In Kyrgyzstan, those who disagree with the decision of the authorities on handover of the Kempir-Abad reservoir to Uzbekistan in exchange for other disputed areas have been detained. They are charged with attempted organisation of mass disorders. In Uzbekistan, they are not pleased with such division of borders, but no public discussions are held in the country. According to journalists, media outlets have a silent ban on covering this topic.
The procedure of signing the protocol of commencement of coordination of disputed borders in certain areas of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border dated September 26, 2022, was called by Kamchybek Tashiev, head of the working group, a historic mission. On October 10, he presented the draft of new agreement to the national parliament. Or, to be more precise, what he deemed to disclose in the agreement reached.
Photo, video and audio recording of his statement was prohibited. Tashiev, head of GKNB and deputy chair of the Cabinet of Ministers, explained this privacy by some secret information. Telephones were collected at the entrance to the conference hall even from deputies.
Journalists, who were allowed inside with pens and notepads only, said that the following territories would go to Kyrgyzstan under the new draft agreement:
- The place of Gavasai – 12,849 ha;
- The village of Kok-Serek of Ala-Buka district – 105 ha with Kyrgyz residents living there;
- The village of Bayastan of Ala-Buka district – 212 ha;
- The mount Ungar-Too – 35 ha;
- The village of Ak-Tash of Kara-Suu district – 100 ha;
- The village of Kara-Beles of Ala-Buka district – 25 ha, which was earlier the territory of Uzbekistan;
- The part of Sharikhan-Sai channel – 19.5 ha, which was earlier under control of Uzbekistan;
- Additionally 500 ha in Suzak and Uzgen districts each;
- Orto-Tokoi reservoir;
- The villages of Kok-Serek, Birinchi May of Ala-Buka district – 1,307 ha;
- The places of Aeroport, Zhetigen and Kerben of Aksy district – 571 ha;
- The village of Shamaldy-Sai of Nooken district –1,088 ha;
- Aravan district – 148 ha;
- The places of Kok-Talaa and Pyldyrak of Kadamzhai district – 1,013 ha.
In total, 19,699 hectares of land.
In exchange, Uzbekistan gets the Kempir-Abad or Andizhan, as it is called in Uzbekistan, reservoir. And the new border of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will go along the 900th horizontal line.
And this is the news that caused sharp public confrontation. Human rights defenders and civil activists demanded to publish all points of the agreement, but the authorities refuse to do it for reasons unknown and do not provide any distinct reasons for such a secrecy. The statements by Tashiev followed by President Sadyr Zhaparov that the Kyrgyzstanis would thank the authorities for their work after the document is published and signed did not inspire confidence.
On October 15, nearly 10 thousand people gathered at the people’s kurultai regarding this issue in Uzgen district, and the majority of them said that the ownership of the Kempir-Abad reservoir by Kyrgyzstan should remain intact.
The stumbling point – Kempir–Abad
The Kempir-Abad reservoir with 4,485 ha area, is located near the border at the junction of Dzhalal-Abad and Osh regions of Kyrgyzstan and Andizhan region of Uzbekistan. It was designed in 1962 and put into use in the 70s. It is formed by three rivers of Kyrgyzstan – Tar, Kara-Kuldzha and Kara-Darya. The maximum volume is 1.9 cubic kilometres.
According to experts, 14 per cent of Kempir-Abad goes to irrigate the lands of Suzak and Kara-Suu districts. The reservoir is of strategic importance for Uzbekistan – it irrigates over 2 million hectares of agricultural lands. Geographically, the reservoir is located within Kyrgyzstan and has never been the disputed section of the national border.
This attempt to hand over Kempir-Abad to Uzbekistan is not the first. In spring 2021, this issue was about to cause a stir among locals. Back then, Tashiev said to them, “Demands of the people are the highest demands for us. You said not to give away Kempir-Abad, and we won’t” (cited from Radio Azattyk). After one and a half years of negotiations, the same Tashiev persuades nationals to give away the reservoir.
“Only nationals of Uzbekistan had access to the dam of Kempir-Abad. Now, there will be joint management: four persons from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan each. Uzbekistan has made decisions on water use for 70 years on its own. Now nationals of Kyrgyzstan will have free access to water. Uzbekistan will not install engineering structures there,” he said (cited from Kaktus.media).
What the authorities of Kyrgyzstan do not report
As it was found out at the kurultai in Uzgen district, Kyrgyzstan loses fertile flood lands, where the renowned Uzgen rice is grown, in case of full handover of the reservoir to Uzbekistan. Akyl Aitaev, ex-deputy head of the Land Management Committee of Uzgen district, said to Kloop.kg, who once lived in one of the villages that was flooded during the reservoir construction.
