copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-01): Fergana Valley is a melting pot of cultures, nationalities, historical places and natural resources. Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan divide the valley between them. Fergana Valley is a melting pot of cultures, nationalities, historical places and natural resources. Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan divide the valley between them. It is one the nods of The Great Silk Road and accommodated many medieval cities such as Osh, Samarkand, Kiwa, Khudzhand, Balasagun and others. Many of the historical places like Uzgen mausoleums were erected during that era. Fergana Valley is one of the most densely populated areas in Central Asia. It was and still is an important trade hub of the region and Eurasian continent overall. From ancient times, travelers and caravans stopped in Fergana to trade, enjoy delicious food, fresh fruits and nuts as well as other agricultural products. Historically Fergana Valley has been occupied by various empires, for example, it was part of territories of Alexander The Great and later became Russian Turkestan. During Soviet Union Fergana was conditionally divided for administrative purposes, and after of Societ Union collapse these administrative border had become international borders between existing today Central Asian countries. When it comes to natural resources on the territory of Kyrgyzstan Fergana hosts Walnut and fruit forests of Arslanbob and Fergana Ridge. Length on Fergana Ridge is 255 kilometers. Naryn and Kara-Darya rivers intersect in the heart of Fergana valley and form Syr-Darya which is used for irrigation purposes in agriculture. There are national parks Kyrgyz-Ata National Park and Kara-Shoro National Park.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-10-04): As you approach the destination of your Central Asia Rally on day 11, your path will take you past the very core of Central Asia – the Fergana Valley. We don’t just mean this in terms of geography: the valley, enclosed by the the Gissar-Alai range to the south and Tian Shan Mountains to the north, also encapsulates the ethnic and cultural diversity of the entire region in its patchwork of Tajik, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek enclaves and exclaves. [...] Fergana Valley is the most densely populated spot of the whole of Central Asia; almost a quarter of the region’s population (14 million out of 63 million) live in less than 5 per cent of the region’s total land area. [...] If you’re looking to explore the Fergana Valley more deeply after your Central Asia Rally, here’s what you need to know. Driving from Osh and on to Tajikistan is not a problem at all. Locals are generally known as friendly towards visitors and will usually point you in the right direction, although not everyone is fully aware of exactly where the border is drawn.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-03-09): The Fergana valley is one of the world’s most fertile valleys and always has been. In addition Stalin drew a map making it one of the most complex ever seen. [...] In the Fergana Valley, always a very fertile and populous area, he made the map illustrated below. [...] We now continued into the valley of Fergana. It is fertile and it is all agricultural land. In the distance were the mountains providing water for the soil.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2020-01-15): The Fergana Valley, sometimes spelled ‘Farghana’ or ‘Ferghana’, is a three-sided valley that connects Northern Tajikistan to the southerly end of Kyrgyzstan and the easterly section of Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Totally off the beaten track, this ancient region is characterized by age-old mosques, fascinating madrassas, friendly people, and bustling bazaars showcasing a plethora of traditional crafts from handspun pottery to the finest silk. [...] Today, the Fergana Valley remains a popular trading route along the famous Great Silk Road. Cotton, grain, leatherwork, coal mining, and (historically) stock breeding of Fergana Valley horses have been the region’s most prominent industries. But it is not just the scenery and natural resources that make this untapped section of the globe such a treat to visit. The Fergana Valley and indeed the north of Tajikistan as a whole boast hot summers and moderately cold winters with very little rainfall for a large part of the year that makes for excellent year-round hiking and trekking adventures. While it may not be everybody’s cup of tea, a visit to the Fergana Valley’s northern Tajikistan region is a major highlight for the most ambitious of travelers. After all, it’s not your average fly and flop holiday. Instead, there is plenty of history and culture to uncover if you are committed to the search. And if you are looking for things to do in the Fergana Valley, there are some fascinating highlights waiting for you.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-19): The Fergana Valley lies in eastern Uzbekistan and is the country’s agricultural beating heart. The area is steeped in history and has yielded so much to Central Asia, including its ties with the Silk Road. [...] The Fergana Valley sweeps across eastern Uzbekistan and also dips into Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Technically, it’s not an actual valley; it’s a basin of flat plains between the northern Tian Shan Mountains and the southern Gissar-Alai range. The Syr Darya River nourishes the valley, while other canal systems have been created to irrigate the land. [...] Khujand is the main city in the Tajikistan part of the Fergana Valley and was once a bustling stop-off in the Silk Road history. Meanwhile, Istaravshan sits 78km south-west of Khujand and is an ancient trade and craft center (which is more than 2,500 years old!).
