DUSHANBE, June 1, 2013, Asia-Plus – Another incident between Tajik and Kyrgyz nationals reportedly occurred on May 31 in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken oblast, not far from the Vorukh, an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyz news agency AKIpress reports Tajik national have allegedly beaten residents of the Kyrgyz village of Kozhol.
After the incident representatives of both sides gathered at the scene of the incident and servicemen blocked the Vorukh-Isfara road.
Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports Kyrgyz border guards detained a young man from the Tajik village of Khoja Alo on May 31 who illegally crossed the border and were going to take him to the frontier post, but he managed to phone his fellow villagers and asked them for help. Residents of the border villages gathered on both side of the border, but Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards managed to separate scuffling people.
Residents of border villages reportedly gathered on both sides of the border and Kyrgyz citizens blocked the Vorukh-Isfara road and Tajik citizens blocked the Aksu-Isfara road.
In an interview with AKIpress, the chief of Kyrgyz border service, Tokon Mamytov, said on June 1 that two Tajik nationals who were gathering firewood along the borer illegally crossed into Kyrgyz territory on May 31. Kyrgyz border guards detained the trespassers and later handed over them to the Tajik side. “After that, their relatives beat our three citizens. Following this incident, residents of border villages gathered on both sides of the border. Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards came to an agreement to temporarily block the road in order to prevent further conflicts,” Mamytov was quoted as saying by AKIpress. The situation in area is now calm and the road is open for traffic.
Vorukh is a jamoat (the third-level administrative division in Tajikistan) in northern Tajikistan. It is located in the Isfara district in Sughd province. The jamoat now has a total population of 31,000. Vorukh forms part of an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan. There are several such enclaves, and they all come from Stalin”s drawing of borders in the 1930s.
Incidents sometimes occur along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in the Isfara district. Last year alone, at least four incidents occurred on Tajikistan’s common border with Kyrgyzstan in the Isfara district. The main problem that remains is that of the 970-kilometer border, nearly half remains disputed, while water distribution rights are the main source of conflict in this disputed territory.
The border problem is quite an acute in the Ferghana valley. This ethnically and culturally complex region is now divided among three countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
