Thieves in the Law: How Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Share the Border
Representatives of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have fully agreed on the border of the two countries, in the near future the parliaments should approve the decision, and then the process of demarcation of borders on the ground will begin. Thus, one of the most complicated conflicts in the post-Soviet space, which has repeatedly led to clashes and deaths of border guards, will be finalized. "Izvestia" looked into how the security situation in the region will now change.
Operation Delimitation
Representatives of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan after a meeting in the city of Batken on December 4 announced that they had fully agreed on the border of the two countries, with no more disputed areas left. "Today is a historic moment. The next steps are the legal execution of documents, ratification by parliaments and signing by our esteemed presidents. I hope that in just a few months we will finally resolve the border issue," announced Bishkek representative Kamchybek Tashiyev, head of Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security.
A military helicopter near the city of Batken
His Tajik counterpart Saimumin Yatimov also emphasized that the delimitation issue has been fully resolved. "Appropriate instructions have been given to the intergovernmental commission on topographical and legal issues, it should finalize the remaining points to the end. Further legal formalization of agreements will follow, and then we will come to the signing of an interstate agreement on the border," the representative of Dushanbe emphasized.
Interestingly, no details are known about how exactly the border will be drawn, or whether the sides will exchange any territories. All rounds of talks between topographers and state delegations have been held behind closed doors. At the same time, officials hinted that compromise decisions could be made on a number of disputed objects, including agreement on the joint, equal use of some roads and canals.
Special attention in both countries is focused on the fate of the Tajik enclave of Vorukh, which is surrounded by the territory of Batken Oblast in Kyrgyzstan. The population of the enclave reaches 40 thousand people, i.e., in fact, it is a rather large city. At the same time, the road between the settlement and the main part of Tajikistan is also important for Kyrgyzstan: the highway connects Bishkek with a number of remote areas. If it were to be handed over to Dushanbe for undivided use, Kyrgyz territories would become isolated.
The stele at the entrance to the Vorukh territory
Bishkek has repeatedly emphasized that no corridor to Vorukh will be created. Kyrgyz social networks recall the delimitation of the border with another neighbor - Uzbekistan. The process was actively underway in 2022-2023, at which time the country's authorities agreed to exchange territories, including transferring to Tashkent part of the water area of the disputed Kempir-Abad reservoir. This gave the opposition an excuse to launch a protest campaign, which, however, ended after the first rally, with two dozen activists sent to pre-trial detention centers on charges of preparing mass riots.
Pastures and wells
The border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan is 970 kilometers long. Part of it runs through densely populated territories with ethnic interspolosity, where it is extremely difficult to draw an unambiguous line. Interestingly, even during the Soviet era, when both republics were part of a single country, violent conflicts periodically broke out here. Thus, in 1974, hundreds of people clashed in the area of the same Vorukh, but there were no fatalities. In 1989, two people were killed and 24 wounded during a multi-day confrontation.
After the collapse of the united country, the situation worsened even more. It is believed that during the years of independence, more than 250 conflicts with the use of weapons broke out in the border area. The most frequent disagreements were over infrastructure, including canals, wells, roads and pastures. The scenario has always been roughly the same: first the dispute was between local residents, then the border guards and army units got involved. The leaders of the two countries manually put the brakes on the conflict, but the issue was not resolved in principle, so the same scenario was repeated again and again.
There was no real political will to delimit the border. Officials appealed to maps of different years, the patriotic public in both countries rejected all attempts to reach an agreement and opposed any exchange of territories. In addition, some parts of the border were favored by smugglers, who liked the situation of uncertainty very much, because it allowed them to corrupt officials and increase the volume of transportation.
On the brink of war
The situation changed in 2021-2022. First, the current president Sadyr Zhaparov came to power in Kyrgyzstan, who began to actively establish relations with neighbors. For example, with his direct participation, Bishkek delimited the border with Uzbekistan. "We have the political will to create bridges of peace, friendship and trust, and to turn the Fergana Valley into a true oasis of Central Asia," he said at a meeting with his colleagues.
In addition, the largest conflict in all the years of independence erupted in 2022. The sides used not only small arms and mortars, but also heavy armoured vehicles, combat aviation and multiple rocket launchers. On the Tajik side, 41 people were killed, while Bishkek reported 63 dead, and about 140,000 people were evacuated. At the same time, politicians were unable to stop the conflict from the first time, and the ceasefire was violated several times.
Kyrgyz servicemen carry the coffin with the body of a fellow soldier killed in fighting
It became clear that it was time to solve the border issue in a fundamental way, otherwise a full-scale war would become real. As a result, in October 2022, in Astana, mediated by Russia, negotiations between Presidents Sadyr Zhaparov and Emomali Rakhmon were held. Vladimir Putin then emphasized that both republics were members of the CSTO and close allies of Moscow, so they had every chance to reach an agreement. As a result of that meeting, the politicians did not make any statements, but the work on delimitation did intensify.
As a result, government delegations met regularly and meticulously agreed on every kilometer of the border. At the same time, the representatives of Bishkek and Dushanbe moved quite quickly. In December last year it was said that about 10% of the border line remained unresolved, in July this year - only 6%. Now, it turns out, the process has been completed, which means there is hope that new conflicts will not arise.
"Demarcation on the ground is ahead".
Alexander Vorobyev, head of the Center for Public Diplomacy and World Policy Analysis and a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, names several reasons for the negotiating success.
- First, it is the position of the leaders of both countries, who are ready to make concessions to each other. Secondly, it is the general atmosphere in Central Asia: now the countries of the region are actively getting closer, implementing infrastructure projects and developing trade. Finally, external influence played its role. China and Russia have been pushing Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to establish relations, and Moscow and Beijing are interested in stability, security, and the smooth operation of transportation routes in the region," he emphasizes.
Rustam Burnashev, an orientalist, said it's too early to talk about a full settlement of the border issue.
- It should be understood that now the border has been agreed upon at the governmental level. This is very important, but it is not the end point of the program. There is still demarcation on the ground ahead, which can also become a problem. Each local community has its own ideas about the correct border, and one or another step to the side may provoke local protests. Nevertheless, I think that Bishkek and Dushanbe will see this through. In the end, the state authorities will probably somehow gently force their fellow citizens to compromise," he said.
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