DM Monitoring
Bishkek: The conflict on the border with Tajikistan has exposed many security problems, not only in Kyrgyzstan, but also in the region as a whole. Despite the fact that the problem has been known for several years, no solutions have been proposed. But now this question cannot be postponed. In this regard, the expert community decided to discuss the accumulated problems during the round table “The impact of border conflicts in the Fergana Valley on the architecture of global security in Central Asia.” Expert, veteran of the Alpha division, Yuri Pogiba, spoke about the causes of conflicts in the Fergana Valley.
“Border conflicts have a negative impact on security in Central Asia, and one should not forget about the neighborhood with Afghanistan. Our region is characterized by the fact that there are many sleeping terrorist cells. Also in the region, the settling of militants who have the Syrian experience was noticed. All this complicates the situation in the region. In recent history, all countries in the region have had conflicts of varying intensity,” Pogiba said.
He recalled that Kyrgyzstan was subjected to several attacks in the late 90s and mid 00s. All attacks were from Tajikistan.
“We have had in practice constant conflicts and skirmishes over unresolved territories. The region is turbulent and potentially dangerous and poised to erupt. The most important issue is a generally unresolved issue on borders,” added Pogiba.
The expert also added that smuggling and drug trafficking are involved in these issues. He noted that during the conflicts, the houses of those who were involved in this were burned down.
Former Deputy Foreign Minister of Kyrgyzstan, diplomat Askar Beshimov noted that Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh have shown that there are problems in the world. “In turn, we also have acute problems in Central Asia. For 30 years, the countries have not been able to create a common opinion on the solution of border issues. Recent events between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have shown that such platforms as the CSTO are not entirely effective in resolving conflict disputes. Maybe from this point of view, we can conduct a slightly different foreign policy, following the model of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan,” he said.
