By Daniel Massey
Even though Queens’ Bukharian Jews are concerned U.S. bombing will harm civilians in Afghanistan, they support the United States’ military operation and are anxious to help their new homeland navigate its way through a land whose language and culture they share.
In interviews Sunday, Bukharian Jews from Uzbekistan spoke out in support of their homeland’s participation in the United States’ international coalition to combat terrorism.
The most populated Central Asian state, Uzbekistan is emerging as an important strategic ally for the United States in its war against terrorism. Its location along Afghanistan’s northern border and its 25 million citizens’ familiarity with the Afghan language and culture make it a particularly useful friend to Operation Enduring Freedom.
Michael Aharanoff, president of the Forest Hills-based Bukharian Jewish Council, said the languages of the Afghans and the Bukharian Jews are similar. “They are different dialects, but they have the same meaning,” he said.
Some Bukharian Jews have firsthand knowledge of the culture and geography of Afghanistan. Many fought there during the former Soviet Union’s 10-year-war that ended in 1989 and others found refuge from Soviet religious persecution in the country.
More than 200,000 Bukharian Jews have fled Uzbekistan in the past 20 years. Most of them went to Israel, but 40,000 moved to Queens, which now lays claim to the second largest Bukharian Jewish population in the world, settling in Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, Corona and Jamaica Estates. Jewish groups estimate there are only about 1,000 Bukharian Jews left in Uzbekistan.
Nearly three weeks ago, Uzbek President Islam Karimov offered his country’s support to the United States and there were interested observers in western Queens as Karimov granted U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld permission to use Uzbek airspace and an Uzbek airfield.
Aharanoff was 20 when his family left Kabul, Afghanistan for the United States in 1969. His father had immigrated to Afghanistan from Bukhara following the Russian Revolution. Now, as the Forest Hills resident watches bombs drop daily on his hometown, he is saddened by the plight of Afghan citizens but supportive of the U.S. effort to eradicate terrorism.
“The people of Afghanistan are caught inside this whole problem,” he said. “The whole country has been destroyed.”
Many Bukharian Jews who emigrated from Uzbekistan, agreed with Aharanoff in interviews conducted Sunday along 99th Street in Rego Park.
Yuriy Mohseyev, who owns a kosher butchery, came to the United States from Margelam in southern Uzbekistan three years ago.
“I’m very proud that Uzbekistan allowed U.S. troops to be there,” he said through a translator. “Any country that can do something to combat terrorism should.”
He added that he “feels sorry for the peaceful citizens of Afghanistan.”
Yakov Farhlayev arrived eight years ago from Bukhara, and owns a Rego Park pharmacy. “This is a good step that Uzbekistan is provided the opportunity to work with America,” he said. “The people are good in Afghanistan, the terrorists are no good. I feel bad for the citizens, but it is necessary for the region.”
David Shimunov, who came to Rego Park in 1995 from Samarkand in southern Uzbekistan, owns a fruit market on 99th Street welcomed the decision to allow troops inside the country. He said Uzbekistan is “now safer” because of its alliance with the United States.
He said Uzbekistan would be stabilized if the United States defeats the Taliban, which controls most of Afghanistan. Taliban-backed rebels seeking to gain power in Uzbekistan have fought with Uzbek troops since the country’s independence in 1991.
Support for U.S. military operations is more than verbal.
“Many from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan contacted us because they speak a language similar to that of Afghanistan,” said Nahum Kaziev, chairman of the Educational Center for Russian Jewry in Rego Park. “Some served in the Russian Army. Some of the Bukharians are originally from Kabul. Many people were excited in the community to try to help to see how they could offer help.”
Aharanoff said he volunteered his community’s linguistic services to the FBI, but was told the assistance was not needed just yet.
“There are so many volunteers, they said to wait,” he said “If they need our help, we are there. Everyone, all the Bukharian community, is ready to help.”
Meanwhile, Aharanoff said the Bukharian Jewish Council raised more than $10,000 for victims of the World Trade Center attacks.
“We’ve been received in this country so nicely and open-handed,” Aharanoff said. “So, of course, we are feeling like this is our country. Now when we see tragedy, we want to pay back our due.”
Reach reporter Daniel Massey by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.
