Here's a story about mainly the Shakhimardan region (incl rumours that the territory was lost by
a Kyrgyz official in a card game with an Uzbek colleague!). The story also mentions Sokh, Barak, Chonkara and Tashdobo
enclaves. I can't remember I've ever heard of the last two. Anyone who knows more about these?
Best wishes,
Christian Berghänel
Sweden
________________
----- Original Message -----
From: <oxiana@yahoogroups.com>
To: <oxiana@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2004 12:04 PM
Subject: [oxiana] Digest Number 1362
Message: 3
Date: Sat, 25 Sep 2004 18:13:43 +0200 (CEST)
From: Bruno De Cordier <ak_saj@...>
Subject: IWPR on the Shah-i-Mardan enclave
Kyrgyz Call for Return of Uzbek Territory
Territorial dispute threatening to aggravate
Kyrgyz-Uzbek relations.
By Leila Saralaeva and Ainagul Abdrakhmanova in
Bishkek (RCA No. 315, 25-Sep-04)
A demand by Kyrgyz politicians for the return of a
region which became Uzbek territory during Soviet
times is doing nothing to ease the country's difficult
relations with Uzbekistan.
Deputies in the Kyrgyz parliament on September 6
demanded redoubled government efforts to secure Kyrgyz
ownership of the Uzbek-dominated Shakhimardan region,
which was handed over to the Uzbeks by Kyrgyz party
officials in the Thirties without the consent of the
central Soviet administration.
At the time, since the entire region formed one part
of the Soviet Union, these borders were relatively
unimportant and had little influence on the everyday
life of people living around them.
But after the Soviet Union collapsed and the former
administrative regions became fully-fledged states,
Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have been involved in
ongoing talks to try and delineate their boundaries.
The move by Kyrgyz politicians to push harder for
ownership of the Shakhimardan region has provoked a
strong reaction amongst Uzbeks, who maintain that the
territory belongs to them.
Tucked into a gorge in the Alai mountains 55
kilometres south of the Uzbek city of Fergana, the
Shakhimardan enjoys mountain lakes, cool air and
picturesque scenery. It was well-known during Soviet
times as a holiday destination for Uzbek and Kyrgyz
party bosses, and is now a popular retreat for
citizens of both countries.
Accounts of how the region became an Uzbek enclave
vary.
Head of the Kyrgyz parliamentary committee for state
security Major General Ismail Isakov, who initiated
the September 6 demand, claims Shakhimardan was given
to the Uzbeks as a place for senior Uzbek officials to
take their holidays.
Rumours also circulate that the territory was lost by
a Kyrgyz official in a card game with an Uzbek
colleague.
But Kyrgyz politicians agree that the process by which
the territory ended up in Uzbek hands was illegitimate
and should now be revoked.
"This process had no legal basis," Isakov told IWPR,
"so two years ago parliamentary deputies voted to hold
talks with the leadership of Uzbekistan on returning
Shakhimardan."
"Even though the Uzbek side considers the territory to
be its own, there is a possibility of it being
returned," he said. "It needs to be decided by a
bilateral intergovernmental commission on delimitation
and demarcation of state borders."
Salamat Alamanov, the head of the department of
regional problems in the Kyrgyz prime minister's
office, concurs. "According to the materials we have,
there was no transfer of Shakhimardan to Uzbekistan by
Kyrgyzstan, either under lease or any other way."
Kyrgyz prime minister Nikolai Tanaev, who was present
at the meeting where the demand for disputed territory
was made, supports the politicians' calls.
"Shakhimardan is Kyrgyz territory," he said. "We will
uphold our rights, and this issue will be raised along
with others at the next round of talks on delimitation
and demarcation of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border."
Alamanov says the Kyrgyz government has been talking
to Tashkent since 2001 about the status of a number of
Uzbek enclaves in Kyrgyz territory - including Sokh,
Chonkara and Tashdobo - and about the Kyrgyz pocket of
Barak.
"This many enclaves within another country is a very
rare phenomenon on the territories of neighbouring
countries. So we are approaching this issue very
carefully at talks, as there can easily be an uproar
over such delicate issues," he said.
Takhir Umarov, an independent journalist from
Tashkent, told IWPR that politicians risk creating
regional tensions over the issue. "We are a single
people with a related culture and language and we need
to unite, not to grate on each other's nerves as is
happening with Shakhimardan," he said.
"I don't think that there will be bloodshed over this
problem but relations between our brotherly countries
will be spoilt - not just at government level but on
the level of ordinary citizens, as 99 per cent of
Uzbek citizens are against this idea [the transfer of
Shakhimardan back to Kyrgyszstan]."
On September 10, the Uzbek media published a statement
by the Ozod Dekhkonlar political party and the Civil
Movement of Uzbekistan, which made an appeal to events
further back in history to justify Uzbek claims on the
territory.
"For many decades Kyrgyzstan as such did not exist,
and the territory that it was given as part of the
USSR used to belong to the Kokand khanate," it said,
referring to an Uzbek-dominated state established in
the Fergana valley region in the 18th century. "So it
is the Uzbek side that has more right to appeal to
historical justice, not the other way around."
"We acknowledge the fact that Soviet power made
national and territorial divisions very arbitrarily.
However, this does not mean that today the time has
come to re-examine the existing state borders."
Uzbek journalist Akbarali Aripov from Shakhimardan
told IWPR that the Kyrgyz bid to win back the
territory is likely to fail, "Our country will never
hand over territories, because it has a huge
population - over 25 million. There is not enough
land, not to mention enough beautiful natural
resorts."
Leila Saralaeva is an independent journalist in
Bishkek. Ainagul Abdrakhmanova is IWPR programme
coordinator in Kyrgyzstan.
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