Tajik leader proposes banning Russian language for official use

"The dignity of a nation is determined, above all, by how people preserve and respect their language," Emomali Rakhmon said in a televised address late on Wednesday.

Rakhmon urged a new language law to amend 1989 legislation that defined Tajik as the official language and Russian as a language of "interethnic communication," which gave the latter a de facto official status allowing people to use it in dealing with authorities, and receive information and documents in Tajik or Russian.

The new draft law proposed by the president and submitted to parliament obliges all nationals to know Tajik and speak it in official situations and public workplaces.

The president criticized newspaper journalists for a poor knowledge of Tajik, for using clumsy or misleading phrases and terminology, and even making spelling mistakes, Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.

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