Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev said on Saturday that Armenia should return four villages to Azerbaijan.
“The issue of the return of four exclave villages (Upper Eskipara, Sofulu, Berhudarli, and Kerki), which are under the occupation of Armenia, will be resolved within the framework of the border determination process,” the statement said.
The state commissions of Azerbaijan and Armenia held their seventh meeting on Thursday on the delimitation of mutual borders, Mustafayev’s office said.
The statements slammed as “false” the reports claiming that Azerbaijan had occupied 31 Armenian villages, noting that “it is completely unfounded to say that the lands belonging to 31 villages of Armenia have been ‘occupied’ until the borders are determined.”
Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, particularly over Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, and seven surrounding districts. The majority of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during the war in autumn 2020, but full sovereignty in Karabakh came after an “anti-terrorism operation” in September 2023.