According to the agreement entered in the Soviet period, Uzbekistan, according to him, managed only the water in the reservoir, but when water recessed, the flood land left uncovered was used by Kyrgyzstanis.
“The Uzbeks gave lands in Ala-Buka, Aksy, Aravan as compensation for Kempir-Abad, 4,126 ha in total. And now they take 4,485 ha. Besides, the lands they handed over were not valuable, they are stony, many have no water. Their productivity class is very low. And here, in Kempir-Abad, the soil fertility is very high,” Aitbaev said.
According to him, the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks have never had a dispute about the ownership of the reservoir.
What about Uzbekistan?
In Uzbekistan, the topic of border delimitation with Kyrgyzstan is almost never discussed in the media, society. Uzbek media mainly report official news on signing agreements between government delegations or reprinted publications from the Kyrgyz media and statements of officials of Kyrgyzstan.
According to some journalists working in formal media outlets, the media outlets have a tacit ban on coverage of border delimitation between the two states as this is a sensitive issue. For the same reason, we have failed to learn what residents of border areas think about the exchange of lands. They do not want to contact journalists.
Temur Umarov, expert in Central Asia, research officer of the Carnegie Foundation, in the interview to CABAR.asia said that such silence by the media and society is related to the conditions of work of the media and peculiarities of the freedom of speech in Uzbekistan:
The point is that the media in Uzbekistan work in serious restrictions. So any piece of information that is not approved by the country’s leadership is often concealed. So, the media won’t discuss this topic actively until Tashkent makes some formal statements.
Moreover, according to him, the principle of decision-making in Uzbekistan is not the same as in Kyrgyzstan. The civil society usually do not take part in any decision-making related to governmental agreements.
“We do not have active civil society. It’s not because there’s some special set of mind in Uzbekistan or some other manners, or Uzbekistanis are calmer and more peaceful, etc. It’s because the state has been depriving the society of any initiative for the last 30 years and monopolising the decision-making process,” he said.
Moreover, in private talks and discussions people, who keep tabs on the situation, say that the borders are unfairly set and that Uzbekistan make great concessions, according to the expert.
Bakhtiyor Ergashev, director of the Centre for Research Initiatives “Ma’no”, shares the same opinion, who said to Podrobno.uz news agency that Kyrgyzstan gets almost all land plots that were disputed in the last 30 years and “some part of the Kyrgyz elite is still against the agreement.”
“Uzbekistan gets only 4.5 thousand hectares in the bottom of the Kempir-Abad reservoir. Orto-Tokoi reservoir still belongs to Kyrgyzstan. Large land plots 9 thousand hectares each (Gavasai) go to Kyrgyzstan under the agreement. Generally speaking, Uzbekistan has given all disputed sections except for the Kempir-Abad reservoir. Even it remains in joint competence. And oppositionists are still against this agreement, which is very beneficial for Kyrgyzstan,” as Podrobno.uz cites the expert.
According to Temur Umarov, “the same rhetoric that we hear in Kyrgyzstan” can be heard from some part of the civil society of Uzbekistan.
It is quite understandable and natural, according to Umarov. Any process of resolution of territorial disputes leads to the exchange of lands by the parties.
“You give something, you take something. This is normal. It happens everywhere. Of course, it is a loss for any society. The residents who live there might even think this is a treason because they will belong to another state after the signature of the agreement. The process is natural,” he said.
However, Umarov points to the fact that all statements discussed now in Kyrgyzstan and in private talks in Uzbekistan are based on guesses.
“We do not have a copy of the agreement on hand. We don’t know how the leaderships of the countries have made a deal. Maybe, the process involved people who live there. Most probably, representatives of local khokimiyats, akimats, etc. But it was done behind closed doors, so everything we do now is speculations based on our perceptions of how it could be,” Temur Umarov said.
Committee for protection of Kempir-Abad
In Kyrgyzstan, as protests grew amid total absence of information, the authorities organised the meeting on October 20 with representatives of the public and residents of border villages behind closed doors and live broadcast was prohibited. According to the presidential administration, “exhaustive responses” were given at the meeting, but the guests do not agree with that.
“I asked why they do not tell about the handover of the dam, two HPPs, which belong to us, about 19.5 ha of land that make the access to the dam, and why they play with the concepts of compensation and exchange of lands?” said human rights activist Rita Karasartova. “If the land was exchanged in 1965, today Uzbeks won’t demand it back again. We cannot give away the same land again.”
