Compliance with interstate normative legal acts is the key to good-neighborliness and strengthening mutual understanding and trust between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Unfortunately, this fact is being deliberately rejected by the political leadership of the Kyrgyz Republic.
Recently, we have been observing that the top political leadership of Kyrgyzstan declares its intention not to unilaterally comply with previously signed interstate protocols with Tajikistan.
Analysis shows, and this was also stated by S. Yatimov, Chairman of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan, that such an unlawful step only leads to deterioration of bilateral relations and incitement of armed conflicts, which does not meet the fundamental interests of the two brotherly peoples.
The non-observance of protocols and the open disregard for political and diplomatic negotiations are alarming and once again confirm the true intentions of the political leadership of the Kyrgyz Republic. We believe it’s necessary to remind the Kyrgyz side of the fundamental principle of international law — Pacta sunt servanda, which translates as «agreements must be kept». This principle is also reflected in the UN Charter.
As Saimumin Yatimov, chairman of the SCNS of the Republic of Tajikistan, noted, «Deviation from legal acts and deviation from signed protocols lead to conflicts. It is necessary to observe these protocols very strictly.
Kyrgyzstan does not want to solve the problem peacefully and provokes Tajikistan to open a military conflict. S. Yatimov also stressed in his briefing that there are thousands of facts of provocative actions of the Kyrgyz side.
We have all witnessed how such actions affect the moral and psychological condition and economic well-being of ordinary citizens. April 2021 and January 2022 saw the largest armed clashes between our countries, with more than 50 citizens as victims.
The events of January 27-28, 2022 demonstrated the essence of the military and political leadership of Kyrgyzstan, which gave the order to open fire on unarmed civilians of Tajikistan, including medical staffs.
It should be noted that our nations have lived together for decades and have not known such grief. The political leadership of Kyrgyzstan must understand that its task is not to denounce the signed legal acts, but to implement them and not to ignite an interstate armed conflict.
On January 29, 2022, two rounds of talks between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan were held after another clash. In our opinion, the main result of these negotiations can be considered the agreement of the parties to resume the work of the intergovernmental commission on delimitation and demarcation of the state border in accordance with the provisions of the basic documents of 1924-1929 and decisions of the parity commission of 1989. Saimumin Yatimov, chairman of the State National Security Committee of the Republic of Tajikistan, told journalists about these agreements during a briefing after the second round of talks on January 29, 2022.
Along with this, Kamchybek Tashiyev also expressed his agreement to comply with the signed intergovernmental protocols and previously signed normative legal acts, including the protocol № 39 of May 1, 2021.
In light of recent negotiations between the chairmen of the SCNS of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, we hope that verbal agreements on the need to comply all previously signed legal acts as a «gentlemen’s agreement» will also be implemented by the Kyrgyz side. As the popular Tajik proverb says, “A man has one word”. We express hope that the words of the Kyrgyz general are not a piece of paper and are valued by the highest political leadership of Kyrgyzstan.
Department for regional security issues studies of the
CSR under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan
