Tajikistan or Turan? Activists propose changing the country’s name

In Tajikistan, a proposal to change the country’s name to “Turon” (Turan) is being discussed. The initiative was voiced by several Tajik activists, but the government has not yet responded to this proposal.

Tajik researcher in the field of national identity Umed Jaihoni expressed this idea on his Facebook page. In his opinion, “Turon” is an epic name for the land of the Tajiks and this is how the current Tajikistan should be named. Jaihoni believes that if the country changes its name, “no tragedy will occur.”

He also noted that there are cases in global practice where countries change their names, and there is nothing unusual about it. As an example, Jaihoni reminded that 33 years ago Tajikistan was called the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic.

The post elicited mixed reactions from users. One user commented:

“Umed Jaihoni, it would be better if you stopped proposing such absurd ideas.”

At the same time, some users supported his proposal, reminding that Persia was renamed Iran in 1933.

The idea of changing the name also raises questions about preserving national identity and returning to historical roots. Many representatives of the Tajik intelligentsia have debated for years the necessity of preserving traditional names and customs, while others insist on leaving everything as it is.

There has also been a long-standing heated discussion in the country about transitioning from the Cyrillic script to the Persian alphabet, which is based on Arabic script.

The authorities of Tajikistan have repeatedly indirectly rejected such proposals and demonstrated their disagreement with the suggestion to return to historical names, change military ranks to purely Tajik and national titles proposed by Umed Jaihoni.

It is worth noting that Turan is an ancient name for a large region of Iranian peoples, who are today known as Persians, Tajiks, or some other ethnic groups of Iranian origin, and Iran and Turan are the ancestral and historical homelands of Iranians and Tajiks.