Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of Kyrgyzstan Kamchybek Tashiyev, who is also Head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, has reportedly told live on social networks how the negotiation process with Tajikistan on delineation of the disputed segments of the mutual border is progressing.    

Kyrgyzstan’s 24.kg news agency reported on November 19 that Tashiyev has specified that he recently returned from Dushanbe, where he headed Kyrgyz delegation to held talks with the Tajik delegation on delimitation and demarcation of the disputed segments of the mutual border.   

According to him, they are discussing the issue well. 

“We are trying to resolve the issue.  If earlier we could not do this and everyone stood his ground, refusing to give in, now we have begun to find a common language and are ready to make concessions.  We suggest let you take this land and we will take this [land],” he was cited as saying by 24.kg. 

He further noted that a large delegation from Tajikistan will come to Bishkek. 

“We signed a protocol.  Now we will proceed to the agreement and then we will sign an agreement.  Then we’ll go to the Parliament, will discuss it, parliamentarians will ratify the document, the presidents will sign it.  The problem of both countries will be solved,” Kyrgyzstan’s security service chief said.  

The border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is about 970 kilometers long and runs from the tripoint with Uzbekistan to the tripoint with China. 

As far as Tajikistan’s common border with Kyrgyzstan is concerned, it has been the scene of unrest repeatedly since the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

In the latest border clashes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that occurred on September 14-17,   both sides reportedly lost over 100 people both military population and ordinary citizens.  During fierce armed confrontations, a lot of schools, mosques were destroyed in addition to the houses of civilians; administrative buildings were also attacked by fire.

According to border residents, the conflict erupted on September 14 between the Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards and subsided and flared up intermittently for three days.

The latest armed confrontation was the worst since April 2021, when over 50 citizens of both nations died during the armed hostilities.

It has been difficult to demarcate the Tajik-Kyrgyz border because over the course of some 100 years Soviet mapmakers drew and redrew the border, incorporating land that had traditionally belonged to one people in the territory of the other Soviet republic.  Exclaves appeared and temporary land use agreements were signed.

All of this survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and people in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have various Soviet-era maps they use to justify their claim to specific areas along the border.

Border talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan began in 2002.  The border delineation problem has led to conflicts between rival ethnic communities.

To-date, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have held more than 170 meetings and negotiations on delimitation and demarcation of the common border.

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said in an exclusive interview with Kabar news agency on April 25 that “the parties have agreed on 600 kilometers [of the mutual border] and they have another 300 kilometers left to delimit and demarcate.”