| Tajik leader Imomali Rakhmonov, in a flamboyant move to revive Persian roots in the former Soviet state, has ordered his people to drop Russian-style surnames and banned Soviet-era school festivals. Slavic endings like ‘-ov’ were added by many people across the five ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia during Russian imperial rule and later under Soviet power. In line with his new crusade, Rakhmonov declared himself "Rakhmon" earlier this month. At a government meeting late on Monday, the Tajik leader, who has ruled the Muslim state since 1992, told the nation to follow suit and register new-born babies only under Persian surnames. "Imomali Rakhmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, ... issued concrete instructions to officials to regulate the sphere of national traditions and ritualism," said the official website. The changes are unlikely, however, to concern Russia, since it is impoverished Tajikistan's key regional ally and trading partner. While cultivating warm relations with Moscow, Tajikistan, which speaks a dialect of Farsi, has also sought to revive its Tajik identity and pre-Soviet traditions, with Rakhmonov advocating closer cultural ties with Iran and Afghanistan. |