun. (photo: The Bug Pit)

The conflict between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan over the proposed Rogun dam could, as Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov has threatened, lead to war between the two countries. Thanks to the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, I was able to take a reporting trip to Tajikistan in April and May. And while a detailed report will be coming out later this summer, here's a bit of a taste, with some photos from Rogun: 

 The conflict, of course, is more than just about the dam, which is why it's so interesting – and also difficult to solve. The roots, everyone in Tajikistan told me, date from the 1920s, when Soviets drew borders of the two republics that rendered Tajikistan so dependent on Uzbekistan for any access to the outside world (as well as, from the Tajik perspective, depriving Tajikistan of the jewels of their culture, Bukhara and Samarkand). That was more or less irrelevant during the Soviet period, and early post-independence when the governments of the two countries got along. But as relations soured (due to a variety of reasons, including both governments' support of rebel groups agitating against their respective neighbors), Uzbekistan began to use its geographic position as a means of bullying Tajikistan – by requiring visas for Tajikistan citizens, by mining the border, cutting off train routes, raising import duties, and on and on. And Rahmon sees Rogun as not just a way to get out from under Uzbekistan's thumb, but to do a little bullying itself. This is an illuminating U.S. diplomatic cable from Wikileaks:

Rahmon underlined his personal involvement in the struggle by bragging that he got in a brawl with Uzbek President Islam Karimov at a CIS Summit in Sochi in 2004. As both men grabbed each other by the collars, former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma pulled the dueling presidents apart. Rahmon claimed to have had the last word: "Anyway, Samarkand and Bukhara will be ours again one day!"

How would he do that? Rogun. Anyway, much more to come soon.

Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Popular

Kazakhstan: Swathes of land confiscated from Nazarbayev’s brother ahead of vote
Georgian authorities face backlash over Russian purchases
Nini Gabritchidze
Armenian banks record mega profits, but the economy doesn't feel it
Arshaluis Mgdesyan

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2023