The ancestors of the Tajiks have lived in the present territory of Tajikistan since ancient times and are the oldest people of Central Asia. In ancient times, the ancestors of Tajiks were called Aryans. Ariya - from the Avestan word «aria» and the Iranian word «ariya» means «pure», «noble». In ancient times, the ancestors of Tajiks were called Aryans.
In ancient times, the ancestors of the Aryans formed a single ethnic community, that is, they were one nation, spoke one language and lived in one country. Approximately in the XX- XV centuries BC they split into two branches, one of which moved to India where they wrote the Vedas. The second group lived in Central Asia and Eastern Iran and created the Avesta. According to written sources in the IX-VIII centuries Aryans lived in almost half of the Asian continent from Mesopotamian border to northern India and from Eastern-Southern Europe to Altay and Western Siberia.
IV - II millennium BC - Sarazm is an ancient town located near Panjakent district in Northern Tajikistan. The existence of Sarazm is attributed to the Eneolithic and Bronze Age.
The Tajik people are one of the most ancient people of the Central Asia throughout the millennium history, despite of all vicissitudes of life; they have created rich material and a spiritual culture which laid the basis for the most ancient and medieval cultures and regional civilizations. The Tajik people have defended their culture, territory, mentality, their faith for centuries, as an integral part of a multifaceted world civilization.
As the Founder of Peace and National Unity-Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan His Excellency Emomali Rahmon noted, «History is quite rightly defined as the memories of humankind. Those, who have no idea about the destiny of their nation, about the past of its people, who are not familiar with the traditions and habits of their ancestors and who cannot appreciate the merits and achievements of nation, are not worthy of being called true citizens of their country».
Each historical period remains a deep mark on the fate of nations and peoples, has an impact on the course of their formation and development. Tajiks, whose history goes back to millennia, in its origin and belong to the Aryans, are indigenous inhabitants of the Central Asia. Of course, the history of Tajiks is closely tied with the history of all the peoples of the Persian group, many of its aspects have not been investigated so far.
In the tumultuous process of globalization and clash of civilizations and cultures, every people and nation try to show the history of its ancestors for its own sake. Sometimes there are cases when not only ordinary people, but certain scientific circles, that is, some scientists, try to make history out of legends and myths. And without a historical basis, they want to take another's property.
If we look at the historical reality, the Tajik nation has an ancient and great history in the territory of Khorasan and Mоverannahr, which is confirmed by all reliable sources. The ancestors of the Tajiks - Aryans in Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan laid the foundation for a great urban civilization, which is recognized as one of the first civilizations in human history.
The Aryan civilization continued to expand and spread to Europe in the west and India in the east. With the efforts of the Founder of Peace and National Unity-Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan His Excellency Emomali Rahmon, 2006 was declared the "Year of Aryan Civilization", the purpose of which was to inform and awaken the national sense of the young generation of the country.
One of the issues that has caused a lot of noise in recent years is the concept of «Turan» and its meaning and geographical boundaries. In recent years, especially some scientific circles want to equate this concept with the Turkish people.
The word Turan as a geographical and ethnic name is first encountered in the Avesta. In ancient times, Turan as a geographical term was used to denote a part of the Central Asian region. The inhabitants of Turan called themselves Turanians. Despite the fact that the geographical name Turan in the medieval period (11th century) was replaced by Turkestan in historical literature (Bartold, 1963, p. 63). Nevertheless, some inhabitants of Central Asia called themselves Turanians before the October Revolution. Even now, the names Turan (male) and Turangul (female) are common among the Tajiks of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. This name is also borne by one of the nomadic Afghan tribes (Resner, 1964, p. 98). Back in the 19th century, the Chinese called the indigenous population of Maverannahr (i.e. Tajiks) Turanians (Klyashtorny, 1988, p. 87).
An expert on Avestan texts, the author of translations from Pahlavi to Farsi of the two-volume Yashts and Gathas, Puri Dovud writes that «the Turs, according to Avestan sources, are Iranian-speaking and Faridun comes from the Turs. However, the Turs were cattle-breeding tribes and lived in tents, they did not engage in agriculture and did not have cities. And the Iranians were sedentary and had cities, they were engaged in agriculture. The Turanians often attacked the cities of Iran, so the Iranians considered them their enemies. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, the reason for the enmity between the Iranians and the Turanians was that the Turanians remained on their old territory, firmly, professed the old religion, and the Iranians accepted the teachings of Zarathustra and revered the sacred fire. The Iranians, because they did not accept the religion of Zarathustra, called the Turans infidels» (Puri Dovud, Part 1, 1971, pp. 54-55).
E.G. Bertels believes that Turs with Iranians have a common origin (Bertels, 1960, p.33) The Russian Turkologist S. D. Zenkovsky writes that «the word Turan does not mean the ancient Turkic-Mongol peoples, but rather the northern Iranian population that occupied all of Central Asia until the VI century AD» (Zenkobcky, 1967, p. 110). S. D. Zenkovsky correctly notes that the Turanians were Iranians, not Turks.
The famous Tajik scientist academician Yu. Yakubov proves that the word «Tur» takes its origin from the bull of the tur. The bull tur is the totem of all Iranian-speaking cattle breeders, Sakas-turs. (Yakubov, 2001, p.27-34)
For an intelligent reader and pundit, only Firdawsi's «Shahnama» is enough to understand the reality.
Saidzoda Halim Aziz - Head of the Department for the Implementation of Sscientific achievments in Production of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.
Khojaev Mehrovar- candidate of historical sciences, associate professor of Tajik National University.
