Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan called the agreement a “milestone” on the path to peace between the rivals, but protesters accuse him of betrayal.
Armenia has returned four border villages to Azerbaijan, a key step towards normalizing ties between the historical rivals who have fought two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Armenia’s security service said on Friday that its border guards had “officially” assumed new positions reflecting a border delimitation agreement between the two countries, returning the villages of Baghanis, Voskepar, Kirants and Berkaber.
Confirming the transfer, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev announced that his country’s border guards had taken control of the four settlements, which Azeris know as Baghanis Ayrum, Asagi Eskipara, Heyrimli and Kizilhacili.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to the move in March as part of efforts to secure a lasting peace agreement between the countries. On May 16, Yerevan and Baku redrawn 12.7 km (8 miles) of border, reflecting the return of four uninhabited villages that were seized in the 1990s by Armenia.
Pashinyan last week described the agreement as a “very important milestone to further strengthen Armenia’s sovereignty and independence.”
However, Armenian residents of nearby towns say the transfer could isolate them from the rest of the country and accuse Pashinyan of unilaterally ceding territory without any guarantees in return.
The prime minister’s decision triggered weeks of anti-government protests in Armenia, with thousands of protesters led by the charismatic Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan accusing him of treason and demanding his resignation.
Although the settlements are deserted, they are considered strategically important as they are located close to Armenia’s main highway north towards the border with Georgia. Much of Armenia’s trade passes through this road and goes to the pipeline through which it receives gas from Russia.
Peace agreement
Azerbaijan demanded the return of the villages as a condition of a peace deal after more than three decades of conflict, centered mainly in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The dynamic changed drastically in Azerbaijan’s favor last September, when its forces mounted a lightning offensive to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence since the mid-1990s.
Virtually the entire population of 100,000 people fled to Armenia within days.
The episode was a blow to Yerevan, but it also removed a long-standing source of disagreement from the table, paving the way for an agreement that has so far been elusive.
However, Azerbaijan and Armenia still have other unresolved territorial disputes, mainly centered on enclaves, with both sides demanding that the other side relinquish control or provide access to them.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
