Four villages are being returned to Azerbaijan: Armenia's comment

Armenia will transfer four villages of Tavush region to Azerbaijan. Commenting on this decision, the Armenian Prime Minister's Office said that it will reduce security threats on the border.

According to the results of the negotiations held by the commissions for the delimitation of state borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, a decision was made to return four villages that were part of the Azerbaijan SSR during the former Soviet Union and were under the control of Armenia since the 1990s.

The Prime Minister's Office of Armenia commented on this decision that the return of villages to Azerbaijan will serve to reduce security threats at the state border.

"For the sake of clarity, we note that Azerbaijan will take two and a half villages belonging to it, because the entire territory of Kyzylgajili village and a significant part of the territory of Ashagi Askipara village were previously under the control of Azerbaijan," the statement reads. "And the Republic of Armenia will achieve a reduction in border delimitation and security risks in this process."

The Armenian government added that after the delimitation of the border, contingents of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan will be withdrawn from these four villages and replaced by border troops.

Armenia seeks to return Artsvashen village

The Armenian Prime Minister's Office stated that the Yerevan region wants to take back the ownership of Artsvashen (Azerbaijani: Bashkend) exclave village, which is currently controlled by Azerbaijan, and will try to demarcate the border around it in the future.

"As you know, the Republic of Armenia cannot abandon this issue, because Artsvashen is part of the sovereign territory of our country, we want to de jure justify the existence of the Artsvashen exclave during the demarcation process. The government of the Republic of Armenia has such grounds, after which the demarcation process around Artsvashen will find a political solution to the problem after this protocol ," the commentary reads.