Veterans-peacekeepers who served at the Tajik-Afghan border in the 1990s held a rally at the Government House in Bishkek. They demanded to equate them with combat veterans.
«In 2006, then deputy prime minister Adakhan Madumarov deprived the participants of the peacekeeping mission of their status and their compensations. Ismail Isakov, who was the head of the Ministry of Defense, supported the initiative. Over the next years and until today, veterans have not received about 6.5 billion soms in compensation. At the same time, the allied states recognized their peacekeepers and pay them the due funds. We are suing to achieve justice. We hold the rally hoping that the authorities will hear us and we will be able to resolve this issue peacefully, without a trial,» a military human rights activist Anvar Sartaev said.
The soldiers had been serving as border guards in the highlands, in difficult climatic conditions for five years. In February 1999, the military contingent left the territory of neighboring Tajikistan without losses. Over the years, more than 4,500 citizens of Kyrgyzstan have served in the battalion.
