LECTURE- Tajikistan: State and Islamic Forces, OSCE Office Dushanbe, June 25, 2008

Distrib. by: Central-Eurasia-L - Announcement List for Central Eurasian Studies

LECTURE- Tajikistan: State and Islamic Forces, OSCE Office Dushanbe, June 25

Posted by: Payam Foroughi <payamforoughi@aol.com>

As part of its Open Lecture Series, the OSCE Office in Dushanbe presents:

"Relations between the State, Islam and Islamic Forces in Tajikistan:
An Interview-based Assessment"
By Ms. Anne-Kristin Linke, Institute for Peace Research and Security
Policy, Centre for OSCE Research,
University of Hamburg, Germany.

Wednesday, 25 June, 2008, 4:15 PM
OSCE Office in Dushanbe
12 Zikrullo Khojaev St.
Dushanbe, Tajikistan
RSVP: Tels: 918-614250 /678551 or send message to: krakhimov@osce.org

ABSTRACT: During the Tajik civil war, the so called 'Islamic factor'
played a significant role, as exemplified by the armed Islamist-led
resistance of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) against Tajikistan's
government forces. The June 1997 peace accord, inter alia, assured a
participatory share of 30% of government positions for the Opposition,
in addition to the incorporation of former UTO fighters in the armed
forces of Tajikistan. A long-term project initiated in 2001 by the
University of Hamburg-based Centre for OSCE Research (CORE) and funded
by the Swiss Federal Office for Foreign Affairs attempted to
systematically address the issue of 'secular-Islamic dialogue'. A
significant result of the said project was the 'Confidence building
measures' signed by project participants in 2003. Beyond this,
however, rarely has there been any significant research done on the
relationship of the State and the Islamic factor or forces in
Tajikistan. In the framework of her master's thesis, Anne-Kristin
Linke conducted a series of detailed interviews with religious
leaders, representatives of political parties, civil society, media
and Tajikistan government officials in the Sughd and Gharm regions, in
addition to Dushanbe. Linke's presentation will give an overview of
Islamic-based forces, in addition to an assessment of the current
relationship between the State, Islam, and Islamic forces in Tajikistan.

BIO: Anne-Kristin Linke is pursuing a postgraduate program at the
Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of
Hamburg in Germany, where she is based at the Centre for OSCE Research
(CORE) and is specializing on contemporary politics of Central Asia
with a focus on Tajikistan. Aside from her current experience in
Tajikistan, Linke has in the past worked with a GTZ (German
Development Co-operation agency) project on small arms control; with
the OSCE Centre in Dushanbe on a nation-wide print media study; with
DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in Dushanbe, and has taught at
the Technological University of Tajikistan as well. In the past years,
Linke has also worked in the sphere of higher education in Siberia and
Uzbekistan. Her eclectic background has given her significant
practical experience with acquired skills used for empirical studies
focused on understanding the social and political forces in the
greater Central Asian/Eurasian region.

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