Tajikistan Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Nazirmad Alizoda was reportedly invited to the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry yesterday to discuss the situation along the mutual border.
According to the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry press center, the sides underlined the inadmissibility of dissemination of provocative materials aiming at inciting hatred between residents of border regions and districts of the two countries.
The ministry reportedly noted the critical importance of carrying out persistent work to provide stability and interethnic accord, publish correct and reliable information on border issues and take measures against persons distributing provocative video materials.
The sides also exchanged views on organization of high-level and top-level visits in the near future, the Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry press center says.
The border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. The countries share 971 kilometers of border – of which only 504 kilometers has reportedly been properly delineated.
The latest incident took place along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in early June. The Kyrgyz Border Guard Service reportedly said on June 2 that the incident took place overnight in the southern Batken region. According to the service, unknown individuals opened fire at a car with Kyrgyz license plates in the Eski-Tash district at around 1.30 a.m. local time.
The man in the car was wounded and he was treated at a hospital in the village of Samarkandek, the Border Guard Service said, adding that law enforcement officials from both nations worked together on the issue.
The previous incident along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border reportedly took place on May 27, at 11:55. A statement released by the Main Border Guard Directorate at the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) of Tajikistan, in particular, says that contrary to previously signed agreements, Kyrgyz national Soat Bakhtibekov, resident of the Koktash village, shot a 25-year-old Tajik woman Zuhrona Sharopova (Mutabarkhonum Zuhriddin), who was hospitalized with a gunshot wound.
As usual, the two countries accused each other of escalating tensions along the border.
Last year alone, there were at least fourteen cases of violence, in which six Tajik nationals and one Kyrgyz citizen were killed and more than 60 other people were injured.
