Water distribution point “Golovnoy”The Golovnoy water distribution system was divided equally, and Tajikistan transferred 750 hectares of land to Kyrgyzstan in exchange. This was stated by the head of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan Kamchybek Tashiev on February 27 during a speech in the Zhogorku Kenesh (parliament) on the agreement on delimitation of the border with Tajikistan.
According to him, the parties argued for two years, and as a result, the Kyrgyz side said that if we divide, then the Tajik side should compensate.
“We divided three hatches (sluices) – one and a half each. Due to this, we took 500 hectares of the Munzhu-Bulak section in the Chon-Alai district (this is on the border with the Lakhsh district of Tajikistan. – Ed.), this was a very conflict-ridden section, 100 hectares of the Karool-Don section.
We also received 150 hectares of the Katta-Tuz plot (on the border with the Niyozbek jamoat, Kanibadam district of Tajikistan. – Ed.). This plot was sometimes Tajik, sometimes ours, there were disputes. But we looked at the documents, and this plot was never ours. Despite this, we divided it equally – 300 hectares each. All oil wells were divided into two. In addition, out of 300 hectares, we received another 150 hectares. Thus, if the Katta-Tuz plot was 600 hectares, we received 450 hectares. For one and a half hatches (sluices) at the Golovnoy water intake, we received 750 hectares,” Tashiev said.
Previously, Tajikistan claimed that the water distribution point is located on Tajik territory, and Kyrgyzstan controls it “unilaterally.”
“According to the maps of 1924-1927 and 1989, this hydraulic structure is entirely located on the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan, it was built back in 1968 and is intended for irrigation works and watering agricultural farms in border cities and regions of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,” the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan stated during the conflict in April 2021.
Water distribution
Regarding water distribution, Kamchybek Tashiev only said that “there are agreements on how to divide water,” but he did not give any details. Perhaps he was referring to an agreement from 1980.
In Soviet times, by the Protocol of 11.04.1980 on the inter-republican distribution of the flow of small rivers of the Fergana Valley, the division of the flow of the Isfara River was adopted in the following proportions:
– Tajikistan – 55%;
– Kyrgyzstan – 37%;
– Uzbekistan – 8%.
Clause 6 of the 1980 Protocol adopted the decision: “To consider it expedient to carry out the main filling of the Tortgul reservoir from October 1 to April 1, leaving sanitary releases in the river in the amount of 1.5 m3/sec (below the hydroelectric complex)…”
History of the water distribution point
Earlier, the former mayor of Isfara and multiple participant in intergovernmental negotiations Mirzosharif Islomidinov told Asia-Plus about the history of the construction of the water distribution point and documents confirming that the hydraulic structure is located on the territory of Tajikistan. Here is a brief summary:
“In the mid-fifties, the construction of the Tortkul reservoir and the Tortkul canal was planned. The canal bed in some places was supposed to pass through the territory of the Isfara region of the Tajik SSR.
And then, on the initiative of the Kyrgyz side, a so-called parity commission was created. The commission from the Tajik SSR included the deputy chairman of the Leninabad region, Kuvshinov.
For unknown reasons and based on the results of the commission’s work, several thousand hectares of territory belonging to the Isfara district were proposed to be transferred to the Kyrgyz Republic. In exchange, the Kyrgyz side was to use the Tortkul reservoir as an inter-republican one and assist in irrigating about 3.5 thousand hectares of land in the Isfara district. But this protocol of the parity commission could not acquire legal force, since the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Tajik SSR rejected it.
After the unilateral ratification, the Kyrgyz side began to make changes to the existing maps, but until the end of the seventies, the Main Directorate of Cartography (GUK) did not make changes to the map of the USSR, since this protocol had no legal force. But both in the protocol of the parity commission and in these changes, the head structures of the Tortkul reservoir, which were built in the early sixties, were located in the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan.
In the summer of 1989, a conflict broke out in the border regions of the Tajik and Kyrgyz SSRs due to the violation of water use of the Isfarinka River from the Kyrgyz side. Residents of the Tajik village of Khodjai Alo blocked the Mastchoi canal in response to the actions of the Kyrgyz side, demanding the return of illegally transferred territories.
On June 13, 1989, about 3,000 Kyrgyz residents of the Batken region attacked the Tajik village of Khodjai Alo. The standoff lasted for a month and a half and ended with the intervention of special forces from the Perm region. The result was two dead and 24 wounded on the Tajik side and the introduction of a curfew.
The created parity commission proposed to transfer 68 hectares of mountainous terrain near Vorukh and 18 hectares of land around Khodjai Alo to Tajikistan, but the residents of Vorukh categorically refused to recognize these decisions and the protocol was not signed by the Tajik side. Attempts to forcefully ratify the agreement by the Central Committee of the CPSU were thwarted thanks to the leaders of Isfara, who convinced the head of the republic, Kahhor Makhkamov, not to make concessions.
In the fall of 1989, Andrei Girenko, a member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, arrived in the region to force the leadership of Tajikistan to sign the protocol. However, Prime Minister Izatullo Khayoev categorically refused, declaring: “I would rather resign, but I will not go against the will of the people!” The border issue was postponed, and the new parity commission, created in 1990, effectively ceased work due to political upheavals.”
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