DUSHANBE, October 30, Asia-Plus — A memorial plague to commemorate journalists killed in the course of their professions will be officially unveiled in the hall of the printing-house Sharqi Ozod in Dushanbe on October 27.
Organizer of this project is the Media Alliance of Tajikistan (MAT).
All media organizations active in Tajikistan have supported this initiative and it is implemented due to financial support of the OSCE Center in Dushanbe.
The granite memorial board designed by Natalia Vasilyeva features symbolic tools of journalists, a notebook and pen.
Zafar Abdulloyev, member of the MAT board, noted that disagreements frequently rise between journalists’ associations in the country on that or this issue, “but there are issue, on which journalists should cooperate.” Abdulloyev also called on journalists from foreign media to pay more attention to coverage of problems facing journalism in Tajikistan and take part in activity of the Tajik journalists’ organizations.
Riccardo Lepri, Officer-in-Charge of the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe said, “The plaque commemorates the journalists killed in Tajikistan during the civil war.” “Our Centre supports the initiative to honour those who contributed to the freedom of the media and expression at the expense of their lives.”
Vera Kulakova, the MAT secretary general, who installed the plaque, added: “Installed in Dushanbe”s Newspapers and Magazines Complex, home to most national print media, the plaque will be a reminder of the solidarity of the Tajik journalistic community and draw public attention to the problem of freedom of speech in the country.”
