Conflict on Kazakh-Uzbek border
The United Democratic Party has some concrete steps to suggest

In the first days of the new year, Kazakh public was shocked by events that took place on the eve of holidays on Kazakh-Uzbek border. The long-lasting problem surfaced – in Bagys and Turkestan villagers, no longer believing in Nursultan Nazarbayev's declarations, rose to defend their native land.

The history of these two border villages is widely known. In 1956, Secretary General of the Soviet Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev personally handed over south Kazakhstan's Bostandyk region to Uzbekistan. Thus, over 200,000 hectares of the Kazakh land (including villages Bagys and Turkestan) turned into a Turkestan Military Okrug's training ground. When the USSR collapsed, the Turkestan Military Okrug collapsed too. But the problem of the land and ownership have remained.

President Nazarbayev failed to resolve the conflict with his closest neighbor - Uzbekistan. However, the Uzbek side showed its business streak and demarcated the territory single-handedly. As a result, the villagers have found themselves living under the conditions of permanent and never-ceasing conflict.

The Uzbek force agencies cracked down very hard on the villagers after they had declared the setting up of an Independent Bagys-Kazakh Republic, and elected their own president and parliament. Many participants in a peaceful action were arrested and jailed. A curfew has been imposed in the villages.

At a news conference held on January 4, 2002 in the office of the Republican People's Party, the Organizing Committee of the United Democratic Party (UDP) stood up for the interests of the Kazakh citizens whose constitutional rights have been violated.

In opinion of Amirzhan Kosanov, a member of the UDP's Organizing Committee, who spoke at the news conference, "Kazakhstan greeted the New Year by displaying absolute failure in both the home and foreign politics. A purely geographic problem has turned into a political one, which proves this very well."

In their statement, the UDP's Organizing Committee members harshly criticized the attitude taken by the Kazakh authorities. In their opinion, not only the authorities has taken a hen-hearted position but they also "acted sacrilegiously" against all ordinary citizens who are entitled to be informed of every such situation. "However, neither the Khabar agency nor any other state-run media outlets, whose duty is to inform citizens of everything that is going on in the country, have not told them anything about these unprecedented events." It was only from the reports by Radio Freedom's correspondent Batyrkhan Darimbet that the Kazakh public have learned about the events in Bagys. By the way, Batyrkhan Darimbet was specially invited to attend the press conference to give journalists first-hand truthful and objective information of the sad events.

In its statement, the United Democratic Party not only condemned the Kazakh authorities but also suggested three concrete political measures that should be taken to resolve the existing problem. "The solution should not remind the solution Kazakhstan found for the problem with China when it handed over to China for free thousands of hectares of land without any public consultations with the nation, citizens, and the people who lived on those lands", said Amirzhan Kosanov.

The audience was alarmed by the events in Bagys. Asking their questions, journalists said the situation reminded them the Transdniester events. "Could Kazakhstan really lose this plot of land and give it over to the new republic?" "No", said Batyrkhan Darimbet, "this was a purely political action in order to draw the attention of the authorities to the problem."

If the Kazakh authorities do not listen to the public opinion and take some concrete steps, the Bagys events of 2001 would have unpredictable consequences, said Amirzhan Kosanov in conclusion.

Below follows the full text of the statement by the Kazakhstan's United Democratic Party Organizing Committee.

Statement
of the Organizing Committee of the United Democratic Party of Kazakhstan (UDP)
(Republican People's Party, Azamat and People's Congress)

In the last days of 2001, unprecedented events took place in Kazakhstan. The reason behind it was the fatal inability of the Kazakh authorities to solve the border delimitation problem with Uzbekistan.

Special correspondent of Radio Freedom (Azattyk) Batyrkhan Darimbet reports that villagers in Bagys, disappointed with Astana's ability to resolve the problem, were forced to declare the establishment of the Independent Batys-Kazakh Republic. The Batys residents elected their own President and Parliament. Uzbek law-enforcement agencies cracked down on peaceful citizens. They used force measures against them, many participants in the events were arrested. Against one of them, leader of the Azat headquarters "Bagys", Oral Saulebay, were brought criminal charges and he was jailed in Tashkent.

The events in south Kazakhstan have aroused rightful outrage and indignation of millions of Kazakh citizens. The authorities, however, have adopted their usual hen-hearted policy: they have imposed the information blockade, and not a single Kazakh media outlet has paid attention to this highly important event in the life of independent Kazakhstan. Only from the reports of the Radio Freedom ("Azattyk") the public has learnt the truth about Bagys.

The Organizing Committee of the United Democratic Party unequivocally condemns the position that the Kazakh authorities have adopted in the course of the Bagys events. The authorities can neither resolve the border problems, nor protect the constitutional rights of common Kazakh people! The shameful silence they keep about the peaceful public action testifies to the fact that this estranged from its nation regime is unable to adequately react to the political processes in the country.

It is for this reason that the December 2001 has become possible after December 1986! It is for this reason that the peaceful initiative of Kazakh citizens could ultimately have unprecedented political consequences.

In view of the above, we suggest that the following urgent political steps should be taken:

• All the illegally arrested Kazakh citizens must be immediately released. The Uzbek side should officially offer them their apologies and repair their moral and material losses;
• Presidents Karimov and Nazarbayev should urgently start negotiations to resolve the border problems. The agreements they reached earlier have not stood the test of time. All the aspects related to international relations should be solved through effective negotiations. To prevent unlawful actions against peaceful citizens in the future, these negotiations should start in Bagys. It's desirable that members of Parliament and other international organizations such as OSCE should take part in those negotiations;
• The entire course of negotiations the development of events on the Kazakh-Uzbek border should be objectively reflected in the state-controlled media. Kazakh people must know the truth about the fate of their country fellowmen and their Kazakh territories.

Without the nation's support and backing, the regime has once again proved to be unprepared to cope with the unfolding events. For yet another time, the UDP's slogans have turned out to be very urgent, including the most important one - the need for the transfer from a presidential to a parliamentary system.

The Organizing Committee of the United Democratic Party:

Press Service
Organizing Committee
United Democratic Party