He also noted that local residents are somewhat dissatisfied with the media's portrayal of the situation. Journalists, who are not familiar with the geography of Kyrgyzstan, inaccurately name the location of the confrontation; moreover, not all of them take the trouble to contact local authorities or residents to find out what is happening at the border, relying solely on press releases.
- We were supposed to hold a rally and a kurultai in Osh on March 24. But on the 18th, as you know, Uzbekistan brought its armored vehicles onto our territory, and residents of the Aksy district reached out to us. We decided to meet with them before the kurultai, and we were there yesterday. There were more than 3,000 people. Several points emerged that were distorted in the media to the citizens of Kyrgyzstan and all other readers, - he said. - First, there are discrepancies in the name of the place where the Uzbek military appeared. In the State Border Service and in press releases, it is referred to as Mogol, while the akim and local residents call it Sary-Bulak. Secondly, the Kyrgyz authorities spread information that the area is disputed, sent a note of protest to Uzbekistan, but there was no mention of this in the Uzbek media – Uzbekistan merely moved its military to its territory and warned Kyrgyz citizens not to spread false information that could further complicate intergovernmental relations. I have my doubts: is the situation with Uzenku-Kush repeating itself? We did not learn about the signing of the document by Akayev right away… And last night it became clear that the Kyrgyz side, by a government decision, signed an agreement on land transfer with Uzbekistan under protocol "18 177," without actually carrying out the land transfer!
He also told News-Asia about what is planned next to resolve the conflict. The first step was the cancellation of the kurultai scheduled for Thursday, March 24, in the city of Osh.
- Yes, the residents of Osh were waiting for us. But we believe that when our territory is ceded to another state, the kurultai should be postponed! We decided to return to Bishkek and inform the people that the government is repeating the mistake of Askar Akayev, secretly distributing Kyrgyz lands. 26 people signed this document, a whole commission along with Temir Sariyev, and they are asking the Kerben city council to make a decision and thereby legalize it. Thank God, after yesterday's rally, no one agreed to this – there was no quorum, and then everyone voted against the government's decision! But this does not mean that the issue is resolved. Our country is currently in a very dangerous situation. The residents of Aksy demand that the military equipment leave. Sariyev was there yesterday, but he did not mention that the equipment and soldiers should leave! We demand that all of Kyrgyzstan's territory remains ours! All political forces from across the republic were represented at the rally in Kerben: from "El Unu" to "Kyrk Choro," and we believe that we should not give away a single inch of our land. And we will fight for the land; we must not give it away, - he assured. - From the authorities' side, this is a betrayal of the interests of the Kyrgyz people; they must be held accountable for the distribution of the lands of our ancestors and fathers. Our people are against this! We adopted a resolution at the rally, published in some media. The first point there is an appeal to the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov. If he does not respect the Kyrgyz government, he must respect the Kyrgyz people. We have lived side by side for centuries; we are two related peoples, and he must remove his troops to his territory! Otherwise, we will be forced to turn to the CSTO and Vladimir Putin. According to the organization's charter, if another state invades the territory of a CSTO member country, all countries must defend it and provide assistance. And from Uzbekistan's side, there has indeed been an invasion of Kyrgyz territory. And we want to reach out to the world community and inform them about what has happened; we are very concerned about the situation.
However, Abylov avoided answering the question of whose names are on the document regarding the land transfer, besides the Prime Minister.