The co-chairmen of the governmental delegations for delimitation and demarcation of the disputed segments of Tajikistan’s common border with Kyrgyzstan – Saimumin Yatimov (Tajikistan) and Kamchybek Tashiyev (Kyrgyzstan) – met in Batken, Kyrgyzstan on December 12.
Citing the State Committee for NAtional Security of Tajikistan (SCNS) of tajikistan, the Tajik state-run news agency Khovar says the parties discussed the outcomes of work carried out by the topographic and legal groups this year.
The co-chairs reportedly gave specific instructions to the delegations to intensify work on delimitation and demarcation of the disputed segments of the mutual border.
Recall, Kyrgyz President on December 11 noted the issues of demarcation of the disputed stretches of Kyrgyzstan’s common border with Tajikistan are planned to be resolved by spring next year.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan agreed upon another 24 kilometers of the border between them after special talks between the topographic working groups on this issue were held in the Tajik northern city of Buston on November 29.
On December 1, Saimumin Yatimov, the head of Tajikistan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS), met with his Kyrgyz counterpart, Kamchybek Tashiyev, in the Tajik city of Buston for talks that reportedly produced “key decisions” on how to resolve differences over the border.
In remarks to journalists following negotiations, Tashiyev spoke in vague generalities, although he ventured that “we are very close to settling all matters.”
Yatimov was reportedly more discursive. He said that a breakthrough solution had been agreed on how to manage use of the Vorukh-Khojai A'lo road, which crosses Kyrgyz territory and links the mainland of Tajikistan to the densely populated Tajik enclave of Vorukh.
In recent months of this year, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have agreed upon almost 100 kilometers of disputed segments of the mutual border, including 24 kilometers agreed upon on November 29, 13.98 kilometers agreed upon on October 12-18, and 43.32 kilometers agreed upon on October 3-7.
The two Central Asian nations have been meeting for months in an effort to resolve border disputes that have led to deadly clashes between them in recent years.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have not yet resolved the border delineation problem. Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the Fergana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan meet.
The border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Border talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan began in 2002. The countries share 972 kilometers of border – of which 688 kilometers have been properly delineated, leading to tensions for the past 30 years.
To-date, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have reportedly held more than 170 meetings and negotiations on delimitation and demarcation of the common border.
