DUSHANBE, July 1, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Dr. John Heathershaw, University of Exeter, United Kingdom and Prof. Edward Schatz, University of Toronto, Canada on June 27 issued an open letter on the occasion of Tajikistan’s National Unity Day.

“Please accept our heartfelt congratulations on National Unity Day, a crucial day for independent Tajikistan. As scholars who study Central Asia, we know the pain and suffering that the disunity of the 1990s brought to the country.  We sincerely hope that there will never be a return to such conflict in Tajikistan. Indeed, we believe that your experience offers many lessons for peaceful reconciliation and conflict resolution.  These lessons and what citizens experienced in general during the civil war period should be shared throughout the world, and we sincerely hope that there will be many, many opportunities for such sharing in the future.

“Once again, congratulations on this wonderful day, and may all citizens of Tajikistan take this opportunity to reflect on the importance of national unity.”