Tajikistan Directs Establishment of Aryan Civilization and Navruz Centers in Dushanbe

President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan has directed the Government and the Executive Office of the Head of State to implement measures for establishing the Center for Aryan Civilization in Dushanbe. This directive, issued following the President's Message on December 16, 2025, is intended to reinforce national self-awareness and define the historical position of the Tajik people within a global context. Concurrently, the President mandated the formation of an International Center of Navruz, also situated in Dushanbe, with both institutions slated to function as cultural and educational hubs promoting the region's historical, spiritual, and cultural values.

The National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, along with relevant scientific and project institutions, received instructions to formulate the foundational concept for these new centers. This concept must integrate architectural and urban planning traditions from ancient settlements with the historical customs of Tajik statehood and governance. The resulting proposal is to be submitted to the Government promptly. This initiative continues President Rahmon's intellectual focus on Aryan heritage, which he has previously explored in published works, now translating that focus into institutional structures.

Academic perspectives view the development as timely. Dr. Larisa Dodkhudoeva, a historian and head of the Department of Ethnology and Historical Anthropology at the A. Donish Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography, stressed the importance of tracing the Tajik people's cultural heritage through ancient worldviews, beliefs, and rituals as manifested in contemporary culture. She clarified that the proposed Center for Aryan Civilization, which she termed the Konun Center, is not based on pseudo-scientific ideology but rather on advancing international cooperation in studying the national heritage of the highly developed Aryan civilization. This civilization's roots are traced to the ancient Indo-Iranian peoples, considered ancestors of modern Iranians, Indians, and Tajiks, among other Indo-Europeans credited with monumental works such as the Vedas and the Avesta.

Professor Dodkhudoeva situated this historical context within the Bronze Age, spanning the end of the 3rd millennium to the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, a period marked by advances in metallurgy, the rise of urban settlements, and the genesis of early Zoroastrian religious concepts critical to Tajik ethnogenesis. Archaeological validation for this deep historical narrative is drawn from key sites in Tajikistan. The Sarazm settlement, dating from the IV-III millennium BC in the Zeravshan Valley, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site recognized for demonstrating human settlement development in Central Asia. Sarazm functioned as a major trading center, connecting with the Iranian Plateau, Turkmenistan, and the Indus Valley, and was a primary center for paleometal production in the 4th-3rd millennia B.C.

Furthermore, the Takht-i-Sangin settlement, located near the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj rivers, is highlighted as a potential source for investigating modern Tajik ethnoculture. Excavations there, which included the Temple of the Oxus and were conducted from 1976 until 1991, offer insights into the Hellenistic and Kushan periods. The A. Donish Institute of History, Archaeology, and Ethnography is preparing the publication "Secrets of Takht-i-Sangin," intended as the inaugural material for the new Aryan Civilization Center. This institutional emphasis on ancient heritage aligns with President Rahmon's prior declaration of 2006 as the "Year of Aryan Civilization" aimed at fostering national consciousness among the younger generation.