Azerbaijan Participated in Discussions During the Soviet Years While Simultaneously Seizing Armenian Farmers' Lands: Ombudsman

Archive documents indicate that during the Soviet years, there were cases in border disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan where Azerbaijani authorities participated in officially announced discussions while simultaneously organizing attacks on Armenian farmers, seizing their lands, and then making these seized areas a subject of "discussions" (including Barana, now Novemberyan, Koghb, Koti, Dovek, and other villages).

Armenia's Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan wrote about this on his Facebook page, stating, "Archive documents show that during the Soviet years, in border disputes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani authorities officially participated in discussions while simultaneously organizing attacks on Armenian farmers, seizing their lands, and subsequently making those seized lands a topic for 'discussion.' For example, despite a decision by the Central Executive Committee of the Transcaucasian Federation on April 28, 1923, which stipulated that only 5,000 desyatins of land located in the Shinishik-Ayrum area should be handed to the Kazakh area, the Kazakh land development group specifically prepared a completely different layout, ignoring the requirements of that decision.

Simultaneously, local Azerbaijani authorities unlawfully seized a larger area of land than was intended by the decision from the territory belonging to the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR). Specifically, by terrorizing the local forester, they appropriated about 7,000 desyatins of land, ultimately increasing their "acquisition" to 11,800 desyatins and turning it into a subject of negotiations.

Another example: since May 1922, the discussions and final work of commissions regarding border disputes in the Tavush, Kavanaugh (Ijavan), and Kazakh districts were constantly prolonged because the Azerbaijani organization seized most of the lands that belonged to Armenians but fell within their jurisdiction, and they refused to return them. This also created difficulties concerning access to pastures, forests, and water resources for farmers.

Generally speaking, as archival documents testify, the background of the disputes between the villages of the specified regions shows that disputes often arose because of large Azerbaijani landowners (referred to as estate owners in archival documents), who sold their plots to Armenians and later without grounds demanded them back.

The problem was also that the authorities of Soviet Armenia at that time did not adequately respond to prevent violations of Armenian farmers' rights. These facts, as extracted lessons, should be taken into account to avoid violations of the rights of border residents of the Republic of Armenia today. Alongside security and other components, decisions concerning the borders of the Republic of Armenia must be based on the protection of farmers' and, generally, human rights, excluding any mechanical approach."