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-04-05): The Fergana Valley is a vibrant and culturally fascinating region that spans three countries- Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan. The region has seen its fair share of strife following the dissolution of the Soviet Union being divided between three nations, however, the dust has settled and the area is seeing tourists again. Most of Tajikistan’s architectural gems sit in the Fergana Valley’s cities of Khujand and Istaravshan. The region also hosts a massive salt flat, secret cities, and even a giant Lenin bust. The Tajik Fergana Valley makes for a great trip for those wanting to visit Tajikistan but do not have a lot of time to dedicate to the country, and is a great option for those that don’t want to take on the physical demands of the Fann or Pamir Mountains.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-05-03): Among all the partition complexities, the Fergana Valley was the most dramatic one, as the Soviet Union didn’t care about the fact that, in the valley, Kyrgyz, Tajik and Uzbek people, were all sharing the same piece of land. [...] The Fergana Valley is a depression limited by the Tien Shan mountains in the north and the Alay mountains in the south. It is the most fertile area in Uzbekistan and in the southern part of Central Asia, hence it became the agricultural heartland in the region. [...] The Fergana Valley is a place only suitable for the most voracious and real travelers who prefer hanging out with locals rather than visiting historical sites.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-07-11): Fergana valley is a very fertile area between the Tien-Shan mountains Chatkal range in the North and the Gissar-Alai mountain ranges in the south in Central Asia, divided between the sovereign post-Soviet states of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. This densely populated area with a length of about 300 km and a width of about 140 km is very diverse between the different ethnic groups, mainly consisting of Uzbek, Tajik and Kyrgyz people with some minorities, that have been mixed one with the other. [...] Fergana valley is a place to observe the agriculture-based life of the Central Asian peoples together with the rich culture of handicrafts in the different workshops. Here you can also observe the countless channels providing water to the fields from several rivers. This valley also holds several old fortress cities from the Silk Road and earlier times but not much of them have survived to our time due to the frequent earthquakes and as everywhere in the region, [...] Highlights of Fergana valley are the silk "factories" of Margilan, the ceramics workshops of Rishton, the knives and skullcaps workshops in Chust and the colorful monuments in Kokand not to forget the woodcarvers in Kosonsoy.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-01-01): The Fergana (also spelled Ferghana) Valley is like a vast oasis that lies at a convergent point of some of the great deserts and great mountains of Central Asia. It is unevenly divided among Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with most of it in Uzbekistan. It is the most populous area in Central Asia, with 11 million people, many of them relatively conservative Muslims. The Uzbekistan section is home to about 10 million people, a third of Uzbekistan’s population. It also contains the region’s richest agricultural land that have traditionally produced melons and vegetables. [...] The Fergana Valley spreads across northern Tajikistan from Uzbekistan on the west to Kyrgyzstan on the east. This long valley reaches its lowest elevation of 320 meters at Khujand on the Syr-Darya. Rivers bring rich soil deposits into the Fergana Valley from the surrounding mountains, creating a series of fertile oases that have long been prized for agriculture. In the Soviet era, the Vakhsh River was dammed for irrigation and electric power, and factories were built along its banks. Hot summers and frigid winters characterize the climate. The high mountain ridges protect the Fergana Valley and other lowlands from Arctic air masses, but temperatures drop below freezing more than one-hundred days a year.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-07-07): In many respects, these events are typical of border conflicts in the Fergana Valley, a fertile plain covering 22,000 square kilometres, surrounded by high mountains, and, since the Soviet era, divided between Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. However, water is no respecter of borders and the distribution of this precious elixir is a conflict factor throughout the Fergana Valley. Growing water scarcity has exacerbated the situation in recent years. Other conflict factors are access to grazing and farmland and any form of use of (as yet) undefined sections of border by one side, whether to plant fruit trees or build a hayloft. The disputed water facility is located in one such contested area between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. As in many other cases, the border here was redrawn multiple times during the Soviet era and today, the two sides are at loggerheads over which borderline should serve as the basis for delimitation. This step, in which the borders are marked on paper, comes before demarcation, namely the practical action taken to provide visible evidence of the border on the ground.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2019-10-31): THERE WAS jubilation in August in Rishton, a town in the bit of the Fergana Valley that lies in Uzbekistan, when the gates of a nearby border checkpoint with Kyrgyzstan were unlocked for the first time in almost seven years. The opening reduced the length of the journey to Sokh, an island of Uzbek-governed territory surrounded by Kyrgyzstan, from 150km to 50km. As the crossing was reopened, officials from both countries waxed lyrical about a renewed spirit of fraternity. Kyrgyz and Uzbeks—both Turkic-speaking, Muslim peoples—are "like a bird with two wings", mused Akram Madumarov, the governor of the province on the Kyrgyz side of the border. "If one wing is missing, the bird cannot fly."
