The conflict on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan will end in peace, although the situation will periodically escalate. This opinion was expressed on Friday, April 30, by the director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia Semyon Bagdasarov.
“We need to clearly describe this region. This is the Fergana Valley. It is divided into the Uzbek part, the Tajik and the Kyrgyz. There is a very peculiar border crossing. There are many enclaves. You drive through the territory of Kyrgyzstan, then Uzbekistan. Drawing a border is very difficult in itself. Such conflicts periodically arise, “the website 360tv.ru quotes the political scientist.
Bagdasarov recalled that similar clashes took place in the 1990s. He also expressed the hope that these conflicts will not grow to the level of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The expert also believes that Russia will not interfere in the situation. The most it can do is to call for peace and ask the parties to sit down at the negotiating table.
The military clash took place on one of the sections of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan the day before. It was preceded by a conflict between local residents in the area of ​​the Golovnoy water distribution point, the ownership of which is disputed by both parties.
Both republics pulled additional military forces to the area where the shootout took place. By the evening of the same day, the parties were able to agree on a ceasefire from 17:00 Moscow time. They committed themselves to withdrawing forces to the places of their former deployment.
However, on April 30, skirmishes resumed on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border. Tajik security forces fired at the village of Kyzyl-Bel in the area bordering Kyrgyzstan. Later it became known that the parties decided to withdraw their troops from the state border line. In Kyrgyzstan, they also reported a complete cessation of firing.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow welcomes the agreements reached between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to end the clashes.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan, as a result of clashes at the border, 31 people died and another 154 were injured. In addition, dozens of residential buildings, a school and a frontier post were burned down in Kyrgyzstan.
According to preliminary information published on Friday by Sputnik Tajikistan, as a result of the conflict on the border, eight people were killed and 110 residents of the republic were injured.