Armenia Returns 4 Occupied Villages To Azerbaijan

The eighth meeting of the state commission on the delimitation of the borders of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia was held on April 19 with the participation of Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev and Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan.

According to the agreements reached at this meeting, the four border villages of Baghanis Ayrum, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli and Gizilhajili, which had been occupied by the Republic of Armenia since the early 1990s, were returned to the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Also, as a result of the agreements reached at this meeting, the two countries agreed on the process of adjusting the border coordinates based on geodetic measurements.

It should be noted that due to the remaining problems in the borders of the Soviet era in this region, some villages were located on the border between the two Soviet Socialist Republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, this issue became a source of the constant tensions between the two countries.

During the First Karabakh War and the invasion of parts of the region by Armenian forces, some of these villages also came under Armenian occupation. Now, after the liberation of the Karabakh region by the Republic of Azerbaijan, the situation of these villages and the borders of the two countries will be addressed and resolved by the border demarcation commissions.

On the other hand, after this agreement, various groups of people in the Republic of Armenia took to the streets in the border areas, including Tavush, to protest against this issue by blocking roads. The protesters believe that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan is handing over Armenian territory to the Baku government.