Dushanbe Dushanbe Dushanbe (, ) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. Dushanbe means "Monday" in the Tajik language. It was named this way because it grew from a village that originally had a popular market on Mondays. , Dushanbe had a population of 802,700. Historically a small village, Dushanbe was made the capital of the Tajik Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1924. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (, "Dyushambe"), and from 1929 to 1961 as Stalinabad (, "Stalinobod)" which was named after Joseph Stalin. Situated at the confluence of two rivers, Varzob and Kofarnihon,
Dissolution of the Soviet Union the former national anthem Tautiška giesmė was later reinstated. On February 20, 1988, after a week of growing demonstrations in Stepanakert, capital of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (the Armenian majority area within the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic), the Regional Soviet voted to secede and join with the Soviet Socialist Republic of Armenia. This local vote in a small, remote part of the Soviet Union made headlines around the world; it was an unprecedented defiance of republican and national authorities. On February 22, 1988, in what became known as the "Askeran clash", thousands of Azerbaijanis marched towards Nagorno-Karabakh, demanding information about