Tajik, Kyrgyz security service chiefs meet in Buston to discuss border delineation issues

The Sughd regional administration says the meeting has taken place on behalf of the presidents of the countries Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan) and Sadyr Japarov (Kyrgyzstan).   

The meeting was reportedly also attended by the governors of the Tajik province of Sughd and the Kyrgyz region of Batken and representatives of the law enforcement authorities of the two countries. 

The Sughd administration’s press center reports that members of the delegations of the two countries have expressed satisfaction with the implementation of agreements of the sides on definition of the border line along the remaining disputed stretches of the mutual border. 

The topographical working groups on delimitation and demarcation of the mutual border reportedly received specific instructions on intensifying their activities and resolving all existing border issues. 

As it had been reported earlier, in accordance with an agreement reached at a meeting of topographical groups and working groups on legal issues of the Tajik-Kyrgyz joint commission for delimitation and demarcation of the state border that took place in the Kyrgyz city of Batken on October 3-7, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have defined another 43.32 kilometers along the disputed stretches of their common border. 

Recall, the previous meeting of Saimumin Yatimov and Kamchybek Tashiyev, who are co-chairmen of the Tajik-Kyrgyz joint commission for delimitation and demarcation of the state border, took place in Batken on October 2.   The parties reportedly signed Protocol No. 44.  

Kyrgyzstan national security chief Kamchybek Tashiyev said in a statement that the protocol "provides a basis for resolving all border issues."

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 only 664 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.