President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov announced Tuesday that he is ready to negotiate with Tajikistan with the aim of finding a solution to the border dispute between the two countries.
“There is a will and readiness on our part to continue negotiations in any legal form with Tajikistan,” Japarov said before the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly, noting that he welcomes any mediation efforts by international bodies, such as the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
“With regard to relations with the Republic of Tajikistan, I would like to note the following. Our two close neighboring peoples have been living side by side for a long time. We are united by common values, culture, traditions and customs, we share the same faith. Our peoples are intertwined by family ties,” he added.
He affirmed that his country always seeks to resolve its international disputes by peaceful means, and always refrains in international relations from “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country.” He explained that about 140,000 of Kyrgyz civilians have been evacuated from border areas because of the fighting with Tajikistan, adding that they are currently being provided with the necessary assistance.
Last Saturday, the ceasefire agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan came into effect, following the outbreak of armed confrontations between the armies of the two countries last week, which resulted in dozens of deaths on both sides.
Cross-border clashes between the two former republics of the Soviet Union are frequent, but they usually subside quickly. However, the roots of these differences are due to the dissatisfaction of the local population with the division of border areas during the Soviet period.
On the other hand, the Kyrgyz President said that although conflicts occur with varying degrees of severity in different regions of the world, the UN has played an important unifying role as moral authority in maintaining peace and security, and providing for people’s needs and wants.
“Now, in the conditions of an unprecedented complication of the geopolitical situation in the world, which has created alarming expectations in the international community due to the threat of the destruction of the fundamental foundations of peaceful coexistence and the inevitability of a major war, it is important for all of us to remember the high goals and objectives that were fixed in the UN Charter, namely: To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace; to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.”
