TALLER DE EXTRAPOLACIÓN A IGNUS

Shortly after Independence, a civil war broke out in Tajikistan but left the country's North largely untouched. The Leninabad fraction supported the southern Kulobi fraction in its fight against the United Tajik Opposition consisting of Islamists and Democrats. It was in Khujand that Emomali Rahmonov was elected President of Tajikistan in 1992. The culture house of the Urunhojaev kolkhoz, where the election took place, has since become an important place for the regime's historiography. With the end of the civil war though, the Kulobi fraction seized all reins of power and appointed Southerners to leading positions even in Khujand. Protests against this policy led to bloody demonstrations in 1996 and 1997. Colonel Khudoyberdiev's revolt in 1998 fits well in this line of protest against Khujand's loss of influence after Independence31_.

There is no clear evidence as to whatextent Khujand ever profited from the fact that Tajikistan's leading figures of the Soviet era grew up there. But today, Khujandis look back with a certain nostalgia to times, when relatives employed in the “Centre” were able to “arrange things”, and deplore that “they” – that is, President Emomali Rahmon's Kulobi fraction – “have taken over everything” (vse podmâli pod sebâ) (Interview at the Shoemaker's place, 2010).

The rise of market forces and the end of subsidies from Moscow led first to a closure of industrial plants, and the dismissal of thousands to the labour market. In Khujand, almost all major industrial plants closed down due to the lack of investment, loss of markets and emigration of qualified personnel. Some of the plants still operate, but on a much reduced scale. While the Leninabad silk plant employed some 10000 workers in the 1980s, its follow-up enterprises (Kabool textiles and Carrera) provide only some 500 jobs. Large brownfields have become characteristic for post-Soviet cities (Gentile & Sjöberg, 2006, p. 722), and also for Khujand. The main road leading from the city centre to the south is a ten-kilometre-long succession of industrial remains, beginning from the silk plant, passing the cannery, the glass factory, the transport trust, and dozens of other decaying, if not abandoned enterprises, remnants of better times.

One employment opportunity opened up in the 1990s through the demise of the public transport system. This was mostly replaced by privately run minibuses – marshrutkas. Yet an even larger

31 While Khujandis headed Tajikistan in Soviet times, today they are relegated to a lower position in the regionalist balance of power. It is interesting to note that all prime ministers of Tajikistan since 1992, with one exception from 1994 to 1996, were Khujandis.

part of the population turned to the bazaars to make a living. While in Soviet times only the Panjshanbe Bazaar persisted as major trading centre, a handful of new ones have emerged after independence.

Excursion: Khujand's other bazaars

The Jum'a-Bozor, located on the right bank between the new stadium and the 19th_microraion,

takes place, as the name suggests, on Friday mornings. It is mostly a clothing market, but also has some food stalls. It emerged as an outplacement of the clothing rows from the Panjshanbe Bazaar, yet it was intended to cater to microraion dwellers who do not have the time or the possibility to go to the city centre. The Jum'a-Bozor has seen hard times due to a lack of popularity as far as the clothing and food parts are concerned. At the same time, it has developed into a major centre for construction materials and hardware.

The Bozor-i Yagodka is a smaller food bazaar between the 31st_{, 32}nd _{and 33}rd_{microraions and}

caters to the needs of the neighbourhood population.

A bazaar was also set up to the west of the town in the Pakhtakor area as a replacement for the centuries-old Chorshanbe-Bozor in the vicinity of the old fortress. This bazaar did not catch on at all and is now reduced to a handful of vegetables stands.

The largest bazaar complex by far lies at the southern fringe of Khujand at the very heart of the Khujand agglomeration: on the main road to Chkalovsk and Ghafurov and on the crossing with the highway towards the east. For this reason, the bazaar is called the “Povoroti Qayroqqum” – the “Qayroqqum Turn”. It consists of several retail and wholesale bazaar complexes on both sides of the highway. The flea market, the car market and the livestock market are also part of the complex. It is most active on Sundays, but sees a lot of activity on other days of the week as well.

The majority of my interview partners mention the Panjshanbe Bazaar as the most striking central feature of the town:

Now if you ask any citizen of Khujand, he will say Panjshanbe is the most important point in the city. And why? Because Panjshanbe is the centre. You could say the

centre of the city, the centre of life. There are shops there and pharmacies. You will find there everything you might need for your life […] Now that I need more time for my housework, I go and find everything ready at Panjshanbe, therefore I like being there (Interview Muhabbat, 2010).

Muhabbat also insisted that Panjshanbe is not only the spatial, but also the centre of Khujand in terms of time and rhythms: opposite the bazaar, the city's main Friday prayer takes place in the Shaykh Maslihiddin shrine (Interview Muhabbat, 2010), and a large clock adorns the blue- clad shopping centre overlooking the bazaar square. The Panjshanbe Bazaar also appears on almost every single mental map of the city32_{. In some ways, there seems to be a rebirth of the}

oriental city, which had the bazaar as its major feature, as claimed by Wirth (2002, p. 151).

Mental map 1: Panjshanbe bazaar in the

bottom right corner _{Panjshanbe, Jum‘a-Bozor, ‚Oasis‘ supermarket}Mmental map 2: Bazaars everywhere: and ‚Univermag‘ shopping centre in one mental map

32 The major role of bazaars within Khujand's physical space will be discussed in more detail in the following chapter on perceptions.