According to Karasartova, during the discussion Tashiev admitted that this is the way “they resolved the issue of disputed lands by giving them land under the water, which Kyrgyzstan allegedly does not need.” At the meeting, it was said that the territory of the reservoir would not be closed and Kyrgyzstanis would be allowed to catch fish there and run their farms. However, a joint venture with equal participation of both states will be established for joint administration of the dam.
“The question is,” the human rights defender said, “why, given the status quo, when the main portion of land under water is ours, when 60 per cent of the dam is ours, and our two HPPs are on the dam, not say: you will use them, but this is our contribution to the joint venture. Why don’t they do this?”
According to Karasartova, the handover of Kempir-Abad is not “the correction of the mistake”, as Tashiev said, but illegal decision.
“The 900th horizontal line, which measures the flood zone, runs along the only way that connects Osh and Dzhalal-Abad regions, north and south. This is very dangerous. Water is a strategic facility and it is under special protection, and soldiers of a foreign state will always be standing on our strategic road,” Karasartova said.
On the following day, residents of Uzgen district took to the streets in protest demanding to cancel the agreement. In Bishkek, a committee to protect Kempir-Abad was established out of known human rights activists, public figures, ex and current deputies of parliament.
On the same day, Sadyr Zhaparov said to the Kabar news agency that “the authorities have information that someone is behind the protests and marches in Kempir-Abad.”
On Sunday morning, October 23, members of the committee, but current deputies, were taken to the district police departments after searches in their houses. Over 20 persons were detained in total. The court administered punishment to them on a charge of organisation of mass disorders as detention in the pre-trial detention facility No. 1 for two months. Among the five arrested women, the eldest, ex-deputy Asiya Sasykbaeva, is 71 years old. They can be imprisoned for 7 to 10 years on the charge.
Illegitimate ratification
During consideration of the draft agreement by the profile committee of the parliament of Kyrgyzstan that supported it violated a few articles of the law “On the rules of Zhogorku Kenesh”, which discredits the legitimacy of ratification of the document and signature by presidents of the two countries, according to lawyers.
“The draft agreement, annexes and other documents with justifications were not submitted to deputies of Zhogorku Kenesh three days before the session of the profile committee, as required by the law, and it prevented from making a weighted decision. It gives grounds to say that the presidential administration and the head of the governmental working group have exerted pressure on deputies,” according to the situational analysis of the Community of Lawyers of Kyrgyzstan.
Tattuububu Ergeshbaeva, executive director of the legal platform, said that the deputy committee should be established once texts and details of the agreement on the exchange of territories were not disclosed in full. It should make analysis of the degree in which the document meets national interests and concepts of national security of the country.
She also said that grave violation of the national legislation is the attempt to resolve maters of different jurisdiction in one law:
The total length of the state border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is 1,402 kilometres. The area 302 kilometres long remains unresolved. The task of the working group of the governmental delegation on demarcation of the border of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan was to delineate 302 kilometres of the land. Instead, they started political exchange of territories, bargaining. All the things they do now are based on the decision of this working group, but we don’t know if they have powers to make this exchange.
According to the lawyer, there are no provisions on the status of this working group among governmental decrees, which means this is a classified document. The deputy commission could give explanation because parliamentarians have the law enforcement function. After the mass detention of activists, some people’s deputies have said about inadmissibility of such actions. But the parliament has not yet proposed to create the deputy commission to study all issues relevant to Kempir-Abad.
Right to access to information
Protest actions took place in Bishkek, Osh, Uzgen and Tokmak in support of the detained and with the demands to stop political persecutions immediately.
Over 30 human rights organisations of Kyrgyzstan appealed to the international community to intervene into the situation. A whole range of international human rights organisations have already demanded to release immediately the politicians and activists arrested in Kyrgyzstan.
The UN Human Rights Office spokesperson urged the authorities of Kyrgyzstan to “ensure there is meaningful information-sharing and participation among a wide array of stakeholders in developing policies.” And she also reminded the need to observe fundamental rights of nationals to the freedom of expression, access to information and participation in social life.
To finalise the border delimitation process of the two states, the parliament of Kyrgyzstan has to ratify the agreement. So far, the document is being reviewed by the committees, and all sessions are held behind closed doors.
Also, President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev is expected to come to Bishkek on a state visit. It became known at the end of September, but the ministry of foreign affairs does not tell the exact dates. Officially, the visit is not related to the issue of the Kempir-Abad reservoir. But, according to the foreign ministry of Kyrgyzstan, border issues are likely to be on the agenda.