DUSHANBE, March 27, Asia-Plus – Commenting on President Emomali Rahmon’s commission to return to traditional versions of Tajik last names, Deputy Justice Minister Rustam Mengliyev noted that it concerns, first of all, removing the Russified “ov” ending from Tajik last names and replacing it with traditional Tajik endings such as –i, -zoda, -yon, -pour and others.
“A procedure of documenting names and last names of people is regulated by the country’s Family Code,” said the deputy minister, “The present country’s legislation just provides for the possibility of use of traditional Tajik versions of last names.”
Rajabmoh Qosimova, chairperson of the registry department of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), said in an interview with Asia-Plus that in the near future, this issue will be considered at the legislative level. “There ought not to stir up this issue because a process of changing names and returning to traditional versions of last names acquired a mass character lately,” she said.
We will recall that the head of state addressing his traditional meeting with representatives of Tajik intelligentsia on March 20 said that he wants to return to the traditional version of his name – Emomali Rahmon. He also called on others to change their names in similar fashion. The president also demanded at a March 26 government meeting that relevant bodies should consider the issue of documenting names of newborns according to the rules of the Tajik language.
