Azerbaijan has withdrawn its military from one section of the recently demarcated border with Armenia, according to the mayor of a local Armenian village who spoke to RFE/RL on August 7.
Tigran Harutiunian, the administrative leader of Berkaber, a village in Armenia’s northeastern Tavush Province, said the withdrawal of the Azerbaijani military from the vicinity of Qizilhacili -- one of four former Azerbaijani villages that Armenia ceded control of as part of the border demarcation earlier this year -- occurred about a month ago.
“They left quite a while ago. I believe it was in early July. They vacated their position, and now our border guards are stationed there,” Harutiunian said.
For over 30 years, the Azerbaijani side has controlled about 900 hectares of land belonging to Berkaber. It was decided that this area would not be demarcated during the process that took place in April and May.
The government released a map in April highlighting the sections where adjustments would be made, and the Azerbaijani military remained at one such section after the completion of the demarcation.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian (left) visits the newly delimited border with Azerbaijan in May.
It had been agreed that “within a short but reasonable period of time,” Armenia and Azerbaijan would withdraw their forces and allow the deployment of border guards.
Residents of Berkaber have reported hearing explosions near their village and assumed they were caused by Armenian sappers working in the area.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said earlier that controlled explosions would take place on August 7 near Berkaber and Kirants, another village where the border demarcation took place, and advised local residents not to panic. It said there would be a total of 10 explosions to the northeast of the villages but did not specify their purpose.
Harutiunian told RFE/RL that the area from which the Azerbaijani military had been withdrawn might be undergoing demining.
“They left one post, but that gap is quite extensive and is currently being cleared,” Harutiunian said.
Residents of Kirants, however, informed RFE/RL that the explosions near their village appeared to be part of some engineering work.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian faced intense criticism earlier this year for agreeing to the first-ever border demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which involved a limited section. This demarcation resulted in Armenia ceding control of the four villages as well as certain territories of Armenian villages based on 1970s maps used in the process.
The move sparked large-scale protests in Yerevan, with opposition groups also arguing that Armenia would be more vulnerable in the Tavush region if another war with Azerbaijan occurred, given that Armenian armed forces had to withdraw from strategically important areas.
Pashinian has dismissed this criticism, contending that the alternative to the border demarcation would have been another war for which Azerbaijan would have had a legitimate pretext. He has also maintained that local Armenian communities are now better protected from a legal standpoint than they were before the demarcation.