Tajik Pres Rakhmonov officially changes his surname to Rakhmonv

Moscow, Apr 14 (UNI) Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov has officially changed his surname from Rakhmonov to Rakhmon A Foreign Ministry official told Itar-Tass news agency that a ''respective note has been sent to foreign ministries of states with which the country maintains diplomatic relations.'' The Tajik President had last month declared his decision to shed the Slavic ending of his surname, which he assumed in former Soviet Union at a meeting with the intelligentsia.

''I would like to bear the surname from the name of my father Rakhmon according to laws of our ancestors, according to our traditions,'' the President said.

He also called on compatriots ''to return to their roots and to return to the Persian spelling of their surnames''.

Slavic flexions ''-ov, -ev, -in'' are ubiquitous in Tajik surnames.

After a hot debate in the media, the President's press service declared that the ''address of the Tajik leader to the nation about abandoning Slavic endings in surnames has a recommendatory, and not a mandatory character.'' UNI XC AKJ DB1902