As the first representative of the Independent
Republic of Tajikistan, I wish to congratulate you. Sir, on your election to
the presidency of the Assembly and to express my Government's confidence in
your guidance of the deliberations of the General Assembly at its
forty-seventh session to a successful conclusion.
I should also like to convey the felicitations of my Government to
Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, under whose able leadership we are confident the
United Nations will stand up to the new challenges in the years to come.
The breakup of the Soviet Union more than a year ago gave birth to new
independent States, which are making their mark on the world map. Although
some of these States obtained their independence fairly easily, most of them
are experiencing a great deal of difficulty in forming new States.
The formation of a new Tajikistan is currently at a difficult and
sensitive stage, which could be cause for concern. Tajikistan, like some
other former Soviet States, is in the midst of an economic crisis. Since the
reasons for this crisis are quite obvious, I should like to point out several
other factors that exacerbate the severity of our situation.
First, as an agricultural country, we were recently devastated by heavy
rains and floods, which ruined our crops. Our economic losses are estimated
at more than 10 billion roubles. In this context, allow me, on behalf of the
people and Government of Tajikistan, to extend our appreciation to the people
and Governments of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and the
United States of America for their assistance. However, I must add that this
relief assistance has fallen far short of our proportionately large needs. I
therefore call upon all international humanitarian organizations to send
emergency relief assistance and foodstuffs to Tajikistan as soon as possible.
Secondly, our geographical location puts us at a disadvantage in terms of
transportation and accessibility. As far as transportation is concerned, up
until the past few weeks there was even a threat of a blockade of the Republic.
Lastly, Tajikistan has been experiencing some political unrest during the
course of the past year.
Despite these problems, since its independence Tajikistan has been
recognized by 115 countries; established diplomatic relations with 37
countries and opened the doors of the embassies of seven countries in our
capital, Dushanbe; and has become a member of such great world organizations
as the United Nations, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe,
and the Economic Cooperation Organization. I humbly submit that this is an
ongoing process.
At this point, I should like to outline the foreign policy of the
Republic of Tajikistan. As members know, from the very first days of its
independence Tajikistan chose democracy as a system for its new development;
despite economic and social difficulties, and even the death of its own sons,
it has remained and will remain firm in its choice. It is no secret that the
tension in our country was caused mainly by the former Government's attempts
to breach certain regulations concerning freedom of the media and human
rights. But these attempts failed and we will not allow them to surface
again. At present, there is no power in Tajikistan that can stop the movement
of democracy, but we need the support of the world community to ensure that
democracy prevails in our Republic.
Unfortunately, owing to the sensitivity of the situation, we cannot
disclose information concerning certain events in our country. We believe
that such information, if known, could only intensify the problem. But we
wish the world community to know that we have no objection to the kind of
freedom of the media that conveys true facts from various points of view and
within the framework of integrity and professional ethics. We have had no
case in which a journalist has been refused entry into Tajikistan or in which
we have interfered with his or her activities.
Nevertheless, we are often unhappy with the activity of the media from
some countries that distort the facts and actual events. For instance, for a
year certain media sources have been claiming that Tajikistan is building a
fundamental Islamic State. They support this claim by alleging that
Tajikistan is going to adopt an Islamic ideology in the place of communism;
that Tajikistan is the only Islamic republic of the former Soviet Union where
a political Islamic party exists legally and has grown into a unique political
force; and that Tajikistan's foreign policy extends preferential treatments to
Islamic countries. I declare before the General Assembly that none of these
allegations is accurate and that we reject them all.
The communist system and the communist ideology failed, and their
influence is insignificant now. To believe that the people of Tajikistan
would wish to replace communism with an Islamic ideology would be a great
mistake. On the basis of freedom of speech and assembly, peoples of different
political persuasions including democratic, nationalist and Islamic groups
are legally active, in unison, in today's Tajikistan. This is the first sign
of the democratization process in Tajikistan. We call upon the international
community to assist us in our process of democratization. A relapse into
communist dictatorship is impossible in our country. The people of Tajikistan
are against any totalitarian regime. There is no foundation in Tajikistan for
establishing such a totalitarian government. However, we are extremely
concerned that the critical state of our economy can lead our country off its
chosen course. Therefore, I appeal to the representatives of the world
community to evaluate the situation in Tajikistan and to support the new
democracy.
