Armenia returns '2 and a half villages' to Azerbaijan, says premier

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Saturday that he agreed to return to Azerbaijan several villages in the northeastern Tavush region.

In a statement on the government's website, Pashinyan said Azerbaijan "receives two and a half villages" because the territory of the village of Gyzylgajili, as well as a significant part of the territory of the Ashagi Askipara village, have already been under its control.

"In this process, the Republic of Armenia receives a reduction in the risks associated with border delimitation and security," the statement quoted Pashinyan as saying.

The press service noted that the agreement was achieved at the Armenia-Azerbaijan commission's Friday meeting on the border delimitation.

"I wouldn't want us to overestimate what happened, but I also wouldn't want us to underestimate. It is very important to state that for the first time, Armenia and Azerbaijan have resolved the issue at the negotiating table," Pashinyan said.

After the demarcation of the border, the contingents of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as Russian border guards, will be withdrawn from these four villages and replaced by border troops, he added.

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that also opened the door to normalization.

Last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation" after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​