DUSHANBE, May 12, 2014, Asia-Plus — Prominent Tajik religious figure, Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda, considers that Tajikistan must participate in possible Russia’s peacekeeping operation in Ukraine.
“As strategic partner of Russia, Tajikistan must participate in Russia’s peacekeeping operation in Ukraine if such an operation is carried out in Ukraine,” Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda told Asia-Plus in an interview on May 12.
“I believe that to support Russia on the main international issues is in interest of Tajikistan itself.”
“Like Tajikistan in the time of the civil confrontation, Ukraine today has also got into zone of confrontation between West and East,” Turajonzoda noted.
According to him, policy of neutrality conducted by some allies of Russia within the CIS area regarding the Ukraine situation will not promote establishment of peace and accord in that country.
Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda further noted that during the civil confrontation in Tajikistan, the CIS peacekeeping forces had not always taken into consideration interests of the confronting sides; however, they had played an important role in reestablishment of peace in Tajikistan.
We will recall that an informal meeting of the presidents of member nations of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) took place in Moscow on May. The presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan reportedly discussed a number of issues being of mutual interests and Ukraine’s crisis. They also attended what the Kremlin described a training exercise for Russian military forces.
Some experts note that it cannot be ruled out that Moscow is making preparations for carrying out a peacekeeping operation in Ukraine and it is seeking support of its allies.
Born in 1954, Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda is a prominent Tajik religious and political figure. He served as the Qozi Kalon, the highest Muslim authority in Tajikistan, from 1988 to 1991. He served as the second-in-command of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRP) and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) from 1993 until his expulsion from the party in 1999. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister in the Tajik government after the civil war. He was also member of Tajikistan’s upper house (Majlisi Milli) of the parliament.
Hoji Akbar Turajonzoda left Tajikistan in 1992 when the civil war began, visiting Iran, the Arab world, the United States, Europe, Russia, and Uzbekistan. UTO leader Said Abdullo Nouri and Turajonzoda led the UTO from Afghanistan and Iran during the civil war, returning to Tajikistan in February 1998.