As I have already indicated, all political parties in Tajikistan function
within the law. Any conclusion to the contrary would be ill-founded and
unrealistic.
On the question of friendly relations between Tajikistan and the Islamic
Republic of Iran and the Islamic State of Afghanistan, I should say that for
us these are not merely two neighbouring Muslim countries. Tajikistan, Iran,
and Afghanistan recall for one another the historic memory of a single
nation. All of us constitute a single cultural, ethnic and linguistic unit.
We rejoice in our independence, which allows us to establish friendly and
good-neighbourly relations with our brothers and sisters in Iran and
Afghanistan. We are proud of our heritage, our history and our culture, and
hope that the significance of these factors in our lives will never diminish.
Once one has strayed from one's origins, one must seek a state of reunion.
I also want to emphasize that the goal of our foreign policy is to create
a democratic society that will live in peace with its neighbours. This is the
ultimate objective we pursue in our internal and foreign policies. Our
foreign policy is, in fact, designed to secure this noble goal. The
underlying objective of our foreign policy is to create a positive environment
for Tajikistan in the international community. In this process, we will
endeavour to adopt the type of measures and policies that benefit the people
of Tajikistan while at the same time not constituting a threat or disservice
to the interests of other nations. We support the guidelines established and
recognized by the world community with respect to the norms of international
relations, which stand against violations of human rights, oppression and
racism. We support the peaceful settlement of all regional and international
conflicts.
Tajikistan supports the development of large-scale relations with all
members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). We fully recognize
and respect the inviolability of existing borders between the members of the
Commonwealth of Independence States. We protect the human and cultural rights
of all people living in the territory of our Republic and wish and hope that
the same conditions hold true for the Tajiks living in other States of the
CIS. At the same time, we recognize that political borders in the Central
Asian republics are not based on ethnic origin and that this reality demands
the exercise of much responsibility on all sides.
Tajikistan's foreign policy is based on peaceful coexistence,
good-neighbourly relations and non-interference in other countries' internal
affairs. Hence, we wish to establish political, economic and cultural
relations with our contiguous and non-contiguous neighbouring countries, such
as China, India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
Tajikistan is situated in a region where Islamic culture and spirituality
are deeply rooted. We therefore establish relations with countries and
Islamic organizations according to our spiritual and cultural requirements.
Islam is a holy and divine religion and, in our view, certain Western media
have created an inaccurate picture of it.
For more than a century we lived under the Russian Tsars and later we
lived under the Soviet Union. At this period of our history we are not making
any judgement, positive or negative. What is past is past. Through our ties
with Russia and Russian intellectuals, we learned and became familiar with
European civilization. Today we are able to establish our own ties with
Europe and come even closer to its civilization. We believe that the peoples
of Western Europe will show us their support and assist the Tajik people in
their noble struggle. We feel that our tremendous hydro-power, agriculture
and mining industry offers great potential for cooperation with European
countries.
As a newly established democracy, Tajikistan greatly values friendly
relations with all States in Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Near and
Far East and South-East Asia on the basis of mutual respect. We invite the
representatives of all countries in the world to visit Tajikistan and to
witness our open-door policy for friendly relations and mutual cooperation.
We wish to assure the world community that the leadership in Tajikistan
is doing its utmost to stop gun-smuggling of all kinds on its southern borders
and to prevent its recurrence. The Government has devised a scheme for
conciliation and for the disarming of parties to the conflict. Conditions in
our territory are gradually normalizing. In this context, progress has been
achieved; the conflict limited in any case to the central portion of one of
the provinces has de-escalated and a cease-fire has been agreed upon and
announced. Ninety per cent of our territory is in a peaceful state. This is
not a temporary calm, but the beginning of continued peace and durable
stability throughout Tajikistan. We want to assure the world that we have no
intention of becoming one of the globe's hot spots.
I invite representatives to visit Tajikistan, one of the oldest human
civilizations in the world, to begin a new era of friendship and cooperation.
Our goal is to become an economically developed country with friendly trade
relations with our neighbours and with other countries in the world community.
Tajikistan respects and fully observes the United Nation Charter and the
rule of international law. We support the constructive programmes designed by
the United Nations for the settlement of conflicts and problems throughout the
world.
We wish to state that Tajikistan has designated a Permanent
Representative to the United Nations and that he has already begun to fulfil
his duties. We believe that this will contribute to a strengthening of our
ties with the United Nations and the rest of the world.