Tag Archives: border

Editorial: Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh

MAY 6 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament has started to debate whether to recognise Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state. This is an unnecessary and inflammatory move at a tense time for the disputed region.

Last month the worst fighting in two decades broke out around Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia-backed separatists and Azerbaijani forces.

Now Armenia, apparently keen to make a point, appears to be goading Azerbaijan by threatening to recognise the region as independent. It may have been controlled by Armenia-backed rebels since a ceasefire was agreed in 1994 but, officially at least, Nagorno-Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan.

If parliament goes all the way and recognises the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh, it will set Armenia apart in the international community. Armenia has sympathisers but few will back it.

It’ll also put its neighbour, Georgia, in a particularly difficult position. Georgia has to contend with two self-declared independent states on its territory — South Ossetia and Abkhazia. By discussing formalising Nagorno- Karabakh as an independent state, Armenia is stirring things up.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(Editorial from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan work on border dispute

APRIL 12 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Working groups of the Tajik and Kyrgyz governments met in Dushanbe to decide on the demarcation of the disputed borders between the two countries ahead of a meeting between two two presidents in May.

Both sides have talked up the new round of negotiations as a potential breakthrough deal. Of the 970-kilometre border Tajikistan shares with Kyrgyzstan, 451km remain disputed.

Most of the contested areas are fertile lands, which are a key assets for the rural population in a region still marred with conflict.

In one of the latest clashes, last July, a Tajik civilian was killed during a shootout between Tajik and Kyrgyz border-guards.

A Dushanbe-based analyst who wished to remain anonymous said governments had only now sat down seriously to discuss the border row because of heightened tension.

“The conflict has now escalated and both sides have started using weapons. Both governments realised that they can no longer ignore the problem,” the analyst said.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

 

‘Shells rained down on us,’ say people in N-K, Armenia-Azerbaijan disputed region

APRIL 15 2016, TALISH, Azerbaijan (The Conway Bulletin) — The shells began falling at 3am on April 2.

Vilen Petrosyan, head of the tiny hamlet of Talish in northeast Nagorno-Karabakh, a region disputed between Azerbaijan and Armenia backed fighters, had gone to sleep late because the next day was his birthday.

He and relatives had prepared a cake and 12kg of meat for shish kebab. Guests and relatives were expected to join the celebrations from neighbouring villages.

But instead of a leisurely breakfast with gifts and compliments, Mr Petrosyan and his family were torn from their beds by the sound of artillery.

The 52-year old ran out on to his balcony to see shells ploughing into homes, a kindergarten and other buildings. “In ten minutes, the village shop was on fire,” he said in an interview with a Conway Bulletin correspondent. “Then ten minutes later, a tractor.”

Azeri troops crossed the frontline, locals said. The bodies of a couple in their late 60s and the man’s 92-year- old mother were later found in their home. Armenian residents said that

Azerbaijani soldiers had shot them dead and then sliced off their ears.

This was the start of four days of battles that killed several dozen people in the worst fighting since a 1994 ceasefire was imposed.

Since 1994, Armenia-backed fighters have controlled and run Nagorno- Karabakh, although it is still recognised by the international community as part of Azerbaijan.

The leadership of the unrecognised republic has argued that Azerbaijan started the violence, aiming to recapture lost land. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, said its military fired in response to an Armenian attack – and that a school, houses and factories were hit on its side.

A unit of pro-Armenia fighters eventually beat back the Azerbaijani fighters from Talish but people fled the village on the day of the shelling. Mr Petrosyan said he doesn’t know if all will return.

“There are 170 children in the village,” he said. “So many explosions, this is hard for them. We must get around a negotiating table with the Azeris and agree a real peace.”

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 276, published on April 15 2016)

 

Uzbek-Kyrgyz border tensions dip

MARCH 25 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Officials from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan met to defuse a border row that had threatened to bubble over into conflict earlier this month. After the meeting, Uzbek forces pulled their soldiers and tanks away from the contested areas that they had moved into a week earlier.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 274, published on April 1 2016)

 

Uzbekistan sends soldiers to bolster border with Kyrgyzstan

MARCH 18/24 2016, OSH, Kyrgyzstan  (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan sent two armoured personnel careers and solders its border near the Kyrgyz city of Osh as tension escalated in southern Kyrgyzstan ahead of local elections.

Senior officials from Kyrgyzstan’s  government called the Uzbek military manoeuvres a provocation and President ALmazbek Atambayev cancelled a trip to Tashkent set for June to attend a conference of the region’s quasi military group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

“The Kyrgyz people are not the ones who will be kneeling, fearing [Uzbekistan’s] forces,” Mr Atambayev said at a press conference.

This appears to be an escalation of tension between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Kyrgyzstan argues that Uzbekistan’s actions violate a bilateral agreement against the militarisation of the border.

Large portions of the 1,300-km border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are undefined, dotted with enclaves and exclaves, where Kyrgyz and Uzbek people live. There are sizable Uzbek and Kyrgyz minorities in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, respectively.

Now, access to some border crossing points has been restricted. Officials in southern Kyrgyzstan reported that some anti-Uzbekistan demonstrations have broken out.

Kyrgyz PM Temir Sariyev appealed for calm.

“Nobody forbids protests but let us not be enemies from within, we must be united. Without unity we cannot solve foreign policy issues,” he said.

The unrest also comes at a sensitive time for Kyrgyzstan. It is holding regional elections in five southern cities, including Osh, on March 27.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 273, published on March 25 2016)

 

Tajik forces clash on southern border

MARCH 7 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – A firefight between Tajik forces and militants on its southern border with Afghanistan killed at least two Tajik soldiers, media reported by quoting government officials. This was one of the most serious border clashes for some months and will worry governments in Central Asia. It is unclear if the militants were linked to the Taliban or if they were local smugglers.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 271, published on March 11 2016)

Georgia strengthens border security

NOV. 24 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s security services said it had strengthened its border controls after at least 130 people were killed in Paris earlier this month by so- called Islamic radicals. Recruiters sending people to IS in Syria have used Georgia as a transit country to access east Turkey.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 258, published on Nov. 27 2015)

Extremists claim to control Tajik border

SEPT. 29 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Islamic Jihad Union, an Al- Qaeda splinter group, said that it now controlled part of the border zone with Tajikistan and Afghanistan. This claim could not be independently verified but the media did say that the Islamic Jihad Union had reportedly released photos of armed men around the Amu Darya river on the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 250, published on Oct. 2 2015)

 

Georgian rebel region deals with Venezuela

SEPT. 8 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Venezuela, one of the few countries which has recognised the self-declared independence of the Georgian rebel states, has signed an agreement with Abkhazia on visa-free travel, media reported. The Georgian foreign ministry denounced the agreement.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)

Kyrgyzstan increases alert on border

SEPT. 9 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The Kyrgyz military has ordered its units on high alert around the border with Tajikistan because of an increase in tension, media reported. Reports were not specific on what had triggered the alert but Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have rowed about border issues this year.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 247, published on Sept. 11 2015)