The Collective Security Treaty Organization, which includes eight CIS countries, issued a statement. It says that the CSTO is trying to resolve conflicts on the borders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in a peaceful way. Colonel-General Anatoly Sidorov, head of the advance group of the organization’s mission in Armenia, told.
He said that an unpleasant situation for the CSTO has developed in two regions. At the same time, it is written in the charter of the organization, in other documents, and in the Collective Security Treaty that priority is given to political and diplomatic methods.
“Therefore, for the time being, we do not take out any sword from the scabbard and try to resolve the issues peacefully as much as possible,” Sidorov emphasized.
He expressed hope that the work in this direction will be crowned with success.
The general said that on September 17, the main task was to visit the territories where the clashes took place, as well as the positions of the Armenian side, which came under fire. “We are trying to be as objective as possible, so we will work on the facts, while it is too early to talk about any conclusions, and in general this will be included in the general report on the results of the work,” explained the head of the advance group of the CSTO mission, TASS reported.
Meanwhile, information was disseminated through the official channels of Kyrgyzstan that on September 19, as a result of clashes with the Tajik side at the border in Batken region from September 14 to 17, more than 140 people were hospitalized, and the death toll at that moment is 59 people. Basically, these are servicemen of the border troops of Kyrgyzstan.
Tajik authorities announsed that 41 Tajik people has died during the clashes.
Almost all houses in a number of border villages in the Leilek region have been looted, head of the Kyrgyz region Almazbek Rakhmankulov said.
Meanwhile, September 19 was declared a day of mourning in Kyrgyzstan for those killed during the clashes. In the Batken region itself, a state of emergency has been introduced.
Points have been set up throughout Kyrgyzstan to provide humanitarian assistance to the victims. The number of officially registered refugees from the places of military clashes exceeds 130 thousand people.
After the ceasefire agreement reached on September 18 as a result of negotiations between the presidents of the two countries, the troops began to be withdrawn from the conflict zone. “All villages in the region are under the control of the Kyrgyz military. It was revealed that houses in the border settlements were looted, 20 of these houses were burned. Now law enforcement agencies are working on the ground, then we will inspect the villages. Only then the exact number of affected facilities will be known and the damage calculated in advance,” said the head of the region Rakhmankulov.
The Kyrgyz authorities convened an emergency meeting of the country’s parliament, as well as the country’s Security Council. Decisions were made to resolve the problems that arose as a result of military clashes – housing, food, transport, financial.
Thanks to the active part of the country’s population, donations began to be collected. As of September 19, it was announced that about 500 million soms, more than 6 million US dollars, had been transferred to a specially opened account of the Ministry of Finance.
Bloggers and activists played a special role during the crisis. As a result of their active actions to recognize fake materials and objective coverage of the armed conflict, the world community received more reliable information about the events.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan quickly contacted the most influential international organizations – the UN, the EU, the CSTO, the UTC, etc. As a result of a detailed and conclusive story, there were fewer accusations from the other side that the conflict was started by Kyrgyzstan. Many facts and evidence were provided that the conflicting party was prepared in advance and involved non-official military units during the conflict. There are suspicions that mercenaries were among the armed groups that invaded the territory of Kyrgyzstan. Active users of social networks conveyed information about the real state of affairs at the border through all network channels and international media. They used video footage of captured villages, robberies and murders, and the explosion of a 36-meter bridge across the river.
The parties are currently adhering to the ceasefire regime.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is a regional international organization that has proclaimed as its goal – the strengthening of peace, international and regional security and stability, the protection on a collective basis of the independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the member states, the priority in achieving of which the member states give political means. The leading country in the organization is Russia. During the January events of this year, the CSTO troops were used to maintain order in Kazakhstan.
This was the first time that the CSTO sent a military unit at the request of one of its members.
inozPRESS.kg,
Sept. 19, 2022