Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are expected to resume border talks next week.
A source in the Tajik government says that the next round of talk on border demarcation, co-chaired by Azim Ibrohim, the Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan and Jenish Razakov, the Vice Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan, will take place in Dushanbe on June 20.
According to him, Ibrohim and Razakov will discuss issues related to acceleration of the process of delimitation and demarcation of the remaining disputable stretches of the mutual border.
While in Dushanbe, Jenish Razakov will also participate in the High-Level International Conference on International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028” that will take place in the Tajik capital from June 20-22.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been unable to agree on the location of the border they inherited when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. 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.
The area at the focus of unrest among residents of border areas of the two countries lies on the jagged frontier where the east of Tajikistan’s Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region meet.
Skirmishes have sparked between residents of Isfara (Tajikistan) and Batken (Kyrgyzstan) districts along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border.
The latest serious skirmishes sparked by a territorial dispute between residents along the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border escalated on August 4, 2015, leaving several people injured and damaging multiple homes.
Besides, Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards brawled on disputed land on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border on June 4 this year.
According to the Kyrgyz border service, the incident took place in the Leilek district in Kyrgyzstan’s southern Batken region, after Kyrgyz vendors started selling goods on a disputed part of the border.
Kyrgyz border guards reportedly briefly detained three armed Tajik border guards following the brawl that involved shooting.
Border representatives of Tajikistan for Jabbor-Rasoulov district and border representatives of Kyrgyzstan for Leilek district reportedly had an immediate meeting to discuss the situation.
