Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The working groups of the government delegations of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan held a meeting on the delimitation and demarcation of state borders.

The results of the working groups' meeting, held in Jalal-Abad on February 10-16, will be presented to the countries' governments.

Repeated conflicts on the joint border in recent months prompted the parties to intensify negotiations on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border.

Certain sections of the border are currently being clarified with Uzbekistan.

The previous meeting of the delegations took place in late January in Uzbekistan's Namangan city.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have delimitated some 1,058 kilometers of the border so far, which accounts for over 70 percent of the total length of the two countries' border. Nearly 50 sections with about 300 kilometers in length haven't been delimitated yet.

The Fergana Valley, a region where Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet, has a large number of enclaves. These enclaves appeared as a result of disintegration within the USSR and coincided with territorial disputes and disorders.

They were carved out based on the main language spoken by the majority of the population living there.

There are eight enclaves in Central Asia, and the existence of four Uzbek enclaves in Kyrgyzstan's territory, and one Kyrgyz enclave in Uzbekistan is a major problem in the negotiations.

The existing state borders between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan don't match with ethnic structures, causing many interethnic complications. There were clashes between Kyrgyzes and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, primarily in the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad, in 2010.

Uzbekistan launched a limited troop incursion at first, but retreated and opened its borders to the Uzbek refugees. The clashes killed up to 2,000 people, mostly Uzbeks, while another 100,000 were displaced.