DUSHANBE, March 29, 2014, Asia-Plus – Informal leaders of Tajik and Kyrgyz border areas met on March 28 in the Tajik northern city of Isfara to discuss problems arising in disputed border areas.
An official source at the Sughd regional administration says the meeting was organized by administrations of two neighboring districts of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – Isfara and Batken.
“The meeting participants included imam-khatibs of mosques from Isfara and Batken, residents of the Vorukh jamoat (Tajikistan) and the Aksai village (Kyrgyzstan), as well as Sherali Khairulloyev, Aide to the Tajik President for the National Security Affairs, chiefs of Sughd and Batken police directorates and regional administrators of Isfara and Batken,” the source said.
Speaking at the meeting, Sherali Khairulloyev noted that any problem arising in disputed border areas could be solved through negotiations at the government level and the population and informal leaders of border areas must promote peaceful co-existence of two friendly peoples.
We will recall that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have discussed possible land exchanges to resolve long-festering border disputes.
Radio Liberty’s Kyrgyz Service on March 24 quoted the head of the village of Kok-Tash, Raziya Osorova, as saying that Kyrgyz villagers living along the border may be relocated into Kyrgyzstan”s Batken region if the land they are currently living on is exchanged with Tajikistan for other disputed territory.
A joint Kyrgyz-Tajik commission has reportedly discussed the possible relocation of residents in the Kyrgyz villages of Maseit, Aryk-Asty, and Tash-Tumshuk. The joint commission has been discussing the border issue since January after a shooting incident along the border left several Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards injured.
Five Kyrgyz border guards, one Kyrgyz policeman, and two Tajik border guards were hospitalized with injuries on January 11 after tensions escalated into exchanges of gunfire along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. The clash started when Tajiks protested Kyrgyzstan’s construction of a bypass road through a disputed area. Tajikistan has requested to halt the construction of the road until the border is delimited.
Kyrgyzstan recalled its ambassador to Tajikistan and unilaterally closed border crossing points (BCPs) on its common border with Tajikistan
