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Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict

Azerbaijani border guards take control of four villages on border with Armenia

"Today, the State Border Service of Azerbaijan took control of the villages of Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli and Gizilhajili in the Gazakh District," the statement reads

BAKU, May 24. /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s State Border Service has taken control of four villages on the border with Armenia, the press service of Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev, who heads a commission on border delimitation, said in a statement.

"Today, the State Border Service of Azerbaijan took control of the villages of Baghanis Ayrim, Ashagi Askipara, Kheyrimli and Gizilhajili in the Gazakh District," the statement reads.

According to the press service, the four villages, which cover 6,500 square kilometers, returned to Azerbaijan following the delimitation of a 12,700-kilometer-long border section.

On April 19, Mustafayev’s press service issued a statement saying that the Azerbaijani and Armenian border delimitation commissions had come to a tentative agreement on certain border sectors between four settlements: Baghanis (Armenia) - Baghanis Ayrim (Azerbaijan), Voskepar (Armenia) - Ashagi Askipara (Azerbaijan), Kirants (Armenia) - Kheyrimli (Azerbaijan) and Berkaber (Armenia) - Gizilhajili (Azerbaijan). The goal was to bring them in line with the legally justified inter-republic border that existed in the Soviet Union at the time of its collapse. The statement also noted that those border sections would be delineated taking into account the updated coordinates based on geodetic terrain measurements, which would be formalized in a protocol. The parties agreed and signed the document on May 15.

On Friday, the Armenian National Security Service said that Yerevan and Baku were withdrawing troops from the border in Tavush, entrusting security to border guards.

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Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict

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