ḤAQIQAT, title of several newspapers in Tajik Persian. The word ḥaqiqat “truth” is apparently a rendering of Russian Pravda, the title of the famous Russian newspaper. In Tajikistan, these periodicals belonged to local administrative units, including towns, regions (raion) and provinces (welāyat). They were often renamed and, along with the administrative revisions of the republic, their geographic coverage altered. They were published in the Tajik Persian language in Roman script (ca. 1930-40), and afterwards in Cyrillic. Some were bilingual with either Uzbek or Russian in addition to Tajik. Generally, they had similar contents and formats; primarily they covered the local economic news, followed by social and cultural events, and literary and entertaining articles. Publication was regular (three times a week in 4 pages of 30 by 42 cm), particularly in the last decades of Soviet rule, but, beginning with the troubled years of the 1990s, printing slowed and finally, one after another, they ceased publication. Here is a list of these newspapers and the localities they covered: Haqiqat (Lenin/Dushanbe region); Haqiqati Hisor (Ḥesār, southwest of Dushanbe), Haqiqati kolkhozi (Kalḵozi; Tājikābād; now Qalʿa-ye lab-e āb); Haqiqati Kolkhozobod (Kolḵozābād; in Qōrḡān-teppa province, southwestern Tajikistan); Haqiqati Komsomolobod (Komsomolābād; east of Dushanbe); Haqiqati Kulob (Kulāb; q.v.); Haqiqati Khojand (region of Ḵojand); Haqiqati Leninobod (Leninābād; i.e., city of Ḵojand); Haqiqati Qurḡonteppa (Qōrḡān-teppa); and Haqiqati Šahrinav (Šahr-e now). The newspaper Haqiqatiaskari sorkh (Ḥaqiqat-e ʿaskar-e sorḵ) was published on the western front in World War II and distributed among Soviet Tajik soldiers.
In Uzbekistan, HaqiqatiUzbekiston was the only newspaper in the Tajik Persian language. It was a continuation of Ovozitojik(Āvāz-etājik-ekambaḡal before the 10th issue) that was published in Samarkand from 25 August 1924, on the eve of the territorial delimitation of Central Asia. From 1 January 1931 to 27 May 1938 it was published as Haqiqati Uzbakiston in Roman script in 10,000 copies. Its publication was discontinued during World War II but resumed on 5 March 1950 with the new title Uzbekistoni sorkh in Cyrillic script. It was renamed Haqiqati Uzbakiston beginning with the issue of 5 July 1964, and was printed thrice weekly in four pages, 30 by 42 cm. In the post-Soviet period, the original name Ovozi tojik was revitalized. Although published in Tashkent, it aimed at Tajik readers all over the republic, particularly the residents of Samarkand, where Tajik-language publishers, schools, and a university were operating. It covered political and economic news, social and cultural events, and recreational and entertaining articles. This newspaper is a major source for study of the Persian-speaking population of Uzbekistan.
Bibliography:
S. Abdulloev, “Haqiqati Uzbekiston,” in Entsiklopediyai sovetii tojik (Tajik soviet encyclopedia) VIII, Dushanbe, 1988, p. 380.
V. M. Asrori (Asrāri), Pechat’ Sovetskogo Tadzhikistana . . . , Moscow, 1972.
Sadriddin Ayni (Ṣadr-al-Din ʿAyni), “Muborizai 15-solai bošarafona” (Mobāraza-ye 15-sāla-ye bāšarafāna), Tojikistoni sorkh (Tājikestān-e sorḵ), 15 March 1940; repr. Jomhuriyat, 14 Feb 1998, p. 2.
Z. Dust and F. Aziz, eds., Hisori shodmon (Ḥeṣār-e šādmān), Dushanbe, 1992, p. 52.
Entsiklopediyai adabiyot va san’ati tojik (Tajik encyclopedia of literature and art), 2 vols., Dushanbe, 1988-89.
Entsiklopediyai sovetii tojik, ed. Muhammad Osimi (ʿĀṣemi), 8 vols., Dushanbe, 1976-86, I, pp. 353, 461; II, pp. 7-10; III, p. 409; IV, pp. 252-54; V, pp. 283-84.
S. Saidov, Inkišofi matbuoti Tojikiston (Enkešāf-e maṭbuʿāt-e Tājikestān), Dushanbe, 1967.
Rakhimdzhon Sharopov, Osnovnye etapy i zakonomernosti razvitiya tadzhikskoĭ literaturnoĭ bibliografii (Basic stages and norms of the development of a Tajik literary bibliography), Dushanbe, 1970.
Ǔzbek sovet entsiklopediyasi (Uzbek soviet encyclopedia) XII, Tashkent, 1980, pp. 280-81.
(Habib Borjian)
Originally Published: December 15, 2003
Last Updated: March 6, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XI, Fasc. 6, pp. 669-670