I was drinking tea in one of the teahouses when a group of high school students came in. When they saw the Voice of the Tajik newspaper in my hand, they were surprised that a Tajik newspaper should be published in Uzbekistan. Later when they read some of the items in it, they said to each other: "By reading this newspaper we know a lot more than we did, don't we?"

Because they spoke in Tajiki to each other, they were obviously Tajik. But to make sure, I asked them, "Are you Tajik or Uzbek?"

"We are Tajik and we don't know a word of Uzbeki," they said. "We have been studying in high school for a year, but still have not learned Uzbeki. For this reason, we don't understand most of the instruction. But our teachers, who have studied in Turkey, say that we are Uzbeks and that we should identify ourselves as Uzbeks, because this is the Republic of Uzbekistan."

After they learned from me that the teacher was biased and that in Samarqand, the capital of Uzbekistan, the Tajiks were instructed in their own language, that a Tajiki newspaper is published, and that according to Soviet law and the communist ideology, all people are entitled to speak in their own language and be instructed in it, they decided to write the Bukhara Education Office and request for a change of the curriculum from Uzbeki to Tajiki.

They said that 95% of the high school students were Tajik and only 5% were Uzbek. Now, we should be fair. These are children who have been born to Tajik parents, who speak to their parents, relatives, neighbors, and friends in Tajiki, and who do not know a word of Uzbeki. What law and what pedagogical institution would see them fit for receiving instruction in Uzbeki?

Why do teachers spread lies like this and threaten the Tajik students to learn Uzbeki?

I declare that Uzbeki for Tajik students is like French for Russian students. For proof of this I asked the students "What does the Uzbeki word "qash" mean?" They said that they didn't know. But when I pointed to my eye and asked the same. They said we call this abru (eyebrow) and mozhe (eyelid).

Why don't those who force the Tajiks to become Uzbek force the Russians, Armenians, Jews, and the other nationalities to become Uzbek? If the law says that the language of instruction is Uzbeki, why is this law enforced for the poor Tajiks only? Show me Russians, Armenians, Jews, or Poles who have been forced to call themselves Uzbek and who speak Uzbeki.

These Turkophiles want to capitalize on the ignorance of the Tajiks. But the Turkophiles should know that those days are over. The Tajiks are aware of their heritage and know their rights. Before long, the Tajiks of Bukhara, too, will wake up and demand their rights. Before long all the Tajiks of Bukhara will raise their voice and say, "We are Tajiks and we should be instructed in Tajiki."

Those who promote Pan-Turkism should know that such crazy and unnatural acts will not help them reach their objective. They should know that a large nation of two million, which has lived in this land of the Turanians for three or four thousand years, a people that has thousands of volumes in literature, that has scholars, ancient relics, and art cannot be easily obliterated.

We hope that the soviets of Tajikistan and the Soviet of Minority Peoples will put an end to these unnatural acts.

Voice of the Tajik
No. 74, 1926
Rustic.

On October 20, 1926, the election of the members for Aq-Masjid, at the volost level took place. Before the meeting the secretary who is also the librarian, was asked to register the representatives. In the beginning, the majority identified themselves as Tajiks and the secretary registered them as such. Then a person by the name of Ataullaev came and saw that the majority have been registered as Tajiks. He asked the secretary, who was a Tatar, in Uzbeki, "Why are you registering them as Tajiks? There are no Tajiks in the Mahalla volost. They are all Uzbeks."

"But I am a Tajik," I protested. "How can I register myself as Uzbek?"

"Only you are Tajik. There are no other Tajiks," he answered.

Then it dawned on the people: "Didn't we say we should register ourselves as Tajiks? We were right."

Those who had identified themselves as Tajiks, became remorseful. After Ataullaev left, some of those who had been registered as Tajiks were registered again as Uzbeks. I asked the secretary, "Why do you register people who identify themselves as Tajik, Uzbek?" The secretary answered, "What can I do? It is an order."

The reality is that the entire population of Aq-Masjid and those representatives coming from the villages are Tajik. Ataullaev, too, is a member of the Party. He should know the Party regulations with regard to the nationality question.

Other than myself, there are witnesses to this incident. The fact of the population's being Tajik is as evident as the sun.

I report this so that, during Soviet times, the Tajiks' rights are not infringed upon.

(Sa'di Maqsudzada).

Please make sure that Ataullaev does not know the identity of the person providing this information. I am dead scared of him.

Witness, Nasim Salimi
27-10-1926

When I, myself, went to him for a check up, he asked my name and nationality, and put me down as an Uzbek, even though I had said I was Tajik. He told the children, "Do not study in Tajiki. This is Uzbekistan. Study in Uzbeki."

We thought that people were free to use their own language. We further thought that only instruction in the native tongue will speed up our attainment of socialism. But he accused us of dividing Uzbekistan into three parts. Then we asked him, "Why are you not studying in Uzbeki? Why is your instruction in Russian?" He said, "We are temporary. We shall leave in the same manner that we came."

It would be nice if the doctor understood politics. Who needs such density?

Salim Maqsudzada
Witnesses: Nasim Salimi
Fiyoderov, doctor practitioner
27-10-1926

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