Acronyms
ASSR Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic
CIS Commonwealth of Independent States
CIS/PKF Collective Peacekeeping Forces of the CIS
CNR Commission for National Reconciliation
CSCE Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (became OSCE in 1994)
DPA Department of Political Affairs (UN)
DPKO Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UN)
DPT Democratic Party of Tajikistan
DPTA DPT Almaty platform
DPTT DPT Tehran platform
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GNR Government of National Reconciliation
ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross
IDP internally displaced person
IRP Islamic Renaissance Party
MIRT Movement for Islamic Revival in Tajikistan
OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN)
OIC organization of the Islamic Conference
OSCE organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (formerly CSCE)
SSR Soviet Socialist Republic
UNCHR UN Commission on Human Rights
UNHCR UN High Commissioner for Refugees
UNDP UN Development Programme
UNMOT UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan
UTO United Tajik Opposition
WFP World Food Programme
WHO World Health organization
Transliteration note
One of the more contentious problems for English language publications about Central Asia is how to spell the personal and geographical names used in the region. The Soviet legacy meant that a Russianized spelling was used for many names – even though these spellings might be confusing for a Tajik. As Tajiks strive to reclaim their heritage, efforts have been made by many to drop Russian language based spellings. (For example, the Russianized 'k' sound has been replaced with the 'q' sound commonly used in Tajik and Turkic languages.) Nevertheless there are alternative ways to transliterate Tajik, which deploys the Cyrillic script, into English. We have tried to respect the individual's preference for the spelling of their personal name (e.g., President Rakhmonov), even if it implies a mixture of spelling systems. Where an English version of a place names is widely recognized (e.g., Badakhshan instead of the more correct Badakhshon), we have chosen to use that form. Some places in Tajikistan have been recently renamed – notably the Leninabad province, which was changed to Sogd in 2000. To avoid confusion, we have used the names deployed in the 1990s, when the events described in this publication occurred. For place names outside of Tajikistan, we have referred to spellings used in UN maps so as to use a form widely in use internationally.
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