The Tajik authorities are continuing to rename settlements.
Thus, the government has proposed to rename fifteen settlements in the northern Sughd province. The request has been sent for consideration to Tajikistan’s upper house (Majlisi Milli) of parliament.
Having purged Tajikistan of most Russian and Soviet labels, the authorities have begun targeting places with names of Turkic origin.
Some had their former Tajik names restored, some were named after historic Tajik figures, and others were given new Tajik names.
They, in particular, propose to rename the village of Muguliyon Safobakhsh, the village of Qiziljar Zarinroud, the village of Qamartosh Qamardasht, the village of Jambuloq Jomchashma, the village of Teghirmonteppa Osiyobteppa, Kuktosh Kabudsang, Kichik Shurnova Shurnovai Khurd.
All these villages are subordinate to the city Panjakent.
Besides, the authorities propose to rename the village Shohidqarayantoq subordinate to the city of Konibodom Dilovaron, the village of Yakkaterak subordinate to the city of Konibodom Safedorak, the village of Qurghoncha in the Asht district Qal’ach, and the village of Qamishqurghon in the Asht district Khujiston.
In the Spitamen district, the village of Oqteppa will be renamed Safedteppa, the village of Farmonqurghon will be renamed Farmonqal’a, the village of Saidqurghon will be renamed Saidqal’a, and the village of Qushtegirmon will be renamed Sariosiyo.
In October, a number of settlements were renamed in Sughd and Khatlon provinces. The settlement of Proletarsk in the Jabborrasoulov district (Sughd province) was renamed Mehrobod, the village of Qarachiqum, subordinate to the northern city of Konibodom, was renamed Jahonzeb, the jamoat of Aral in the Jomi district (Khatlon province) was named after the late ex-Vice-Premier Qadiriddin Ghiyosov and the jamoat of Sayod in Khatlon’s Shahritous district was named after the Hero of Socialist Labor Talbak Sadriddinov,
Last year alone, a number of large cities and districts were renamed in Tajikistan.
The city of Qairoqqum, an Uzbek name, for example, was renamed Guliston, or City of Flowers. An artificial lake by the same name was simply called the Tajik Sea.
The district of Ghonchi, a name with Turkic roots, was named after Devashtich, a Sogdian ruler of the modern-day Tajik city of Panjakent in pre-Islamic Central Asia.
Jirgatol district in the Rasht Valley had its old, Turkic-rooted name, Lakhsh, restored. Jillikul district in Khatlon province had its Kyrgyz name replaced with Dousti, which means friendship in Tajik.
It's not just Turkic place-names that are being targeted.
The city of Chkalovsk was renamed “Buston,” meaning “Blooming Garden.”
The authorities also changed the district of Tavildara’s Arabic-sounding name to its historical name, Sangvor.
