More tales from the Silk Road

Mission Accomplished ~ Beyond the Tien Shan Footnote to "More tales from the Silk Road -
Tall Tales from Beyond the Tien Shan"

By Tom Wheeler, Ankara, Turkey 

In the last issue of 1999 we had an article "More dispatches from the Silk Road", with the promise to publish the follow-up story in the next edition, so here it is:

The 29th October is Republic Day in Turkey and as no festivities were planned in the aftermath of the earthquake, it seemed an ideal time for a long weekend away. But no, The Tajikistan Embassy sent a Note saying that President Emomali Rahmonov would receive my credentials in Dushanbe at 9 a.m. that day.

Rather easier said than done, How does one get from Ankara to Dushanbe? Via Sherametova and Domodedova airports in Moscow - a major problem to get between the two airports and a vast detour, north then south, as we discovered earlier; or from the as until then unheard of airport at Chorlu outside Istanbul direct to Dushanbe on Tajikistan Airlines - seemed just too simple.

We would probably have to share the plane with vast piles of textiles and other goods masquerading as carry-on luggage - the famous suitcase trade; or the last option: five hours by Turkish Airlines to Tashkent, three hours by car with the redoubtable and ever trustworthy Michael Timcke at the wheel, to Khojand in northem Tajikistan, Then over the 4000m Tien Shan ranges by a domestic Tajikistan Airlines craft, The more familiar won out in the end.

The bureaucracy at the border faded away in the face of careful preparation and a few well-placed snarls from Michael. But our hearts did sink when we saw the size of the tiny Yak 40 jet that was going to take us on the last leg south to Dushanbe.

After some zigzagging and circling to gain enough height in the valley at Chkalovsk, a former closed nuclear city, now a gold refinery and site of the airport, we crossed the formidable double range cut in two by the Zerefshan river, without even any turbulence, in 50 minutes, The once civil war-wracked city of Dushanbe seemed serene, well-planned and beautiful as we drove down the main boulevard, no longer named Leninski Prospect, but after the national poet, RudakL to the Presidential Dacha. This is in the grounds of the Presidential Residence and we were invited to wander in the gardens and enjoy the superb forest of pines and other trees planted many years ago, Pretty relaxed for a country still in the midst of a peace process,

Our preconceptions were given a further knock by the efficiency with which our programme was arranged: Meetings with the Foreign Minister, Prime Minister and Speaker of Parliament and calls on the Indian and Turkish Ambassadors, The latter invited us to lunch at a restaurant in the Opera House where we were served trout caught that morning in the local river - there is no fish market.

The former invited me to celebrate my birthday in the international dining club he has created in an unused building in the Chancery grounds. Other dinner guests included two of the local South African resident - gold mine personnel. We missed the last of the South African wine by a week, so we drank Chilean white and French Bordeaux. We were frozen in our seats when 'Nkosi Sikelela iAfrika' came over the sound system,

Our host had decided to entertain us and the other diners with his collection of Soweto String Quartet CDs, (He served in Kinshasa and is a devotee of all forms of African rnusic.) After the simple but dignified ceremonies on Friday at the Presidential Palace, the Turkish Ambassador invited me to join him at his national day lunch for the local heads of mission, Met them all in one swoop, while Nowetu Luti and Michael lunched with the South African community in a fancy new Austrian restaurant across Rudaki from the Dacha,

In next to no time we all had official accreditation cards. Michael has also acquired a new title "Official Adviser to the South African Ambassador to Tajikistan" and has an Identity card to prove it. Suddenly the airline tickets got cheaper too.

Our arrival at the VIP departure lounge was not without incident. The clerk with a Soviet-style attitude said that I could stay, but Nowetu and Michael would have to go elsewhere to check in. Michael gave her to understand she could get lost in Uzbek or Tajik or Russian or something. It worked. Then she mellowed and asked the Chief of Protocol how the South African Ambassador could be white. Soon I was Papa Afrika, Nowetu Mama Afrika and Michael Big Brother from big brother next door - Uzbekistan - and big he is compared to a Tajik, even if his beard makes him look like an Islamic fundamentalist.

The journey in a prop-driven Antanov 24 was uneventful if hair- raising, as the mountain crossing was in daylight this time. We could see what we had skimmed across in the dead of night.

The charming young protocol officer in Khojand, Mr Sharipov, had arranged a high-speed chase back to the Uzbek border under police escort. With his help we had the fastest border crossing in living memory, even though the two states are practically at war with each other. The whole feel was like a movie scene of a border crossing out in the back of beyond, except it was real, out in the back of beyond.

An hour and half later, in spite of farm tractors and heavy trucks without lights we were safely back in Tashkent, only to avoid by a hair breadth being wiped out in a high-speed collision at the intersection of two major city boulevards. Somehow the exotic idea of a journey to Tajikistan, just short of Shangrila, has disappeared. Been-there- done-that. Next time we will go straight from Chorlu, and take a chance on the baggage.

MEDIA STATEMENT ON FIRST SA AMBASSADOR TO PRESENT CREDENTIALS IN TAJIKISTAN

The first South African Ambassador to be accredited to the Central Asian Republic of Tajikistan has presented his credentials to President Emomali Rahmonov in the capital, Dushanbe.

The Ambassador to Turkey based in Ankara, Mr Tom Wheeler, is now also South Africa's non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Tajikistan.

Tajikistan, which borders China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, is a country with mountains exceeded in height only by the Himalayas of Nepal and covering 93% of the country.