{{Short description|Region of Tajikistan}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Khatlon | native_name = Вилояти Хатлон (Tajik) | native_name_lang = | other_name = | settlement_type = Region <!-- images and maps -----------> | image_skyline = {{multiple image | border = infobox | perrow = 1/2/2/2/2 | total_width = 250 | image1 = The Nurek Reservoir (42040633540).jpg | image2 = Hills in Sarband.jpg | image3 = Khoja Mashad (17903123132).jpg | image4 = Kulyab Museum, Kulyab, Tajikistan.JPG | image5 = Okno (13).jpg | footer = From the top to bottom-right, Nurek Reservoir, Sarband, Khoja Mashkhad Mausoleum, Tomb of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, Okno Station }} | image_alt = | image_caption = | image_flag = | flag_alt = | image_seal = | seal_alt = | image_shield = | shield_alt = | etymology = | nickname = | image_map = Khatlon Province in Tajikistan.svg | map_alt = | map_caption = Khatlon in Tajikistan | coordinates = {{coord|37|50|N|69|00|E|display=it|region:TJ_type:adm1st_source:GNS-enwiki}} | area_total_km2 = 24700 | area_rank = | population_as_of = 2020 | population_footnotes = | population_total = 3,348,300 | population_density_km2 = auto | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Tajikistan}} | subdivision_type1 = Capital | subdivision_name1 = Bokhtar | subdivision_type2 = | subdivision_name2 = | iso_code = TJ-KT | blank_name_sec1 = HDI (2023) | blank_info_sec1 = 0.673<ref name="GlobalDataLab">{{Cite web|url=https://hdi.globaldatalab.org/areadata/shdi/|title=Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab|website=hdi.globaldatalab.org|language=en|access-date=29 November 2025}}</ref><br/>{{color|#ffa500|medium}} | blank1_name_sec2 = {{nowrap|Official languages}} | blank1_info_sec2 = {{plainlist| *Russian (Interethnic) *Tajik (State)<ref name="КОНСТИТУЦИЯ РЕСПУБЛИКИ ТАДЖИКИСТАН">{{cite web |title=КОНСТИТУЦИЯ РЕСПУБЛИКИ ТАДЖИКИСТАН |url=http://prokuratura.tj/ru/legislation/the-constitution-of-the-republic-of-tajikistan.html |website=prokuratura.tj |publisher=Parliament of Tajikistan |access-date=9 January 2020}}</ref>}} | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> }}

'''Khatlon Region''' ({{langx|tg|Вилояти Хатлон|Viloyati Xatlon}}), one of the four provinces of Tajikistan, is the most populous of the four first-level administrative regions in the country. It is situated in the southwest of the country, between the Hisor (Gissar) Range in the north and the river Panj in the south and borders on Districts under Republican Subordination in the north, on GBAO in the east, on Afghanistan (Balkh, Kunduz, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces) in the southeast and on Uzbekistan (Surxondaryo region)in the west. During Soviet times, Khatlon was divided into Kurgan-Tyube (Qurghonteppa) Oblast (Western Khatlon)&nbsp;– with the Kofarnihon and Vakhsh river valleys&nbsp;– and Kulob Oblast (Eastern Khatlon)&nbsp;– with the Kyzylsu and ''Yakhsu'' river valleys. The two regions were merged in November 1992 into today's Khatlon Region (or ''viloyat''/''oblast''). The capital city is Bokhtar, formerly known as ''Qurghonteppa'' and ''Kurgan-Tyube''.<ref>Borjian, H., “Khatlon”, Encyclopaedia Iranica. Volume 16, Issue 4, 2018, pp. 437-439. [https://www.academia.edu/31565801/Khatlon]</ref>

Khatlon has an area of 24,700 square kilometres and consists of 21 districts and 4 district-level cities. The total population of Khatlon in 2020 was 3,348,300,<ref name=pop2020>{{cite web |url=http://stat.ww.tj/posts/July2020/macmua_20201.pdf |title=Population of the Republic of Tajikistan as of 1 January 2020 |publisher=Statistics office of Tajikistan |access-date=12 October 2020 |language=ru |archive-date=1 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601101228/http://stat.ww.tj/posts/July2020/macmua_20201.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> up from 2,677,251 in the 2010 population census. The population in Khatlon is mainly engaged in agriculture.

==History== [[File:Kulyab Museum, Kulyab, Tajikistan.JPG|thumb|Tomb of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani]] During the Soviet era, Khatlon became one of the two main cotton regions in Tajikistan, along with Sughd (Leninabad). Collectivisation of agriculture was implemented aggressively in the early 1930s, to expand cotton cultivation in Tajikistan as a whole, with particular emphasis on the southern part of the republic. The process included violations against peasants, substantial expansion of the irrigation network, and forcible resettlement of mountain peoples and people from Uzbekistan to the lowlands.<ref name="atkin">Muriel Atkin. ''Tajikistan'' in: Glenn E. Curtis (ed.): Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, Country Studies, Washington: 1997. pp. 197–290.</ref>

The results of this policy are to be seen in the ethnic composition of Salua oblast as well as in the fact that the Tajik population identifies themselves either as Gharmis (resettled from the mountains) or Kulobis. These groups never melted, and fought against each other during the Civil War in Tajikistan. Khatlon oblast suffered the heaviest damage in Tajikistan.

