Berqaber's Occupied Territories Have Not Been Returned: 'Factinfo'

The mayor of Berqaber village in the Tavush region, Tigran Harutyunyan, assures that the demarcation process in the Berqaber area has been completed. In his words, the preliminary sections that were to be demarcated at this stage have been finalized. This is reported by 'Factinfo'.

Earlier, it was reported that on May 15, 2024, the ninth meeting of the commission for the demarcation of the state border and border security issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan took place, chaired by Armenia's Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan and Azerbaijan's Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafaev.

During the meeting, based on the minutes of the eighth meeting held on April 19, 2024, the commissions discussed the completed work. Considering the clarified coordinates resulting from geodetic measurements in the area, they agreed on the description of the Joint Memorandum concerning the border sections between Baghanis (Armenia) – Baghanis Ayrum (Azerbaijan), Voskepar (Armenia) – Asha Askipara (Azerbaijan), Kiranjs (Armenia) – Kheyrumli (Azerbaijan), and Berqaber (Armenia) – Kyzyl Hacili (Azerbaijan), aiming to align it with the legally justified inter-republican border existing at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

On the same day, clarifications were provided from the office of Nikol Pashinyan, stating that the demarcation of the border line in these areas has been completed, agreed upon, signed, and is considered delimited. The only exception noted was the problematic area of Kiranjs. 'The three coordinates of Kiranjs have been identified through computer methods, and the posts will be installed later,' they indicated from Pashinyan's office.

It should be noted that as a result of the demarcation, Azerbaijan has not returned the occupied territories of Berqaber. The mayor insists that 'at this stage, work is being done on that one segment of Berqaber, while the remaining area will be addressed in the next phase.' In response to our clarifying questions, the mayor of Berqaber stated that there are areas that will need to be demarcated later. However, when asked which territories he was referring to and to describe them, the questions from 'Factinfo' went unanswered. 'I cannot explain further, and I cannot give you more information,' he said, leaving our other question regarding whether he has information on whether the return of the occupied territories of Berqaber is being discussed in negotiations unanswered. 'I'm sorry, I cannot tell you more than this,' the mayor added.