Armenia and Azerbaijan reached an agreement on several villages, a milestone on the road to a peace agreement after two wars following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and also guaranteed a reduction in border risks.
The agreement was reached at a meeting at the border between the two countries chaired by their deputy Prime Ministers. Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada confirmed on X on Friday that Armenia would return four villages near the countries’ shared border. He said:
“As a result of the 8th meeting of the State Commissions on the delimitation of the state border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Armenia has agreed to return 4 villages of Azerbaijan that have been under the occupation since early 1990s.”
In Armenia, the state news agency quoted Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s office as saying: “In this process, the Republic of Armenia receives a reduction in risks associated with border delimitation and security,” noting that in practice the transfer affected “two and a half villages,” since Azerbaijan already partially controls the settlements in question, but adding that the border demarcation was a “significant event.”
Armenia’s Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement: “For the first time, there will be a demarcated state border between our countries, in the section of the four villages.”
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency reported that the line will pass through the villages of Baghanis (Armenia)-Baghanis Ayrum (Azerbaijan), Voskepar (Armenia)-Asagi Eskipara (Azerbaijan), Kirants (Armenia)-Heyrimli (Azerbaijan) and Berkaber (Armenia)-Kizilhacili (Azerbaijan). Therefore, Armenia will return to Azerbaijan the villages of Baghanis Ayrum, Asagi Eskipara, Heyrimli and Kizilhacili, all which it occupied during the First Karabakh War of 1988-1994.
Azerbaijan had been demanding the return of the villages as a condition of a peace deal after more than three decades of conflict, largely centred in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Despite being abandoned, the settlements are of strategic value as they are located next to Armenia’s main motorway leading north to the border with Georgia. This road carries most of Armenia’s trade and is also the route of the gas pipeline that brings gas from Russia.
Momentum shifted dramatically in favour of Azerbaijan in September after Baku’s forces launched a lightning offensive to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians have enjoyed de facto independence since the mid-1990s. Virtually the entire population of 100,000 fled to Armenia in a matter of days.
The United States and the European Union have also been pressing the two sides to reach a peace deal. The US, for its part, welcomed on Friday an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the return of four villages Armenia:
“We welcome the announcement that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed upon the 1991 Alma Ata declaration as the basis for border delimitation between the two countries,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on X.
Simultaneously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the US and the EU are actively seeking to distance Armenia from Russia at an accelerated pace. Earlier, Russian peacekeeping forces had been stationed in Nagorno-Karabakh after the last major war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, but Russia began withdrawing them this week. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is due to meet Vladimir Putin on Monday.
