DUSHANBE, July 15, 2014, Asia-Plus – Head of Tajikistan’s State Committee on Land Management and Geodesy, Mahmadtohir Zokirov considers that Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan should decide on their common border first and only after that speak about construction of new roads in border areas.
“There is no need in building new roads in the disputed areas,” Zokirov told journalists in Dushanbe on July 14, noting that all necessary roads were built in the Soviet times.
According to him, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan must solve first the issue of delimitation and demarcation of disputed stretches of their common border.
“We have to decide on the issue that has not been solved since 1924,” said Zokirov. “A joint Tajik-Kyrgyz commission is currently working on this issue. We can speak about construction of new roads only after delineation of the border between our countries. The commission has not yet raised this issue.”
Tajik official noted that he did not consider Vorukh jamoat an enclave and did not think that that territory needed new alternative roads for communication with the rest of Tajikistan.
We will recall that Tajikistan suggested working with documents and maps from the 1924-1927 period while Kyrgyzstan suggested using the maps of the bilateral commissions from the periods of 1958-1959 and 1989.
The maps of the early 1920s show the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic as incorporating Vorukh within its borders. But the maps of the 1950s show Vorukh as an exclave within the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic.
