DUSHANBE, December 20, 2013, Asia-Plus — The road linking the Tajik northern city of Isfara with Vorukh jamoat, which forms part of an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan, remains closed.
“Yesterday’s negotiations between regional administrators of the city of Isfara and Sughd province with regional administrators of Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region and Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Tokon Mamytov yielded no results,” Iqbol Teshayev, a spokesman for the Isfara mayor’s office, told Asia-Plus today morning.
According to him, residents of the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai, who have blocked the Isfara-Vorukh highway, have made new demands.
“Kyrgyz nationals, who have gathered at the border, do not listen to the authorities of the Kyrgyz region of Batken and demand an immediate resumption of construction of the Ak-Sai – Tamdik highway that runs through the territory of Vorukh, an exclave of Tajikistan within Kyrgyzstan,” the spokesman said.
“Construction of this road has been suspended following the decision made by the Tajik-Kyrgyz intergovernmental commission in April this year,” noted Teshayev. “The sides agreed that construction of this road will be resumed after demarcation and delimitation of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.”
The sides are continuing the negotiations on unblocking the road today, he added.
We will recall that the incident occurred on December 17 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 Isfara-Vorukh highway. Tensions between local Kyrgyz and Tajiks led to negotiations between Tajik and Kyrgyz regional officials.
Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Tokon Mamytov went to the area on December 19 to join negotiations between local Kyrgyz and Tajik officials.
Vorukh is a jamoat in northern Tajikistan. It is located in Isfara district in Sughd province. 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.
