The fall of Communism Part II
Tajikistan pulled down Central Asia's tallest statue of revolutionary Russian leader Vladimir Lenin as it sought to distance itself from its Soviet past, a city spokesman said Tuesday.
"The Lenin monument was taken off its pedestal on Monday evening," the mayor's office spokesman Makhmujon Ibragimov told AFP. The 23-meter monument to the founder of the Soviet state had stood in Tajikistan's second largest city of Khujand - formerly called Leninabad - for two decades after the Soviet Union crumbled.
The statue, 12.5 meters high without the pedestal, will be moved to a park on the outskirts of the city, Ibragimov said. Cordoned off by police, the monument's dismantling started on Monday night and lasted for several hours, an eyewitness, who asked not to be named, told AFP. "In the Soviet times, this monument was our pride because even the city was called Leninabad," the eyewitness said.
As the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991 and the Communist system collapsed, people demolished Lenin statues in many Soviet cities. But in some parts of the former Soviet Union, the statues still remain. The mayor's office denied the move was political, saying it was part of preparations for Tajikistan's 20th independence anniversary this September, it said.
The mayor's office denied the move was political, saying it was part of preparations for Tajikistan's 20th independence anniversary this September, it said.
The statue, built in 1974 to mark the 50th anniversary of Lenin's death, will be replaced by a new city park with hundreds of fountains and a monument to the founder of the 9th century father of the Tajik nation, Ismail Samani, Ibragimov said.
Tajikistan, a Persian-speaking nation that is the poorest state in ex-Soviet Central Asia, has sought to slacken Russian cultural influence since the collapse of the USSR but still needs close economic ties.
Tajikistan pulled down Central Asia's tallest statue of revolutionary Russian leader Vladimir Lenin as it sought to distance itself from its Soviet past, a city spokesman said Tuesday.
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| Lenin statue finally toppled |
"The Lenin monument was taken off its pedestal on Monday evening," the mayor's office spokesman Makhmujon Ibragimov told AFP. The 23-meter monument to the founder of the Soviet state had stood in Tajikistan's second largest city of Khujand - formerly called Leninabad - for two decades after the Soviet Union crumbled.
The statue, 12.5 meters high without the pedestal, will be moved to a park on the outskirts of the city, Ibragimov said. Cordoned off by police, the monument's dismantling started on Monday night and lasted for several hours, an eyewitness, who asked not to be named, told AFP. "In the Soviet times, this monument was our pride because even the city was called Leninabad," the eyewitness said.
As the Soviet Union crumbled in 1991 and the Communist system collapsed, people demolished Lenin statues in many Soviet cities. But in some parts of the former Soviet Union, the statues still remain. The mayor's office denied the move was political, saying it was part of preparations for Tajikistan's 20th independence anniversary this September, it said.
The mayor's office denied the move was political, saying it was part of preparations for Tajikistan's 20th independence anniversary this September, it said.
Tajikistan, a Persian-speaking nation that is the poorest state in ex-Soviet Central Asia, has sought to slacken Russian cultural influence since the collapse of the USSR but still needs close economic ties.
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