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-12-28): Following the Soviet collapse, local disputes over previously shared water resources and pasture lands, now separated by boundaries which were never designed to become sovereign borders, are common in the Ferghana valley, where the territories of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan meet in an odd chessboard pattern of exclaves, enclaves and jagged lines.[7] The particularly violent April escalation took place amid changing regime dynamics. While Japarov, the new Kyrgyz President, seemed to be consolidating his authority with risky populist moves, President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan felt emboldened by political turbulence in Kyrgyzstan and increased military support from the Kremlin.[8] [...] Ayzirek Imanaliyeva and Kamila Ibragimova, "Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan: Communities Take Stock of Destruction Wrought by Border Unrest," Eurasianet, 3 May 2021, https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyzstan-tajikistan-communities-take-stock-of-destruction-wrought-by-border-unrest; Shairbek Juraev, Eric McClinchey, Lawrence P. Markowitz, and Edward Schatz, "The Current Hostilities between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: Commentary by Dzhuraev, McGlinchey, Markowitz, and Schatz," PONARS Eurasia, 6 May 2021, https://www.ponarseurasia.org/the-current-hostilities-between-kyrgyzstan-and-tajikistan-commentary-by-dzhuraev-mcglinchey-markowitz-and-schatz/; Beate Eschment, "Spiralling Violence on the Borders in the Fergana Valley?," ZOiS Spotlight 26/2021, 7 July 2021, https://en.zois-berlin.de/publications/spiralling-violence-on-the-borders-in-the-fergana-valley. ↩︎ "Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Agree Ceasefire after Border Clashes," Reuters, 1 May 2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/kyrgyzstan-accuses-tajikistan-amassing-troops-near-border-2021-05-01/; "Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Completed Troops Withdrawal from Border - Border Service," TASS Russian News Agency, 3 May 2021, https://tass.com/world/1286025. ↩︎
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2023-09-19): Centrally located at the intersection of trade, economic, and transport corridors, Fergana Valley has the potential to drive economic development in Central Asia. It includes some of the most productive agricultural lands in the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and has a relatively high level of industrial development compared to other parts of the region. [...] Open market reforms in Uzbekistan are considered as the best-case scenario and a positive policy option to transform Fergana Valley into a more thriving, better integrated, and prosperous area that drives regional growth and integration in Central Asia. Uzbekistan’s provinces in Fergana Valley could serve as a hub of regional horticulture value chain integration that could connect producers and suppliers from the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan with Uzbekistan’s producers and exporters. [...] Fergana Valley represents a complex interplay of risk factors and significant—yet, largely unexplored—opportunities to drive growth and prosperity in adjoining provinces and the whole of Central Asia.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-10-01): The Ferghana Valley is a large diamond-shaped flatland spread in the heart of Central Asia across Southern Kyrgyzstan, Northern Tajikistan and Eastern Uzbekistan. Surrounded by extensive mountains of the Kuramin, Chatkal, Ferghana, Alai, and Turkestan ranges and roughly defined by the basins of the Syr Darya river, the 22,000-square-kilometre valley is distinguished by its agricultural fertility, the principal crops being cotton, rice, wheat, fruits, and vegetables. [...] Despite the prevalence of such ‘catastrophizing’ works about the Ferghana Valley, the literature on conflict potential in the Kyrgyz-Tajik border areas is limited. Yet, the number of small-scale clashes and tensions on these borders has been growing steadily. Constituting part of the Ferghana Valley, the Batken region is located in the southwest of Kyrgyzstan. The region was established as a seventh separate oblast of Kyrgyzstan on October 12, 1999, partially as a result of the incursions of militant pan-Islamist extremists into the Ferghana Valley. The region has the population of 492,600 and relies heavily on livestock and cultivation.[26] Located in the northwest of Tajikistan, Sughd is home to nearly 2,349,000 inhabitants and has the largest proportion of cultivated land in the republic, in addition to being the only region of Tajikistan fully dependent on external sources of water.[27]
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2021-05-10): - Contested territories - Disputed by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan - Population 10.000.000 - Area 22,000 km² The Fergana Valley is divided among three republics of the former Soviet Union: eastern Uzbekistan, northern Tajikistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. Various ethnicities used to live side by side in the valley but since the Soviet Union collapsed, new independent republics have been stressing their own national identity rather than respecting the multi-ethnic population that lives in the enclaves. As a result many smaller inter-ethnic disputes in border regions often turn into national border disputes. This makes the Fergana Valley one of the most violent regions in the area.