Residents of several Armenian communities in northeastern Tavush Province began protests late on April 19 after authorities in Armenia and Azerbaijan announced a border-delimitation deal under which Baku will regain control of four formerly Azeri-populated villages in the area, an agreement hailed by the United States and European Union.
Following the announced agreement, residents of the villages of Kirants and Baghanis blocked traffic at sections of the road linking their communities to the towns of Ijevan and Noyemberian, respectively.
Some residents of Voskepar -- another Armenian village affected by the planned border demarcation -- claimed, meanwhile, that what was announced by the authorities on April 19 contradicted what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian had said when he held a closed-door meeting with residents earlier in the week. They said would gather in the village on April 20 to decide their next steps.
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Armenian Border Area Residents Block Road, Decry Demarcation Deal
Following the eighth round of talks between Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian and Azerbaijani counterpart Shahin Mustafayev -- held at an undisclosed section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on April 19 -- the parties announced a preliminary agreement on border delimitation.
The initial stage will affect land areas between four villages in the territory of Armenia's Tavush Province and four abandoned villages that used to be part of Azerbaijan's Qazax district during Soviet times.
Armenia agreed to return the four abandoned border villages that it has controlled since the early 1990s to Azerbaijan as the initial step in defining the frontier between the two South Caucasus nations.
The delimitation on those sections is to be completed by the middle of May, the parties agreed.
Residents of border villages in Tavush are particularly concerned that the demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan in accordance with the Soviet-era configuration will deprive them of access to their farmlands and complicate their communications with the rest of the country due to the fact that some parts of area roads will fall under Azerbaijani control.
They also voiced concerns that Armenia's withdrawal from current military positions will make local civilians more vulnerable to Azerbaijani armed attacks.
The Armenian prime minister's office on April 19 sought to address some of the residents' concerns.
"For the first time, there will be a demarcated state border between our countries [Armenia and Azerbaijan] in the section of the four villages," the office said, according to Armenia's state-run Armenpress news agency.
"Yes, as a result of this process, the border guard service of Azerbaijan will get closer to the villages of Kirants and Voskepar, but their villages and ours will be separated by a delimitated state border."
The office added that "border protection will be carried out by the border guards of the Republic of Armenia" and that further security details will be "discussed and detailed in the near future."
It stressed that the agreement was based on the 1991 Almaty Declaration -- "which is set as a fundamental principle of the border-delimitation process."
Pashinian on April 20 touted the arrangement, praising the fact that the two bitter rivals "have, for the first time, resolved an issue at a negotiating table."
The deal was hailed as another success of the government in Azerbaijan.
"Armenia has agreed to return four villages under occupation since the early 1990s," Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aykhan Hajizada wrote on social media, describing it as a "long-awaited historic event."
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington welcomed the announcement as "an important step toward concluding a durable and dignified peace agreement."
The agreement was also hailed by the European Union.
"Encouraging news today regarding the work of the Armenian and Azerbaijani border commissions and the start of a delimitation process based on legal documents and the 1991 Almaty Agreement," Toivo Klaar, the EU's Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
"The EU fully supports the process of negotiations and the aim of a comprehensive and lasting settlement," he added.
Germany's Foreign Ministry said the agreement "removes a major hurdle on the way to a peace agreement. Germany remains ready to do everything in its power to support the path to lasting peace."