The second three-day round of negotiations between Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations concluded in the Tajik village of Khoja Alo (Chorkuh jamoat of Isfara, Sughd province) on March 18. Led by Tajik Prime Minister Azim Ibrohim and his Kyrgyz counterpart Jenish Razakov the negotiations discussed border clashes that occurred between residents of border areas of the two countries on Marc 13-14.
Monday afternoon, Azim Ibrohim and Jenish Razakov answered questions from journalists.
Azim Ibrohim, in particular, noted that checkpoints established by border guards of the countries on the road connecting Vorukh, a Tajik exclave in Kyrgyz territory, and the Tajik northern city of Isfara would be removed.
The negotiations ended with signing of a protocol and the two sides have decided to intensify work on demarcation and delimitation of the disputed stretches of the mutual border being based on a government-to-government agreement signed in 2014.
Under this agreement, construction of the Aksai-Tamdyk road will continue, but it will be used only for cattle driving. Meanwhile, an asphalt road connecting Vorukh and Khoja Alo will be built to bypass the Kyrgyz village of Ak-Sai.
The first round took place in Vorukh on March 15, a day after the border clashes left two Tajiks dead and more than 30 injured.
Tajik journalists could not attend the negotiations in Vorukh as the road connecting Vorukh and the Tajik northern city of Isfara was blocked by Kyrgyz.
Tajik authorities have not commented on the negotiations in Vorukh 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 reportedly 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 says 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.
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.
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 more than 30 others wounded in two days of clashes. Kyrgyzstan listed two injured on its side.
Tajik border service argues that completion of the Aksai-Tamdyk road will lead to the stemming of a river and leave Vorukh without irrigation for its valuable apricot and walnut cash crops.
