NATIONAL UNITY: A KEY FACTOR FOR THE BRIGHT FUTURE OF THE NATION
“National Unity Day is a symbol of coming together, solidarity, cohesion, and national unity, once again proving the victory of a culture of peace and the sound wisdom and intellect of the wise, peace-loving Tajik nation.”
Emomali Rahmon
National unity is the flourishing of the Homeland; it rejects war, conflict, instability, and hostility. Unity in society eliminates many negative human traits – resentment and hatred, mistrust, enmity, malice, war and conflict, social inequality, poverty, and discouragement – because in a state where peace and security, friendship, and mutual understanding prevail, that state becomes more beautiful day by day and advances politically, economically, and culturally.
Peace and unity are expressions that always sound pleasant and inspiring; they directly encourage the listener to reflect. Peace embodies reconciliation, wisdom, mutual understanding, and the people’s aspiration for tranquility.
Unity, in turn, means coming together, standing shoulder to shoulder, and being understanding, pure-hearted, and devoted to the nation. Unity is the greatest blessing of human life – an aspiration and ideal, the strengthening of the state, the salvation of the nation, the renewal of the times, and the very essence of human existence in every place and era.
That is why the Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the Nation, our beloved President, has rightly noted that “our weapon of existence lies in national unity and solidarity.”
National unity, first and foremost, implies the cohesion of all social groups, institutions, and forces operating within the territory where a given nation lives. Indeed, national unity is the prosperity of the Homeland: in a country where peace, security, and friendship prevail, the state blossoms like spring flowers, and its economy grows steadily.
National unity entered the pages of Tajik history as a new era of Tajikistan’s statehood formation. This blessed celebration – like peace, mutual understanding, and social harmony – has contributed to the revival of the country’s economy and reflects our shared responsibility for Tajikistan’s present life and its bright future.
Truly, national cohesion – meaning unity, peace, and stability – is a great and sacred blessing from which all progress, achievements, and the well-being of the people begin. When the population grew weary of destruction and ruin, it embraced a new path. In independent Tajikistan, thanks to the distinguished son of this land – the Founder of Peace and National Unity – Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Emomali Rahmon – a new movement called “National Unity and the Revival of Tajikistan” was established, and both small and large public organizations contributed to strengthening it. This wise initiative of the Leader of the Nation produced good results. Eventually, Tajiks reached agreement and joined hands. With the signing of the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord on 27 June, this date was declared National Unity Day.
As we remember, in those days the threat of the Tajik nation’s fragmentation, its division, and the loss of the newly independent Tajik state stood before our modern history. Fortunately, our people took timely measures to correct this terrible, nation-destroying mistake. After difficult and lengthy negotiations lasting more than four years, the signing of the fateful document – the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in Tajikistan—restored the process of national reconciliation, nationwide unity, peace, and stability. Today, 28 years have passed since those events.
Therefore, we – the generations of the independence era—must raise our children and families in the spirit of loyalty, patriotism, love for the Motherland, self-knowledge, and national consciousness. Unity is the greatest blessing for all humanity; it embodies all the goodness and beauty in the world. Only through unity can difficulties and obstacles be overcome, people’s lives improve, and society live in peace and tranquility.
Indeed, national unity is the prosperity of the Homeland. Today, the free people of our country continue their honest labor and live a happy life. We, the young generation, are among the happiest in the world, because we live in a time of peace and stability—and we are proud of this great fortune.
We, the youth, must take pride that our people and nation are historically and naturally peace-loving, cultured, and creative. Our peaceful nature throughout our thousands of years of history reflects the wisdom, patience, and endurance of our ancestors. This is firm evidence of our ancient culture and constructive traditions – values that we, young people, must study, internalize, and apply in our daily lives.
The youth, in whose hands lie the future of society and the building of statehood, must understand this well. The history of the early years of independence shows that, due to subjective and objective reasons, we abandoned unity for a period and split into groups. This division brought a heavy tragedy upon us, striking our blood and spirit, our bodies and minds, our memory and history, our wealth and resources, our language and culture, and our entire identity. Our disunity weakened the nation, made us dependent on others’ help, deprived mothers of their young sons, destroyed homes, turned friends, relatives, and compatriots into refugees, and nearly led to our complete ruin. But when we, following the wise policy of the Leader of the Nation, came together, achieved unity, and made peace, we became stronger and greater.
In conclusion, we, the youth, must keep in the first line of our memory that we are still at the beginning of building our national statehood, and our main goal is to establish a developed national state. Our ancient nation, during centuries without statehood, nurtured many dreams in its heart, and today the time has come to realize them. The fulfillment of these dreams in state-building rests on our shoulders – the youth – and this is an immensely honorable and proud mission. Yet all our aspirations can be achieved only in an environment of peace, stability, and national unity. We must certainly lead our proud nation to its dreams, honor the spirit of our ancestors, and value their sacrifices. In this path, the idea of national unity and the building of a progressive national state are two key sources for continuing our initiatives of patriotism and nation-building.
Muhammadfaridi Jamshed – Head of the Human Resources and Legal Support Department of the Research Institute for Sustainable Development and Green Economy of the International University of Tourism and Entrepreneurship of Tajikistan
