DUSHANBE, January 18, 2016, Asia-Plus – Kyrgyz authorities have reportedly approved a draft agreement on delineation of 519.9 kilometers of its common border with Tajikistan.
The Kyrgyz government’s official website reports that
Kyrgyz First Deputy Prime Minister, Aaly Karashev, noted on January 15 that to-date, the Kyrgyz-Tajik commission for delimitation and demarcation of mutual border has made decision on delineation of 519.9 kilometers of the mutual 971-kilometer border.
The decision on delineation of the mentioned 519.9 kilometers of the mutual border was reportedly made in Bishkek in November last year.
We will recall that co-chaired by Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Azim Ibrohim and First Vice-Premier Aaly Karashev, Tajik-Kyrgyz border talks took place in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on November 19.
The meeting participants reportedly discussed draft description and line of the disputable stretches of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border and reached an agreement on furthering the issues of delimitation and demarcation of the border and possible exchange of separate land plots.
The two sides endorsed the draft agreement on 519.9 kilometers of the border but they failed to reach an agreement on the disputable border areas.
Much of the border that remains undelineated rests between Tajikistan’s Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken province. Trouble periodically sparks around the Tajik exclave of Vorukh.
Kyrgyzstan had previously suggested using the maps of the periods of 1955-1959 for demarcation and delimitation of the disputable stretches of the border while Tajikistan had suggested working with documents and maps of the period of 1924-1927. The maps of the early 1920s show the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic as incorporating Vorukh within its borders while the maps of the 1950s show Vorukh as an exclave within the Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic.
The latest skirmishes sparked by a territorial dispute between residents along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border escalated on August 4 last year, leaving several people injured and damaging multiple homes.
The two countries have been unable to agree on the location of the border they inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. They have delimited only about half of the 971 kilometers. As the population in the dense Ferghana Valley grows, it has become increasingly difficult to demarcate the contested sections, where valuable agricultural land often lies.
In August last year, Kyrgyz and Tajiks clashed near the village of Kok-Tash. Depending on the account, the order of events is reversed but includes Tajiks blocking a road to a cemetery used by the Kyrgyz villagers of Kok-Tash and the Kyrgyz blocking a canal supplying the Tajik village of Chorku. There were reports of rock throwing, gunshots, and damage to several houses.
Sometimes incidents involve citizens and other times border services. In January 2014, the border services of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan exchanged fire. The incident included reports of a mortar attack. In April 2013, Vorukh featured in a clash between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards.
These incidents highlight the fragility of the border and its potential as a flashpoint.
