Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Leonid Kozhara, has called for restraint and dialogue following an incident between residents in the southern border region of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the OSCE website said Monday.

"I welcome the release of the people who had been held. I urge all those involved to exercise restraint and act responsibly," said Kozhara, Ukraine's Foreign Minister.

"Issues must be resolved in a peaceful manner, through dialogue. The OSCE stands ready to facilitate this process upon request and in line with its mandate," he added.

Several hundred residents of the Uzbek enclave of Sokh on Sunday reportedly attacked a border guard base where they took Kyrgyz citizens hostage.

The incident is said to have started when a large group of residents from the Uzbek village of Khushyar attacked Kyrgyz frontier guards who were erecting supports for electricity transmission lines in the Batken region.

All hostages were released after negotiations between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz sides.

The head of Sokh district, Tabakal Rahimov, said that the Uzbek government will guarantee the payment of compensation for moral damages to Kyrgyz citizens taken hostage in the Sokh enclave by citizens of Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan's border protection agency stated that the conflict on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border was provoked by Kyrgyz frontier guards.

It said that on January 5, the Batken Border Detachment of Civil Defense guards independently and without previous notification started work on the installation of electricity poles at the Charbak frontier post of Kyrgyzstan in violation of international law and inter-governmental agreements.

The Kyrgyz side has admitted that work on the installation of electricity poles was also conducted in the Uzbek territory, Kurbanbay Iskandarov, special representative of Kyrgyz government on delimitation issues, was quoted by Kyrgyzstan's news agency KyrTAG as saying.

Iskandarov noted that Charbak is a delimitation zone between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz expert Sergey Masaulov believes that the incident on the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border will not turn into large-scale stand-off between the two countries, including on energy issues.

"Today, both sides are seeking to resolve the issue related to the incident at the border, given both countries' interests, as stated by Uzbek experts," Masaulov told Azerbaijani news agency Trend.

According to Masaulov, there is a problem and it is associated with a lack of delimitation of borders.

"For this reason, incidents may occur, including such as the latest developments on the border," he said.