21 Villages of Kapan Handed Over to Azerbaijan in 1929: A Serious Loss, Ombudsman

The Human Rights Defender of Armenia, Arman Tatoyan, stated on his Facebook page: “A serious loss of Armenian territory is exemplified by the decision of the Transcaucasian Central Executive Committee on February 18, 1929, to hand over 21 villages of Kapan to Azerbaijan.

These villages were located in the basin of the Voghji and Basut rivers, near the Kapan copper plant, and occupied 7,000 desyatins of land. Archival documents indicate that one of the main reasons for this decision was the disregard of the rights of border inhabitants by the Soviet government, which addressed border issues solely from a military and political perspective, while being in a weak position regarding these matters.

The focus was primarily on the property and economic rights of the people, who were tightly woven into the fabric of Kapan. At that time, the security issue of Kapan was also paramount and was similarly neglected. From a strategic and communication standpoint, Armenia suffered serious damage by conceding prominent positions to Azerbaijan. As a result of this decision, the border between the two countries ended up passing through the outskirts of Kapan.

Note: A desyatina is an old measurement unit of land area equivalent to 2,400 square sazhen, or 1.09 hectares.”