Armenia border residents dissatisfied with delimitation

PanARMENIAN.Net - Residents of the border village of Kirants in Armenia’s Tavush province are dissatisfied with the results of the delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The Armenian Foreign Ministry announced late on Wednesday, May 15 that deputy prime ministers of the two countries met again and signed a protocol on the coordinates of relevant demarcated sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border “specified as a result of geodetic measurements.”

In written comments to the Armenpress news agency (via RFE/RL’s Armenian service) published on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s press office indicated that Azerbaijan will gain control over a part of Kirants and the local bridge as a result of the latest Armenian-Azerbaijani protocol. It said the government will compensate those villages who will lose their properties as a result.

The office also announced that Armenian army units will withdraw from all of the border areas except “the most sensitive Kirants section” in the next “eight to nine days.” Azerbaijani troops will enter the section “later” because “some details there require further clarification,” it added without elaborating.

The residents of Kirans, however, gathered at the town hall to oppose the government’s decision, Sputnik Armenia reports.

"We want to say that we do not need compensation, we are not selling our land," said one of the residents at the village administration.

Another added that the villagers are not sellouts.