DUSHANBE, January 28, 2014, Asia-Plus – Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz Service (Azattyk) has quoted Kyrgyz Deputy Foreign Minister, Askar Beshimov, as saying that Dushanbe agreed to jointly investigate the January 11 exchange of gunfire along the Kyrgyz-Tajik.
According to him, they got replay to their inquiry on January 26.
Meanwhile, after negotiations with Kyrgyz border guards the Tajik side reportedly halted digging of tranches in close proximity to the border.
A spokesman for the plenipotentiary representative of the Kyrgyz government in Batken, Mamazhan Berdishev, told Azattyk that the closure of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border had not affected an everyday life of residents of the Batken region.
“Border crossing points (BCPs) on the border remain closed, but it does not affect an everyday life of the population. There are enough food stocks, prices remain stable and there is no discontent among the population,” Berdishev said.
We will recall that five Kyrgyz border guards, one Kyrgyz policeman, and two Tajik border guards were wounded in exchanges of gunfire that took place along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border on January 11.
The clash started when Tajiks protested Kyrgyzstan’s construction of a bypass road through disputed territory. Both sides say the other started shooting first. Both sides say the other was trespassing. Kyrgyzstan has withdrawn its ambassador to Tajikistan.
Experts note that the segment of border between the Isfara (Tajikistan) and Batken (Kyrgyzstan) districts is one of the most conflict-prone parts in the Ferghana Valley. Conflicts over land ownership, delineation of the border, and water resources have caused tension between villagers on both sides of the border.
