The press center of the Border Security Forces of the State National Security Committee of Tajikistan accused Kyrgyzstan of the last incident at the state border in Batken region. The State Border Service of Kyrgyzstan was surprised at response of the neighbors.
The incident occurred on February 8, when Tajikistan unilaterally closed border checkpoint in Lyailyak district and suspended the passage of citizens, transport and cargo at the checkpoint Kulundu-Avtodorozhniy. The border guards of Tajikistan also closed a bridge in Sai area for the passage and put border patrol there, increasing the number of servicemen. The villagers built a bridge across Sada (Gulyandoz) canal for schoolchildren, who daily have to walk long distances roundabout to get to the school. A few hours later, the border was opened.
Press center of the Border Security Forces of Tajikistan accused the Kyrgyz side of closing the state border.
According to it, the Kyrgyz side began building a bridge in the contravention of the earlier adopted agreements. The safety of the builders was provided by about 60-70 servicemen of Isfana frontier detachment of Batken region.
The Tajik side stated that it did not increase the number of servicemen, and sought to resolve the situation with the negotiations in order to ensure the security of the border and the inhabitants of the border area.
«At one of such meetings, Kyrgyzstan’s border guards damaged the service vehicle of Tajik servicemen,» the press service of the Border Security Forces of Tajikistan said.
The head of the press service of the State Border Service of the Kyrgyz Republic Gulmira Borubaeva commented to 24.kg news agency in such a way: «We are surprised by the reaction of the Tajik side to the construction of the bridge over Sada canal, which the Kyrgyz side was forced to build. Repeated appeals to the border representatives of Tajikistan on joint resolution of the issue remained without attention. And on February 8, the military personnel of SCNS of Tajikistan, in violation of the agreements, crossed the conditional line of the Kyrgyz-Tajik state border. In response, the Kyrgyz side took adequate measures.»
The active involvement of the border and other state structures of both countries in resolving the problems of the residents of the borderland would help to reduce the conflict potential and prevent the situation from escalating.
Gulmira Borubaeva
She added: the statements of the Tajik side that «at one of the meetings of border representatives, the border guards of the Kyrgyz Republic, by their provocative actions, caused damage, damaging the service vehicle of Tajikistan’s border guards,» do not correspond to reality.
«Tajik servicemen illegally blocked the passage in Sai area, in response, Kyrgyz border guards, without using any machinery, removed the vehicle belonging to SCNS of Tajikistan from the road and freed the roadway. The car has not been damaged, as evidenced by the videos distributed on the Internet,» said Gulmira Borubaeva.
