Dear friends, fellow citizens, compatriots, Tajiks who are in the country or living and working abroad for economic, political or any other reasons!

Together with all the people of the planet we see off year 2018 and meet new year 2019.

Our country is also multinational and multi-religious. Tajiks, Uzbeks, Russians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Ukrainians, Jews, Tatars, Armenians, Georgians, Azeris, Lithuanians, Latvians, Germans, Koreans live in an atmosphere of mutual respect and support. All who live side by side with us for thousands of years; all who found refuge in Tajikistan in the difficult years of the last century; who built Tajikistan and who remained, despite the great upheavals of the last century.

I know that even in the most difficult years of the last century, people of different nationalities and confessions saved others’ lives, respected the spiritual values of each other, were together in joy and sorrow. In the famine years people shared with others all they could: a cup of tea, a piece of cake, supporting the deprived and those who were left without a breadwinner. No matter who was of what religion or nationality, human values helped people rise above differences and lend a helping hand to each other.

This is the basis of a healthy society in which people are together in joy and sorrow. In a healthy society, people support each other, perceive the joy and celebration of a neighbor as their own. In an unhealthy society, we see the opposite: bitterness, opposition, and even national and religious division on every occasion and without.

Our long-suffering people, possessing both rich historical experience of cordial neighborhood and interaction with other nations, and bitter experience of separating along ideological and national grounds, should become an example of respect for the values, traditions and beliefs of all inhabitants of the country. This should not be a cause of contention. Rather it should a cause of unity and strengthening of mutual respect and trust between parts of our society.

On behalf of the National Alliance of Tajikistan (NAT), consisting of representatives and defenders of the interests of all parts of our society, as the head of NAT, I congratulate you, dear compatriots, on the upcoming new year 2019! I wish you peace and prosperity in every home and in our dear and beloved Tajikistan!

I hope this year millions of those who are obliged to seek a better life in other countries will return to their families. Let the new year be a year that will open new unprecedented opportunities for every citizen of the country, a year of restoration of justice for our brothers — political prisoners, for all oppressed or forced to leave the country.

The general well-being of Tajikistan depends on whether safety, dignity, peace, light, warmth, prosperity, comfort and confidence in the future come to everyone and to every home. It depends only on us and only together we can achieve this. We, all equal parts of diverse Tajik society, wherever we are, can achieve this together in mutual support, defending our right and respecting the law, culture and values of the other and standing shoulder to shoulder with each other.

I wish the coming year to be good and fruitful for you. I wish each of you good luck and confidence in your abilities, health, joy, prosperity and happiness to you and your loved ones.

Happy new year dear friends!

Muhiddin Kabiri, the head of the National Alliance of Tajikistan

December 30, 2018