Iran Offers to Assist Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan in Settlement of Border Dispute
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Iranian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson expressed the country’s readiness to contribute to the peace negotiations between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, hailing the two Central Asian countries’ action to cease fighting after the outbreak of military clashes along the common border.
In a statement released on Friday about the recent clashes between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said Iran is monitoring with concern the reports of recent border clashes between the two “friendly and brotherly” countries that have killed and injured a number of citizens of both sides.
He also praised the immediate and prudent acts of the Tajik and Kyrgyz authorities to halt the military clashes, adding, “We are confident that the continuation of negotiations between the two countries will result in the peaceful settlement of any border dispute.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its readiness to contribute to the advancement of negotiations between the two sides and also to provide its legal and technical experiences in this regard,” Khatibzadeh stated.
In a statement on Thursday, Kyrgyzstan’s Foreign Ministry said it agreed to a “complete ceasefire” with Tajikistan after the heaviest clashes in years erupted along the neighboring countries’ disputed frontier.
The two countries have long been locked in border disputes, including sporadic clashes along the frontier. More than a third of the border is disputed, with the area surrounding the de facto Tajik enclave of Vorukh, where Thursday’s conflict erupted.
Earlier in the day, both sides said their forces had clashed, with Kyrgyzstan saying its troops had seized a border post. Its Health Ministry said in a statement late on Thursday that the country had suffered 46 casualties, including one death, during the fighting.
Tajikistan made fewer statements as fighting raged. Its national security committee said earlier on Thursday that two people had been admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds, one of whom was in a serious condition.
The clashes followed a reported conflict over water infrastructure at the frontier between the two, which both gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.