Azerbaijan Toppled by Tajikistan, Dushanbe Runs Up the Flagpole

We knew this day would come: Azerbaijan no longer holds the title of “Country with the Tallest Flagpole”.

It’s been a while since we’ve checked in on Baku’s world-leading flagpole, but you can catch up on the story from last year here, here, and here.  I have no idea what this means for Azerbaijan or Tajikistan, other than one of these parties is likely seething at the other for stealing the spotlight.  Will tourists still want to go to Baku now that it no longer has the tallest flagpole in the world?

Here’s the story, from Reuters:

Aug 31 (Reuters) – Tajikistan, the poorest of the 15 former Soviet nations, has entered the Guinness Book of Records by erecting the world’s tallest unsupported flagpole, officially touted as a symbol of its upcoming independence day.

“This flag is tasked to consolidate the achievements of our independence — peace, unity and national harmony,” President Imomali Rakhmon said in a speech late on Tuesday as the giant flag was slowly raised on the 165-meter (541-feet) high pole perched in the center of the capital Dushanbe.

Now that Baku’s flagpole has helped this developing country deal with its problems of corruption, unemployment, and income inequality, let’s hope the same can happen in Tajikistan, a country which just spent millions of dollars on a flagpole instead of addressing the 47% of its population living on $2 a day or less.

One other bit: yesterday, President Aliyev phoned his Tajik counterpart, President Imomali Rahmon.  Think they talked about the flagpole?