Kyrgyzstan Says Uzbek Border Guards Entered Disputed Territory

Kyrgyz authorities say Uzbek border guards have entered disputed territory along their shared border in the southern region of Jalal-Abad.

Kyrgyzstan’s Border Guard Service said on August 22 that seven Uzbek border guards were deployed by helicopters to a small mountain known as Unkur-Too.

According to the service, Kyrgyzstan will hold talks with the Uzbek border guard officials to resolve the issue.

Unkur-Too is located in disputed territory along the border between the two Central Asian nations and is the site of a Kyrgyz government radio transmitter.

In September 2013, Uzbek border guards appeared at the site and raised the Uzbek national flag atop the mountain.

Following Kyrgyzstan’s official protestations and negotiations, the Uzbek border guards took down the flag and left the site.

About 300 kilometers of the 1,000-kilometer-long Kyrgyz-Uzbek border have remained in dispute since the two neighbors secured independence in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.