Kyrgyzstan\'s prime minister on Monday laid claim to an enclave that has been part of Uzbekistan since a Soviet-era redrawing of Central Asia _ a move that could further strain relations between the two nations as they continue tense border talks. \"Shakhimardan is Kyrgyz land and we will assert our right to that land,\" Nikolai Tanayev told Parliament. Territorial disputes have strained relations among Central Asian nations since they became independent following the 1991 Soviet collapse. Borders were arbitrarily drawn in the 1920s by Soviet authorities. Tanayev spoke about Shakhimardan on Monday in response to opposition lawmaker Ismail Isakov\'s call on the government to get the territory back. Isakov said the enclave had been given to Uzbekistan without any legal documents supporting the transfer. \"It is not a matter of disputed land, but a matter of returning Kyrgyz land to our country,\" Isakov said. Tanayev replied that Kyrgyzstan would raise the issue of Shakhimardan at the next session of the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border delimitation commission. No date has been set for the next session. Uzbekistan\'s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ilkhom Zakirov, on Monday called Kyrgyzstan\'s claim unethical. He said the issue could be proposed for discussion by the border delimitation commission, \"but it doesn\'t mean we will accept it.\" Shakhimardan, with a population of several thousand ethnic Uzbeks, is located in the densely populated, ethnically mixed and impoverished Fergana Valley, which is shared by Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and is a source of instability for the entire region. Several such enclaves were created in the area _ including the ethnic Kyrgyz enclave of Barak in Uzbekistan _ when it was cut into five republics by Soviet leader Josef Stalin. (AP)