Negotiations between Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations took place in Vorukh, Tajik exclave in Kyrgyz territory, on March 15, a day after border clashes left two Tajiks dead and more than 30 injured.
Tajik journalists could not attend the negotiations as the road connecting Vorukh and the Tajik northern city of isfara has been blocked by Kyrgyz.
Tajik delegation was led by Deputy Prime Minister Azim Ibrohim and its members included Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda, Head of the Main Border Guard Directorate Rajabali Rahmonali and Head of the State Committee on Land Management and Geodesy Orif Khojazoda.
Kyrgyzstan was represented at the negotiations by Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov and some other officials.
Tajik authorities have not commented on the negotiations and only the Kyrgyz side has informed of the interim results of the negotiations.
Thus, Kyrgyz Interior Ministry’s website reports that Kyrgyz and Tajik interior ministers have agreed to set up a bilateral investigation to carry out impartial investigation in to the border incident.
Besides, the two sides have agreed to set up patrol groups to maintain public order in border areas of Batken (Kyrgyzstan) and Sughd (Tajikistan) regions.
The Kyrgyz government’s press service Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov and Tajik Deputy Prime Minister Azim Ibrohim held talks and stressed the importance of bringing calm to the area before a joint probe into the violence is launched.
Recall, Tajik Present Emomali Rahmon and his Kyrgyz counterpart Sooronbai Jeenbekov agreed during a March 14 phone conversation to push forward with talks on delineating their disputed borders and to launch a joint investigation into the clashes.
According to the Kyrgyz government’s press service, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Mukhammedkalyi Abylgaziev and Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasoulzoda also discussed the border tensions in a separate phone call on March 14.
In a statement released on March 15, the Kyrgyz government's press service also said that people from Ak-Sai and Kok-Tash, two villages near a disputed section of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border, had been moved to the administrative center of the Batken region.
Recall, the unrest erupted on March 13 after Kyrgyzstan restarted work on a controversial Aksai-Tamdyk road in the disputed section of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.
Two Tajik nationals were killed and about 30 others wounded in two days of clashes. Kyrgyzstan listed two injured on its side.
Tajik border service argues that completion of this road will lead to the stemming of a river and leave Vorukh without irrigation for its valuable apricot and walnut cash crops.
