DUSHANBE, September 8, 2011, Asia-Plus -- President Emomali Rahmon has congratulated Tajikistani people on the Independence Day

“State independence at the turn of two centuries is a great historic phenomenon that covers a number of fateful events, and therefore, we must consider chronology and meaning of these events from the height of today’s achievements.”

President Emomali Rahmon remarked this in his address to a ceremonial meeting being held in Dushanbe on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Tajikistan’s Independence.

The president stressed that from the first steps of independence, certain ill-wishers, using the experience of the past times and their tested methods, had managed to plunge Tajikistan into civil war by means of inciting internal conflicts and political games.  As a result of such internal conflicts and political games, the Samanid Empire collapsed thousand years ago, he noted.

“As a result of the civil war, more than a hundred thousand our people died and almost one million people were forced to leave their homes and feel abroad,” said Rahmon.  “Damage caused by the imposed war to the country’s economy is estimated at more than 10 billion U.S. dollars.  Tens of thousands of houses were burned.  The moral damage cannot be assessed because of the civil war, tens of thousands of mothers lost their children, tens of thousands of women lost their husbands and more than 50,000 children were left orphaned.”

In his address, President Emomali Rahmon noted that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) has risen 58 times since 1997 and is expected to reach some 30 billion somoni this year.  “Budget revenues per capita have amounted to 1,060 somoni this year, while in 1997, the budget revenues per capital were only 19.80 somoni,” the head of state said.