DUSHANBE, September 1, 2014, Asia-Plus -- On Sunday August 31, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon congratulated his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev on Kyrgyzstan’s Independence Day.

According to the Tajik president’s official website, Emomali Rahmon noted in his cable of congratulations that Tajikistan is interested in expansion of bilateral cooperation with Kyrgyzstan.

Tajik president, in particular, expressed hope that they will succeed in strengthening partnership between the two countries that would serve the interests of the two fraternal peoples.

In December 1990, the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic voted to change the republic''s name to the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.  The following January, Askar Akayev introduced new government structures and appointed a new government composed mainly of younger, reform-oriented politicians.  In February 1991, the name of the capital, Frunze, was changed back to its pre-revolutionary name of Bishkek.

On August 19, 1991, when the State Emergency Committee assumed power in Moscow, there was an attempt to depose Akayev in Kyrgyzstan.  After the coup collapsed the following week, Akayev and Vice President German Kuznetsov announced their resignations from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and the entire bureau and secretariat resigned.  This was followed by the Supreme Soviet vote declaring independence from the Soviet Union on 31 August 1991 as the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.

On December 21, 1991, Kyrgyzstan joined with the other four Central Asian Republics to formally enter the new Commonwealth of Independent States. Kyrgyzstan gained full independence a few days later on December 25, 1991. The following day, on December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist.  In 1992, Kyrgyzstan joined the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).  On May 5, 1993, the official name changed from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to the Kyrgyz Republic.