DUSHANBE, December 24, 2013, Asia-Plus — Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are expected to resume border talks next month.
Issues related to acceleration of the border demarcation process were discussed at a meeting of Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Murodali Alimardon with Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Tokon Mamytov that took place in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, a source told Asia-Plus today.
According to him, the sides agreed to hold the next round of talks on border demarcation in Dushanbe on January 7, 2014.
“Kyrgyz co-chairman of the commission for border demarcation is Tokon Mamytov,” the source said, noting that a group of Kyrgyz parliamentarians is expected to arrive in Dushanbe this month to discuss the border demarcation issues.
Alimardon and Mamytov also discussed reasons for the incident that took place in the border area on December 17.
We will recall that the incident occurred after an alleged arson attack destroyed a teahouse belonging to a Kyrgyz national in a disputed area along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
Some 200 people reportedly gathered on both sides of the road linking the Tajik northern city of Isfara and Vorukh, a jamoat in northern Tajikistan, which forms part of an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan.
Tensions between local Kyrgyz and Tajiks led to negotiations between Tajik and Kyrgyz regional officials. The road has been reopened for traffic after residents of the Kyrgyz village of Aksai have received promise that an alternative road Aksai-Tandyk will be built.
Three countries sharing the Ferghana Valley — Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan — inherited unclear borders at their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Many populated areas remain in dispute.
A total length of Tajikistan’s common border with Kyrgyzstan is 910 kilometers and some 470 kilometers of the border reportedly remain disputable.
