Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmonov says he wants to change his name to drop the Russian-style ending that was attached to last names of people from ethnic groups across the Soviet Union, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

“In Soviet times, our names were documented according to the rules of the Russian language,” Rakhmonov said Tuesday at a meeting with Tajik intellectuals on the eve of a traditional celebration of the vernal equinox.

“I want to return to traditions and change my name to Emomalii Rakhmon,” he said.

Tajiks speak a dialect of Farsi, Iran’s main language.

Rakhmonov has long advocated for closer ties with Iran and with Afghanistan, which borders Tajikistan and has a large ethnic Tajik minority.

After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, many Tajiks dropped the Slavic “-ov” and “-ev” endings that were added to their last names during the forced Russification of the Communist era.

Rakhmonov has ruled the impoverished Central Asian nation since 1994 and has written several articles on the revival of Tajik identity.

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