By Karine Simonian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met on Monday, March 18, with concerned residents of two villages in Armenia’s northern Tavush province adjacent to border areas which he seems intent on handing over to Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan signaled last week his readiness to accept Baku’s demands for Armenian withdrawal from four villages which were controlled by Azerbaijan in Soviet times and occupied by the Armenian army in 1991-1992. He did not make their handover conditional on the liberation of any Armenian territory occupied by Azerbaijani forces in the early 1990s and 2021-2022.
The statement prompted strong condemnation from opposition leaders and serious concern from residents of several Tavush villages that would be affected by the withdrawal. The villagers say they would lose access to their land, have trouble communicating with the rest of the country and be far more vulnerable from Azerbaijani armed attacks.
Pashinyan visited two of those border villages, Voskepar and Kirants, and spent more than three hours discussing the issue with locals behind closed doors. Speaking to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service afterwards, he said he repeated his assertions that the areas in question are technically not part of Armenia’s internationally recognized territory.
“I told people that I came to not only answer questions but also collect questions and put them on the government’s table so that it thinks about answering them and I come back with those answers,” Pashinyan said without elaborating.
