DUSHANBE – The first English-language newspaper in Tajikistan has appeared on newsstands in Dushanbe, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
The owner and chief editor of “The Tajik Times” weekly, Nurali Shoev, said that 500 copies of the first issue were printed, but that circulation will expand as the paper finds more readers among English-speaking residents and tourists in Tajikistan.
Shoev added that his team has to reprint news from international English language sources, as they have limited capacity to fill the publication with original material.
Some Tajik observers are skeptical about the future of the new periodical, saying that some Tajik newspapers have printed English-language sections in the past, but stopped due to lack of interest.