Tajikistan: Acronyms

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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