March 31, 2023 - 11:40 AMT
Armenia reports on map misreadings with Azerbaijan

The Armenian National Security Service has issued a statement regarding the deployment of Azerbaijani military forces between the villages of Aghavno and Tegh, noting that the Azerbaijanis have been stationed 100-300 m beyond the border due to “misreadings of the maps”.

The statement published on March 30 reads:

1.According to agreements reached in August, 2022, beginning from April 1, 2023, the Lachin corridor connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia should end at the Kornidzor bridge. From April 1, the route connecting the territory of the Republic of Armenia to the Lachin Corridor will pass through the Kornidzor-Tegh route – only through the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

2.After August 2022, a part of the road connecting the Lachin Corridor to the Republic of Armenia – the section after after the Kornidzor Bridge – passed through the territory of Azerbaijan. That part of the road along its entire length and its adjacent territory was controlled by the Russian peacekeeping forces.

3.According to the agreements reached yesterday between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the border guards of the two countries were to be deployed on both sides of the border along said section in the last days of March.

4.Due to misreadings of the map during deployment, the Azerbaijani side, without waiting for pre-arranged adjustments, started positioning and carrying out engineering works in some sections.

5.According to the calculations of the Armenian side, there are five such sections, where the Azerbaijani side is stationed 100 to 300 meters beyond the border. It has now been agreed that cartographers from both sides will correct the situation.

6.The Armenian side approaches the situation with the logic of not allowing escalation.

7.The Armenian army did not have positions in the area in question, because positions are not located on the border line, but on the nearby strategic heights. And the protection of that part of the border should be transferred to the border guard troops, according to the agreement mentioned above.