Kirants Administrative Head Reveals New Details After Meeting with Pashinyan

“I am not resigning; there is no need for that, but I am standing by the people of my village until the end,” said Kamo Shahinyan, the administrative head of the border village of Kirants in Tavush province, in an interview with Hraparak.

Media reports had indicated that Shahinyan decided to resign following a meeting with government officials yesterday.

“Why should I resign? I am standing next to my villagers. I am their defender and that’s it. I have to protect my country. During the meeting, they said that what they decided is what they will do. As a result of the meeting, there were no changes. They mentioned that there might be a change in the border demarcation, but the neighboring village Kheremlu will be surrendered,” Shahinyan detailed.

In addition to Mher Girgoryan, the meeting was attended by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan, NSS Director Armen Abazyan, Minister of Defense Suren Papikyan, and other government members.

Pashinyan told the administrative heads of the villages to be surrendered that he is doing this for the people, to ensure peace in the country. “We, as all the administrative heads, said that we do not want these villages to be surrendered, and Pashinyan responded, ‘I am doing this for the country to have peace; the lands have been surrendered, and the demarcation will take place,’” Shahinyan pointed out.

The meeting reportedly took place in a tense atmosphere, lasting about 5 hours. According to Kamo Shahinyan, it concluded at 11:30 PM.

It is worth noting that on April 22, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed decisions to create two working groups alongside the State Commission on the delimitation of the state border and border security issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This is aimed at clarifying the coordinates of the corresponding sections of the borders between Baghanis (RA) - Baghanis Ayrum (NKR), Voskepar (RA) - Asha Askipar (NKR), Kirants (RA) - Kheyrumlu (NKR), and Berkaber (RA) - Kyzyl Hajili (NKR) based on geodetic measurements in the terrain.