Tajikistan Drops Russian As Official Language

DUSHANBE -- A new law on official languages has gone into effect in Tajikistan that removes Russian as the "language for interethnic communication," RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.

The law was adopted by the Tajik parliament last week and signed by President Emomali Rahmon on October 6.

The new law states that all official papers and education in the country should be conducted only in the Tajik language.

However, the law also says that all minority ethnic groups in the country have the right to choose in which language they want their children to be educated.

Tajikistan's largest minority is Uzbeks, who make up some 15 percent of the population.

Ethnic Russians and Kyrgyz each make up about 1 percent of the population.