Since the conflicts leading to the civil war were never really resolved, tensions in the region still exist. The eastern part&nbsp;– Kulob&nbsp;– is home to the president and his clan and has thus gained a lot of political influence. During Soviet times, the region cooperated with the then ruling elite from Leninabad, and was responsible for the militia, the army and the security forces. Kulob is regarded as a very conservative region. In the capital Bokhtar and parts of Kulob, the Islamic opposition has a lot of support among the Garmis.<ref>Borjian, Habib, Kurgan Tepe, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20190416193911/http://www.iranica.com/ ''Encyclopaedia Iranica Online'']}}</ref>

The Kulyab clan is based in Khatlon.<ref name=OVERVIEW>[http://ismaili.net/mirrors/112_tajik/tajkethn.html Ethnic groups at risk: The status of Tajiks] Heritage Society</ref> In February 1996 Colonel Mahmud Khudoiberdiyev launched a rebellion, insisting that three officials from the Kulyab clan resign before he ended the rebellion. The government complied. Additionally, Prime Minister Dzhamshed Karimov and Abudzhalil Khamidov, the Chairman of the Leninabad Oblast executive committee, resigned.<ref name=RESIG>[http://jamestown.org/print_friendly.php?volume_id=3&issue_id=125&article_id=1480 Tajikistan: Central Asian Powderkeg] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930181236/http://jamestown.org/print_friendly.php?volume_id=3&issue_id=125&article_id=1480 |date=2007-09-30 }} The Jamestown Foundation</ref>

==Administrative divisions== The Khatlon Region is subdivided into 21 districts and 4 district-level cities: Kulob, Levakant, Norak and Bokhtar. The districts are:<ref name=pop2020/>

{{div col|colwidth=22em}} * Baljuvon District (Sarikhosor District) * Danghara District * Dusti District (Jilikul District) * Farkhor District * Hamadoni District (Moskovskiy District) * Jaloliddin Balkhi District (Kolkhozobod District, Rumi District) * Jayhun District (Qumsangir District, Molotovobod District) * Jomi District (Kuybyshevskiy District, Dzhami District, Khojamaston District) * Khovaling District * Khuroson District (Ghozimalik District) * Kushoniyon District (Bokhtar District) * Mu'minobod District (Leningradskiy District) * Nosiri Khusrav District (Beshkent District) * Panj District (Saroy-Kamar District, Kirovobod District) * Qubodiyon District * Shahritus District * Shamsiddin Shohin District (Shuro-obod District) * Temurmalik District (Qizil-Mazor District, Sovetskiy District) * Vakhsh District (Qurghonteppa District) * Vose' District (Hulbuk District, Aral District) * Yovon District {{div col end}}

=== Former districts === * Kulob District * Norak District * Sarband District (Levakant District)

==Demography== thumb|Bokhtar Bazar In 2010, the ethnic composition of the Khatlon region was 81.8% Tajik, 12.9% Uzbek, 0.5% Turkmen and 4.6% other.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.censusinfo.tj/libraries/aspx/dataview.aspx|title=CensusInfo - Data|website=www.censusinfo.tj|access-date=2019-09-09}}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The ethnic composition of Kulob region is: 85% Tajiks, 13% Uzbeks, 2% others. In Bokhtar the breakdown is 59% Tajiks, 32% Uzbeks and 3% Russians.

{{Historical populations |title = |align = left |clear = |direction = |percentages = pagr |state = |type = |shading = off |width = |subbox = |pop_name = |year_name = Year |percent_name = |footnote = |source = Citypopulation<ref>{{cite web |title=Tajikistan: Provinces|url=http://www.citypopulation.de/en/tajikistan/|website=www.citypopulation.de |language=en}}</ref> |graph-pos = bottom |graph-width = |graph-height = |percol = |cols = |perrow = |rows = |1979 |1,220,949 |1989 |1,701,380 |1999 |2,150,136 |2010 |2,677,251 |2020 |3,348,300 }} {{clear}}

==Terrorist attack== {{Main|Terrorist attack against cyclists in Tajikistan}} On 29 July 2018, four cyclists, two Americans, one Dutch national and one Swiss national, were killed by a hit and run driver while three others were injured. Officials said the terrorists rammed into the group before getting out and attacking them with knives. 4 suspects were killed by security forces and 1 suspect was arrested.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/us-cyclists-killed-in-isis-claimed-attack-in-tajikistan-identified|title=US cyclists killed in ISIS-claimed attack in Tajikistan identified|first=Lucia Suarez|last=Sang|date=August 1, 2018|website=Fox News}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/tajikistan-four-foreign-cyclists-killed-three-injured-in-hit-and-run-in-southern-tajikistan/29396956.html|title = Four Foreign Cyclists Killed in Southern Tajikistan| newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | date=30 July 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nu.nl/buitenland/5389853/slachtoffer-bevestigt-aanval-buitenlandse-toeristen-tadzjikistan.html|title='Slachtoffer bevestigt aanval op buitenlandse toeristen Tadzjikistan'|date=30 July 2018}}</ref>

==See also== *Khatlon Valley *Principality of Khuttal *2006 Tajikistan earthquake *Dangara Massif Important Bird Area

==References== {{reflist}}

{{Geographic location |Centre = Khatlon Region |North = Districts of Republican Subordination |Northeast = Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region |East = Badakhshan Province, {{flag|Afghanistan}} |Southeast = Takhar Province, {{flag|Afghanistan}} |South = Kunduz Province, {{flag|Afghanistan}} |Southwest = Balkh Province, {{flag|Afghanistan}} |West = Surxondaryo Region, {{flag|Uzbekistan}} |Northwest = }} {{Provinces and regions of Tajikistan}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Khatlon Region Category:Regions of Tajikistan Category:States and territories established in 1992