YEREVAN — Not an inch of Armenian land has been ceded to Azerbaijan during the border delimitation process, Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan stated on Friday.
Representatives of Yerevan and Baku signed a border delimitation protocol on Wednesday that recreated the old border between Soviet Armenia and Soviet Azerbaijan, based on a 1976 map. The border will separate the Armenian settlements of Baghanis, Voskepar, Kirants and Berkaber in the Tavush province from the abandoned Azerbaijani villages named Bağanis Ayrum, Aşağı Əskipara, Xeyrimli, and Qızılhacılı.
“Until now, we had our troops in this area, and the communities had no access to their land as our military had its positions there. Now that our armed forces are withdrawing from this area, the lands become accessible to the local villagers, enabling them to work on those,” Grigoryan said as he spoke to the Public Television of Armenia.
He referred to the delimitation process as “successful”, and said this portion of the border is an important test case that proves that further border delimitation will continue to refer to the 1976 maps.
Grigoryan also commented on the claims made by the Armenian opposition that Armenia allegedly unilaterally ceded land to Azerbaijan; he said Armenia gave away no portion of its territory.
“Lands that are yours and lands that you controlled for some time are different things. The legitimacy is where the Armenian border lies, and what belongs to Armenia as a result of the legitimate border delimitation process is what’s truly yours,” he stated.
Additionally, Grigoryan also commented on the opposition’s claims that delimiting the border between the two countries that have no diplomatic relations is allegedly illegitimate; he said that such a thing is truly unprecedented, but is now reality. “Generally, we are making an important decision, we are drawing up Armenia’s border,” he said.
Grigoryan was also asked whether there are any guarantees that Azerbaijan will not pull out of the agreements further into the delimitation process. The Security Council Secretary noted that the international community is providing strong support for the delimitation, and the possibilities the Armenian side sees following the delimitation, as well as the successful test case, will help move the process forward.
Grigoryan stressed that there are no delimitation-related issues in the Armenian villages of Baghanis, Voskepar, and Berkaber, although there are some areas of concern in the village of Kirants.
“We shall solve the issue with this road [going near Kirants]. As of now, there is no issue, and if there is an issue in the future, we’ll solve it,” he said.
In addition to this, Grigoryan said there are four buildings that will not remain inside Armenia’s borders, according to the 1976 map.
“The government will solve all those issues, we’ll have a road that will go entirely through Armenia’s territory. We are certain that this process creates more solid security guarantees,” he stated.
The local gas pipeline also goes entirely through Armenian territory, and is also not an issue, Grigoryan added.
