Tajik Air Force helicopters did not fly over Uzbekistan - Dushanbe official
DUSHANBE. Nov 28 (Interfax) - Helicopters of Tajikistan's Air Force did not fly any missions on November 27, Tajik Defense Ministry spokesman Faridun Makhmadaliyev told reporters on Thursday.
Makhmadaliyev offered his comments in response to Uzbek media reports that the Tajik Air Force's helicopters had allegedly entered Uzbekistan's airspace without permission. "Our helicopter pilots conduct routine flights in order to improve their skills. But I assure you that not a single helicopter owned by the Air Force of the Republic of Tajikistan flew any missions on November 27," he said.
Makhmadaliyev, however, confirmed that the Tajik Defense Ministry's General Staff is currently holding drills in the Fergana Valley, which is shared by Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
"These are routine exercises. They are held every year. The defense minister and the Defense Ministry's other senior officials are currently in the area," the spokesman said.
Uzbek media outlets claimed that three helicopters of the Tajik Air Force had flown over a number of districts located along the border of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan's Jizzakh Province and then had headed toward the Syrdarya region.
The helicopters spent about an hour in Uzbekistan's airspace, according to these reports.
Relations have been complicated between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in recent years. Tajik and Uzbek citizens need visas to visit the other country. There are mines at most sections of their 1,161-kilometer-long border. Regular road links, as well as train and air services are absent between the two states. The Uzbek and Tajik presidents have not held any bilateral meetings for over a decade, meeting only during summits of the CIS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other regional associations.