14 Facts About Qahhor Mahkamov

Qahhor Mahkamov was a Tajik politician who served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan from 1985 to 1991 and was the first President of Tajikistan from November 1990 until his fall in the August 1991 coup.

Qahhor Mahkamov graduated from Dushanbe Industrial Technicom in 1949 and from the Leningrad Mining Institute in 1952 with a degree in engineering.

Qahhor Mahkamov worked as a professor, head engineer, and director of a mine in Isfara.

In 1963 Qahhor Mahkamov was appointed to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Tajikistan and from 1963 until 1982 he was Head of the Central Planning and the Vice-Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Soviet Tajikistan, one of the most powerful positions in the republic.

In 1985, Rahmon Nabiyev was ousted in a corruption scandal as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Tajikistan and Qahhor Mahkamov was chosen to succeed him.

Qahhor Mahkamov's tenure was one of the most turbulent in the republic's history.

The greatest threat to Qahhor Mahkamov's power came during the February 1990 Dushanbe riots that rocked the capital.

Qahhor Mahkamov oversaw a crackdown on Islamic fundamentalists and a lengthy curfew was put in place.

Qahhor Mahkamov served as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 12 April to 30 November 1990.

Qahhor Mahkamov's fall from power came in August 1991 when he supported the failed August Coup by hardliners in Moscow.

Qahhor Mahkamov then retired from politics and sat on the sidelines during the ensuing political instability and Civil War in Tajikistan.

In 2000, Qahhor Mahkamov was appointed a member of the National Assembly of Tajikistan by the order of the President Emomali Rahmon.

Qahhor Mahkamov died on 8 June 2016 at the age of 84, after suffering a long illness.

Qahhor Mahkamov's wife Gavkhar Shakirovna Makhkamova was a Tatar from Kyrgyzstan, serving as a mining specialist.