Bokhtar (), previously known as Qurghonteppa, Kurganteppa and Kurgan-Tyube, is a city in southwestern

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, which serves as the capital of the

Khatlon Khatlon Region (), one of the four provinces of Tajikistan, is the most populous of the four first-level administrative regions in the country. It is situated in the southwest of the country, between the Hisor Range, Hisor (Gissar) Range in the n ...

region. Bokhtar is the largest city in southern Tajikistan, and is located south of

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

and north of

Kunduz Kunduz (; ; ) is a city in northern Afghanistan and the capital of Kunduz Province. The city has an estimated population of about 268,893 as of 2015, making it about the List of cities in Afghanistan, seventh largest city of Afghanistan, and the ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Population

As of 2019, the city's population was estimated at 110,800, making it the third-largest city in the country. The population fluctuates depending on the season, due to the many

Tajik Tajik, Tajikistan or Tajikistani may refer to. Someone or something related to Tajikistan: Tajik * Tajiks, an ethnic group in Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan * Tajik language, the official language of Tajikistan * Tajik alphabet, Alphabet u ...

migrant workers in Russia. Along with the capital

, Bokhtar is more demographically diverse than other major Tajik cities such as

Khujand Khujand, sometimes spelled Khodjent and formerly known as Leninabad from 1936 to 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan and the capital of Tajikistan's northernmost Sughd province. Khujand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, d ...

Kulob Kulob or Khatlon is a city in Khatlon Region in southern Tajikistan. Located southeast of the capital Dushanbe on the river Yakhsu (a right tributary of Panj), it is one of the largest cities in the country. Its population is estimated at 106 ...

Istaravshan Istaravshan (; ) is a city in Sughd Province in Tajikistan. In 2000, the Tajik government changed the name of the city from Uroteppa (; ''Ura-Tyube'', ). The city lies in the northern foothills of the Turkistan mountain range, 78 kilometers so ...

. Its population includes Tajiks,

Uzbeks The Uzbeks () are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, being among the largest Turkic ethnic groups in the area. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, next to Kazakhs, Kazakh and Karakalpaks, Karakalpak ...

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

Pashtuns Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghan (ethnon ...

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

Kazakhs The Kazakhs (Kazakh language, Kazakh: , , , ) are a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia and Eastern Europe. They share a common Culture of Kazakhstan, culture, Kazakh language, language and History of Kazakhstan, history ...

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

, and many more. The city had a large number of ethnic Russians who worked in the industrial and agricultural complexes in and around the city. Bokhtar is a stronghold of Tajikistan's political opposition.Ethnic groups at risk: The status of Tajiks
Heritage Society

Overview

During the

civil war in Tajikistan The Tajikistani Civil War,, group=pron also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 and ended in June 1997. Regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly formed government of Preside ...

, Bokhtar (then Qurghonteppa) became the epicenter of conflict by the summer of 1992, and was seriously damaged. Many of the local Kulobi and Uzbeks were forced to flee in 1992, following attacks by the pro-opposition Gharmi forces. The city was officially renamed from Qurghonteppa to Bokhtar on 22 January 2018. The name change was one of many in Tajikistan targeting places whose names derive from the Uzbek and Kyrgyz languages. Near Bokhtar are the ruins of a Buddhist monastery complex called

Ajina Tepe Ajina Tepe (; ) is a Buddhist monastery cluster located 12 kilometers east of the city of Bokhtar, Tajikistan. Buddhism in Tokharistan is said to have enjoyed a revival under the Western Turks. Several monasteries dated to the 7th-8th centuries d ...

, believed to be built in the 7th or 8th centuries CE. It features a 12-meter-long image of

Buddha in Nirvana Buddha in Nirvana or "Sleeping Buddha" is a statue which was found in 1959 in the south of Tajikistan by the archaeologist Boris Litvinskiy, during the excavation of the Buddhist temple on the Ajina tepe, in the valley of the Vakhsh River, near the ...

Bokhtar International Airport Bokhtar International Airport (, ; ) is an international airport five kilometers northeast of the city of Bokhtar (until 2018 was called Qurghonteppa), near the village of Levakant. Also known as Kurgan-Tyube, but after renaming the city of Kur ...

provides flights to a handful of cities in Tajikistan,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

. File:The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi and the President of Tajikistan, Mr. Emomali Rahmon in a group photo with the personnel of the India-Tajik Friendship Hospital, in Quarghan Teppa, Dushanbe, Tajikistan on July 13, 2015.jpg,

Indian Prime Minister The prime minister of India (ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the e ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

and

President of Tajikistan The president of Tajikistan is the head of state of the Republic of Tajikistan. The president heads the executive branch of the country's government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Tajikistan. History of the presidency ...

Emomali Rahmon Emomali Rahmon ( ; born 5 October 1952), born Emomali Sharipovich Rahmanov, is a Tajik politician who has served as the President of Tajikistan since 1994, having previously led the country as Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Tajikistan), Su ...

with personnel of the India-Tajik Friendship Hospital in Bokhtar, 13 July 2015. File:Qurghonteppa,bazar1.jpg, Bokhtar Bazaar File:Qurghonteppa 2010 01.jpg, Taxi station in Bokhtar File:Манзараи шаҳри Бохтар.jpg, Bokhtar library

Climate

Bokhtar has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of se ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''BSk''), with cool winters and very hot summers. Precipitation is quite low. It is highest in the spring, while summers are very dry.

Notable people

Sergei Mandreko Sergei Vladimirovich Mandreko (; 1 August 1971 – 8 March 2022) was a Russian-Tajik football coach and player who played as a midfielder. Club career Mandreko was born in Kurgan-Tyube, Tajik SSR. After leaving the newly independent Tajikistan ...

(1971-2022) - football coach * Nurudin N. Mukhitdinov (1959-) - politician

Trivia

Finnish electronic duo

Pan Sonic Pan Sonic was a Finnish electronic music group founded in Turku in 1993. The group consisted of Mika Vainio, Ilpo Väisänen, and Sami Salo. Salo left in 1996 leaving Pan Sonic a duo. The group was originally named Panasonic until 1998. In Dec ...

have a track entitled "Radio Qurghonteppa" on their 2010 farewell album Gravitoni. TV Khatlon Tajikistan

References

External links

Kurgan Tepe
in ''Encyclopaedia Iranica Online'' {{Authority control Populated places in Khatlon Region