Will the Chorkucha area be granted status quo?

The President of Kyrgyzstan reported that the authorities of Tajikistan agreed to grant neutral status to the Chorkucha (Tort-Kocho) area. The Tajik authorities have not yet commented on this matter.

Photo: Internet

During a parliamentary session in Kyrgyzstan on November 17, deputies discussed draft laws on the ratification of agreements regarding certain sections of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border and an agreement on the joint management of the Kampirobod reservoir’s water resources. President Sadyr Japarov participated in the session. He stated that Tajikistan agreed to grant neutral status, or the status quo, to the disputed Chorkucha (Kyrgyz call it Tort-Kocho) area, which is located on the border of the village of Khojai Alo in the Isfara district of Tajikistan and the Batken district of Kyrgyzstan.

According to the President of Kyrgyzstan, during the recent negotiations between the delegations of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan held in Dushanbe, the Vice Prime Minister and Chairman of the State Committee for National Security Kamchybek Tashiev managed to convince the Tajik side that the Chorkucha (Tort-Kocho) area should not belong to either Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan.

“Unless they change their minds later in Tajikistan. The territory will be neutral – we pass through Leylek, they pass through Khojai Alo,” said Japarov.

He noted that if this agreement is adopted, houses will be removed from this area – 20 houses belonging to Tajik citizens and 3-4 belonging to Kyrgyz citizens.

In 2009, Deputy Adakhan Madumarov, who at that time held the position of Secretary of the Security Council of Kyrgyzstan, signed a protocol for the lease of a 5-hectare area from Tajikistan for the repair of the Osh-Batken-Isfana road and the construction of a bridge. However, today Madumarov claims that “this document has no legal force and does not affect the border negotiations in any way.”

Sadyr Japarov mentioned this protocol while addressing Deputy Adakhan Madumarov, saying: “You say that the protocol on Tort-Kocho that you signed is illegal, it can be taken to the toilet. But that side does not do this; they take it in their hands and show it. They have shown it several times. In Astana during the trilateral meeting, they also showed it, saying that we sign it, but we do not fulfill it.”

The Chorkucha (Tort-Kocho) area is located between the Isfara district of Tajikistan and the Batken district of Kyrgyzstan. The Batken-Isfana road and the road to Khojai Alo-Vorukh pass through this area. During border conflicts, this road has been repeatedly blocked.

The authorities of Tajikistan, who have previously not disclosed the signing of documents, remain silent this time as well. It is unclear why the authorities of Tajikistan agreed to this proposal from Kyrgyzstan and where the 20 houses that will be demolished will be relocated.

Recently, Abdullo Rakhnamо, an expert close to the Tajik president’s administration, in his article reported that the essence of the conflicts on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border is that “according to official documents defining the border between these two countries, today about 211 thousand hectares of land, which is the legal territory of the Republic of Tajikistan, is under the control of Kyrgyzstan“.

“According to these official documents, the lands that are currently referred to as ‘disputed areas’ amount to 84 thousand hectares in the Bobojon Gafurov district (mainly due to the village of Khistevarz or the former Kistakuz), 66 thousand hectares in the Mountain Mastchoh district (mainly due to the Andarak forest massif), 61 thousand hectares in the city of Isfara (mainly due to the villages of Surkh, Chorkuh, and Vorukh), and some other small areas,” emphasized the Tajik political scientist.

According to Abdullo Rakhnamо, the lands of Tajikistan currently under Kyrgyz control are approximately ten times larger than the territory of the city of Dushanbe. However, despite this compelling evidence, it is unclear why and under what conditions the Tajik authorities ignore these territories.

The length of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is 976 km, of which 500 km are demarcated and marked.

Conflicts on the border between the residents of the two countries arise in the undemarcated and unmarked areas, which at different times have led to the deaths of dozens of citizens and caused significant material damage.