INCIDENT IN KYRGYZSTAN ACTUALIZES BORDER PROBLEMS IN FERGANA
The recent incident in the Uzbek Sokh enclave in southern Kyrgyzstan once more serves as a reminder of the importance of disputed border areas in the Fergana Valley between Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. As temporary solutions are being offered, the reality remains – a final delimitation of state borders is required in order to avoid possible inter-governmental conflicts, experts argue.
On May 26, an incident took place between Kyrgyz locals and the residents of an Uzbek enclave in southern Kyrgyzstan, leading to a five-day confrontation between the two groups. The enclave’s Khushyar villagers assaulted dozens of Kyrgyz locals who were driving through the Uzbek territory as a response to an imposed ban on the use of Kyrgyz land for grazing. Travelers on the “Osh-Batken” highway, which connects these two southern Kyrgyz regions and runs directly through the Uzbek enclave, saw their cars smashed and had to escape to avoid being taken hostage.
As confrontation between the two groups intensified, the Khushyar residents destroyed the road leading to the Kyrgyz village of Charbak, resulting in a disruption of the village’s water supply. Another Kyrgyz village, Chyrdyk, which has 400 residents, was isolated since the only road leading there passes through the enclave. In retaliation, residents of bordering Kyrgyz villages blocked the highway linking the Sokh enclave with the city of Rishtan, located in the Uzbek mainland. Fearing an escalation of the conflict, the Kyrgyz Border Service (KBS) closed the “Kaytpas” border post, which directly connects the enclave with Fergana oblast in Uzbekistan, on May 31.
Established in 1955, the Sokh enclave covers 325 square kilometers and is located in the Batken region of Kyrgyzstan. It is the largest of three Uzbek enclaves on Kyrgyz territory; the other two, Shahimardan and Changara, are also located in Batken. The enclave’s population of is approximately 52,000, 90 percent of which are of Tajik ethnicity.
Kyrgyz mass media outlets reported on the alleged transfer of 1,000 Uzbek Special Forces and military hardware to the enclave. However, the deputy head of the KBS, Cholponbek Turusbekov, denied such allegations. “No Uzbek military forces passed through the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border posts,” he said in an interview with the local “BPC” news agency.
Turusbekov blamed the residents of the enclave for provocative actions that escalated the problem. As the KBS deputy head argued, according to the Kyrgyz “Law on Pastures,” the use of Kyrgyz grazing fields by foreign citizens is prohibited. Furthermore, there is no inter-governmental agreement between the two states on the free use of pastures. Therefore, Uzbek citizens have no authority to demand the use of Kyrgyzstan’s territory”, he concluded.
On June 1, the heads of the border services of both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan met for negotiations in the Uzbek village of Vuadil near the state border, with the aim of settling the conflict. The agreement signed at the conclusion of the meeting consisted of six points, and included speeding up the work of the joint Kyrgyz-Uzbek intergovernmental commission on delimiting and demarcating the state borders, constructing temporary barbed-wire fences in particular areas on the state border and considering an agreement on the use of Kyrgyz pastures by the Uzbek farmers.
In addition, the Uzbek side agreed to withdraw its landing assault battalion and heavy military hardware from the enclave. They were brought in during the so-called “Batken events” in 1999-2000, when a group of militants affiliated with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan entered Kyrgyz territory from Tajikistan, seeking to enter southern Uzbekistan. As the Batken oblast governor’s press secretary Mamadjan Berdishev stated on June 3, Uzbek authorities has already withdrawn the battalion and military hardware, including 26 armored personnel carriers, from the Sokh enclave. In return, the Kyrgyz side reopened the “Kaytpas” border post.
Despite the promising results of the negotiations, most political experts believe that problems around the enclave and the state border will continue to emerge in the foreseeable future. As Kyrgyz political analyst Marat Kazakpaev claims, “the Sokh enclave has always been a zone of conflict and it will continue causing problems until the actual delimitation of Kyrgyz-Uzbek borders. Today we have powder keg in our territory”, he said.
This most recent event in the enclave is a reflection of the ongoing and broader conflict in the Fergana Valley between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek authorities, stated the Director of Globalization Problems Research Center of Kyrgyzstan, Karybek Baybosunov. According to him, there have been numerous attempts to delineate the borders since the two states gained their independence; however, none were successful. “If the sides are to protract the agreement on border demarcation, it will sooner or later cause inter-governmental conflict,” he concluded.
