DUSHANBE, May 12, 2014, Asia-Plus -- Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations led by Tajik Deputy Prime Minister, Murodali Alimardon, and Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister, Abdyrahman Mamataliyev, have gathered in Dushanbe to discuss issues related to demarcation and delimitation of the disputed areas of the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.

Scheduled for May 11, the border talks are going on today.  According to some sources, the border talks were postponed because of May 7 clashes along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border.

The results of investigations launched by Tajik and Kyrgyz law enforcement authorities into the May 7 incident are expected to be announced at today’s meeting.  

We will recall that five Kyrgyz border guards, one Kyrgyz policeman, and two Tajik border guards were hospitalized with injuries on January 11 after tensions escalated into exchanges of gunfire along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.

The clash started when Tajiks protested Kyrgyzstan’s construction of a bypass road through a disputed area.  Tajikistan has requested to halt the construction of the road until the border is delimited.

Kyrgyzstan recalled its ambassador to Tajikistan and unilaterally closed border crossing points (BCPs) on its common border with Tajikistan.

Border crossing points (BCPs) along the Kyrgyz-Tajik border were reopened in late March and early April.  The Karamyk and Bordobo border crossings started functioning fully on March 31 while other BCPs were reopened several days later.