As of May 24, Armenia and Azerbaijan withdraw their troops from the border section near three villages in the Tavush region and entrust the protection to the border guards. This was stated in a statement by the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia, quoted by TASS.
The announcement states that the Border Troops of the National Security Service of Armenia are officially taking over border guarding at the villages of Berkaber (1.9 km), Voskepar and Baganis (4.9 km) in the Tavush region. The security of the section of the state border near the village of Kirants (5.8 km) until July 24, 2024 will be carried out according to a transitional scheme. Yerevan reports that “from May 24 this year, the protection of the opposite sections of the border of the Republic of Azerbaijan will be carried out by divisions of the State Border Service of the Republic of Azerbaijan".
On April 19, the commissions of Armenia and Azerbaijan on the issues of state border delimitation issued a joint press release after the meeting, stating that the border delimitation by sections was preliminary agreed upon< /span> near the Armenian village of Baganis, the Azerbaijani Baganis Airim, the Armenian Voskepar, the Azerbaijani Ashagi Askipar, the Armenian Kirants, the Azerbaijani Heyrimli, the Armenian Berkaber, the Azerbaijani Gizelgadzhili.
This actually means the transfer under the control of Azerbaijan of four villages that were part of the Azerbaijan SSR, and since the 1990s have been under the control of Armenia.
Protests started in the country, led by the leader of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Bagrat. The movement called “Tavush in the name of the motherland” is holding actions in the country demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who, according to the protesters, “unilaterally handed over the Armenian lands to Azerbaijan”.