KHUJAND, July 9, 2014, Asia-Plus — A meeting of working groups of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to discuss projects for construction of the roads Koktash-Aksai-Tamdyk and Isfara-Vorukh that opened in the Tajik northern city of Qairoqqum on July 7 has ended in a deadlock because the sides have failed to come to an agreement on the Isfara-Vorukh road.
First deputy governor of Sughd province, Jumaboy Sanginov, stated this at a news conference in Khujand, the capital of Sughd province on July 8.
According to him, the Tajik side suggested that the road should be built, maintained and controlled by Tajikistan, while the Kyrgyz side insisted on joint management and control of the road.
“In this case, disputes and clashes between residents of border villages will not end,” said the deputy governor, noting that the main goal of the Tajik side is to provide direct access to Vorukh, an exclave of Tajikistan within the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan, to bypass Kyrgyz territory.
Therefore, Tajikistan has reportedly declined an offer of the Kyrgyz side.
We will recall that the working groups of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan gathered in Qairoqqum to discuss a draft government-to-government agreement between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan on use of border roads.
A 130-square-kilometer fertile area around the village of Vorukh, which is populated by some 32,000 people, the vast majority of them Tajiks, is one disputed areas on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. Legally, Vorukh is part of Tajikistan, but due to past redrawing of borders, it exists as an exclave some 20 kilometers inside Kyrgyzstan.