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-07-01): Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan share the waters of the Syr Darya River. The transboundary river rises in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, and flows through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. As climate change alters water availability in the region, claims over the resource have become increasingly fraught, particularly in the fertile and economically important Ferghana Valley region, which spans the territories of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Upstream Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan lack energy security but have plentiful water for hydropower in high-altitude reservoirs. Meanwhile Uzbekistan has gas and electricity but relies on a steady supply of water for food security. Over the past 30 years competing demands for water led to tensions, particularly under former Uzbek president Islam Karimov. Throughout the 1990s, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan (along with other Central Asian countries) signed more than eight agreements pledging to work together and raise the level of water cooperation. In recent years, however, expert commentators say these efforts have intensified – particularly as water scarcity grows in the Ferghana Valley.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2024-01-19): How a Border Deal Between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan Could Benefit Central Asia Jan 19, 2024 | 18:55 GMT (VYACHESLAV OSELEDKO/AFP via Getty Images)
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2014-02-06): At the same time, a very different picture can be observed in the Fergana Valley where the territories of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan do not only meet, but are closely intermingled. The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 fragmented the Fergana Valley with the three states having claims to each other’s territory. The border settlement negotiations have stalled for years due to the conflicting Soviet-time maps showing different frontiers of the Fergana Valley in the 1920s, 1950s and 1980s, thus allowing each country to use the preferred maps for their own advantage (Borthakur, 2017). As a result, the borders are delimited and demarcated only partially, and there exist a number of disputed territories between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The situation is aggravated with the presence of eight enclaves: six of them are located in Kyrgyzstan (four Uzbek exclaves and two Tajik exclaves), and two are in Uzbekistan (one Kyrgyz exclave and one Tajik exclave) where approximately 100 thousand people live on the foreign side of the border (Tashtemkhanova et al., 2017). [...] F. Belafatti. (2016). Borders in the Ferghana Valley: An Inevitable Source of Conflict? Center for Geopolitical Studies, Geopolitika. Available at: http://www.geopolitika.lt/?artc=6497. Accessed on: 16.02.2018.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2016-09-20): The ethnically and culturally complex region of the Fergana Valley is divided among three countries: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The Kyrgyz and the Tajik parts of the Fergana Valley are geographically closer to Uzbekistan than to the capitals of their own countries. Tashkent is only two hours by car from Khujand (the main city in the Tajik part of the valley), while the trip from Khujand to Dushanbe takes about ten hours. From Osh in the Kyrgyz part of Ferghana to Uzbekistan’s border takes only 40 minutes, but travel to the capital Bishkek is ten hours. "The Fergana Valley is a knot of difficult problems: disputed border territories, interethnic tensions, the activities of Islamic radicals. The valley interlinks three Central Asia countries; a conflict in one part on the valley spreads to the other parts, which belong to neighboring countries. Therefore, stability in the Ferghana Valley determines stability in the whole Central Asia," believes Dr. Sergey Abashin, the head of the Central Asia Department of the Russian Institute of Ethnology (author’s interview, September 27). [...] The situation in the Tajik part of the valley (in north Tajikistan) is different from that in the Uzbek and Kyrgyz parts. During communism, power control was consistently in the hands of Tajiks from the North (from the Ferghana Valley). Moscow relied on them, because they were more assimilated compared to the rest of the population, due to the fact that the Russian Empire conquered the Ferghana Valley earlier than the rest of Tajikistan.
Claim: Fergana Valley is a territory of Tajikistan (Fergana Valley, 2024-10-09)
Evidence (2022-06-15): Fergana valley has in total six enclaves which are divided between the sovereign post-Soviet states of eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. It is though a bit unclear how accurate the number is because some territories are small and their locations and the decisions between the states are not very clear. We are fairly certain that the seventh enclave that used to exist, called Barak near Osh, has now been given to Uzbekistan in exchange to some land in the Ala-Buka district in the Northern Fergana valley. [...] Six of the Fergana enclaves are located in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken region. Batken region holds four Uzbekistan’s enclaves with Soh and Shokimardon as the two largest and significant ones. There are also two enclaves of Tajikistan in Kyrgyz Batken region named Vorukh and another very small called Kairragach. Uzbek Fergana Valley also has a small enclave of its own called Sarvak. It is just 14 km long and 500 m wide and belongs to Tajikistan. [...] Fergana Valley borders have always been highly challenged and led to disputes. Because of the the Tian Shan and Pamir mountains in the southern half of Batken region, for easy land travel to Tajikistan, particularly to the major city of Khujand.