Invasion of Kyrgyzstan: Inept efforts of Tajik propaganda

Shelling of the sovereign territory of Kyrgyzstan by Tajikistan continues for the second day. On the morning of September 16, several attacks on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border have been made at once. The civilian settlements in Leilek and Batken districts, as well as in Chon-Alai, came under attack.

The Ministry of Health reports 24 dead and hundreds suffering injuries in the process, with the youngest being 9 months old.

An estimate of 140,000 citizens have been evacuated from the firing zone.

The attacks have stopped after negotiations between the Presidents of the two countries, Sadyr Japarov and Emomali Rahmon, as well as the heads of the security services of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan only to resume soon after.

Along with the fight on the border, the information warfare has been waged. Social media, Telegram channels and official media outlets have been spreading propagated information to manipulate the public.

24.kg news agency recorded several cases of overt propaganda by Tajikistan.

Yesterday morning, violating the agreements reached a day before, the military of the neighboring state opened fire on the civilian settlement of Pasky-Aryk in Batken region. The official information of the Border Service of Kyrgyzstan was spread by the local media outlets, as well as foreign ones.

On the screenshot below, you can see how the news have been published on the Kyrgyz Telegram channels:

Tajik social media pages copied the news, changing only the mention of the «Kyrgyz side» to «Tajik», and distributed it on their channels. But they did not think of changing the text, in particular changing the name of the settlement, or perhaps they forgot in a hurry. As a result, they published completely illogical news that the Kyrgyz side had allegedly shelled its own village.

The Tajik media outlet Asia Plus published an official press release of the Border Troops of Tajikistan with the catchy headline: «The Kyrgyz military set fire to houses in Isfara». The media outlet used an outdated photo to illustrate the story. The picture was taken in January 2021. It is indicated in the caption in small print, but readers may get the impression that it was taken the day before.

This method of manipulation is used to elevate aggression of the public’s perception of the news and situation as a whole.

A special mention goes to the information that Kyrgyzstan allegedly refused to negotiate and settle the conflict peacefully. Factcheck.kg journalists checked this information and came to the conclusion that this is also a lie.

Fact-checkers also revealed another fake photo, which was used to illustrate the information that allegedly «Kyrgyz military forces are forcing civilians to fight». They used a 2013 photo of an elderly man living in Tajikistan.

Another falsification was discovered by users of social media. According to them, a screenshot allegedly taken from the website of 24.kg news agency is spread in messengers in the Tajik segment. The photo, which is being actively shared, shows the date, journalist’s last name and the source.

The news text reads: «The head of SNSC of Kyrgyzstan Kamchybek Tashiev was taken hostage in Tajikistan».

However, it should be noted that the font and format of the news on 24.kg website are strikingly different from the screen shot presented. In addition, there are spelling errors in the text.

Having studied the image, one can conclude that it was made with the help of special applications — an image editor.

It is clear why this picture is being distributed: some interested parties are trying to demoralize the Kyrgyz military in such a way, to force them to surrender and not to resist in the combat zone.

It is worth noting that the SNSC has already refuted the fake information. Kamchybek Tashiev is reported to be in Batken region and continues to coordinate the work of the relevant authorities to resolve the situation.

The special services urged not to believe the fakes being spread.