JUNE 10 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia would be prepared to send a rapid reaction force to defend Tajikistan’s southern border from Taliban incursions, Russian media quoted General Nikolai Bordyuzha as saying. General Bordyuzha is head of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), an FSU intergovernmental military group.
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(News report from Issue No. 235, published on June 11 2015)
MAY 19 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an interview with the AP news agency, Georgian president Giorgi Margvelashvili said Russia would use its military to grab more territory in the former Soviet Union. Georgia has been warning about excessive Russian aggression since the two neighbours fought a brief war in 2008.
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(News report from Issue No. 232, published on May 20 2015)
MAY 12 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan and Turkey began joint military exercises, underling their close alliance and highlighting just how isolated Armenia is. Media reported that the drills would continue until May 16. Azerbaijan and Turkey share an animosity for Armenia.
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(News report from Issue No. 231, published on May 13 2015)
APRIL 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan has built a 22,000km barb wire fence along its borders with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, media reported, highlighting the often strained border issues in Central Asia.
AKIpress, a Bishkek-based news agency, said that most of the barb was erected along the border with Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have a long-standing quarrel over borders and over the last few years there has been an increase in the number of incidents between the two neighbours along their shared border. These could be locals wandering into no-go areas, or a stand-off between soldiers. The tensest area is around the city of Osh in south Kyrgyzstan, which is part of the Fergana Valley in Uzbekistan.
The borders of Central Asia are complex. Historians have said that Soviet officials deliberately drew the borders to divide people.
Analysts have also said that tension over borders is one of Central Asia’s most serious flashpoints.
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(News report from Issue No. 228, published on April 22 2015)
MAY 5 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Tension between border guards from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan once again closed the border for two days, media reported. Reports said that villages from both countries along their shared southern border blocked the road. Earlier this year a shootout between security forces killed several people.
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(News report from Issue No. 183, published on May 7 2014)
APRIL 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A landmine killed three Azerbaijani soldiers on the border between Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed region controlled by Armenia-backed separatists, and Azerbaijan, media reported. The deaths highlight the fragile cease-fire that covers Nagorno-Karabakh.
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(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)
MARCH 31 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Checkpoints along the disputed Kyrgyz-Tajik border have re-opened for the first time since a shootout between border-guards in January, media reported. The border is disputed between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, one of a number or territorial flashpoints across Central Asia.
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(News report from Issue No. 178, published on April 2 2014)
MARCH 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — A joint Tajik-Kyrgyz commission is discussing land swaps to reduce tension along their border, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported (March 24). Tension along the border has escalated this year. A shootout between Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards earlier this year killed several people.
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(News report from Issue No. 177, published on March 26 2014)
MARCH 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmenistan has mobilised its military reserves along its border with Afghanistan after an alleged firefight with Taliban militants in February, media reported. A Taliban spokesman has denied any involvement in the firefight that killed a handful of Turkmen border guards.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)
MARCH 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — With NATO’s mission in Afghanistan winding down, tension is rising on the Tajik-Afghan border. Quoting Afghan officials, media said Tajik border guards shot dead two fishermen they thought were Taliban fighters or smugglers.
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(News report from Issue No. 176, published on March 19 2014)